Total Newbie Needs Help!

[oneskineejosie]

Hi Everyone! I am a TOTAL biking newbie...just got my first bike in over 10 years a couple of weeks ago. Long story short, I fell in love with spinning at the gym, decided to try some sprint triathalons, and my super wonderful boyfriend bought me my new Trek 2.3 WSD Anyhoo, I have been taking it out for 20-30 mile rides a few times a week since I got it, and I'm getting used to it (even had my first clipless pedal no-speed fall!) except....I am a bit confused about braking. Should I be using my front brake primarily? What about on hills? Hills scare me quite a bit, but I'm often afraid to brake hard, 'cuz I'm afraid of skidding or flying over the handlebars. Any advice you can give me would be TOTALLY appreciated. I love, love, love riding my bike and I want to get better and more comfortable. Thanks all!!!

[madscot13]

I guess Sheldon Brown says the front brake is better for stopping power but I use them both. I've never gone flying over my handle bars but I've also never hit anything

[madscot13]

Also, welcome to the forum and please let us know how your biking adventures work out!

[redrhodie]

NO to the front brake question. That can make you endo, especially going down hill. You want to use both brakes, maybe slighly more emphasis on the back as you begin braking, but both in conjunction.

I had a "fishtail" when I was a newbie, where my back wheel slid from side to side while braking going fast downhill. Really scary. I was only rear braking at that point, and was really lucky not to fall. I asked here how to avoid that situation in the future, and was told use both brakes, hands on the drops while descending, feather the brakes, and bring my weight back so the rear wheel is making full contact. This has worked well.

Enjoy your bike! Hope this helps

[alpinerabbit]

I just had a road bike technique clinic.

They told us use both with the same emphasis, and true, the front has 70% of the braking power while the back has 30%.
This can be compensated: In an emergency stop, to avoid going over, slide your butt behind the saddle. In the extreme, so far that you are completely behind your saddle. Really straigthen your arms, pushing yourself back from the drops.

Practice on a light decline (safety first, try a parking lot). Accelerate and come to a full stop. Start going faster and braking harder. Do it as fast and hard as you are comfortable. You can make your back wheel lock if you have the courage. I didn't.

[VeloVT]

I use my front brakes a bit more than rear. If I'm just coming to a routine stop (like a light I've had time to anticipate) I will use both equally... But for reducing speed decending, or for sudden braking, I favor my front brake (although I don't use it to the exclusion of the rear) because I have experienced rear-wheel skids when slowing significantly while descending. This happens because generally speaking when you're descending you have relatively more weight over the front wheel, and braking, especially suddenly, exacerbates this, further de-weighting the rear wheel and reducing rear-wheel traction. It's a little scary when it happens, especially if you're riding in traffic. In any case, it's a good idea to consciously slide back and make sure you're keeping your rear wheel weighted when braking suddenly or while braking on a descent.

I'm coming down with a cold, somewhat fevery and sore throat, so I apologize if that was a little hard to follow, I'm having trouble concentrating on anything right now.

ETA: the rear wheel skids I've experienced have happened when I've been using my brakes evenly (50/50). I think once it happened because the roads were wet/snowy (luckily I had *read* about rear-tire skids and somehow immediately knew what was happening, and was able to pull out of it almost as soon as it started by letting up on the rear brake -- but it's still scary because you feel that rear tire going out from under you). I've definitely become a lot more aware of where my weight is too. However, it's a myth that using your front brake more, or exclusively, will cause you to fly over your handlebars. It's better to use both for various reasons (even rim & brake wear, not overheating on long hills, plus of course two brakes gives you more stopping power than one brake), but it's not dangerous to use just the front brake as long as you keep your weight back.

[Grog]

I just had a road bike technique clinic.

They told us use both with the same emphasis, and true, the front has 70% of the braking power while the back has 30%.
This can be compensated: In an emergency stop, to avoid going over, slide your butt behind the saddle. In the extreme, so far that you are completely behind your saddle. Really straigthen your arms, pushing yourself back from the drops.

Practice on a light decline (safety first, try a parking lot). Accelerate and come to a full stop. Start going faster and braking harder. Do it as fast and hard as you are comfortable. You can make your back wheel lock if you have the courage. I didn't.

Alpinerabbit gives you GREAT advice.

The front brake is your friend. Learn how to use it.

Why do people go flying over the handlebars? Because they never use their front brake, are afraid of it, then one day they HAVE to stop for some reason, so they jam the brakes. Their body and mind is not trained for that, they don't know how to react properly to the forces that are applied to them, and endo they go. Or maybe they'll just use the rear brake and fishtail as described above, endangering themselves but also whoever happens to be riding next to them.

Practice, practice, practice. When you use the front brake, shift your body weight to the back of the bike and know that your arms will have to absorb the shock. Eventually you would be able to use only your front brake, but it's still a good idea to use a combination of both.

[OakLeaf]

+1 to rabbit, liza and grog.

On descents, you want your weight to the back of the bike anyhow, and braking safely is only part of the reason (handling is most of it).

I'm honestly not sure if there is such a thing as going over the handlebars. On motorcycles, it just plain doesn't happen, but it's a huge myth that many people believe. What there is on motorcycles is what's known as a "highside," where the rear wheel loses traction and then regains it, which causes the rear of the bike to buck into the air. Away from the racetrack, it usually happens when someone uses too MUCH rear brake, locks up the wheel, then panics and lets off the brake.

One exception to the rule of emphasizing the front brake is where traction is iffy (such as on gravel and very wet roads). There, you do want to emphasize the rear brake, since you're basically planning to skid, and a rear-wheel skid is much easier to control.

[redrhodie]

Oh, so I was totally wrong. Yes to the front braking!

Oy, something else to master.

[Grog]

One exception to the rule of emphasizing the front brake is where traction is iffy (such as on gravel and very wet roads). There, you do want to emphasize the rear brake, since you're basically planning to skid, and a rear-wheel skid is much easier to control.

YES YES YES, that's right and important, I forgot to mention that.

Wet roads (and gravel) are different.

Practice on those, too

[oneskineejosie]

Thanks everyone for your advice! I really, really, appreciate it! I'm trying to get over my hill weenie-ness, and I'm sure that having confidence in my braking abilities will definitely help!

[JennyPi]

NO to the front brake question. That can make you endo, especially going down hill. You want to use both brakes, maybe slighly more emphasis on the back as you begin braking, but both in conjunction.

I had a "fishtail" when I was a newbie, where my back wheel slid from side to side while braking going fast downhill. Really scary. I was only rear braking at that point, and was really lucky not to fall. I asked here how to avoid that situation in the future, and was told use both brakes, hands on the drops while descending, feather the brakes, and bring my weight back so the rear wheel is making full contact. This has worked well.

Enjoy your bike! Hope this helps

Had that happen to me once. I was flying on a downhill path and there were a million acorns scattered right in my way. I had to think quick ... so, with my front brake, I braked harder than I have ever done before. Short story: my front wheel practically locked, back wheel came up, sending me over my handlebars, and landing a nice frontal face skid on the pavement. Good thing there was a bathroom about 15 ft from where I landed. And inside, behold, a mirror (to look at my face in)!

Yes, back brakes are nice

[PscyclePath]

Hi Everyone! I am a TOTAL biking newbie...just got my first bike in over 10 years a couple of weeks ago. Long story short, I fell in love with spinning at the gym, decided to try some sprint triathalons, and my super wonderful boyfriend bought me my new Trek 2.3 WSD Anyhoo, I have been taking it out for 20-30 mile rides a few times a week since I got it, and I'm getting used to it (even had my first clipless pedal no-speed fall!) except....I am a bit confused about braking. Should I be using my front brake primarily? What about on hills? Hills scare me quite a bit, but I'm often afraid to brake hard, 'cuz I'm afraid of skidding or flying over the handlebars. Any advice you can give me would be TOTALLY appreciated. I love, love, love riding my bike and I want to get better and more comfortable. Thanks all!!!

Use your front and rear brakes pretty much equally to come to a smooth stop. As others have mentioned, about 60 to 70% of your stopping power rides with your front brake, so this is a key thing to learn how to manage... when you need your stoppers, you usually need 'em pretty bad.

When you and your bike are traveling forward, due to your momentum you will slow down only if something pushes back at you from the front. The brakes cause the road surface to push back on the tires, and that push slows the bike down. Because you are up higher on your bike, and the push is down at the road surface level, while the push slows the bike, your momentum tends to make you feel like you're going to somersault over the handlebars.

The tendency to throw the rider over the bars is resisted by changes in the forces on the wheels on the road. The front wheel carries more weight, the back wheel carries less. The stronger the braking force on the front wheel, the more weight is shifted forward. If too much braking force is applied, the weight on the rear wheel tries to come up instead of pushing down on the road, and since there is nothing to hold the rear wheel down, the back end of the bike comes up and over you go...

The harder you apply the brakes, the greater the weight on the front wheels and the less the weight on the rear wheel. As long as both brakes are applied together, the rear wheel will eventually lock and start to skid while it is still bearing weight. When you feel the rear wheel start to skid or lock up, it's the signal to lessen the pressure on the front brake in order to maintain a controlled stop. Shifting your weight to the rear of the saddle helps counteract the natural tendency for the rider to keep going forward, and places more weight on the rear wheel to increase its braking effectiveness.

In the League bike courses, we cover braking in the parking lot drills; letting the students get used to how their brakes respond when used indepently, then used together. Finally we teach them the Emergency Stop or "panic stop," when you need to shut 'er down as quickly as possible to avoid a hazard.

To execute an emergency stop, level your pedals parallel to the ground, rise off the saddle and move your butt back as far behind the saddle as possible in order to shift your weight and center of gravity toward the rear of the bike, and tightly squeeze the brake levers in order to slow and stop. The front brake has the most stopping power, and you should squeeze the front brake lever much harder (~ 3 times as hard) as the rear brake levers. If coming to a complete stop, unclip one foot and put it down to complete the stop; however it’s often effective to panic stop enough to significantly slow down and buy you some reaction time, then execute a quick turn to avoid whatever it was that caused you to panic stop. It's a good skill to go out in a quiet parking lot and practice from time to time... as I mentioned, when you need it, you really need it ;-)

[Grog]

Had that happen to me once. I was flying on a downhill path and there were a million acorns scattered right in my way. I had to think quick ... so, with my front brake, I braked harder than I have ever done before. Short story: my front wheel practically locked, back wheel came up, sending me over my handlebars, and landing a nice frontal face skid on the pavement. Good thing there was a bathroom about 15 ft from where I landed. And inside, behold, a mirror (to look at my face in)!

Yes, back brakes are nice

I do not mean this to come out as rude, Jenny, but your example is exactly what a few of us above meant when saying that one has to become more familiar with the front brake. Please, please practice using your front brake and positioning your body so your rear wheel does NOT go up and you don't fly and land on your face ever again. Practice using both brakes at the same time, in the ways describe above and also very expertly by PscyclePath.

You are lucky you are able to to tell the story - and not disabled permanently from this accident. Please, please, please, learn proper braking technique so it doesn't happen...

[sfitz]

Hi, this is the first time i owned a road bike. I love spin class and riding bikes with my children. Now i have joined team in training to raise money for the leukemia and lymphoma society and entered in a triathlon. I would love any advice anyone has for me. after taking my road bike out today I am a little unsure about the gears. When i should be in what gear, should I be training in a hard gear, how many miles i should be training to get ready for my tri. As you can tell I have many questions. This is my first endurance event of any kind. If anyone has completed a olympic distace tri and has any advice at all i would so appriciate it.