Beginner Books For Cycling

[marni]

I second ride for life, and add Selene Yeagers "ride yourslef lean" perhaps not so much for the nutrition advice which although extremely useful, is not quite where I am at at this point, but her training advice and how to build strength, endurance and speed are very good.

[Bethany1]

LOL. I bought "Bike For Life" and "Every Woman's Guide To Cycling" when I first started. The first was completely overwhelming with information and so technical it made my head spin. Selene's book felt like you were already in shape, just buy the bike and happily ride off to her training. There doesn't seem to be a truly basic book.

I'm in terrible shape which is partly why I started and to ride with my son. I'm probably 215lbs and "should" be about 175.

Seizure medications cause major weight gain, some balance issues and does mess with your vision at times. As I got thinking about my vision while typing the entry, I realized that might be a huge part of my problems.

I don't have peripheral vision in the top right corners of my eyes due to a small stroke at birth that left me with epilepsy. As I think I've discovered now, that's made cycling that much harder since I haven't learned to compensate for that loss yet.

Since I naturally walk the bike on the right side if I'm stuck walking home or just getting on, it's eating my thighs with the pedals to pieces since I can't "see" it even though it's in my lower vision. Part of the front gears ate into my thigh today while riding..again when I got off. If I walk it on the left, I get eaten by the gears.

I'm out a car right now until Honda fixes it so I can't get a fitting done.

I think the balance is messed up because of my vision and because I'm overweight, I'm just slow and gaining speed just takes that much longer. I know I'm slowly getting fit, it would just be nice to ride a bike without feeling like I'm going to fall off.

Actually; the book "Mastering Mountain Bike Skills-2nd edition" has proved helpful since it talks about finding your center of balance and using that. I might have discovered that my 29er bike may be too small. However; I was trying out the concept and realized my legs are much stronger than I thought boosting some confidence.