"It's like riding a bike"... living proof. :-)

Andrew_McP · 30 Aug 2014 at 21:41

This week, after over 30 years without getting my leg over (a bike), and being a dedicated pedestrian, I finally bought some transport.

http://www.ridgeback.co.uk/bike/speed#details

Hardly a speed freak's performance bike (the road bike thread is thoroughly scarey!), but at £200 for a slightly cosmetically challenged new bike it finally tipped me over the edge, overcoming my concerns about lack of room to store it and surviving on modern roads.

I wish I'd done it sooner! I took it out into the car park around me on my night off work and didn't have a single problem pootling around on it. So it really would seem that you don't forget how to ride a bike.

Some things I wasn't quite prepared for :-

1) All the clutter I need for maintenance and safety. It soon adds up. :-)

2) How impressive modern tech is compared to my muscle memory of my clunky old five speed Raleigh.

3) What a tart I'd become trying to find a helmet that fits and I feel comfortable wearing. I'm not sure there's an answer to this other than growing a pair, and getting on with it. :-)

Now I "just" have to brush up my highway code, get the hi-vis vest out of the cupboard, and start exploring the local roads at a quiet time of day to build my confidence up.

Just as soon as I've checked my health insurance. ;-)

PS. I should probably have got a bike with fewer gears. If I get hit by a car or wrecked by a pothole it'll be because I've had a stroke trying to work out which gear I need to be in!

Kamerad · 30 Aug 2014 at 22:05

Andrew_McP said:
PS. I should probably have got a bike with fewer gears. If I get hit by a car or wrecked by a pothole it'll be because I've had a stroke trying to work out which gear I need to be in!

Theoretically you have 21 gears on that bike but you will never use them all in practise. This is a basic example of how to use the gears.

Your lowest gear is when using the biggest gear on the back (controlled by the right hand shifter) and the smallest gear at the front (controlled by the left hand shifter)

This gear is normally only used when climbing hills. If this gear is too easy you would shift to the next gear down at the rear (RH shifter). After moving down 2-3 gears at the rear you would then shift into the middle gear at the front (LH shifter), so you are now in the middle gear at the front and the 3rd gear at the back.

The process then continues and you would again move down the gears at the back (RH shifter) 3rd to 4th, then when moving to the 5th gear at the back you would move into the biggest gear on the front (LH shifter) and then use the 5,6 and 7th gear in conjunction with the biggest gear on the front.

There is some overlap between gear conditions but this is generally how it is used.

The reason for all this is to avoid stretching the chain and the chain rubbing on the derailleurs (the gear shifting mechanisms front and rear).

On the flat you will mainly be in the middle and biggest gear on the front and the smallest gear on the front is for climbing hills.

Hope this makese sense.

Andrew_McP · 31 Aug 2014 at 07:32

Kamerad said:
Hope this makese sense.

It does, thanks... though I do still feel like a car driver confronted with a lorry gearbox. :-)

I think it'll be a while before I get an instinctive feel for gearing, but I'm sure as long as I avoid chain stretching combinations the rest will fall into place eventually.

lordrobs · 31 Aug 2014 at 10:44

Great to hear that you are getting back on a bike. People say that you shouldn't bother with a hybrid and should get a road bike etc. but IMHO hybrids serve a great purpose for getting people back on the roads on a familiar non daunting way. The 42C tyres, wide bars and upright position are all great for getting some miles under your belt.

As for gears, on my 21 speed hybrid the first 7 are never used. When I started off I only used the middle chain ring in fourth or fifth gear on the rear cassette only changing down for going up hill or going up a gear for down hill. That served me well for hundreds of miles while my legs got used to it. Now I use the big chain ring with the cassette in fourth as my default gear and then adjust from there for hills or wind dropping to the middle ring for steeper hills. In nearly a thousand miles I haven't had any issues with cross chaining (using the far extremes of the gears) but the large chain ring with the smallest gear at the back is slightly noisy with a bit of chain rub.

Enjoy yourself and I found that tracking my rides was quite addictive! http://www.strava.com/ is free to use and works with any android/iphone with GPS.

Andrew_McP · 31 Aug 2014 at 18:35

lordrobs said:
IMHO hybrids serve a great purpose for getting people back on the roads on a familiar non daunting way. The 42C tyres, wide bars and upright position are all great for getting some miles under your belt.

As someone who spent 6 months last year barely able to walk because of sciatica, the upright stance of a hybrid is ideal for me... no temptation to hunker down and put the base of my spine under compression.

I must admit though, after getting out on it this afternoon I did find myself wondering if I might have been better off with a mountain bike... most of the back roads and paths I use to visit my regular photography haunts are less than perfect surfaces.

Still, you've got to start somewhere and I need something with paniers to support some of my camera kit, otherwise it all has to go in my rucksack, which won't help stability if I get caught out.

When I started off I only used the middle chain ring in fourth or fifth gear on the rear cassette only changing down for going up hill or going up a gear for down hill.

I quickly discovered today that I may be able to walk miles with a heavy rucksack, but peddling a bike is a different kettle of fish, and I'm not as fit and clever as I thought I was. So my intitial instinct to use the middle cog only and keep things simple last about a mile! But I can see the bottom two doing 99% of the work... the fastest I went today seems to be 14mph. :-)

I found that tracking my rides was quite addictive! http://www.strava.com/ is free to use and works with any android/iphone with GPS.

I've used Google's Tracks for my walks, and it can be interesting looking back at the stats... especially when I forget to turn it off before getting on a train.

Anyway, me any my sore backside are going to get some sleep before work later on. I have a funny feeling I'm going to wake up with sore legs. I may be able to work 8+ hours without a break in a physical job, and I may be no stranger to physical discomfort, but my thighs are definitely telling me they've done something unusual! :->

Roady · 17 Sep 2014 at 08:18

You use very different muscles for cycling, hence the ache... But it's a good ache! The more you burn; the more you ache; the better you get!

Regarding your hybrid/MTB thoughts - if you are finding the gears ok you could always change tyres to give you some more grip on your back roads. Certainly once the leaves are dropping and the weather is wetter you might be thankful for them!

14mph is nothing to sniff at, I cycle my work commute (inner city) on a road bike and my average today was 14.4mph! (I'm working towards a 15mph average - I've done over 1000 miles so far this year according to strava)