Completely New to Cycling.

[ShaMor]

Hello everyone, I have recently gained an interest in the sport of cycling and wish to compete in races in the not so far off future. I have next to no idea as to how to get started, which equipment is needed, what would be considered good brands, or what to do to help improve myself so I have turned my attention to these forums in hopes recieving some form of guidance from the community. Please help me get started.

I am 16 years of age so please keep that in mind if you wish to help me. (By this I mean price ranges for gear, training, tips, and things of this nature.)

Thank you for your kindness.

 

[An old Guy]

I don't want to discourage you but: bike racers fall down a lot. (Yesterday, I was watching Tulsa Tough races. In the women Pro race 8 crashes in 11 minutes. The men Pro race was similar. The amateur races were not the prettiest.)

Get good insurance and a cheap bike. And go at it.

 

[kdelong]

If you are in the US, the first thing that you need to do is go to the USAC website and find a cycling club in your area. http://www.usacycling.org/road/
Try to find a club that has a racing team. They can help you get the equipment that you need and help you with a training program. Most clubs go out of their way to help aspiring cyclists and I don't think that you will be disappointed with joining them.

 

[limerickman]

Originally Posted by ShaMor .

Hello everyone, I have recently gained an interest in the sport of cycling and wish to compete in races in the not so far off future. I have next to no idea as to how to get started, which equipment is needed, what would be considered good brands, or what to do to help improve myself so I have turned my attention to these forums in hopes recieving some form of guidance from the community. Please help me get started.

I am 16 years of age so please keep that in mind if you wish to help me. (By this I mean price ranges for gear, training, tips, and things of this nature.)

Thank you for your kindness.

Your budget will determine the kind of bike/equipment that you can afford to buy.

I would suggest that you don't spend too much on a bike initially - you could easily spends lots of money on a great bike with all the latest
accessories etc but you may end up hating the sport and you don't want to have shelled out lots of money if that happened.

If you want to compete the best bet is to join a club near you. That way you can learn about the sport and how to learn. But more importantly you get to learn about yourself. You'll learn how much your body can train and how you cop with adversity when the terrain
gets tougher and the speed gets quicker.
It's the athlete not the bike which makes you a better cyclist. Put Contador on a unicycle and he's probably beat the majority of riders
on this site!
Couple of things to remember progress in the sport takes times and experience. It's more of a marathon than a sprint. So keep your eyes open and try to learn the game.
A club with a good coach is a pre-requisite.

Above all cycling/racing should be fun. In this sport you have more bad days than good, so you need to be able to get some enjoyment out of the sport despite those bad days.

 

[ShaMor]

Thank you for the advice everyone, I have succesfully found a local club in my area that I will join soon.

For my bike, I am looking into getting a Tommaso Imola (around $500 new) for my first bike, I have read mixed reviews for this bike but it looks to be a nice entery level bike.

Once again thank you for the support.

 

[limerickman]

Originally Posted by ShaMor .

Thank you for the advice everyone, I have succesfully found a local club in my area that I will join soon.

For my bike, I am looking into getting a Tommaso Imola (around $500 new) for my first bike, I have read mixed reviews for this bike but it looks to be a nice entery level bike.

Once again thank you for the support.

Keep us posted as to your progress will you?
After all if we're dealing with new Greg LeMond, I'd like to say later that I played my part /img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif

 

[kdelong]

The Tommaso Imola is a good starting point. You are getting a good deal at $500 since it normally starts around $900.

 

[ShaMor]

I will try to keep you guys updated; once again thank you for all the support everyone. Also, I have yet to see an Imola that was above $700 and that was due to several upgrades from the shop standards along with a life time frame warrenty. Did you by chance see one in a local shop because they might have marked the price up quite a bit?

Update-

-Got a gym membership. ( Do you have any advice for a good routine?)
-Started waking up early to run 3 miles a day in the morning.
-Amped up daily milage to 18 miles/day (On gravel trail with my mountian bike. Finish time is around 1hr 9 min.)

 

[kdelong]

I was going by the MSRP on Tomasso's website. I suppose that they don't sell as well as the manufacturer thought they would.

As far as a training schedule is concerned, you should probably move your questions to the Cycling Training and Power Training sections of this forum. The guys who lurk over there are much more qualified to give you tips on training than most of us here. The only advise that I can give you for Gym Training would be to concentrate only on your upper body and core. Your legs are getting all the exercise that they need through your running and cycling. Make sure that you are taking at least one off at least one day a week from both running and cycling to give your legs time to rest. Two days spaced out over the week would be even better. These would be good days to hit the gym for your upper body and core routines.

 

[mkadam68]

Our local saying is: "It takes 3-4 years to make a racer".

Here's some steps:

• Join a local club. Tell them you're new and would like to get into racing.
• Find a competent bike shop. Give them the business you can. Hang out every once-in-awhile. Don't annoy the people there by getting in the way of them doing their jobs. Tell them you're new to the sport, and would like to get into racing.
• Ride with others. These would be called "group rides" and are very important in the development of your bike handling skills.
• Find a junior development team to join/ride with. Use your new contacts/friends at the bike shop or club to find out which are the good ones.
• Ride lots. In the beginning, putting in the hours on the bike is the best/fastest way to get in race shape.

Also, don't lift weights using upper body muscles. It only adds bulk. (In cycling, weight is the enemy.) Any strength gains you get will come from the simple fact of you moving weights around getting the equipment set up for the leg exercises.

At your age, running is okay, but if you want to go far in this sport, eventually you'll want to drop that as well so you can concentrate on cycling. However, if you plan on doing triathlons... that's a different beast and running/swimming will benefit you.

In thinking about your riding, focus on "hours" not miles. It'll help you down the road.

At 16, you're kind of hitting the sport late for a junior and are at a slight disadvantage. Next year's 17-18's who are already racing? Some are already cat 1's & 2's--the top end of the sport. The 16 year-olds aren't too far behind (cat 3's & 2's). If & when you get dropped in your first race, don't get discouraged & give up! Every racer every where has gotten dropped at one point or another. It's what you do next that determines your success. Get back on the bike, and race again. Eventually, you'll keep up and maybe even get some wins along the way.

Good luck.

 

[Kiko4life3]

Hello there, I also am 16, just to let you know I too am getting a road bike, on Tuesday.( http://www.scott-sports.com/us_en/product/10052/55736/218120 ) Check out my thread I just posted to see the things I've bought so far. I look forward to kicking your ass in a race one day /img/vbsmilies/smilies/biggrin.gif

 

[Kiko4life3]

That is great advice, I looked and found a development team within a day. Going to ride with them on Wednesday. I get my first road bike in two days /img/vbsmilies/smilies/icon14.gif

 

[Reid2]

Am sure you guys will be just fine. To be sixteen today, is like when I was sixteen, the first Earth Day.

Love to you all, for always, from The First Earth Day (1970), when I was sixteen too,

Reidy D.O.B.

05 22 1954


at twenty six, with a Bush Kaleidoscope, at Hardie Road, Miami, Florida, waiting for a guest, you.

http://www.cyclingforums.com/forum/thread/485791/people-verses/210
"How old are you, Aguilar....?"

 

[Kiko4life3]

Originally Posted by Reid2 .

Am sure you guys will be just fine. To be sixteen today, is like when I was sixteen, the first Earth Day.

Love to you all, for always, from The First Earth Day (1970), when I was sixteen too,

Reidy D.O.B.

05 22 1954


at twenty six, with a Bush Kaleidoscope, at Hardie Road, Miami, Florida, waiting for a guest, you.

http://www.cyclingforums.com/forum/thread/485791/people-verses/210
"How old are you, Aguilar....?"

It's cool to see someone else on the forums from Miami /img/vbsmilies/smilies/icon14.gif