Poll: Best advice

[profàvélo]

What is the best cycling advice you've ever received / read / heard? It can relate to anything: riding skills, training, eating, clothing, bike-buying...doesn't matter. If you could share only one piece of advice with other (women) cyclists, what would that be? What has made you a better, happier cyclist (mountain or road or whatever)?

[maryellen]

incredibly basic but for me it was crucial:

look where you want to go

[Pedal Wench]

Spin, don't mash. And make sure you're spinning in circles

[tatormc]

My hubby teaching me to draft

[CorsairMac]

believe it or not: the Cup in any of it's forms!



nice thread Prof - this will be fun to read! thanks for starting it!

[carback]

like maryellen, the best piece of advice I've been given is look where you want to go.

Whether I remember to heed the advice or not is a different story.

[ccnyc]

2 pieces of advice:
1. Sit all the way back on the seat when riding uphill (especially steep ones).
2. Get clipless pedals. It really does improve performance. I love mine.

[Ninabike]

Bike fit: Get the best fit you can. Make the bike fit you; not you fit the bike.

[trigurl]

It isn't as much the bike as it is the rider!

[mainerider]

Before my first and daunting long charity ride, my friend passed on this advice: don't eat or drink stuff you aren't used to; keep your shoulders relaxed; use easier gears to spin when your legs are tired; and most of all have fun. Seven years later I still carry a little card with these helpful hints with me on my charity ride.

[SadieKate]

Butt back and speed is your friend

[Trekhawk]

Give cycling a go, you will love it. (My husband)

[abarensfeld7]

Best ever is probably to spin the pedals;

But today I got a really awesome mtb tip. It was rainy and the roots were really treacherous, and my back wheel was sliding all over the place. My buddy had me loosen up the tension on my brake cables so that there was more play in the levers before the brakes engaged (in other words, you have to pull the levers further towards you before the pads grab the rim). Consciously or subconciously, you grab the brake levers when you're in a situation when you want a better grip and by doing this you end up grabbing LOTS of brake and the wheels can lock up. After adjusting my cables in this manner, I noticed that I was able to brake more subtly and effectively and when I grabbed the bar for more stability I only got a little brake instead of a whole handful. After that the roots became a lot less of a problem!

[MomOnBike]

You are more apt to regret the things you didn't do than the things you did.

Ask yourself "What's the worst that can happen?" It's never that bad. (Of course, I can get to nuclear armageddon in 12 steps from anywhere, but I'm in practice.)

[Grog]

two things:

1) spin don't mash

2) eat before you're hungry, drink before you're thirsty, rest before you're tired