Newbie In Training



GypsyWildflower

New Member
Jun 2, 2015
5
2
0
35
Missouri
Hello all! So here it is, I am 26 and finally learning to ride a bicycle (I know I know, have I been living under a rock?). All of my life I had fears and dreams of riding with everyone else but unfortunately my fears always overruled. After a few months now, I have been able to actually move a distance and turn around. It has been a trying experience, but I am no where near done. I have a lot of areas to work on and my fears keep getting in the way. So I have a few question for all of you expert riders out there.. for starters, how do I get over some of these fears? I am always afraid of falling - although I know the saying if you fall get back on again - that saying is easier heard than adhered to. When I am done riding, my hands are in so much pain and difficult to move as I have spent my entire ride with a death grip on the handle bars. Although consciously I am aware that there is no need for this, and that it may actually hurt me in the event I do fall, I cannot seem to stop doing this. Any tips on squashing the fears and just enjoying the ride?
 
Welcome to cycling. I give newbie classes for my cycling club from time to time, so my first suggestion is to check out the recreational (versus racing) cycling clubs in your area. Often, such clubs will post rides specifically for newbies and they will go over a number of issues such as what you should carry (e.g., spare tube and CO2 bottles), safety, group riding techniques, etc. Second, research and select your initial routes very carefully. Stay away from busy roads. For example, we have a great set of paved trails here and motor vehicles are not allowed. You can easily do 50-60 miles and never have to contend with motor vehicles. Dealing with vehicles greatly complicates things. Third, learn to stop. It's actually not the stopping that's hard, you just squeeze the brakes. The hard part about stopping is when and how to release a foot from the pedal and get it down after you stop. Here's what I tell my newbies. Unclip a foot from your cleat early and stand up on the other pedal so that you are off the saddle well before the stop. When you come to a stop, you only have to lower your free foot to the ground. Fourth, learn to start on an upgrade. Starting on the flat is easy, because when you push down on the pedal, your bike will roll far enough and fast enough that you can take your time clipping in your other foot. When you start on an upgrade, the bike will slow down very quickly and you have very little time to clip in your free foot. I teach newbies to do a sort of stutter-step start, whereby you push down from the top to the bottom of the pedal stroke as with a normal start, but then you pull that foot backwards to the top and push it down again. You can repeat this stutter-step stroke as many times as necessary until you can safely clip in. This should get you going. By the way, I have fallen (or, as the people I ride with would say, crashed) several times. Good luck.
 
This thread reminds me of my first bike ride - when I finally learned upon the tutoring of my husband. We were in a forest park early in the morning so there were only few people which made the parking area a good place for biking. After an hour of riding by myself, I was too proud and a bit show off that my sight was gazing left and right while my bike was moving forward. That's when I hit a jeepney, huh. I almost fell down. And instead of reprimands, all the people there were laughing at me. What a big embarrassment.
 
Practice builds confidence. However, something tells me your fears may not be rooted in reality and there may be a psychological component at work. I get anxious in crowds (Agoraphobia) so I can understand how these fears may impact your life, should this be the case. Perhaps some discussion with a professional therapist can help.
 
Doctor Morbius said:
Practice builds confidence. However, something tells me your fears may not be rooted in reality and there may be a psychological component at work. I get anxious in crowds (Agoraphobia) so I can understand how these fears may impact your life, should this be the case. Perhaps some discussion with a professional therapist can help.
I really appreciate all of the responses in this thread, however this one stands out the most to me. I do suffer from a few fears unfortunately, agoraphobia being one of them. This is why I found your response so unique to the rest. How could you tell from my post that there was an underlying psychological component at work? As soon as a stranger is even "seemingly" present during my training process I shut down and suddenly everything I have learned no longer exists. The pain fear is deep rooted, but has yet to be resolved through professional help. At times I am able to power through the worst of pain without a second thought, but small pain brings intrusive thoughts of the "what could be" outcomes. I appreciate this response as it reminds me to look inward and focus on my abilities to ignore the potential of pain rather than fear it. Thank you.
 
You have to ride more in order to realize, "Hey, biking isn't actually so bad. Why was I scared of this in the first place?" Those were my exact words after riding a couple of times back in the day. Go slow, then increase your speed. If you don't want to get scared at biking, you need to practice balancing on one like a pro so you won't have the fear of falling off!
 
As you start riding more often, you tend to just lose the fear of falling down even as you start to do more and more rides. It gets to the point where the thought kind of drifts out of your mind for good. Even if you wind up falling sooner or later, then it won't cause you to pull up that old fear and then fear falling all over again. I ride on mountain trails on occasion, and I'm never afraid of falling, even though I probably should be. ;) It's a fear that's unwarranted for regular riding, and you'll get over it with more frequent cycling.