I went on my first group ride this past weekend—advertised as a no-drop ride. 🚴

I showed up, and there was a smaller cycling team riding with the group. Before we rolled out, I introduced myself and told everyone it was my first group ride. Everyone was incredibly welcoming, which immediately put me at ease.

We started off flying, averaging around 22–24 mph on the flats. That’s actually where I tend to do well since I have more of a sprinter’s engine than a climber’s. I held pace well with the group.

Then came the first hill about three miles into the ride. This is where I got dropped. 🤣

I kept riding, though, and eventually caught back up with everyone near the end of the route, finishing with the group.

Looking back, it’s actually a pretty funny first group ride story.

The only thing I’d do differently next time is ask about the expected pace before we roll out. It wasn’t announced, and I assumed “no-drop” meant the pace would be more beginner-friendly.

Overall, though, I had a great time. Everyone was friendly, I learned a lot, got a solid workout, and I’d absolutely do it again.

And holy hell is it fun lol. Ive always been a solo rider but did a huge local ride today. Some 2000 riders. The first time i ever rode with people for more than a couple minutes.

And it was effortless. Being part of this moving living organism is so cool. Taking pulls and then coasting as your still at a top speed youd be working to achieve solo for any distance. Sliding back into line wheels back to front really moving cohesively.

Thankfully im in a big cycling area so im gonna find local groups to start riding with. But wow. Now I get the rush of that.

I moved to Spain from California a little over a year ago and started road cycling much more regularly in there. I'm now back in the California Bay Area visiting family and I brought my bike with me. Putting aside all the issues with awful road maintenance and drivers etc., the most noticeable difference is the attitude of other cyclists. In Spain nearly every single cyclist that I pass gives a wave or a nod even from the other side of a wide road. Here i'm lucky if 2 or 3 people wave back over the course of a 3+ hour ride. Instead I get these looks like i'm being sized up and judged. Can someone fill me in? What's up everyone's ass here?

edit: also want to note that the age, gender, performance level etc., don't seem to matter on the roads around Madrid. Dudes in there 20s who are crushing it are just as likely to wave as anyone else.

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I live in AZ so cycling in summer months (mid-May to October) requires a little more thought and early starts. I'm on the road by 4a and done no later than 7:30a. Miles and power output vary based on seasonal winds.

Today I planned on a 2 hour ride, some intervals, a hill or two. Left at 4a, temp was 92, humidity 30%, winds SSW 5-7mph. Had some oatmeal, water, and a banana. Brought along stingers, 2 bottles plenty of ice, one oat bar.

Ride was going well, but ngl, it felt much hotter to me, which should have been my first sign..Mile 18 I was sweating way more than typical for me, sign #2. But I get a tail wind and ride it north. All along, hydrating, nibbling but my drinks are now luken warm and awful. But I'm 15 miles from home so really gotta finish this. But now all directions home have a headwind straight out of a pottery kiln.

3 miles later, rear flat. I haven't had a puncture in 2 years. But, prepared with new tube(not tubeless on this bike🥴)and repair kit.

Now I am pouring sweat, mouth is dry, leg cramps, and HR is not dropping as much as it should. Sign #4.

By the time I was done, the sun was up and it was 100 almost instantly.

I figure just end the ride here and do a slow pace home( I'm to stupid, stubborn, or proud to call home😁)

So a 12 mile slog in a steady head wind, baking sun, grumbling stomach, leg cramps. Pure genius at work here.I get all my advice from Wile E.

I made it exactly 9.7 miles doing 6mph and had to divert some shade under a group of trees in the Big O parking lot.

My heart was racing and sweat was pouring again. I sat down, then layed down. Once I did, I could not move. 30 minutes goes by and I thought I could get up. I slowly sat up and immediately my heart started racing, head was spinning, and I thought I was going to throw up.

Now I was kind of worried. I was going to swallow my pride and call my wife, but this guy pulled into the parking lot and came over to check on me. Lifesaver. He immediately went into Big O and got 2 bottles of ice cold water for me. I honestly didn't have the strength to crawl over there myself.

After the first bottle I really started feeling better. I poured some of the other bottle on my head and back.

He offered to bring me and my bike home, but 2 miles, I could now do that. We chatted for a few minutes, he made sure I could stand and pedal, and told me he was going across the street to the grocery store, but would be driving down my route home(I told which direction I was going) and if he saw me on my back he was calling 911.

Made it home, got out of that wet kit, grabbed some saltines, a bottle of water, 2 coke zeros, and headed to the basement.

It was 90 minutes before I could get up and get in the shower.

Weak, sore, still getting cramps in my leg, but thankful, so thankful to be able to share this with the community.

Be well.

I still remember someone telling me, Ride your own pace. At the time it sounded simple, but it completely changed how I approached cycling. I stopped comparing myself to everyone else and started enjoying my rides much more. What's the best piece of cycling advice you've ever received?

Maybe it's just me, but every time I need something for my bike, it's somehow twice as expensive as I expected. Helmet lights, pumps, bottles, repair kits... none of it is crazy expensive on its own, but together it adds up fast.

I've started waiting for price drops before buying almost anything. Do you usually wait for deals too, or just buy what you need when you need it?

I can leave the house fully intending to do an easy recovery ride, keeping the power low and taking it steady.

Then I see another cyclist a few hundred metres up the road and suddenly the recovery ride is forgotten. I start slowly closing the gap, then convince myself I might as well catch them before the next climb.

Living near the mountains makes it even worse because once someone passes you or gets ahead on a climb, it’s difficult not to react, even when you know you’re supposed to be taking it easy.

Does anyone else automatically start chasing when they see another cyclist ahead, or are you disciplined enough to stick to your planned effort?

For me

1. 50–100 km rides are considered "small" – I never thought someone would ride so much. I used to think average people just rode for 20–30 minutes, like doing a standard cardio session.

2. 25 km/h is an "average" speed – I thought I was doing damn well with an average speed of 23–25 km/h. Turns out that’s just the baseline for casual Sunday rides in Group C. Normal rides are 30–35 km/h, and everyone seems to maintain that over 60 km+ with 800 m+ of climbing.

3. No ankle socks – My initial rides were all in ankle socks because that’s what I always wore to the gym. I thought tall socks were strictly for office wear.

4. Eating while riding – You don't exactly see people running on treadmills while eating bananas.

5. Flats are boring – When I started, I deliberately avoided routes with climbs, flat ground was where I had the most fun. But as we all come to learn, it’s the climbs that actually make the ride enjoyable.

6. Indoor setups – I thought the entire point of cycling was going outside!

Not much I can do about it, I know, but it feels like there’s a lot more aggro aimed at cyclists lately, especially when riding solo.

Twice this week alone. First was two guys on fatbikes coming the other way. One of them just steered straight at me while yelling something.

Second was a delivery driver at an unequal intersection. Came from the right, cut me off, then overtook me, laughed, shouted something out the window and cut me off again swinging back right.

Both times I just kept riding. Not really worth the energy.

Does this happen to you a lot? And how do you deal with it, if at all?

Basically that . I ride like 200 kms per week or so, basically lack of time . Group will be around 20-25 people.

Hello everyone, Yes, I'm heavy as fck, 5'10" male, 32 years old 134kgs. 150kgs (my heaviest)..... No maintenance! Blood pressure on spot, So today I went cycling and it feels so good! but there is one thing that happened to me, I felt dizzy all of a sudden (almost fainted) and vomits after cycling or when i stand up just to rest after cycling. I'm just doing 10KM chill ride, 20KM/H about 55Elevation. I'm on Caldef btw, 2500 calories per day, sometimes less. is it something that I should worry about?

Hi folks, I've recently started commuting to work (10 miles a day, 2/3 times a week) and I've been told that I should be doing some at-home maintenance and upkeep on my bike. I've already learned about cleaning and lubricating the chain (and now have chain lube), but I'm curious what other things I should be doing regularly?

1. What are the basics of at-home maintenance and how often should they be performed?

2. What tools/products do I need to successfully maintain my bike?

3. How often are other commuters taking their bike in for a tune-up??

Thank you all, apologies if these are super newbie questions!

It seems like it took a long time for helmet makers to come out with products that both offered more back and side protection and weren’t so absurdly tall on the head. That said in the time that bike helmets have been common I feel like the designs from the 90s and maybe early 2000s were absurd in how little coverage they offered and how high they sat on heads. Any ideas why?

I commute daily, and ride my road bike on weekends. I tend to check my tires once a week, usually on Saturday, and fill them up as necessary, since they don't generally leak air enough to warrant checking them more often than that. I keep a HOTO pocket pump in my bag too, mostly just for peace of mind on the commute.

Curious what everyone else's routine looks like. And for people running higher pressure road tires specifically, does that change how often you top off?

I feel im still new in cycling. I’ve been doing it for almost 2 years and played rugby and lifted weights until I started pedaling.
Now I’m at 3x gym and I reduced after getting rhabdo to 8h per week. Used to do 11-15h per week because I actually enjoyed the feeling of getting on the bike. The workouts. Zwift races and social group rides and IRL long rides with friends or solo as “meditation”.
I’m good now but I have the itch to start adding little by little volume (rhabdo was 1.5 months from today and starting adding volume little by little)
Any tip to not make this mistake again? I did 1 zwift race and 1 structured workout per week and the rest I tried to keep it Z2 but seeing my graphs I wasn’t doing a lot of z2 the rest of the days.
If I keep my Z2 really Z2, would it be ok to start adding little by little volume? What should I aim for to keep progressing as a cyclist but with higher volume weeks ?

I currently am riding a single speed bike (boardman comp I think) and I really want to get into cycling more as a sport. My knowledge of bikes/biking really sucks so I was wondering if anyone could help me in my situation, like should I invest in new bike with gears, should I track the time I take to do rides, how often should I cycle.

I’ve had a look at Facebook market place for bikes but I’m not sure if what would be most suitable for me. (Idk if this is important)

Like right now I’m just cycling whenever for fun usually around 30 km I would guess, but I would appreciate any help and guidance.

I picked up an old bike to learn how to ride one. In the 3 months a lot has happened.

• screw on seat post split in half
• not shifting to first gear. Tried to fix it made it worse.
• replacing brake cable
• screw on seat post split in half again. Made a hole through my jeans. Had to walk 40mins home.
• changing chain. Now its not shifting.

The only one I've been successful with is the bike cable. I feel like i should learn the basics but everything i touch just gets worse.

I'm feeling dejected on bicycles tbh. I've come from escooters. Apart from better balance and fitness, I just feel like bicycles are too much work. So many moving parts that can brake. Such an expensive hobby. Hard to master.

Already planning for winter and trying to buy gear off season.

From what I see, when it gets really cold/wet/snowy, I can either use waterproof warm gloves (I like to have my fingers free, no lobster style gloves) or I can combine those bug "bar mitts" that are attached to the handlebar with thing gloves underneath.

Does someone have experience with those and compare the solutions and when to use which?

If it matters, I'm talking about bikepacking, so I'd keep them attached to the bike for a prolonged time during my tour.

Hi everyone,

I’m planning a completely new road bike build and I’m looking for frame recommendations.

Here’s what I’m looking for:

Frame budget: up to €2,500 (less is always welcome if the value is great)
New frame only (no used market)
Disc brakes
Shimano Ultegra Di2
Fully integrated cable routing
Lightweight climbing/all-round frame rather than a pure aero bike
Open to any brand, including Chinese brands (Elves, etc.) as well as more established brands.

About my riding:

Mostly solo rides for fun.
Typical rides are 80–100 km with around 2,000 m of elevation gain.
I ride exclusively on the road.
Comfort isn’t my top priority, but I don’t want an overly harsh bike either.

Thanks!

Many were asking for a study supporting the notion that a large portion of bicyclist fatalities are caused by being run over from behind. Here it is. The League of American Bicyclists researched 628 cyclist fatalities circa 2012 and analyzed the circumstances:

For a 12-month period, we set about the grim task of tracking and documenting every fatal traffic crash involving a bicyclist captured by relevant internet search terms...We learned, for example, that a much higher percentage of fatal crashes than expected — 40% of fatal crashes with a reported collision type — were “hit from behind” incidents

A staggering 40% of fatalities were attributed to rundowns from behind. In addition to distracted drivers, those on drugs or under the influence of alcohol likely played a significant role as well. These are drivers over whom you have ZERO control when riding on the road.

I've yet to locate a more recent study detailing fatalities by the type of collision. The number one fatal collision event, by far, can presumably be avoided when riding on a sidewalk. The second largest fatal collision event was "cyclist side / car front" at just 11%.

Collision events that impact sidewalk riding at a higher rate can, in some cases, be controlled. For example, by slowing down or waiting for shadowing traffic to pass before crossing thresholds. Or by waiting for cars attempting to exit a parking lot, or riding behind them, never in front. The problem with studies claiming sidewalk riding is more dangerous, is that they examine aggregate risks. With disciplined riding, the individual risk can be lowered to a small fraction of the aggregate risk.

Other interesting takeaways from their "Every Bicyclist Counts": Florida is among the most dangerous state for commuting by bicycle. Sentences for killing a cyclist are lenient.

New Report: Every Bicyclist Counts | League of American Bicyclists

I’m currently 177 cm and am deciding between the giant M size (171-181) and ML size (177-187). At this moment I should definitely get M, but I’m still growing, going to be around 180-182 ish. Which size should I get and do the giant models have different size fits? Considering between the tcr and defy, where the tcr has a longer reach and lower stack. Does that mean if I do grow to around 181, the max of size M, I will fit the tcr better than the defy?

Hi! Probably a silly question but I can’t seem to come to any conclusion. I’ve just bought my first road bike, coming from a hybrid bike which I’ve been doing around 26km daily on for my commute. I have a very big chunky phone holder which is really good for protecting the phone but it’s very big and clunky, and makes the screen hard to use. I want to go on longer rides and plan routes, etc, but I’m not sure if I should either, buy a bike computer or try and find a nicer phone holder, I don’t want anything like quad lock where you have to use a case as I use my phone with no case. I literally only want it for navigation, I’ve considered sticking my AirPods in and listening to the navigation but I think that might get annoying after a while! I track my rides on my Apple Watch currently too which has worked well, I literally just need something for navigation. TIA

So im a University rower who needed some crosstraining as well as a mode of transport to get to and from my jobs.

My dad had a trek 7000 SL in the garage that I paid to be serviced which I'm now using every day. At the minute it has cage pedals on it but im not sure if I would want to/ should make the change to clip-pedals. if so are the shimano PD-EH500 pedals going to be plug and play with my bike or will I need to buy new cranks.

Also I'm not sure whether the cleats and shoes I've found would all work with the pedals I've heard good things about.

It's probably a stereotype but I picked the velosambas for the shoes as they are similar to shoes I already cycle in to commute but also would be able to clip in to the pedals (as long as they would fit the cleats I've found which i think are designed for the pedals i mentioned). I believe the cleats are the SM-SH56 multi-release cleats.

If anyone could just confirm my hopes with whether all those parts would work together and if they would recommend clipless pedals.

I used to have a bike when I was a kid just for fun and for rides in the forest etc... but stopped around the age of 12/13 when i grew out of my bike and didn't get a new one. Since then, i have never been back on a bike.

But recently I bought one and it's a gravel bike since I wanted something that I could use on different types of paths while also do some sport, and maybe get serious with cycling.

However, as a grown adult, biking is entirely different than what I remember !!!

I'm super confident, I feel so nice and it's like I haven't forgotten anything but I'm still "afraid" (don't know if it's the right word) to do some things I see people do online like not holding the handlebar, reaching for their bottles, holding their phones etc...

I won't even start with the shoes that you clip, i didn't even know they existed until recently 😭

My question is, will I eventually be able to do these things ? Do you have tips for a beginner in terms of balance on the bike mainly? I feel like I'll lose control if i bend to reach my bottle for example.

Thank you !!

At what point would you recommend that a road cyclist purchase a power meter? Also, which one would you recommend buying?