Mentoring newbies

[shootingstar]

Admittedly nulijuk, I haven't risen from my saddle going up hills for the past....35 years.

And my partner who cycles on his own across mountain ranges, across Canada-U.S. several times and elsewhere doesn't either. He just bears down and goes up a long climb and is very good at this.

That's great you're teaching/mentoring.

[lph]

Good for you. nuliajuk! I hope you post about your experiences with this. I regularly wonder about what is the best way to encourage more people to take cycling, especially everyday transport cycling. I think the things we "regulars" consider important aren't always the things a newbie finds most challenging.

I agree that basic bike handling is important to feel safe and in control, and that route finding is a very important skill in urban cycling. I used to hate driving a car to places I hadn't been before, because route finding by car was a new skill I wasn't very good at - and if you take a wrong turn you can't just stop, pick up the car and turn around... ;-)

[Crankin]

I don't stand on hills, either, Shooting Star. I find it tiring and counter productive to my speed. I can spin up anything, often faster than others I ride with.
Mentoring new cyclists is very important, Nuliajuk. My club just did a clinic for real beginners, in a parking lot and then 10 miles on a bike trail, followed by a picnic. While I wasn't involved with this, I did speak to the person in charge and she said it went very well. We plan on offering it a few times a year.

[Melalvai]

We decided to cancel our Traffic Skills 101 class because not enough people registered. It was ok to have 2 students in March when the weather was awful, but the weather is perfect now and we only had 2 students register. We are going to replace it with a series of 1-hr workshops followed by 1/2-hr practical (parking lot or road). Our first workshop will be bike maintenance because that is a popular topic and I think it will draw a lot of people. Maybe we'll do a workshop that is just for women too.

[lor]

As a road bike newbie, I am appreciative of mentors! I'm keeping an eye out for classes in my area, I think I found one in June - the info is a little vague. I'm sure I could use some tips on shifting (when, how hard/soft to be pedaling, etc.), and just learning general biking etiquette. I'm also planning on taking my LBS up on their free weekly maintenance classes. They rotate between 4 class subjects each month.

[nuliajuk]

There are many reasons to get out of the saddle besides hills - starting up quickly when the light turns green, getting over level crossings and cattle grids with more even loading on the wheels. In any case, this woman wants to learn how to do it, so I'm willing to show her how.
Many of my best commuter skills were, oddly enough, learned on a velodrome while training for the weekly track racing league. It's surprising how useful a good standing start is in downtown rush hour traffic. And of course we had to learn to shoulder check to both sides without wavering, because we didn't want to switch up or down the banking without making sure there was no-one coming up behind us.

[Crankin]

Well, I've been able to survive without standing on hills in my 12 years of cycling, although I do stand to go over tracks (no cattle guards here).
On another mentoring note, yesterday we lead our club's annual new member ride. It's not really for new members, though. Because of threatening rain, we had a smaller turnout than usual. I was sweeping the faster group and ended up coaching 2 women. One just had difficulty with hills but wanted to challenge herself by going with the faster group. She stayed with us until the half way point and then rode back on her own, after I gave her some tips on shifting for hills. The other was a very fit and younger woman who just seemed to be in the wrong gear all of the time. I ended up staying with her and finally deduced that she had no idea how to shift, even though this was her second season with the bike! We finally stopped and I figured out she had SRAM, so I remembered something about the double tap, and voila, she was at least able to shift the front. I gave her more of a lesson, with my DH when we got back.
She had had no instruction from her LBS and had no idea how anything worked. Now, I am a mechanical dunce, but the fact that the shop let this person go off with such a lack of knowledge is just horrible. Then, I helped another couple with some other things.
I got a really nice email from the first woman, thanking me for teaching her. And the couple told DH and I that we are "the perfect cycling couple."