Chapter 1: Guide to safe On- and off-road operation
While you learn about your new bicycle and practice your cycling skills, do your first rides in a quiet area with little or no traffic, such as an empty parking lot. Without traffic or obstacles, you can concentrate on your cycling skills such as shifting or entering your pedals. Before starting out for your first ride, read Chapter 1 of this manual. Wear a helmet and be equipped for basic bicycle repairs such as repairing a flat tire.
After you master the basic cycling skills of shifting, braking, pedal entry, and get used to the handling of your new bicycle, you can try your favorite ride. If you are new to cycling and are interested in increasing your skills, do these early rides with a more experienced cyclist, watching their technique as you learn your own. Experienced cyclists can also show you good riding routes in your area.
This section discusses shifting for both derailleur and internal shifting systems.
When driving a car, you change gears to suit your driving speed. Changing gears keeps the car’s engine running at the optimum speed for power and acceleration. Riding a bicycle is no different—except your body is the engine—so as your speed varies on your bicycle, you should maintain a pedaling rate that allows good power. Some models of Trek bicycles have as many as 30 gears, and this wide ratio gearing allows you to more easily maintain your preferred rate of pedaling.
So what gear should you use? With time, you will find the pedaling rates most comfortable for you. If you are striving for peak performance, this will usually be somewhere between 80 and 100 crank revolutions per minute (RPM) depending on terrain and technique. The optimum pedaling rate varies because it takes practice to pedal smoothly at this higher rate, and most people find a lower rpm is more powerful when going uphill and a higher rpm is faster on the flats.
This faster pedaling technique is called “spinning.” Spinning means that instead of pushing only straight down on the pedals, you push the pedals in more of a circle. By spinning the pedals, you use more of your legs’ muscle groups. By using more muscle groups, you depend on each muscle group slightly less for the total power output. With the muscles working with less effort at the same cycling speed, each muscle group will fatigue less.
With a derailleur shifting system, you must be pedaling to shift. Not only must you be pedaling, but shifting works better if you are pedaling fast. To further increase shifting performance, decrease the pressure on the pedals as you shift. Since pedaling fast and decreasing your pedal pressure are both difficult on hills—especially at the same time—shifting on hills can be difficult. With experience, you will shift into the right gear combination before you actually get to the hill. Its better to approach a hill in a gear that is too low than one that is too high, because with higher pedaling speed (in a lower gear) you can shift, if desired.
With practice, gear selection will become more of an impulse or reflex, requiring little thought. When shifting becomes automatic, dealing with the other concerns of safe cycling (like automobiles, sewer grates, etc.) will become easier. This means shifting technique affects your safety—another reason why its a good idea to practice in a quiet area before you start out for your first ride in the ‘real world’.
With your left hand, select one of the two or three chainrings (depending on which model you are riding). Think of the chainrings in this way: the smallest chainring is for climbing hills, the largest ring is for downhills, and if your bicycle has a middle chainring, use it for flat, moderate, or rolling terrain. If you don't have three chainrings, just stick with whichever chainring you are in until your pedaling rate dictates that you need to shift.
With your right hand, select the gears within the terrain range you’re riding: flat, uphill, or downhill. On the rear gears, or cassette, the larger cogs provide easier pedaling, while the smaller ones make for harder pedaling (or faster riding). Avoid looking at the gears while riding; watch where you are going.
You can use all the gear combinations on the bicycle, but avoid the “cross-over gears.” These are the gears at the extremes of the range: the small-to-small gear combination and the big-to-big gear combination. In either of these combinations, the chain has to make an extreme angle to exit from one extreme and “cross-over” to the other extreme. While your bicycle’s gearing system is designed to accommodate this, cross-over gearing causes noise and accelerates wear of the drivetrain components. If one of the cross-over combinations suits your speed, you’ll also find a similar gear ratio available on the other chainring with a different rear cog, or if your bicycle has three chainrings, try the middle chainring.
With modern indexed shifting systems, a movement of the shifter from one position to the next (or movement of the shifter to the "shift" position) should promptly move the chain from one gear to the next. However, bicycles equipped with STI road shifters and triple chainrings may shift better, particularly when shifting from the smallest chainring to the middle, if you "hold” the lever for a moment before letting go of the shifter.
As pointed out in During Every Ride, braking should be with both brakes (if the bicycle is equipped with two brakes), but avoid over-use of the front brake, which might cause the rear wheel to lift or the front wheel to slide. This is especially important when descending a steep hill.
Your front brake provides more stopping power than the rear brake, so learn how to use it well. To keep the rear wheel from lifting under heavy braking, slide rearward over the seat and stay low over the bicycle. This moves your center of gravity back over the rear wheel so it is less likely to lift, an important technique for an emergency stop.
If you have to perform an emergency stop, you will get the most stopping power when your wheels are not skidding. Apply the brakes smoothly and evenly while modifying lever pressure to best control your speed.
When cornering, do the majority of your braking before you make your turn. Hard braking during the turn can cause your wheels to skid, which could cause you to lose control. Make sure your speed is reasonable, then ease off the brakes when you’re about halfway through the turn. If you have slowed sufficiently to approach with the brakes off and the wheels rolling freely, your bicycle will be more stable and the tires will provide better cornering traction.
The most important tip for climbing is to find the right gear selection before reaching the hill, as covered in Shifting. Once you've mastered gear selection, there are some additional techniques to make it easier to tame that climb.
On steep climbs, apply more weight to the front wheel so that the front wheel does not lift off the ground or become unstable. Move slightly forward on your bicycle seat. Lean forward and bend your elbows.
If you apply too much weight to the front wheel, you may not have enough weight on the rear wheel, making the rear tire lose traction and spin. Practice to find the right weight balance between front and rear wheels, and be ready change as you go.
When rear wheel spin is a problem, avoid “stomping” the pedals; instead try to spin. Make a conscious effort to pull upwards on the pedals. This requires toe clips, clipless pedals, or some other form of attachment of your shoe to the pedal. If you choose to stand on the pedals on a climb, it is more difficult to avoid stomping.
Whether you sit or stand for a climb is a matter of personal preference. In most cases you will be more efficient when climbing seated, so this is a good technique for longer climbs. Since you can exert more power when standing, usually you stand for short climbs. Sometimes it helps to alternate the two techniques because they use different muscle groups, and changing positions can provide a rest (sort of) for fatigued muscles.
The keys to safely and effectively descending a hill are speed control, weight distribution, and steering control. Your speed is controlled through experience and good braking, covered earlier. To keep your weight correctly in balance between the wheels on a steep downhill, move your weight rearward on the bicycle and as low as possible, just like when braking. Keep your feet on the pedals and keep the crankarms horizontal and parallel to the ground (unless you are cornering as you descend; see the Steering Control section). Keep your knees and elbows bent to allow your body to absorb some of the bumps and impacts during the descent. For extra stability, squeeze the seat between your thighs (some folks even like to squeeze the top tube with their legs). Avoid a “death grip” on your brakes, instead using them as outlined in the Braking section.
To avoid catching the inside pedal (the pedal on the side you are turning towards) on the ground, make sure that your outside pedal is down and your weight is on the outside pedal. Lean your bicycle in the direction of the turn, but slightly angle your upper body in the opposite direction, keeping your body and head more upright.
Initially, you will be concerned with where your front tire is going. But on rough pavement, or when there are obstacles like potholes in the road, you will also need to be concerned with the path your rear wheel is taking (its different than that of the front wheel), especially in tight corners. Steer so that both wheels follow the best paths.
There are many excellent sources of information about bicycle riding. One of the best ways to learn technique is to ride with and watch other riders. Many books have been written about bicycle technique, where to go, equipment selection, and maintenance. Bicycling is covered by many magazines devoted specifically to the sport. Videos are available covering educational information and events, especially covering the exciting sport of bicycle racing. There are also a number of cycling groups and associations covering racing, touring, or cycling advocacy. To find any or all of these, check with your Trek dealer, or visit the public library in your area.