Cycling lessons and other tips how to encourage beginners?

practice, practice. I took the GF around hyde park on a quiet day. We had to drive (all of 2 miles) as she wasn't prepared to ride there :-)

but we did laps, slowly at first. initially more energy used up swearing at me instead of cycling, but towards the end she didn't want to stop. changing gears and everything!

IME there are two aspects, getting confident at handling a bike, and getting confident with traffic. I haven't got her to crack the latter yet - and the cycle paths in London are not exactly havens of safety.

maybe time for a list of good "trainer routes" in london?

mister_k: Nice bike that! I'll look around and see what I can find ...

fred: Yes, trainer routes is a great idea! As I said, Hackney Marshes are great. Anywhere near SE15 / New Cross Gate that people could think of for a training round?

that shitty park by the OKR tescos

Burgess Park? Yeah, might be an idea. Never been in that Park, only cycle past on my daily commute.

Burgess park is ideal.

it's usually quiet during the day, not sure about weekends.

unfortunately you appear to live in one of the most challenging areas for road cycling, especially for a beginner.

Richmond Park (of course!) is excellent if you want to make a day of it, and have a picnic or a pub lunch or something. And what about riding along the river to Windsor?

I think the trick is to make a date of it - include treats and incentives, keep complimenting her on how well she's doing (and how good she looks in her lycra), and go out somewhere swanky for overpriced pasta afterwards.

You might find you actually enjoy it. I took a very wobbly friend for a spin round Richmond Park a few months ago, and found I used all sorts of different muscles riding slowly for a change.

Richmond Park would be lovely. Unfortunately it's very far from SE15 if you haven't got a car and cannot ride down by bike to get there. But I'll see what I can do!

Richmond Park (of course!) is excellent if you want to make a day of it, and have a picnic or a pub lunch or something. And what about riding along the river to Windsor?

I think the trick is to make a date of it - include treats and incentives, keep complimenting her on how well she's doing (and how good she looks in her lycra), and go out somewhere swanky for overpriced pasta afterwards.

You might find you actually enjoy it. I took a very wobbly friend for a spin round Richmond Park a few months ago, and found I used all sorts of different muscles riding slowly for a change.

Definetely think a more chilled out ride is the way to go with anyone who is a beginner, especially when there is a chance to sit down and chat somewhere nice.

One of my mates took a mutual friend of ours over the Purbecks in Dorset for leisurely cycle, some pretty steep climbs and scary descents for someone that doesn't cycled regularly. Needless to say he wasn't so keen to come out a second time (after some coaxing he did).

Richmond Park would be lovely. Unfortunately it's very far from SE15 if you haven't got a car and cannot ride down by bike to get there. But I'll see what I can do!

Then jump on a train out to somewhere nice where there is a pub only a 2 mile circuit from the station, or where you can ride along the river for a bit...You might want to think about waiting till spring though. A beginners ride all wet and chafing won't be popular.

I know some of the people who do the training for Southwark and they are pretty good. They're friendly and teach well and the people who I know who've been through the training have been really pleased that they did it. It might help your gf to get some instruction from someone who has that teacher's authority (although they don't wield it too heavily).

I think one of the main things is that they're pretty good at understanding what people's fears and worries are about and working on them as well as teaching good riding. It's a good deal and I wouldn't pass it up.

richmond pk in london might be a good idea with the proper gearing...hilly!!!...hilly!!!

Try your local chapter of the LCC. I am active in the Tower Hamlets one and we do cycle training and a "buddy scheme". Not myself though, I'm too impatient, but the LCC is full of polite middle-aged ladies and gents, who will be delighted to do the training. You'll go a along in a "bike bus" with 5-10 people plus two instructors. This is, I believe, free.

About a quiet bit in New Cross, why don't you go along the back streets to Peckham Rye Common? You'll see one of the Magnificent Seven (google it) on the way, Nunhead Cementary.

My trick has been to do quiet, slow paced rides around the Thames Path or such like with female friends newly returned to the world of cycling - basically once they get a bit used to the bike and start thinking it's fun, they start building confidence.

Tried to organise training for them, they were having none of it.

I'm sure you can teach an old dog new tricks

About a quiet bit in New Cross, why don't you go along the back streets to Peckham Rye Common? You'll see one of the Magnificent Seven (google it) on the way, Nunhead Cementary.

Great idea. Some good pubs round the Rye as well, I guess. So that sunday roast could be the bribe :)

Ok, first of all, thanks for all the tips. Got my g/f to ride to peckham rye and back, and even though she looked a bit troubled with cars going past and stuff, she managed quite well.

Also, looking for a new, larger and less heavy bike, with a similar frame to the one seen above, so thanks for that tip as well.

And now the best news: She agreed to do a lead ride to freewheel and spend the day there, so it seems like she's having a bit of fun :)

good news Pascalo.

This is what I did when I started riding in December last year:

I sat at the front of buses and observed what was going on on the road.

I did a 1:1 training (free - check the cycling section on the TfL website) in February. It lasted 2 hours, it was a lovely crisp day. The trainer picked me up from home and we cycled to my work place with a few checkpoints on the way. I thought I'd be even more nervous having someone checking what I was doing but not at all. It was really useful actually and made a nice change from my husband screaming "ARE YOU CRAZY!?"...

I read Cyclecraft by John Franklin, an excellent book.

I even did some hypnotherapy, I was that nervous! It helped with my fear. I would go to bed with a knot in my stomach thinking of the travel to work and I would constantly have scenes of death in my mind. Crazy as once on the bike I was fine...

My confidence goes up and down all the time. I love my bike and also hate it, we're still in the process of building our relationship.

I also try to stay calm on the road and try to forget immediately when I've seen something scary. There are 1000s of safe journeys made everyday and a tiny percentage of accidents.

If I don't want to cycle I walk to work instead.

Being on the forum and going to the drinks is a great boost (thanks everybody)

I am also going to freewheel on Sunday and then Herne Hill.

I can't give exact directions (just back from pub) but from Lewisham you can take a few back streets & reach the Greenwich tunnel pretty easily to take you over to Canary Wharf. Do it on a weekend & there will be virtually no traffic around that area. From there if you want to go further you can easily get to the Hertford Union Canal / River Lea which I think is just amazing for Londoners - you can escape the city whilst being slap bang in it & see herons / ducllings & all that shit - birds love it.

Check the TFL website for route details - they are pretty good but you'll awant to dapt it. I'd advise doing the route yourself before taking your lady so she's not waiting around for you to work out where the hell you are.

I' used to do the canal route from turnpike lane to canary wharf as my daily commute & it is awesome - out of tottenham into tranquility.

Just make sure you go in front of her, slow down & ring your bell / shout like crazy as you go under the bridges.

Yeah, I was thinking about the isle of dogs and the canal :)

Things are getting better and better with me lady and cycling. Got her an old falcon steel bike off gumtree yesterday, which is massively lighter and much easier for her to handle. Even thoug I probably paid a wee bit to much for it, it's a very nice ride and already has paid off in my books. I got her to ride to surrey quays and greenland docks this morning, and for a bit she even felt confident enough to stay on a bus lane, and just some times she still wanted push across the husiest roads, i.e. Old Kent.

So proud of her :)

there's a group called Trixie Chix that was started for this very reason. Tell her to come out with us, her basket and shopper is more than welcome. We're talking about a ride right now, and our rides aren't like the "boy's" rides.
Otherwise I'd be more than happy to go out for a few hours with her, just the two of us, if she'd rather a woman than a man. Just give me a call.

Thanks roxy, that's really appreciated.

Today was a breakthrough really. We met at the Peckham Rye for a group ride to the Freewheel, and even though g/f was uneasy at the beginning and concerned to be in the way of other riders, she held up pretty well and when we got to Freewheel and had a little break and water, she started to really enjoy it.
Saw her having a big grin in her face when she went the way back to Tower Hill, combined effect from riding and watching kids / crazies / normal people on bikes and recumbents having such a good time.

mister k, you were so right about the bike choice. She handles the Falcon so much better than the shopper. It might need a repaint, and some new rims and all that ... ohh dear, did I just catch the bug that all you guys have and project it onto the g/f ride?

Anyway, you peeps here really helped a lot, so thanks for all those good tips!

that's great. It was a good day.

Great stuff man. I really likE to hear about things liKe this - more cyclists on the road the better. Apart from my advice on canals ( & believe me she will fall in love with cycling if you do this), if you can get to Peckham rRye easily then you can also get to Burgess Park - go down Rye Lane all the way - into the bus lane bit. When you get to the end cross over at the pedestrian crossing & go under the big arch. You can then go on the cycle path into the park - again great for beginners & shows a side of Peckham you wouldn't normally see. Wish you well - there are so many great anti-traffic routes to get round London - can anyone post some more?

Hi all,

Sorry if this is in the wrong place - I did try to UTFS I promise.

Just wondering if anyone knew of somewhere that does basic cycle coaching for adults? I don't mean cycletraining (although I have a lesson lined up with a local borough instructor for riding in traffic) - what I am after is someone who could help me to develop bike handling skills and get a better understanding of stuff like gear selection, pedalling technique.

I know that lots of you guys generally just work this stuff out yourselves by reading about stuff on here or the Sheldon Brown site or youtube videos, etc. I'm just not very good at teaching myself stuff and tend to overthink things - then end up sat at home when I should be out riding a bike!

I've had a look on google but couldn't find much apart from coaching for triathletes and serious racers (which I am definitely not - too fat for that!) I did find this though and wondered if anyone knew of something similar but for road riding:

http://www.ukbikeskills.co.uk/

I've also been on some group rides but feel bad about asking too many questions. Same with clubs too.

Any advice would be hugely appreciated!!!! Apologies for any grammatical or spelling errors.