Cycling For Dummies - UK, UK Edition E-Book

Gavin Wright

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 690

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Beschreibung

Whether you're looking to hit the open road, scream down the side of a mountain, or simply take the kids out for a ride, Cycling For Dummies, UK Edition, covers all your needs. Topics include choosing the right bike and accessories, staying safe -- around town and on the trails -- training to improve speed and endurance, making adjustments and repairs, and much more (including answering the basic questions you may be too embarrassed to ask in your local shop). Cycling For Dummies, UK Edition is the perfect place to start when you want to take up this great sport.

Leseprobe

Cycling For Dummies®

Published by:John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, www.wiley.com

This edition first published 2013

© 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester, West Sussex.

John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, United Kingdom

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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978-1-118-36435-2 (pbk), ISBN 978-1-118-36437-6 (ebk), ISBN 978-1-118-36438-3 (ebk), ISBN 978-1-118-36436-9 (ebk)

Printed in Great Britain by Bell & Bain Ltd, Glasgow

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Cycling For Dummies®, UK Edition

Visit www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/cyclinguk to view this book's cheat sheet.

Table of Contents

Introduction

About This Book

Conventions Used in This Book

Foolish Assumptions

How This Book Is Organised

Part I: Getting Started with Cycling

Part II: Freewheeling Away: The Fundamentals

Part III: Rolling beyond the Basics

Part IV: Maintaining Your Bike and Yourself

Part V: The Part of Tens

Icons Used in This Book

Where to Go from Here

Part I: Getting Started with Cycling

Chapter 1: Getting into Cycling

Meeting Your Bike

Riding for the first time

Getting back on the bike: It’s been a long time

Wanting to do that little bit more

Building a Relationship with Your Bike

Finding a space for your bike

Recognising your bike’s features: Knowing which bit is which

Adorning your bike with accessories

Discovering hidden talents: Uses you never thought of

Planning for a child

Dressing up: Finding the right clothing

Travelling with your loved one

Loving Your Bike Forever

Growing old together: Staying healthy and living longer

Making your bike better when it’s not well: In sickness and in health

Meeting new people: Making bicycle friends

Discovering new things about each other: Setting up a training programme

Looking for adventure: Winning the Tour or touring the world

Chapter 2: Picking the Right Bike

Defining Your Needs

Asking the tough questions

Knowing where you’re going

Feeling comfortable

Raiding the piggy bank

Stating your style

Planning for the future

Racing Onto a Road Bike

Building the fastest bike on the road

Getting to work – fast!

Paying for a road bike

Going on tour

Climbing Onto a Mountain Bike

Getting to work

Riding the trails

Spilling blood on the tracks

Paying for the pleasure

Checking Out the Bikes in the Middle: Commuter, Urban and Hybrid

Mixing with a hybrid

Looking cool on a retro bike

Training on a fitness bike

Travelling on a touring bike

Grabbing a city bike

Specialising Your Ride

Jumping around with BMX banditry

Cycling fast and strong with fixies

Pairing up for a tandem

Laying back on a recumbent

Folding up your two-wheeled friend

Electrifying your pedals

Chapter 3: Choosing the Right Gear

Getting Ahead, Getting a Helmet

Hitting the right hard hat

Fitting protection

Putting Bits on Your Bike

Lighting up

Ringing bells

Pumping it up

Carry on cycling

Electronics on your handlebars

Adding the finishing touches: Bar ends, mudguards and mirrors

Wearing Thin: Bicycle Clothing

Going hand in glove with your new bicycle

Getting into bottom gear: The joys of Lycra

Targeting the yellow: Cycling jerseys

Topping it off: Jackets and vests

Accessorising with glasses, head warmers, masks and more

Putting Your Foot in It

Pedalling options

These shoes were made for cycling

Quenching That Thirst: Cool Clear Water

Caging your bidons

Wearing water: Hydration systems

Chapter 4: Making Sure Your Bike Feels Good

Getting the Perfect Road Bike Pose

Arranging your bike fit at the shop

Adjusting your road bike saddle

Finding the right saddle for your road bike

Fiddling with your bars

Comforting Tips for the Easy Rider

Sitting up and seeing the world

Gearing down: Casual clothes for bikes

Saddles and seat pads for upright cycling

Handlebar grips

Chapter 5: Finding the Time to Ride

Starting to Commute: It’s Easy

The time factor

Breaking it up

Talking to your workplace about facilities for cyclists

Making Time: Planning Your Week

Stopping the Excuses for Not Being Able to Ride

Motivating Yourself and Achieving

Watching benchmarks fly by

Using goats for motivation

Giving yourself a pat on the back

Part II: Freewheeling Away: The Fundamentals

Chapter 6: Ticket to Ride: Your First Lesson

Taking a Great Running Leap into Your Saddle

The easiest way to get on a bike

The best place to get on a bike

Steering Clear of Trouble

Handling Your Handlebars

Getting hooked

Reaching out and changing positions

Pedalling: Don’t Stop Now

Easing Off the Pressure: Using Your Gears

What the gears are for

Different systems

Using gears to best effect

Falling Off, Running Away or Just Plain Stopping

Braking down

Stopping good

Chapter 7: Knowing the Rules

Following the Rules for Bikes

Getting up to speed on your required behaviour

Knowing the rules about particular places and things

Knowing the rules about your bike

Remembering the Rules about Bikes for Other Traffic

Remembering that Rules Are No Good If You’re Dead

Checking Out the Rules – in Detail

Chapter 8: Thinking Ahead for Safety

Being Seen in All the Right Places

Dressing to be noticed

Lighting up at night

Sounding Off

Ringing your bell

Unplugging your ears

Braking Up: Checking That You Can Stop

Squeezing In: Air in Your Tyres Is Like Wind in Your Sails

Tethering Your Mount

You’re leaving it where?

Choosing your security system

Chapter 9: Planning Your Trip and Tips for Safe Riding

Devising a Route

Just how long is this going to take?

Going from A to C via B for bicycle

Eyeballing useful spots along the way

Preparing to Get Out on the Road

Feeling confident

Being assertive: The lane is yours, too

Signalling clearly and making eye contact

Dealing with Difficult Junctions

Avoiding them if you can

Knowing what to do when the bike lane turns left, but you’re not

Carrying on when the bike lane disappears

Turning right

Tackling roundabouts

Dastardly Dangers

Steering clear of cars and trucks

Avoiding a car-dooring: The perils of parked or stopped cars

Testing the elements: Riding in hard rain, wind and snow

Weaving round walkers and dodging dogs

Chapter 10: Toughening Up for Off-Road Riding

Knowing What to Expect from Different Surfaces and Obstacles

Bumps and rocks

Gravel and loose surfaces

Ruts and grooves

Water

Staying on Your Bike on Rough and Loose Trails

Avoiding Potholes

Balancing Your Centre of Gravity

Going Bunny Hopping

Part III: Rolling beyond the Basics

Chapter 11: Riding Faster, Tougher, and Longer: Training and Improving

Exercising Lingo for the Cyclist in You

Increasing your heart rate

Measuring your VO2

Working out your lactate threshold

Determining your recovery needs

Training for Speed

Setting goals and programmes

Incorporating interval training

Mountain Bike Training

Building fitness

Increasing trail skills

Endurance Training: The Long Steady Distance

Chapter 12: Touring and Exploring

Deciding Where – and How – to Go: The World Is Your Bike Path

Finding the inspiration

Researching your route

Fitting racks to your car

Carrying bikes on public transport

Packing a bicycle in a bike box

Arriving with a bicycle

Communicating with the folks back home

Preparing Your Bike

Knowing that your bike is ready

Prepping panniers

Using handlebar bags and more

Carrying Essentials

Compiling a small tool kit

Keeping spares

Packing clothes

Carrying food and drink

Taking toiletries and medical supplies

Fitting in a tent and survival gear

Chapter 13: Cycling with Other People

Riding in Groups

Cycling with friends and family

Catching the bike bus: Don’t be late!

Tagging along with bunch riders: They’re not bananas

Having fun

Joining an Organised Group

Catching BUGs: Your local bicycle users’ group

Racing road bikes

Mountain bike clubs

Participating in Big Organised Events

One-day events

Multi-day rides

Chapter 14: Riding with Babies, Toddlers and Children

Two’s Company: Adding a Small Child to Your Bicycle

Choosing baby and child seats

Going with child trailers

Progressing to bike extensions or tag-alongs

Considering Bikes and Safety Gear for Your Child

Choosing a child’s bike

Remembering safety essentials and optional extras

Putting Kids on Bikes

Teaching children to ride

Cycling to school

Cycling in the classroom

Part IV: Maintaining Your Bike and Yourself

Chapter 15: Easing Ailments

Dealing with an Aching Neck and Back

Tending to Joint Responsibility

Nurturing your knees

Looking after your wrists and hands

Shoring up your shoulders

Stretching It Out

Rubbing the Right Way: Massage Your Cares Away

Enduring Saddle Sores with a Nasty Rash

Chapter 16: Fuelling Your Cycling

Carbing Up

Knowing How Much to Eat

Stocking up before

Keeping up your energy during

Refuelling after

Bodily Fluids: Keeping a Balance

Diet Hard: Food for Hardcore Cyclists

Chapter 17: Troubleshooting: Can You Fix It? Yes, You Can!

Keeping Your Bike Clean

Joining the Chain Gang

Degreasing

Relubing

Fixing a Hole

Finding the puncture

Patching options

Removing and Replacing a Wheel

Removing the front wheel

Removing the back wheel

Changing a Tyre

Spotting a Problem

Spoke too soon

Full (loose) stem ahead

Not true (your wheel, that is)

Time for a tyre transplant

Squeak, rattle and clunk

Chapter 18: Making Checks and Adjustments: The Next Step

Sorting the Shock Treatment

Manoeuvring Your Throne: Getting Your Seat in Just the Right Spot

Fiddling with Your Dérailleurs

Wiggling Your Pads until Your Brakes Work

Having Nothing to Lose but Your Chain

Part V: The Part of Tens

Chapter 19: Ten Bicycling Do’s and Don’ts

Do Be Prepared

Don’t Forget to Look Around

Do Be Friendly

Do Lend a Hand

Don’t Lose Your Cool

Do Leave the Car at Home

Don’t Let Your Bike Go to Seed

Don’t Let Cycling Become a Chore

Do Take Your Bike on Holiday

Do Spread the Word

Chapter 20: Ten Great Rides in the United Kingdom

The Mawddach Trail Cycleway

Round-the-Island

The South Downs Way

Coast to Coast

The Pennine Cycleway

The Chilterns Cycleway

Jacob’s Ladder Loop

The Wandle Trail

Causeway Coast Cycle Route

Tarka Trail

Chapter 21: Ten Great Tours and Races around the World

Le Tour de France: Watch and Dream

Etape du Tour: A Taste of the Real Thing

Ironbike: Are You Tough Enough?

The Race Across America: Coast to Coast Ultra-Marathon

Ultimate Alpine Challenge: Classic Climbs

Tour of Flanders: Competing on Cobbles

Simpson Desert Bike Challenge: Satan’s Velodrome

Paris-Brest-Paris: 1,200 Kilometres, 90 Hours

The Cape Epic: An Eight-day Race through South Africa

Iditasport Extreme: The Race across Snowy Alaska

About the Authors

Cheat Sheet

Introduction

Annual surveys have shown for years that cycling is one of the most popular physical activities, along with swimming, fishing and walking. Cycling, though, is so much better than all of those things put together (at least, we think so). Bike sales in all forms of cycling have been increasing year on year, leaving car sales trailing.

Governments have recognised the advantages of having more people riding rather than driving, and traffic planners have learned that after cycling infrastructure – such as bike lanes, bike paths and real help for bicycles through junctions – is put in place, cyclists come pouring onto roads by the thousand. Campaigns and better facilities have seen some commuter cycling corridors increase their use twentyfold over the last 20 years.

More people are riding bicycles as each day goes by. Some of them are brand new to the world of bikes, some of them have just been away and some people are making the decision to cycle more. Wherever you are in this picture, no doubt you feel you need to know more in some area of cycling. You’re in luck, then, because cycling is definitely the topic of this book.

About This Book

This book, like all For Dummies books, is designed to be as easy as possible to use and read. Although we’ve included tonnes of information, it should be the simplest and best cycling book ever to sit on the bookshop shelf.

All the information in this book is easy to find. Whether you want to get to grips with everything about one aspect of cycling by reading the whole chapter on that aspect, or target one specific point in a chapter, you can locate your subject in no time and focus on precisely what you want to find out.

The information is also easy to understand. We don’t assume you’ll read the whole book and we don’t use any jargon, just plain English. You’ll come across names to learn as you find out about different parts of your bike, or even various parts of your body, but no overly technical talk is used that would build a barrier between you and what you need to know.

You can often use alternative methods to what we show you to achieve the same result. In this book, however, we don’t show you lots of ways of doing things – we just show you the easiest or most effective method. After all, you only really have to have one technique up your sleeve to be able to get the job done.

We’ve written this book to try to answer most of your questions – anything from, ‘Okay, which is the front end?’ to, ‘How can I shift my lactate threshold?’. If you want to ride a bike – or ride a bike more – this book is both a comprehensive reference, with everything you need to know, and an engaging read you’ll enjoy and keep for years.

This book gives you the power, in small, simple stages, to take control of all aspects of your cycling. You can make the decisions, but then this book helps you carry them through. Whatever you want to get out of your bicycle, this book shows you the way.

Conventions Used in This Book

We’ve presented important bits of information in special ways to make sure you notice them right away:

Bulleted lists: Bulleted lists (just like this one) indicate things you can do in any order or group related bits of information, such as what spare parts to take when you cycle over mountains.

Currency: Every cost that we mention, such as the price of a tyre, is a rough guide and is given in pounds.

New terms: We put any new words or terms in italics and either closely precede or follow them by a simple definition.

Numbered lists: When you see a numbered list, follow the steps in number order to get a job, such as fixing a puncture, done.

Sidebars: Text enclosed in a shaded grey box is always interesting information, but you don’t absolutely have to read it to understand the topic.

Web addresses: When we write about a website of interest we include the web address in a special typeface like this: www.bikesaregreat.co.uk.

Web addresses do change from time to time, so if the website’s not there – sorry – try doing an online search. Also, when this book was printed, some web addresses may have been broken across two lines of text. If that happened, rest assured that we haven’t put in any extra characters (such as hyphens) to indicate the break and there won’t be any spaces. So, when using one of these web addresses, just type in exactly what you see in this book, pretending the line break doesn’t exist.

Foolish Assumptions

To write this book we had to make assumptions about you that may not be true. Because we’ve aimed this book primarily at beginners, but also at people who want to learn more, we’ve assumed all the way through that you don’t know anything about the topic at hand.

We do understand that some people picking up this book already know quite a bit about bikes. Those readers might find some of our explanations overly simple and some of the instructions we’ve included painfully obvious. If you find yourself reading through one of those spots, just tell yourself, ‘Too easy!’ and skip to a section that covers an area you need to know more about.

How This Book Is Organised

We’ve divided this book into five parts.

Part I: Getting Started with Cycling

This part prepares you for cycling, with lots of information about all sorts of different bikes, other things you can buy to go with bikes, how to make sure your bike is set up right and ideas about riding and feeling good about riding. These are things to help you get the best bike to suit your needs and get the most out of cycling, with all sorts of suggestions about shopping and how to look for the best way to go now you’re on a bicycle.

Part II: Freewheeling Away: The Fundamentals

From the very basic first lessons in sitting on a saddle and pedalling off to dealing with difficult junctions, this part gives you the lowdown on riding and roads. Along the way, I cover safety and the rules for cycling in the UK. Find out where you can safely leave your bike, what the dangers are to cyclists, and how best to tackle them.

Part III: Rolling beyond the Basics

In this part, we go a little further into cycling. We provide ideas and strategies for getting better at your cycling, whether on- or off-road, and cover the physiological side as well as all other aspects of training. We’ve included a chapter on touring and what you need to take, and a chapter on everything about children and bikes.

Part IV: Maintaining Your Bike and Yourself

In this part, you can read about the aches and pains you might get and how to fix them, as well as what you should be eating (your essential fuel) to give yourself the right energy for cycling. You can then move on to fixing your bike, starting with the very basic jobs of fixing a flat and oiling your chain, then tackling a few more complicated maintenance tasks to put yourself more in control.

Part V: The Part of Tens

This part gives you four cycling super-lists: A list of cycling do’s and don’ts, ten of the best rides around the UK, ten of the most awesome races and tours around the world and ten great things about cycling.

Icons Used in This Book

Throughout Cycling For Dummies, you encounter little icons in the left margin of the pages, which alert you to specific types of information in the text. Here’s what the icons mean:

This little icon points you to stories from our cycling experiences around the world and our meetings with other cyclists. They all contain some little piece of wisdom and are there to illustrate the subject we’re explaining.

When you see this icon, you know a little piece of wisdom is coming your way. Not something to worry you, just a point to bear in mind. Your cycling will go smoother if you don’t forget these points.

Here and there in this book we’ve felt it important to explain exactly how things work, what they’re made of or how they’re put together. For some people this will satisfy a need to understand why they have to do what needs to be done. Other people don’t want to be bothered with that. If you see this icon, it indicates some good stuff, but reading those paragraphs isn’t essential.

Tips are little bits of know-how we’ve picked up as we’ve cycled or that we’ve picked up from other cyclists over the years – little tricks for making your cycling, training or repairing easier, and ways of doing things better or quicker. You’ll pick up tips from other cyclists too — this icon just helps to speed things up for you.

Danger ahead: don’t do it, don’t go there. This icon alerts you to possible dire consequences if you don’t heed the advice we give. We don’t want you to suffer as a cyclist, so pay close attention when you see this sign.

Where to Go from Here

Reading this book should be like riding your bike: it’s the Freedom Machine and you can go where you like. Stop and take in the view here, sit in the shade for a snack there. You can steer your way through these pages, avoiding parts that are irrelevant to your needs like potholes on a wet bend, but you always have an easy downhill dash to the bit you need to read.

If you’re a cycling newbie, the first points about getting on your bike should be a big help and should get you launched on a tour of discovery, good health and long-lasting pleasure. You can leave the pages on interval training until a time when you feel you need to know about it – they’ll keep.

If all the simple stuff is old hat (or maybe helmet) to you, the more involved sections of this book should get you fired up and pedalling fast towards achieving your goals and fulfilling your dreams.

And hopefully we’ll see you out there on your bike sometime.

Part I

Getting Started with Cycling

For Dummies can help you get started with lots of subjects. Visit www.dummies.com to learn more and do more with For Dummies.

In this part . . .

Dazzle yourself with the range of bikes available and pick the type that best suits your needs

Twiddle your bike’s adjustable parts to ensure that you always have a comfortable – and safe – ride

Bolt, clamp, strap and clip any number of accessories to your bike – and yourself

Making space in your weekly schedule to incorporate cycling into your lifestyle

Chapter 1

Getting into Cycling

In This Chapter

Starting off your new relationship with your bike

Settling in and getting to know each other

Rolling off into the sunset of long-term, happy cycling

Deciding to ride a bicycle, or to ride a bike more, is a move you won’t regret. You may have worked out that it’s better for the environment, better for traffic congestion and your community and, perhaps most of all, better for your health. When you start riding, you’ll kick yourself that you didn’t do it earlier.

Riding a bike is fun – it starts that way and it doesn’t stop. Every time we rest our feet on the pedals and speed off down the road, we get a feeling of great pleasure, just as we did as kids when we first took off on bikes with a spirit of freedom and adventure.

But getting into cycling isn’t as simple as just going to the shop, buying a bike and riding off down the street. You don’t need to know a great deal initially – you can go on learning about bikes forever – but you need to start with an awareness of the basics.

Get the wrong bike and your relationship could become rocky and eventually fall apart. Get the right one and it’ll be a marriage made on the perfect bike path. And from there, the richness of your developing affair with your bike will have you dreaming of all the possible things the two of you could do together.

This chapter covers the basics to get you started (or back) on the bike and on the right path to a long life together.

Meeting Your Bike

When looking for your bike, play it cool and get it right. A key point in searching for any new relationship is to be self-aware, and that’s true for cycling as well. Know your own needs and be positive about them. Focus on the many positive aspects a bicycle can provide, rather than what it can’t give you.