Effective Cycling

There are two other kinds of saddle soreness. An out-of-shape cyclist determined to make a trip no matter how long it takes can rub the skin off where the pressure is highest, and continued cycling delays healing. Application of lanolin ointment at the first sign of chafing helps some. Some cyclists are subject to saddle boils, white-headed pimples containing a hard core that develop in the areas of greatest frictional movement and moderate pressure. These can become very serious in professional racing cyclists who insist on racing regardless of them. For normal cyclists, a few days off the bike give relief. It is an uncomplicated pimple and, providing it is carefully done, opening the top of the pimple with a needle and gently squeezing out the core provides complete relief. Where these develop, you cannot treat them yourself—now is when you need a gentle friend. A preventive program of careful washing with soap and water helps if it is done frequently. Every time you use the toilet use toilet paper, a soapy sponge, and a freshwater rinse. If you get chapped, then apply skin lotion.

The saddle has to keep you far enough off the road that your feet and pedals won’t drag when you lean over for turns. This requirement places the pedals 4 inches off the ground at the bottom of the stroke, the saddle a leg stretch above. But you have to be able to put your foot to the ground to steady the bike when stopped. So the top tube of the bicycle frame must be low enough to let you lower your crotch over it and put at least one foot on the ground. This is the basic frame-size test. The top tube should be about 1 inch below your crotch when you are straddling the bike. (But remember that bike frame sizes are designated by the distance from crank axle to the top of the seat tube—which is rather less.)

Most bicycles have 6¾-inch (170-mm) cranks. There is no other choice except for cheap children’s cranks and the most expensive “custom-fit” cranks. The saddle should be raised so that you can just place your heels (in heelless shoes) on the pedals at the bottom position and pedal without rocking your hips. To test the fit of a bicycle without riding it, get near a wall, mount the bicycle and lean one shoulder against the wall, and then pedal backward, observing your leg action as you do so.

The next adjustment is complicated and sometimes cannot be properly done without purchasing parts (or maybe even a new bike). But it can be done reasonably well if you are of average build and have an average bike. The object is to adjust the basic triangle that forms the points of support where your body meets the bike: the pedal, saddle, and handlebar positions.

The first adjustment is to raise or lower the handlebar so its top is about 1 inch below the saddle height. Then set the handlebars so the ends point above the rear axle but below the rear wheel top. Set the saddle horizontally. Move the saddle forward or backward until you feel a natural posture when you reach forward to the top of the handlebars. Adjust the handlebar angle to give even pressure across the width of your palms. This is only a rough adjustment, and it will change as you become more accustomed to riding.

The next step is to adjust the handlebars forward or backward with a stem of different reach. This adjustment will also change your optimum saddle position. If in doing this you discover that the saddle is moved all the way forward or backward and you still are not comfortable, you may need a new frame with a steeper or shallower seat-tube angle and a different top-tube length. But it will take some time and practice to determine this. Most people get by with the frame they have, but quite a few will exchange stems.

The handlebars should be as wide as your shoulders, and the drop from top to bottom position should be such that the bottom position is comfortable when going fast or against the wind, and the top is a relaxed rest position useful for talking and watching the scenery. If you use flat or raised handlebars, you won’t have a fast position, so you will probably also keep your saddle further back. Most bikes designed for raised bars have shallower seat-tube angles so the saddle is further back relative to the pedal position.

Again, most people use what they have, but I advise every active road cyclist to adopt dropped bars.

Your feet should be placed so the biggest toe joint, where you have your weight at the end of a step, is just over the pedal spindle. When you adopt toe clips, get a size that just clears your shoe’s toe when your feet are correctly placed.

The position described is the general starting position, and it will change as your style of riding develops. The slow cyclist may prefer a more upright position, with the saddle and the handlebars far back. The faster cyclist must take a lower position to reduce wind resistance, so the saddle should be further forward and the handlebars forward and down. The cyclist who develops power with strong leg muscles tends to be further forward than the cyclist who concentrates on higher pedal speeds with less force.

Extremely tall cyclists require tall frames equipped with long seatposts and stems with long shanks and reach. Because production frames are made up to 27 inches, tall cyclists can be fitted with production frames. Production frames are also made for extremely short cyclists. Probably the best designs use 24-inch wheels or 650B wheels, because these allow the correct proportions with a smaller frame size. Good rims and tires in these sizes are now available.

Learning to balance and steer a bicycle is not hard, but it takes patience because the balancing and steering motions are generally so slight that the experienced cyclist is no longer conscious of them. The cyclist can use only some of the balancing sensations we feel when on our feet. The cyclist has to learn what being balanced on a bicycle feels like and what sensations must be ignored because they are irrelevant. Not only must the cyclist respond to the sensations from the balance organs in the inner ears; in addition, leg sensations that give false clues must be ignored. The cyclist must learn to respond to the sensation of the steering feedback forces that the bicycle feeds into the arms. The bicycle is controlled through the arms instead of through the legs and the body posture, so the cyclist has to learn to move the arms instead of the legs in accordance with sensations of balance and direction of travel.

This movement is easier than it sounds, because some of the balance sensations are the steering force feedback that you feel in your arms. And a good bicycle is stable; that is, it steers itself in the correct direction to remain upright. (See the discussion of stability in chapter 3.) Therefore, although the cyclist must control the bicycle through arm movement, much of the learning involves learning how to relax so that most of the time the bicycle steers itself, with the cyclist exercising positive control only when necessary. Finally, steering a bicycle involves three distinct steering motions for every turn. To turn right, for instance, the cyclist steers left to initiate the necessary lean, then right to make the turn, then further right to cancel the lean so it will be possible to straighten up in the new direction.

This behavior all sounds complicated, but it is so close to normal walking or running that little children who don’t understand anything about it can ride bicycles with consummate ease and grace. It is probably harder to learn as an adult, because the adult is not in the habit of learning new motor skills or of falling down and getting up again with a smile. But even when people first learn to ride bicycles as adults, they cannot describe how they do it. They don’t know, any more than they know how to walk or run. And in the same way, anyone who has ever learned how to ride never loses the skill. These effects show how well the bicycle integrates with our body’s normal control system.

Although the beginning cyclist doesn’t know what is being learned and basically learns by trial and error, learning goes fastest and with the least discouragement when the learning sequence detailed in this chapter is followed.

Always learn on a bicycle with a freewheel and hand brakes. Because a coaster brake prevents backpedaling, you cannot move the pedals to the correct positions for starting and stopping. This makes it much harder to learn to ride, and it is one reason why some Americans insist on having their saddles too low for effective pedaling. Because they can neither start nor stop properly with a coaster brake, they must sit so low that they can put their feet on the ground. Later, when they graduate to a freewheel bicycle, they fail to correct their technique because they don’t know that there is a proper technique for starting and stopping.

For learning to balance and steer a bicycle, you need a large, smooth, level area with very few obstructions or people about. An empty parking lot or playground is ideal. Before going there, get your saddle height adjusted as described in the section “Saddle Height and Bike Size” earlier in this chapter, or as much as 1 inch lower to make starting and stopping easier at the beginning. With a properly sized bicycle, you cannot lower the saddle to put both feet on the ground when sitting on the saddle, so don’t even try.

Because a bicycle won’t stay up without moving, the first thing to learn is how to steer it to correct each incipient fall. If the bike starts to fall to the left, steer to the left to put the wheels directly underneath it again. If the bike starts to fall to the right, steer to the right. Always steer toward the fall.

Start by straddling the bicycle with your crotch over the top tube. If you have dropped handlebars, get into position by lifting your leg over them and swinging your leg backward. If you have raised bars, lift your leg over the saddle and swing it forward. Move your left leg sideways, clear of the pedal. With your right foot, backpedal until the right pedal is down and put your right foot on it. Then put most of your weight on the right foot and push off with the left foot to coast forward. When you start to fall over, steer toward the fall and see if you can stay up. If you don’t fall down, extend your left foot forward and sideways clear of the pedal, apply the brakes to slow down, and just before you come to a stop, steer to the right so that you tilt toward your left foot, which is extended to hold you up. Repeat this until you can stay up as long as you keep pushing off with your left foot.

I recommend learning this procedure with your left foot free, because in countries where you ride on the right side of the road, the left foot often has a surer and higher footing when you stop. It is hard to change habits later. However, it might be helpful to develop equal habits on each side.

Now it is time to learn how to pedal. Get coasting fast enough to stay up for a while, straighten your right leg, move your crotch back over the saddle, and sit down. Put your left foot on its pedal, and pedal forward with both feet. Remember to steer to stay up while learning how pedaling feels. You will go for a while, and then you will fall over. Get up and try again. If you approach an obstacle, put the right pedal down, stand up on your right leg, move your crotch forward off the saddle and your left foot forward off the pedal, and you will be in the position for stopping that you have already practiced.

With a little practice, you should soon be able to pedal and stay upright while wandering all over the playground, although you may have to stop whenever you cannot avoid an obstruction.

Now you will learn to start properly. Straddle the bicycle. With your right foot, backpedal until the right pedal is forward and up, at about the two o’clock position. Stand up on the right pedal and the bicycle will start forward faster than when you were pushing off with your left foot against the ground. Just like before, move your crotch back over the saddle, sit down, and start pedaling with both feet.

Now that you can start, pedal, and stop consistently, it is time to raise the saddle to a more efficient height. Raise it to the height described in the section “Saddle Height and Bike Size” earlier in this chapter.

So far, you have been steering merely to stay up, but soon you will find that you have started to steer the way you want to go. If you consciously try to steer in a given direction, you will dump yourself, but if you unconsciously discover how to take advantage of the bicycle’s natural wobbles, you will find that you can make it go where you want, even though you don’t know how you do it.

Once you can steer to avoid running into walls or off the edges of the playground, you can get in a lot of practice. Try to steer first right, then left in a figure-eight pattern. When you can do that, try changing the size of each loop, and then try changing the speed. Soon you will be able to start, to steer circles of different curvatures at different speeds, to steer a pretty straight line, and to stop. You will then be ready for your first on-the-road cycling lesson.

To start, straddle your bike by swinging one leg over it. With a dropped-bar bike, swing your leg over the handlebars. With a raised-bar bike, swing your leg over the saddle. Then backpedal until one pedal is forward and high. Get moving by stepping onto that high pedal and kicking off with your other foot as it leaves the ground. Place your second foot on its pedal and pedal to pick up speed. As you do so, ease your crotch backward astride the saddle.

If you have walked your bike to the starting point, try the horseback-style starting method. Stand beside the bike. Backpedal the nearest pedal until it is forward and high. Step onto it with the correct foot, moving off and swinging the other leg over the saddle. Pedal to pick up speed and ease your crotch astride the saddle.

Slow down by squeezing the brake levers. Set one pedal high, the other low. Transfer your weight to the low pedal, sliding your crotch forward off the saddle and standing up. Take your foot off the high pedal and reach it toward the ground. Slow to a stop. Just before you stop, turn the wheel a little away from your free foot. This tips the bike toward your free foot. If you time it right, you stop going forward and start leaning over toward your free foot just as it touches the ground. In preparation for moving off again, backpedal until your pedal foot is forward and high again.

To carry your bike, stand beside it and pick it up by one front fork blade and one seat stay, about halfway between hub and rim. It balances well, and can be lifted over things or onto things. To carry your bike over curbs or steps, stand beside it and reach one hand over the saddle. With that hand, grasp the seat tube about half way down, and with the other grasp the handlebars. Pick up the bike and carry it under your arm, or grab the top tube with your right hand and hoist the bike over your shoulder.

Steering is the big mystery for beginners, but you just have to learn by trying. Once you learn, you never forget, because it is basically the same as turning while walking or running. Basically, it is a matter of coordinating the lean and the turn. The best way to learn is to start on a playground where it doesn’t matter which way you go. Don’t start by trying to steer straight, but steer toward the way you start to fall over. Follow the lean, going whichever way it takes you. After a bit of practice, you will become adept at monitoring the tendency to fall over and canceling it by steering toward the lean as soon as it starts. Soon after that, you will find out how to make the lean steer your bike the way you want it to go, and that is as much as most cyclists ever know about it.

With derailleurs, you must be pedaling in order to change gears. You control your shifting by the feel of the pedals and the sound of the chain.

First, learn to shift the rear derailleur, which is controlled by the right lever. The control might work by plain friction, by click-stops, or by impulse. Plain friction is the oldest system; the lever moves to wherever you place it. While pedaling, move the lever in one direction until you feel your feet change speed. You will also hear a rattle. Then move the lever a little, first in one direction and then in the other, until the rattling stops without another shift. With practice, you will learn to make smooth shifts, but don’t worry if you are noisy at first. If the lever works with click-stops, it will stop at the correct position for each gear. Just move it to the next click-stop and the derailleur will change as you pedal. If the lever works by impulse, you flick the lever in one direction to get the next higher gear, after which the lever returns to the central position. To get the next lower gear, flick the lever in the opposite direction. Again, the derailleur will make the change as you pedal.

Then learn to shift the front derailleur, controlled by the left lever. These are all friction levers. Because the front derailleur operates on the tight part of the chain, you must reduce your pedal force while shifting it. The rest of the technique is the same as described previously for friction levers for rear derailleurs.

With hub gears, slow your pedaling considerably and move the trigger to the new gear position. Then speed up your pedals to driving speed again.

Don’t wait until you are slowed by a hill to learn to shift. Practice on the level, where your bike will keep rolling while you are learning how to do it. And don’t keep riding in one gear—learning how to shift to suit the conditions makes cycling much easier and more enjoyable.

Use both levers equally at first. Squeeze the levers until you are slowing down at the rate you desire, or until the rear wheel starts to skid. Don’t let it skid—release both levers a little bit until it resumes turning.

Does cycling look like hard work? Look at the great road-racing cyclists and you will see effortless performance, mile after mile, with no movement other than smooth leg and ankle rotation. As fast as they go, even up hills where you would be heaving and straining, there is no sign of effort wasted on useless motion. The great mountain masters could catch and pass the pack on a terrible climb while looking more at ease than all the rest. That doesn’t mean you have to race to achieve that effortless action; it does mean that your body will take you miles further when you do achieve it.

The hallmark of the stylish cyclist is a steady flow of power all around the pedal circle and a smooth transfer of force from leg to leg, as shown in figure 22.1.

Figure 22.1

Ankling motion makes cycling better and more comfortable. The arrows indicate the direction and magnitude of the force applied to the pedal. At A, the cyclist tries to move his foot forward but cannot exert great force in this direction. The major part of the power stroke is from B to D, with force generally downward but directed increasingly rearward, attempting to push in the direction of pedal movement. From D through E, the cyclist attempts to push rearward on the pedal, aiding himself by extending his foot. As the foot proceeds through position F, the cyclist cannot exert any useful force on the pedal but tries to make his foot track the pedal’s motion without applying force, which would require power from the other leg. As the foot rises from G to H, the cyclist rapidly lifts his toe as far as he can, applying some upward force to the toestrap. Between H and A, the cyclist readies himself for pushing forward at the start of the power stroke by having his toe as far upward as it will go. Because of the angle of his shin, the upward limit of the toe’s travel is reached when the foot is approximately level.

This flow is achieved by pushing forward at the top of the circle, downward at the front, and backward at the bottom, and pulling upward at the back. It can be fully accomplished only if you use either toe clips, straps, and cleated shoes or a clipless foot-retention system, but you should get as close to the ideal with the equipment you regularly use, even if that is tennis shoes on rubber pedals. The foot should be positioned so that it can push on the pedal as far around the circle as possible. This position is heel down and toes up at the top of the circle, so that the foot pushes forward; heel and toes level at the front, pushing down; heel high and toes down at the bottom, pushing backward; and a quick lift of the toes to be ready to push forward before reaching the top again. This action means that the heel, and consequently the leg, makes a stroke smaller than the pedal circle. The leg stroke is then amplified by flexing the ankle. This stroke does three things: if you are a sprinter, it allows you to pedal faster before your oscillating thighs bounce you off the saddle. It divides the work between the thigh and the calf muscles in proportion to their strength. And it prevents the calf muscles from tightening, stiffening, and cramping.

Some people oppose ankling, for reasons unknown. They state that ankling has been disproved because it does not reduce the cyclist’s oxygen consumption, which is the only measurement reasonably possible. But ankling is valuable because it provides the advantages listed earlier, which were recognized long before oxygen consumption measurements.

The experienced cyclist breathes in deep, steady breaths, with almost every body muscle relaxed. The weight of the shoulders rests easily on the arms and the hands rest upon (without gripping) the handlebars. Only two sets of muscles must stay taut: the outer upper-arm muscles (which hold the arms extended) and the muscles that support the head. (Beginning cyclists don’t notice it, because their legs give out first, but a cyclist who has returned to cycling after months of skiing or skating feels sore in the upper outer arms and the neck after the first long day awheel.) Even on a twisting road, the cyclist is relaxed; there is no steering with the arms as in a car, just a graceful effortless lean into the turn and out again, with the bike steering itself. The only time the handlebars are gripped is to keep the wheel straight against the shocks from a bump or a chuckhole.

Grace and efficiency produce great suppleness. The cyclist’s feet rotate twice as fast as walking cadence: 60 revolutions per minute (rpm) is a slow pace, 80 a normal fast pace, 100 a racing pace, and 120 a sprinting pace. (Remember, each revolution is comparable to two steps.) At the end of a grueling day of racing, a professional masseur works out a cyclist’s fatigue and soreness by vibrating the muscles like jelly. You won’t achieve that suppleness of motion and muscle in your riding, but if you consciously train your body as best you can, you will put in mileages that astonish motorists, yet you will have neither stiffness nor pain, and you will have the best-shaped and most attractive legs in town.

You cannot ride safely without being able to look behind you before making any sideways move, whether on roadways or on bike paths. Faster drivers overtaking you in cars or on bicycles have the right to expect you to continue in a straight line. If you wish to move into or turn across any lane of traffic moving in your direction, you must first be sure that it is empty. It is easy to look ahead and see whether the road is empty of slower-moving traffic or stationary objects, but it is harder to look behind you to see that no faster vehicles are so close that you will dangerously interfere with their movement.

You have to learn how to look behind while continuing to ride in a reasonably straight line. Like all other bike-handling techniques, you should learn how to do this on quiet streets so that you can use the technique whenever you need it, whatever the traffic situation is.

Ride along a quiet street with a few parked cars, either a residential street or an industrial street on Sunday morning. Ride between the traffic lane and the parking lane, and when you reach a place where there are no parked cars, no cross streets, and no moving traffic, turn your head to look over your left shoulder. Look back for half a second, then look forward again and straighten your direction if you have wobbled. Then try the same thing over your right shoulder. Wherever there are no obstructions, try this again and again. Once you can turn your head without wobbling very much, become conscious of what you see behind you.

You should be able to turn your head far enough to see directly behind you, and to hold it there for long enough to see everything as big as a car a block away, or as big as another cyclist half a block away. This takes about a second. Just keep trying until you can do this. Most people who can already ride smoothly learn with about 10 minutes’ practice, but of course you cannot get 10 minutes’ continuous practice on most roads, so it will take possibly several rides before you develop the skill. Develop the skill to look both to the left and to the right—it is much easier if you learn both ways at once than if you first learn to look to the left (because that is the most frequent need) and then try to learn to look to the right.

Once you have learned this maneuver, you will never need to practice it again, for you will use it many times on every ride you take. You won’t understand how you managed to ride before you learned it. Yet approximately 50 percent of adult American cyclists don’t know how to look behind, so they continually take chances on being hit by overtaking cars by turning without looking first. And, of course, these cyclists are extremely dangerous to competent cyclists. So once you have learned, watch out for the idiots who haven’t. When you prepare to overtake a cyclist whom you don’t know, look behind and then give him lots of room as you overtake him.

Many cyclists who have developed their worries more than their skills are strong advocates of rear-view mirrors mounted on the helmet or on eyeglass frames. They argue that with such mirrors, they never have to turn their heads, and that mirrors are thus a necessity for cycling safety. In my opinion, their emotional response indicates that they are relying upon their mirrors to alleviate fears rather than to accomplish safe maneuvers, and that they confuse their presumed need to see regularly behind them with the looking and negotiating that I describe for lane changing. That is, they consider the rear-view mirror as protection against motorist-overtaking car-bike collisions, whereas I regard looking and negotiating as protection against cyclist-swerve car-bike collisions.

The rear-view mirror does not perform the same functions as turning the head to look. Turning the head brings all the rear and side areas into the field of view. You can see all objects in those areas. This view tells you if there is a rapidly overtaking car a long way back, or a slowly overtaking car alongside you. It also alerts the drivers, because they see your head turn. And it allows you to judge, from the closing speed and the distance, whether you have sufficient clear distance for your lane change, or whether the driver has slowed down to give you sufficient clearance. The mirror does none of these things properly, because it shows only a portion of the roadway at one time. If you want to scan from side to rear, you have to turn your head to the opposite side, which confuses the following drivers. Judging closing speed and distance is much less accurate in a mirror, particularly in a one-eye mirror of the type that cyclists use. The rear-view mirror is an ineffective substitute for turning the head when you want to change lanes.

Furthermore, it is dubious that the rear-view mirror provides effective protection against collisions by overtaking cars. The cyclist has to be looking in the mirror at the time the motorist is approaching for the mirror to have any effect. This timing is highly improbable because all drivers spend much more time looking where they are going than looking where they have been. Next, the mirror must warn the cyclist to get off the road before being hit. Despite having been told some anecdotes, I think it highly unlikely that cyclists will be able to observe that the overtaking vehicle will hit them unless they get off the road. As I see it, either you will get off the road when any vehicle (or any wide vehicle, or any vehicle of a particular type) approaches, or else you will have insufficient time to make the movement once it is obvious that the vehicle will hit you. Therefore, in order to obtain a significant degree of protection from a very unlikely type of accident, the cyclist will frequently get off the road. In comparison, by cycling properly, the average American adult cyclist can reduce his potential accident rate by 80 percent without ever getting off the road. Having done that, the cyclist may well feel safe enough that the inconvenience of frequently getting off the road is worse than the small further reduction in accident rate it can produce. This is certainly the judgment of most experienced cyclists, for they very rarely get off the road, and certainly they do not plan to do so unless the need is obvious.

The rear-view mirror has one other possible safety use. When you see trouble ahead that may cause you to change lanes, such as a pedestrian stepping off the curb, the mirror can give you a quick look to see whether it is unsafe to change lanes. If the mirror shows a vehicle, then you might be able to steer exactly between the pedestrian and the vehicle, or you might decide to slow down as much as possible before hitting the pedestrian. I think that this potential use is somewhat problematical, however, for though I have frequently diverted my course to avoid such hazards, I have never to my knowledge been between these two dangers at one time. This is largely, I think, because the following vehicle discourages the careless others.

The rear-view mirror has a few minor uses other than for safety. If you see something in it, you know that something is somewhere there. Then you might not bother to turn your head, but give up all chance of changing lanes until that something goes past. I find it simpler to turn my head the first time. When you have stopped at a stop signal, a rear-view mirror can let you see whether the motorist behind you wants to turn right, but again, it is perfectly easy to turn your head. The best use I find for a rear-view mirror is telling whether my cycling companion is right on my wheel or is lagging behind. I consider the total potential use for rear-view mirrors insufficient to justify fitting, maintaining, and carrying a mirror.

You may decide otherwise. I wish to emphasize that the decision is one of relative convenience or of comfort, not safety. For the cyclist who has neck pain when turning his head, as has occurred with me, a mirror can at least tell when there is no need to turn one’s head. Some cyclists now argue that the cyclist should stay quite far left in the lane, and move right only when he sees in his mirror that traffic is approaching. They argue that this position makes the cyclist more conspicuous. This conspicuity argument has not been supported by evidence, and it does not fit the traffic-engineering conditions. This is not a mirror issue. If the lane is so narrow that the motorist has to use the adjacent lane for overtaking, there is no use in moving right to invite him to squeeze through dangerously close. If the lane is sufficiently wide for safe overtaking within it, then the cyclist should be far enough right to enable such overtaking. See chapter 29 for more details. When it is a safety matter, you must turn your head; the chance that you will be able to save your life by seeing behind without turning your head is extremely remote. The convenience in having a mirror is in not having to turn your head when it is only a matter of politeness or curiosity to find out what is going on behind you.