A couple of weeks ago, I spotted a woman starting her bike ride who was making an obvious mistake. That got me wondering — what are the most common mistakes we see new bikers make, time after time? I asked, and Bike Noob readers responded. The results are in!
I guess I’m not surprised by the outcome, although some mistakes I thought were very common didn’t even get a mention by the survey respondents. Anyway, here are the top five most common newbie mistakes, according to the readers of Bike Noob:
1. Inadequate hydration. This got more mentions than any other item. Apparently, we have all had experiences with the bonk.
2. Inadequate food. Could go hand-in-hand with hydration, but it got fewer overall votes. Still, second-highest tally, so nutrition is certainly on everyone’s mind.
3. Riding in too high a gear, at too low a cadence. This one didn’t occur to me, although when I started biking, I was as guilty of it as the next guy. Riding in a high cadence has helped me improve my cycling ability more than any other technique.
4. No helmet. I was a bit surprised by how many mentioned this one. Although I see people ride without helmets all the time, it still isn’t as common as it used to be. And maybe it won’t continue to be a major newbie mistake, because the kids I see on their bikes all wear helmets, and all seem to regard them as a kind of status symbol.
5. No light at night. There’s a guy in my neighborhood who rides for exercise, but always at night, and always without lights. Drives me nuts. I just know he’s going to get hit one of these nights.
Other mistakes that got multiple mentions included: Riding against traffic; the clipless fall; improper tire pressure (usually too low); and having the saddle too low.
Some mistakes that got only a single mention, but ones that I’ve seen: turning with the inside pedal down (it could catch the ground and cause a nasty fall); never resting, and in a similar vein, going hard on each ride; and finally, wearing underwear under bike shorts(!).
Good stuff, everyone. Thanks for contributing. Let’s help our fellow noobs by gently correcting their errors when we encounter them.
Oh, that woman whose mistake triggered the idea for this post — she put her helmet on backwards. Third person I’ve seen do that this summer.
I’m somewhat obsessive about fit and comfort, so it was no surprise that I was ready to ditch the stock Bontrager saddle that came with my Trek 2.1. I briefly tried the comfy Terry Liberator from my hybrid, but quickly found it too big and cushy for my road bike. One of the Specialized Body Geometry models followed, before I settled on the Bontrager inForm RL that has topped my seat post for the last four months, or about 2000 miles.
Some saddles try to address the latter problem with cutouts, but according to Bontrager, that simply focuses pressure on specific areas, and may actually increase symptoms, rather than alleviate them. Bontrager uses two different densities of foam in the inForm saddle to increase comfort, a stiffer foam in areas that support the skeletal structure, and a softer foam in areas that come into contact with soft tissues. With this method, and each size of saddle’s unique curvature, the company claims to support the skeletal structure properly, distributing the pressure evenly over soft tissue areas, rather than concentrating it in specific spots.
Saddles are one of those personal preference things, but I quickly discovered I liked the more rounded curves of the inForm. Previously I had been trying a Specialized Avatar Gel, which I found too flat for my taste. The Specialized’s cutout seemed to keep away any numbness, but I developed some weird back pain. That went away with the inForm RL. There is a short break-in period, but after that, I found the saddle relatively comfortable.
I have an embarrassment of cycling riches — but no place left to put them.