The Smallest Change, The Biggest Improvement

500

Bikefit

Saddle fore/aft

Ladies forum

a bottle.

500ml or 750ml?

500

Is Emyr your bottle carrier?

I agree that learning to eat, drink and understand about effort etc are each more important than the mechanical tweeks you can make.

Stop and refil. All churches tend to have a tap outside.

Stop and refil. All churches tend to have a tap outside.

for watering the plants. aren't these mini artesian wells drawn form the groundwater directly under the graveyard?

Is Emyr your bottle carrier?

Wanted to work out how far I should have ridden if I have emptied my CamelBack.

Definitely mudguards, i'm no longer just a fair weather cyclist. Well i wasnt ever really - but now i'm always dry

As others have said, for sheer convenience and making life just a little bit nicer, full mudguards and track pump.

When I learnt to corner properly, i.e. looking where I want to go, rather than ahead of me. Couldn't believe how much difference that made. Shockingly I learnt this on this forum only about six months ago #stillanoob

having a good partner to enjoy the ride with is recommended.

:-)

it took this long for the euphemisms to start?

just saying like :-)

When I learnt to corner properly, i.e. looking where I want to go, rather than ahead of me. Couldn't believe how much difference that made. Shockingly I learnt this on this forum only about six months ago #stillanoob

Coming from riding fixed – I think I missed out learning to descend quickly.

Freewheel ≠ Fixed.

Riding more. Marked change in mood and fitness = smiles all round.

Yes, this is the one.

'It's not about the bike', is pretty well the only thing I'd agree about with Lance, and for most of us upping mileage is the most beneficial change that can be made.

I have certainly come across a few individuals who overdo their riding, and it is clear that if only they could be persuaded to rest, their perfomances would improve. However they are a tiny minority.

If I had to identify just one machine related improvement, I'd go for a new chain.
As a young teenager I was deeply impressed by a senior clubmate who told me he fitted a new chain to his road bike (i.e. road racing bike) every three weeks during the season: he would then demote that chain to his training bike. Now I fully understand his thinking, since I'm sure that an imperfect chain soaks up and wastes more energy than any other bike fault.

There is a view - generally promoted by the bike trade - that a new chain should always be used with new sprockets. I believe this is rubbish. The chain wears more quickly than the sprockets, and while it is true that a new chain won't run on badly worn teeth, it's not true that the sprockets have to be virgin. Chains are generally cheaper than sprockets, so I think we can see where the trade is coming from!

Nuun tablets.

I used to relentlessly get headaches at around the 40mile mark - not had one since I started using these...

Oh, and going for rides with people better than you. Painful, and occasionally embarrassing, but it's a much quicker learning curve when you do...

Discovering the cycle to work scheme (as it was in 2009 that is).

Going from my Dad's knackered old knobbly tyred mountain bike that was too small for me to a half decent Kona hybrid and suddenly cycling to work wasn't something I had to force myself to do in an attempt to get fit, and became something immensely enjoyable and suddenly every other way of getting to work became shit.

In the context of bicycles, what's the smallest change you've made that's caused the biggest improvement in ride quality? Parts, adjustment, fit, riding style - something fairly innocuous that's provided instant joy.

Go on, tell me. Tell everyone. Tell it like it fucking is.

Asking someone who knows more than I do for some advice - and offering whisky in return ;)

for watering the plants. aren't these mini artesian wells drawn form the groundwater directly under the graveyard?

Carbon filtered. Market it right and new agers/hipsters will pay a fortune for it.

Getting out of the saddle. Riding a road bike like you would a BMX.

Cleat.

tiniest misalignment on the right shoes mean terrible hot spot to the point that I unclipped my right foot from the pedal and just press on with the left, did that for the last 20 miles during the Dunwich Dynamo.

Taking on more fluids.

I set an alarm on the Garmin to sound every 18 miles. Each time it sounds I should have finished a bottle. Not doing this, in warm weather, at distances greater than 50 miles = rapid drop in performance.

This, the immediate difference from feeling tired to being alert after a small slip of water.

There is a view - generally promoted by the bike trade - that a new chain should always be used with new sprockets. I believe this is rubbish. The chain wears more quickly than the sprockets, and while it is true that a new chain won't run on badly worn teeth, it's not true that the sprockets have to be virgin. Chains are generally cheaper than sprockets, so I think we can see where the trade is coming from!

I usually replaced my chain every 1,000 or so miles to prevent wear and tear, especially on old bicycle with a rare 6 speed freewheel.

Higher cadence - Hard to explain (because I'm shit at explaining) but virtually every aspect of cycling has improved by upping my cruising cadence to around 100rpm.

Agree with a lot of the above about position tweaks, cleaning/lubing etc.

i/ Mudguards.

Less cleaning // Moar riding // Makes you invisible to Hipsters

ii/ Hoods & Dropbars

Why have one riding position when you can have them all?

this was mine. Putting a back brake on my fixede bike and having hoods made everything so much more enjoyable

Stop and refil. All churches tend to have a tap outside.

Plenty of them also have a sink, inside. However, I've heard that it's used for washing babies so only fill up if you're extremely parched.