Hot weather cycling is a lot more appealing than setting out for a ride in cold, gray, wintry weather. Longer days, no restrictive layers of clothing, easier pedaling with relaxed, warmed up muscles. But hot weather brings another set of challenges, and really hot weather can bring real danger.
High temperatures don’t have to stop you enjoying a good bike ride. Just follow these tips and guidelines to stay cool and safe when the mercury climbs higher than Mont Ventoux.
Do you have goals for cycling in 2020 – New Year resolutions to ride more, ride better, or go new places?
We do too, but rather than focus on the resolutions themselves we thought we’d gather highlights of the last decade of cycling tips and wisdom from our wonderful cycling community, and offer them as a resource to help you achieve your cycling goals, and keep your cycling resolutions, through this New Year and all the way through the new decade.
More and more cyclists are choosing to keep riding through the winter, thanks to better equipment, clothing, and a little know-how.
Good snow clearance on the bike lanes of cycling-friendly cities helps a lot too, but even without that you don’t have to stop racking up the miles, or take to a car, just because it turns cold.
In fact, winter riding can be really fun – there’s great satisfaction in defying the cold to enjoy the outdoors and stay fit.
On the other hand, winter brings some real hazards – some fairly obvious, some not so much – that call for a little preparation and common sense.
Here is a roundup of winter cycling tips to help you stay on two wheels, safely, through the deepest cold of the season.
Hills, let alone mountains, are surely the number one obstacle for new cyclists, as they are associated with hard work and pain and all that. This makes climbing hills one of the most daunting and challenging parts of riding a bicycle, especially for beginners who may try to avoid hills at all costs.
On the other hand, conquering difficult climbs on a bike gives you a sense of achievement and success that’s hard to equal any other way. Many times, you get the additional reward of incredible vistas that you feel you have truly earned.
With the correct gearing, technique, and attitude, you can learn to love the hills — to seek them out, challenge them, defy them — because hills can be a vital part of your cardiovascular training program, and that feeling of accomplishment at the top of the climb can be addictive!
This round up of our favorite cycling tips for climbing will help any cyclist ride up hills better. Whether you’re just setting out as a cyclist or you’ve been riding for ages, there’s no need to be daunted by the prospect of those steep hills. These cycling climbing techniques will help you conserve energy and enjoy the uphill ride a lot more.
