The low speed flop while clipped in is almost a rite of passage for a road biker!

I agree with Ann, that a quiet suburb is the best place to start. Unfortunately for beginniners in Wellington there are few suburbs that are both quiet and don't have off-putting hills!

When (re)learning to ride (after a 15 year break from the age of 10) I found the Southern and Eastern bays a good place to ride. Reasonably flat, and while everyone has the odd near thing with a driver, I reckon its pretty safe.

Further afield, its well worth the car journey (as a beginner, most bunches ride out to them) to Whitemans and Mangaroa Valleys in Upper Hutt. If you do an out and back course and stay within the valleys you can get 30km of country riding in Whitemans with a dirty little uphill false flat out if you start from the little church, giving you a deceptively fast ride home!

My main advice is get out there and do it. My only regret is that I stopped riding as a 10 year old.

I'm not a real racing cyclist, so I don't have the shoe problem - I ride a commuting road bike with straight handlebars. The wheels are about 2-3mm wider than a full-on road bike, which makes for a bit more stability, though I still feel the stones & potholes just as much! The seat's a bit cushier too :)

My only beginner's tip would be to try your first few rides in an empty carpark - try a mall on Easter weekend, a church on a weekday arvo, or a school or uni on the weekend. There are usually marked out carparks etc so you get to know your stopping distances & turning circle, the surface is often nicer than your average suburban culdesac & hopefully very few people will see you wobble/fall.

And wear cycling gloves. Gravel in the palms sucks & so does deep bruising after a long ride. You toughen up pretty quick, but padding the hands & rear end is a really good idea!

I started from the tough end of the scale, riding my road bike on knobblies to and from work (7km each way) and changing to slicks was a revelation. I also started out wearing beach shorts and a t-shirt on the ride, so switching to a lycra top made a big difference too. All this taught me that while some thing look like they're only for pose value they actually do serve a valid purpose.

I'm still riding my MTB on slicks but I'm at the point where I can generally keep pace with a road bike on the flat (uphill I get left for dead though), it makes me wonder how much faster I'd be on a roadie.

Can you explain the value of clip-in pedals? I can understand they stop your feet slipping off the pedals and all but I've never had a problem with this, even when riding home in a hailstorm (yes, it hurt, and I got a puncture on the way, FML). Is it so the foot moving up can provide some lift too or something?

One thing I always ensure is I have two spare innertubes and tyre levers with me on a ride. Having one is fine but with my luck I'll puncture both one day and I can't pull a wheelie for very long.

Which reminds me, why is it always the back tyre that punctures? Or does life just hate me?

@ Matty 3,

Clip in pedals aren't really about stopping your feet slipping off its more about efficiency and power transfer. It allows your foot to be secured in the most efficient spot (over the ball of the foot), increases ability to pedal in cirles, rather than just a down power stroke. Also cycling shoes usually have stiff soles (carbon or compisite) which also increases power transfer.

#3 Matty

Clip in pedals is easy...it makes you look cooler and more professional!

Seriously though, you've already noticed lycra made a difference, and you note a roadie leaves you for dead up the hills. Clip in pedals is one of the big reasons why you get left for dead. The allow a much more efficient pedal stroke. You get less of a "dead spot" when the cranks are at 6 and 12 o'clock, and the cleats also allow you to pull the pedal up, not just push down.

They also help hold the correct position on the bike, which helps with efficiency, power and climbing and decending technique. So in short - clip ins rock!

The one other recommendation I'd make to a learner is get a decent bike fit from a bike shop. It will make a huge difference to comfort, speed, endurance and how well you ride.

@Matty, my thoughts on rear wheel punctures is that the rear wheel takes more of the rider's weight, so that pushes sharp bits through the tyre more readily. Also, I find it easier to steer my front wheel around glass/stones, but often my rear wheel ends up tracking slightly differently & going through the mess anyway.

I used to get a puncture a week, mostly on the rear too. Then I put puncture proof tyres on & haven't had a single one in the last 3 years! Totally worth the $60-70 each. I'm so confident I won't get a punture on my work commute now, I don't carry a repair kit or pump. I only put those on for weekend fun rides.

Clip-ins, theoretically speaking allow the legs even out the force on the pedals. So as one foot is pushing down, the other can pull up, thus getting more power to the pedals and more evenly. As different muslces are used for the up and down stroke, there is less energy expended for the same output. If mtbing with clip-ins beware of small pieces of grit getting in the mechanism. They can lock it so the only way to get the feet out is to fall off. Something to do with the extra bounce provided by hitting the deck. Falling off into a river helps as it is softer and it also washes away the grit :) Just don't do it when there is a camera around :(

Gloves are a necessity. As is the bike pants. If you are going to do longer distances, wide soft seats actually hurt more than the small hard looking ones. And if you are going to spend 5+ hours in the saddle get some Chaff cream. They really do work. Eight hours in the saddle last weekend and only one small blister to show for it.

Other advice is to learn where there is lots of room, especially straight lines. You don't want to have to stop or do sharp unnatural corners. You want to be able to get the feel of the pedalling motion, rather than be worried about watching out for the gardens, bollards, or other ugly ground appendages.

"Which reminds me, why is it always the back tyre that punctures?"

'cos that's where all the weight is. It wears out faster too (which is one cause of punctures).

Matty, clips are good for power and control. You can push harder and yes, pull, with a foot that is attached to the pedal. It gives you a lot of control through cornering and you can be much more aggressive on the bike. It also means your pedalling motion changes as rather than pushing down through the pedal with a flat foot, you're transferring power through the entire rotation and at different angles. A good way to think of it is that you start to pedal with the leg above the knee rather than thinking about pushing down through your lower legs. The power comes from your thighs and hips rather than smashing away below the knee.

You'll find you'll be much quicker on a roadie, simply through gear ratios and thinner tyres. They're nicer to climb on and once you get used to them, the geomtry is much more comfortable and efficient.

As for punctures, it depends very much on the type of tyre you ride, and of course where you ride it - not sure where you are but auckland is pretty terrible for broken glass - and it's usually always green bottle glass for some reason. Unfortunately with tyres, what you pay for is what you get. I've trained on mid-range tyres and punctured a couple times a week (400-500km+ p/week) and then started training on expensive racing tyres (c.$140+ each) and have had one flat in the last 6 months. I carry two tubes always, levers and a C02 inflator. Rear tyres tend to go as the front would need a much sharper shard to pierce it, all your weight is over the rear tyre so it doesn't take as much for something to get through and kill your tube.

I agree with the Huttinator - getting out there and doing it is the only way to learn. Looking for quiet suburbs is a good idea as you build up your confidence.

I'm re-experiencing the novice phase as I've just got a pre loved time trial bike. It's a classic piece of bike porn and should be a whole lot better than my 20 yr old road bike but it is a bit less stable at this stage and has a much more aggressive riding position so makes me a bit nervous. 20kms on the flat on roads with wide rough shoulders made it seem a whole lot more manageable but I'll need a few hundred more kms to really feel comfortable I suspect.

Matty - the clip in pedals means you are pulling up with one leg and pushing down with the other - gives a much smoother pedalling action. Also you puncture the back wheel way more often because it is bearing most of your weight so sharp things are forced through the tyre more easily.