Tips that Seem Simple, Once You Know Them

I was recently asked by a friend new to cycling to post some of the things that I do and take for granted, but that initially took me a while to figure out.  Enjoy!

1. Hold the bike at a 45-degree angle when mounting & dismounting.  There is no law or rule (that I know of) that says “Thou shalt always keep thy bicycle perpendicular to the ground.”  It’s much easier (especially for those of us with short legs and/or hip soreness) to swing your leg over the bike when it’s slanted versus straight-up-and-down.
2. Invest in a foldable bike stand for simple repairs.  After years of having to flip my bikes upside down to do even the most minor repairs, I finally spent some money (between $50 and 100) on a foldable tripod-type repair stand that I absolutely love.  The brand I bought is Bike Hand (they don’t give me any money for the mention, I promise), but there are many brands and styles available online.  Sure, you could work on an upside down bike like I did for years, or you could take it into the bike shop to repair a flat or lube your chain, but I highly recommend you don’t, which brings me to the next tip.
3. Learn simple bike maintenance such as tire/tube changes, cleaning, and lubing.  Depending on how much/what kind of biking you do, you will likely end up saving yourself hundreds if not thousands of dollars in bike shop bills, even if you have to buy a few tools.  And/or, you’ll add thousands of miles to the life of your bicycle.  One of the most important reasons for this, though, is that you’ll be far more likely to be able to repair your own bike and ride it home when you’re in the middle of a long-distance ride and your bike starts acting up miles from nowhere.
4. Invest in a pair of good quality biking shorts, not the entry level ones.  Get over the whole “spandex is geeky” hangup.  Unless/until you get so into biking that you form calluses on your bum that would make a new catcher’s mitt jealous, you are going to want something between said bum and your bike’s saddle, for any ride longer than about 6 miles (10 km) per day.  A lot of the big names in cycling wear have started selling shorts in multiple levels/thicknesses, and the thinner/beginner shorts are much cheaper making them tempting for new cyclists to buy…don’t give in to the temptation!!  The thin shorts really don’t buy you much in terms of DWOP (distance without pain).  You can get decent cycle shorts without spending a pile of money.  Currently my favorite pair is from a label called Di’nam’ik, and it is also the cheapest pair I own (was $40 on Amazon) (and again, they don’t pay me anything for the mention, I promise).
5. When riding a bike with multiple gears, shift “down” in gear BEFORE starting up a hill.  This took me quite a while to get the hang of, but is so worth it.  Most (if not all) bikes were not designed to shift gears whilst under a tremendous load, such as the load of transporting your carcass uphill against gravity (also referred to as “under power”).  They do much better if you are pedaling downhill or on a flat (or maybe a slight uphill incline), because in those instances the drivetrain is not under much of a load and is thus more free to move gear-to-gear.  You may feel silly shifting to an easier gear and spinning the cranks wildly in the moments right before a hill comes up, but your pedaling will slow as the effort of climbing catches up to your momentum.
6. Dress for how you will feel during your ride, not how you feel before starting.  Everyone is a little different:  some folks will get pretty chilled with the wind in their face, and some folks (like me) will heat up quite a bit with the effort of pedaling.  But most folks are the same in that their temperature changes whilst riding.  It will depend on the particular ride, of course, as well as the weather that day.  But through years of trial and error, I’ve come to realize that if I’m a little cold as I start riding, in general I will become comfortable as I heat up with the energy involved in operating a bicycle.
7. Wear eye protection of some sort.  Motorcyclists know this already, but depending on where you live, and time of year, there are going to be a lot of bugs in the air as you whiz through it.  Even at a reasonable bicycle speed like 20 mph (33 km/h), these bugs can be quite painful on your face as they smack into you (or more accurately, as you smack into them).  Imagine how that would feel if you smacked a bug with your open eye!  Not to mention the various pebbles and particles kicked up by motorists and cyclists (including yourself from your front wheel).  It doesn’t have to be expensive (although it certainly can be if that’s your jam)…you can usually pick up a cheap pair of sunglasses or safety glasses that do the job for under $15.  When cycling you can deal with minor injuries to most parts of your body; your eye is really NOT one of those parts.
8. Pay attention to your tire pressure, both before and during your ride.  When I started riding a lot, I was the kind of guy who would inflate my tires every two months (whether they needed it or not!).  After a while, I would begin to notice that sometimes it took a lot more effort for me to get up to speed on a bike…later I would figure out that these “sometimes” where when my tire pressures were running low.  Road bike tires are fast because they operate at very high air pressures.  Over time, tires lose a lot of pressure (especially if running with a tube).  The rule of thumb I use now is every few days.  If it has been more than a few days since I last rode my road bike, then I pump up the tires to the maximum recommended pressure before I start a ride.  While riding it never hurts to glance at or “pinch” your tires once in a while to make sure there isn’t a slow or fast leak.  Many times something has felt vaguely “funny” about the bike during a ride, only to realize later I was basically riding on a flat tire (which is a no-no, in case you didn’t know).