Cycling lessons and other tips how to encourage beginners?

group rides would be a good place to start if you wish to learn a bit more, also most clubs have club rides at different paces, people tend to be very willing to share knowledge

also in your cycle training session things like use of gears, and basics of bike handling will be covered

gears made simple - you ideally wish for your legs to keep turning at a similar rate, like a car you have an optimum rpm range, so you use the gears to keep your legs turning comfortably. how your legs feel will indicate if you are in an appropriate gear - many road cyclists these days aim for a cadence around 90ish rpm

re handling - keep looking forwards and towards where you want to go, not at immediate hazards. try not to grip your bars too hard as you lose a lot of road feel

a one day mountain bike course would help you develop handling skills

Swerving, emergency stops and use of gears are covered in Cycle Training, as are signaling and looking behind. Which aspect of 'bike handling' do you feel deficient in? Who are you comparing yourself to? Not knowing how to use gears efficiently is something that we all see a lot of on the roads and there is, sadly, quite a bit of evidence on this here forum of people not knowing how to do an emergency stop. They are simple things to learn and practice so let your instructor know which areas you want to improve in. Feeling confident in your bike handling is actually a really important part of riding on the road.

Thanks very much for your speedy responses. It's useful to get some more info on what will be covered in my cycle training class. My lesson is booked for next week.

Will - I think my main problem is that it isn't anything specific - simply that I just want to be a better cyclist (although my long term goal is to be able to do audaxes, so maybe it's more than just handling skills if that makes sense). I am particularly interested in developing my cadence though and wonder whether I should have a go at fixed riding as a means to do this. Obviously I want to learn to trackstand to show off too!

Actually looking at the site I linked to makes me feel that a one day mtb course would be quite fun and would help me to HTFU.

Thanks again for your advice.

a cycling computer can help with cadence, as you have direct feedback as to how fast you are turning the pedals

Old school poster:

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.

Where are you based? The reason I ask if that I've just bought my gf a bike and I think she could really do with some lessons with a pro. She doesn't know how to drive either so has no clue in terms of how roads works.

There's a whole forum about cycle training
http://www.lfgss.com/forum49.html

Includes a thread about Cycle training providers so you can find out who you can have a lesson with.

Old school poster:

Brilliant. I'm borrowing that!

It's a real puzzle to me that Cycling Proficiency is still so well known but Bikeability is not.
Had a lorry driver lean out of his cab and ask if we were teaching 'Cycling Proficiency' just yesterday. He then asked why the kids weren't wearing hi-viz and I waived him on his way.

I just think it's a generation thing... the 'older' folk all did their Cycling Proficiency (I hope!)

Well, speaking as one of the older folk.....
Personally I think Bikeability is a terrible name; not so easy to read as a real word and doesn't really tell you what it's about.
Anyway, enough of a derail.

Thank you for the suggestions everyone.

jakemcree: I am in London.

I really don't want to sound ungrateful - but it's not really cycle training that I mean (although that is obviously vital and I have a lesson scheduled). For example, this is what the bikeability site says on advanced courses for adults:

"Advanced skills
There are also options for confident and experienced cyclists. Bikeability instructors can help you to hone your cycling skills to cycle with confidence on roads with more traffic or more complex road layouts. The instructor can also help you with route planning as there may be alternatives that you weren’t aware of."

I can ride a bike/balance/have a basic understanding of traffic skills and feel reasonably confident - what I want to know more about is being a 'cyclist'. In addition to learning about how to navigate traffic I would also like to learn about techniques and riding styles and how much cake to eat - and this is something that I find difficult to pick up just from websites. When I was younger I was obsessed with tennis and saved up money every week for lessons so that I could improve - I knew how to hold the raquet - but there are different ways of holding the raquet which achieve different things - that's why I am interested in coaching. I guess what I really mean is that I would like to be able to go on a kids cycling course at Hog Hill or Herne Hill and do practice races or something. Or have someone ride with me for maybe a couple of hours a week who can give general advice and I can be sure that they know what they are talking about.

Thanks again and sorry for the rubbish tennis analogy.

^^ hehe, I did CP too. Cycling keeps you youthful!

I agree Will.

pdx; maybe the Rides and Races thread might be more help to you? Would help you to meet more cyclists and find the ones who can help you learn. Or recommend a club for you to join.
Either way the more you ride the bike the more you can experiment and help refine your questions and so on. And, of course, have some fun too.

@pdx - Will has given you sound advice, but if you're really bored you could look at some of my defensive cycling videos:

http://www.youtube.com/user/MrOrigamist/videos?view=1

They're pretty simple and far from perfect educational tools (dull, I am afraid), but hopefully you can learn from my mistakes and those of others as the situations are common ones. It's only 10mins of your life that you won't get back again.

It may seem like a litany of fuck ups, but don't let that deter you!

I didnt do CP.....

bothers me that the training somehow is wrapped in a mist of nostalgia,
when were out with groups on the roads I dont want some driver almost stopping because they can see were training, this is live,
this should be as important life skill as swimming and all the other things that the governement is privatising the arse out of
to the person who bumped the thread,
get riding with some experienced riders, nothing better than practical application,
and as will says read the threads on the cycle training forum

It's a real puzzle to me that Cycling Proficiency is still so well known but Bikeability is not.

As you say, 'Bikeability' is a poor choice of name. 'Cycle/Cycling Proficiency' has been around for a lot longer and is a set phrase. It was never a 'brand name', even though we might well call it that today. It sounds a lot better and for many people has pleasing associations with their youth, with their desire at the time to be mobile and to break out of their immediate surroundings, as well as with the underlying idea of making cycling more respectable through educating people in it.

CP never really achieved the last aim (cycling continued to decline) and was mired in a confusing and partly contradictory policy context which meant that it actually sent out a few mixed messages, some no doubt unintentional, others very intentional. For instance, unintentionally, that warm flashback to cycling as a young person (CP as a rite of passage, an exam to be passed) also embedded in people the idea that cycling is only for children (or poor people) as a means of transport, or only for leisure.

I don't know if CP was ever used for adult training, but certainly one of the main strengths of cycle training is that it encompasses adult training. 'Cycle training' isn't a great phrase, either, which you can see in how it's often received by people being recommended it, but no-one's found a better name yet.

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone.

Wiganwill - I keep my eye on the rides and races thread, usually chicken out though. No excuses now that the weather is good!

Thanks for the link Origamist - will check out your videos.

Cheers everybody.

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