Cycling in the Wind and Rain

Yesterday I cycled to college on the way I nearly slipped off a couple of times, when applying the rear brake, this is why its important to put your weight near the back of your bike, as it prevents skidding as well as haveing good tread on the bike.

Cycling home was terrible yesterday as I havent cycled for a while beacuse of snow, so I was unfit!!
It was windy and rainning the worst thing with the rain is that my jeans get socked and become heavy, aswell as wind blowing in my face as an added restistance.

My advice when cycling in the wind and rain, don't be too close to the side of the pavement incase you slip off your bike or get blown off!! Also car spray is anyoing if you are close to the side. Also when asending stay in a low gear and keep a steady pedel motion(cadence) and rember you will get up the hill in the end!!

Enjoy rideing!Your next ride will be your best!

Refueling tips.

It is important to refuel on a ride every 30 mins-1 hour otherwise your body will run out of energy and you will find it a struggle to carry on cycling. If you feel thirsty or hungry you haven't refueled at the right times, it takes trail and error to know at what intervals you need to refuel. 

I have tried gels although i find them a bit expensive, but i keep one spare in my saddle bag incase I am really struggling as they work quickly to restore energy. 

 I use around 4 oat snack bars on a 60 mile ride they work great as you can easily have , a little bite every so often.

  Another alternative to gels are flap jacks with raisins and oats in them, although if they aren't cooked fresh they can dry out and  be hard to eat.

 Bananas are also good although they can be hard to eat on the move, that is why the pros cut them up and put them in a sandwich to eat. I heard rice cakes also are a good source of energy.

Having a good breakfast meal before hand is important otherwise you could be low on energy before you set off, I recommend high carb food like pasta or have porridge. 

It is important to drink a little bit every so often, I have two water bottles on my bike although sometimes i only get though one.

 I fill one water bottle with squash and one water bottle with water. 

 I find grape fruit squash with a spoon full of sugar and a pinch of salt works best as it is a cheap alternative to energy drinks, and still tastes good. 

How to get correct seat height

Hi

I have found a good link on how to get your seat height right on this website
It gives you  different methods!! 


Look on bike rader its on the main page

Good Places to buy equipment

Today i faced the dreaded puncture on my mountain bike, I decided to carry on peddling, that was a bad idea as it completely split the tube into two, and slime trailed everywhere. This is the first time on my mountain bike that slime failed me although I didn't pump the inner tube up that meant the slime didn't work properly, also I had to replace the tire as it stretched as i carried on cycling. In future i will remember didn't  my pump!! Now I have the hard task off putting my back wheel  back on after I replaced the tube.


I may have missed a few places out in this recommendation so please comment and tell me.

I find wiggle a good place to get bike equipment as they deliver equipment fast and have a big range of equipment at good prices with free haribo!

Evens cycles is also a good place to buy bike equipment there online service is a great and they have good discounts.

Chain reaction cycles is also a good online shop which offer free delivery like evens cycles and wiggle!

Halfords is also another good place to buy bike gear as well it is best to reserve items online with halfords as they sometimes offer better deals.  Go outdoors is another good place to buy bike gear!

New links

Just to let everyone know this blog is not totally finshed and some of the pages won't have alot on.
Also a quick tip for road cyclists is have the right tires for the winter and they can prevent punctures from graval from the dirty country lanes. I suggest Ultra Gataskins as I use them although they could be a bit hevey for summer cycling.



For mountian bikers i suggest Slime inner tubes in my opionan they work really well as the other day i took my mountan bike tire off and found thorns in my tire but the tube still pumped up, i decided to take the form out and put the tube back on. Slime inner tubes work as they have slime inside of them, they are heaver then normal innertubes but work well against punctures. to make the slime fill the holes you just pump up the tire,cycle along abit then pump it up more then the hole should be filled with slime.  I wouldn't reccomend slime for a road bike asonce i pumped up my road bike tire and pulled the pump off then the slime exploeded all over me!! luckly it washed out. Also it didn't sususuffully fill the sake bite on my tire so i had to replace the tube.

Aim of the blog

Just to let everyone know this blog is not totally finished and some of the pages won't have a lot on.
Also a quick tip for road cyclists is having the right tires for the winter and they can prevent punctures from gravel from the dirty country lanes. I suggest Ultra Gataskins as I use them although they could be a bit heavy for summer cycling.

For mountian bikers i suggest Slime inner tubes in my opionan they work really well as the other day i took my mountan bike tire off and found thorns in my tire but the tube still pumped up, i decided to take the form out and put the tube back on. Slime inner tubes work as they have slime inside of them, they are heaver then normal innertubes but work well against punctures. to make the slime fill the holes you just pump up the tire,cycle along abit then pump it up more then the hole should be filled with slime.  I wouldn't reccomend slime for a road bike asonce i pumped up my road bike tire and pulled the pump off then the slime exploeded all over me!! luckly it washed out. Also it didn't sususuffully fill the sake bite on my tire so i had to replace the tube.