Cycling

First and foremost, for the North Americans (or New South Welshmen, for that matter) who love litigation so much, I should point out that I am not a doctor, or an expert of any kind, so if you follow this advice and it kills you, please don't come back from the dead and sue me. I am ill-equipped to handle zombies, and besides if you're enough of a sheep to follow the advise off some guy's blog without taking into consideration your own circumstance, then you probably deserve what ever comes your way. If there's someone you do feel you need to sue, it is probably yourself for being such an idiot in the first place.

The whole thing started in May, and by June I had started to consider cycling to help improve my health. Plans solidified in August when I bought a Garmin Forerunner 305 and a bike, however all of those juicy details can be found in my original post.

If you just noticed how small your scroll-bar's thumb is smaller than usual, and you're the type who prefers to get the headlines but not the news, you may proceed to read just the headings from here on and we can pretend you read the article.

Get the right bike

Possibly the most important thing you could do is get the right bike for your body and the activity you want to do. You wouldn't drive a Peugeot 206 in severe off-road conditions, right? Okay, maybe some people would—bad example…

It's actually quite important to get a bike that fits your size when you're not a casual rider. You can exhaust yourself faster because your bike doesn't fit you, but also hurt your knees in some more extreme cases. Both the bike frame and the height of the seat should be fitted properly, and I would strongly recommend going to a real bike shop to discuss your needs.

Purchasing a bike from a local bike shop is a good thing for several reasons, but mainly because they will know your neighbourhood and the equipment better than anyone, and many of them will also record the frame's serial number (which is usually discreetly welded into the frame) to help if your bike gets stolen. Generic and franchised sports shops are horrible and not worth the effort if you want to do this properly.

While you're at it, don't forget to buy some other necessities such as front and rear lights, a pump for your tyres, and a helmet (even if it's not required where you live, unless of course you think “cerebral contusion” sounds like fun).

Some countries have some excellent incentives, such as tax-free bikes in the UK under the “cycle to work scheme”. Here in Belgium our employers are required to help pay annual fees towards our transportation on top of our normal salary, which includes the price of public transport, petrol, and of course cycling gear!

If you do get a second hand bike, check out any engraving or serial number to make sure it's not stolen, and before you hit the road make sure you take it to a bike shop and have it checked out, or beware the consequences.

I bought myself a (slightly “hybrid”) mountain bike because I wanted strong gears, wide tyres for winter, and the ability to go off-road whenever I wanted. I don't have room for two bikes in my apartment, so this was a good compromise. A road bike would normally better suit my commuting needs, and while a mountain bike is more effort to ride on the road, mostly due to the tyres, I enjoy the extra torture!

Get a good lock and use it properly

Actually, don't get a lock. I'm happy to lock my bike up securely in the knowledge that your bike will be much more attractive because you didn't bother securing it very well. It entertains me greatly to see people who have spent the money on an expensive lock, only to use it poorly. The end result is always a bike with no wheels, and eventually nothing other than the frame will remain.

Thieves are idiots, otherwise they wouldn't steal in the first place, but the rule with bikes seems to be that you should spend ¹⁄₁₀^th of the value of the bike on its security. Don't just buy one lock, buy at least two—of different types—where one can be used to secure the wheels to the frame, and the other can be used to secure the frame and a wheel to something else. Using two different locks of two different types will make life harder for the common bike thief.

I've seen bikes secured with two excellent locks in a public area, but to a street bollard, which means nobody can ride the bike but they can certainly pick it up and take it to somewhere secluded to remove the lock. Use common sense.

Many cities will have serial number registration services for the frame, and also centralised databases with engraving services, all designed to help track your bike down if it does manage to be stolen. These services are incredibly successful and often dirt-cheap.

I bought an ABUS Bordo 6000 folding lock for the frame and one wheel, and a much cheaper YPK Klepto 1.2, more as a deterrent.

If you're doing it for fitness, monitor your heart-rate

Obviously, I bought the Forerunner primarily as a heart-rate monitor because it's very important not to over exert one's self when trying to start any kind of exercise routine. Almost every expert recommends you talk to your doctor before you start any diet or exercise programme, or at least get yourself a good quality heart-rate monitor that uses a strap for the chest for accuracy.

The key to the heart-rate monitor is being cautious of your heart-rate “zones”. Anything over 90% of your maximum heart-rate is going to thrash your body to bits and ultimately not do you any good unless you're some sort of ultra-fit iron-man freak.

The zone between 80–90% is considered for “anaerobic” exercise, meaning your body will burn short-term energy, called “glycogen” by the boffins. The by-product of converting this into energy is lactic acid, which isn't easily removed from your muscles. Lactic acid makes your muscles feel sore, so normally the serious health nuts do this kind of training to build up a resistance to this.

More interesting to us novices wanting to burn some fat is the zone between 60–80% of your maximum heart-rate. Within this range, your cycling will burn fat, and build your endurance. Personally, find trying to maintain 75% of your maximum has the added bonus of really improving your cardiovascular system—your breathing and circulation.

Drink

Your heart rate can be effected by a few things, including how hot you are, or how dehydrated you are. They say you should drink water every 15-minutes during your exercise. Most sports drinks are essentially bollocks, but if you're exercising vigorously and sweating a lot, then a sports drink labelled as “isotonic” may be good for you to replenish spent minerals properly rather than diluting what's left of the ones that remain in your body, which can cause cramps and other problems.

Sports drinks in general are only good because they have flavouring that makes you more likely to drink more intently than you would with boring old water. Keep in mind that the sports drink market is growing quickly, and the manufacturers know that their largest demographic is in fact lazy sods sitting in front of their television believing they're being healthy by drinking such a thing.

I've noticed that by making sure I'm well hydrated before, during, and after a cycle, I feel a lot more comfortable on the bike, and my muscles don't get sore after a ride. Once I've cycled to work, I continue to drink at least another litre of water over the first hour in the office.

Wear the right stuff

As a non-cyclist, you've probably considered all those guys on bikes with their Lycra tights and Gore-Tex jackets as daggy yuppie sleaze-balls. There's a reason they've neglected their fashion sense and donned their skin-tight costume: comfort.

Dare I say it, the best things I've bought since starting cycling are a bunch of things from Endura, including a Venturi eVENT jacket, their Frontline Base Layer their Hummvee Shorts and their MT500 tights for the mornings where it's ⪅0℃.

Ignoring fashion, as I usually do, I can honestly say I don't think I've ever been more comfortable on my bike. Both the top and the leggings are make out of “wicking” fabrics, which is the technical way of saying it will take the sweat from your skin and get rid of it on the surface rather than soak it up. This is important, because it means after sweating on the way up a hill, the wind won't make me freeze going down the other side. Combined with the jacket, I can regulate my temperature perfectly and remain dry in some pretty heavy rain.

I try to dress about ≈5–10℃ below the outside temperature, because after a kilometre I know my body will be pumping out the Joules.

I will admit that I'm also lucky that my office provides a (very modest) changing room and a shower for those who dare to commute to work by bike or go running during the day. I carry my day-clothes in a backpack on my way to work which adds a few more kilograms of torture to my journey, but it means I'm not wearing stale and crinkled clothes from my desk drawer.

If you're unable to handle your friends and colleagues berating you for not cycling in your everyday clothes with trouser clips, then perhaps your should remain uncomfortable yet psychologically sound. Personally, I'm happy with my level of insanity and don't care too much what others think, and therefore would rather be comfortable.

Learn how to ride your bike, again

It strikes me as something that's not particularly obvious, and nobody really talks about this, but cycling to work isn't the same as when you were cycling around your neighbourhood as a child. You will need to learn how to ride your bike on a much higher level.

For the most part, you'll need to figure this out yourself, but it's mostly self explanatory. Make sure you cycle on the right side of the road, and if it's a cycling lane make sure it's following the direction of the traffic. I've seen too many cyclists run into each other, or even into pedestrians, because they're simply on the wrong side of the road. Likewise, don't run red lights! In general, don't do what you wouldn't do in your car.

Secondly, learn how to use your gears. Unless you've bought a bike with hub-gears, you need to make sure you drop down into lower gears as you're slowing down. The reason for this is that you cannot change gears when you're not pedalling, unless you want to damage your gears. The best way I've found to do this is to continue pedal while dropping down the gears and braking.

Thirdly, use your front brake rather than your rear brake and go easy on them. Unless you're foolish enough to slam on the front brake, there's little chance of you flipping over your handle-bars. If you're braking on a down-hill slope, pair the front brake with the rear brake. This may seem illogical, but the front brake will make you a safer cyclist. You have more braking power and control with the front brake, where as the rear brake will make you skid and slip in situations where the front brake would have stopped you safely. Alternatively, ignore that and learn physics.

Finally, just as you would when you're driving a car, you need to be aware of what's going on around you. Unless you've bought a mirror for your helmet or your handle-bars, you'll need to learn to listen to traffic, look over your shoulder, and use your arm to indicate when you're turning, all without veering all over the road.

One day on the way to work, I was sitting in a cycling lane at some traffic lights waiting for the little red bike to turn into a little green bike. The road I was crossing is a six lane monstrosity filled with angry motorists on their way to work, and next to me was a traffic cop taking a breather. Along side me rocked up a woman who was too impatient to bother with this red light, and sensing a lull in the traffic she decided to cross the road.

As you'd expect, a car “came out of no-where” and swerved to avoid her. In her panic, she turned, but straight into more on-coming traffic. Further panic caused her to turn again, lose momentum and collapse on the nature strip between the cycle lane and the perpendicular road, cursing the drivers in a torrent of French abuse. It was a close call, and if the cop didn't collapse to his knees in laughter beside me, I probably wouldn't have laughed all the way until the next set of lights.

There's a lesson in there somewhere.

Get the nerve

If you've always taken public transport or driven to work, you probably haven't noticed just how many people are already commuting to work by bike. If you're living in a city, keep an eye out for cyclists, and you'll start to notice more and more of us. We're out there, and there's no reason why you shouldn't be.

Believe it or not, while you may get the occasional prick driving on the road around you, the majority of motorists will respect you being on the road just as they would another car, so long as you respect the road rules. In 1968, the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic decreed that cyclists are drivers, and bikes are equivalent to cars, so feel free to remind the red-necks of this fact.

Bike lanes are becoming more common, and many cities are committed to improving facilities for cyclists. For example, around Brussels, they're in the process of building regional “cycle-ways”, complete with stretches of high quality asphalt paths that motorists could only dream of.

If you're uneasy, decide on a route and try it on a weekend, or alternatively leave for work earlier (or later) in the morning. Don't forget to time your trip, adding extra time for traffic lights that were green, and keeping an eye out for cycle lanes that might not be obvious when you whiz past them.

Don't be a wimp: get out there and build your confidence.