How to Get Better at Bikes

A friend asked me this question, tongue firmly planted in cheek, and then I decided to take it seriously and talked about it on last week’s Paceline. In the interim, I’ve been thinking about it more, because that’s kinda what I do, and so now I bring you the revised, expanded and possibly less helpful version for your Monday.

When I hear “How do I get better at bikes?”, my mind immediately counters with “Why do you need to get better at bikes?” What is it about humans that they need improvement? Is it the persistent feeling that we’re not good enough as we are?

Tell me about your mother.

Or is that we’re not enjoying ourselves enough? I’d suggest we lack gratitude. Perhaps a few minutes spend meditating on the pure joy of riding a bike would help. When is the last time you just stopped and thought about how simple and perfect a machine the bike is, how the subtle dance with gravity it provides can solve all your problems, practical and ontological.

But ok, let’s see how we might get “better” at bikes.

First, and I think most obviously, there’s riding faster. I’ll be honest and tell you this isn’t really my specialty. But if you’re primary goal is actually getting faster, then there are some obvious things you can do.

To get faster, you want to optimize your training. That will probably not mean riding hard all the time for most people. It will mean structuring your rides pretty strictly, where you’re spending the bulk of your on-bike time riding pretty slowly. Here you’re building your base. Then on top of that you’re going to add some interval training. I’m not going to explain what that is. Look it up. You’ll probably want to limit your big effort days to two a week. There’s some science here, and taking advantage of it requires measurement and tracking. You’ll need a heart rate monitor and an app like Strava or other to tell you whether you’re hitting the right training zones at the right time.

I have almost zero patience for that kind of structure, which is why I’m not the best person to ask, or, for that matter, very fast myself. But you don’t need me. There are books and YouTube. If you’re asking me about how to get faster, you’ve probably already asked someone else and just didn’t like the answer you got. I get it.

So that’s getting faster. Next, there’s increasing your technical skills. I have a little more experience and insight here, and I’m going to make three basic recommendations. First, slow down. Speed and momentum can help you through an awful lot of technical challenges. I call this the Bash and Pop method, after Tommy Stinson’s post-Replacements band. I think the name is self-explanatory. Basically, given enough speed, most obstacles are conquerable, but it’s awfully difficult for a beginner or intermediate rider to improve their technique while bashing and popping.

So slow down. The more slowly you can execute a skill, the more mastery you have of it. You will fail a lot. This is part of it. You saw the Karate Kid. You know how it works.

I’d also recommend spending some time on the bike literally trying to ride as slowly as you can, practicing full stops, as you might stall before taking on an obstacle, figuring out if you can balance in place. If you can fully stop in a standing position, can you do it sitting? This is a chill, low-consequence way to get a stronger and more intuitive feeling for the bike.

If you’re riding clipped in, I’d also HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend switching to flats. The added reaction time you have in a sketchy situation from not having to clip out will lift your confidence, and I can report that it does not give you less control of the bike. I promise. Wax on. Wax off.

So that’s faster and more technical. Then there’s stuff like riding in a group. Hard to get better at that without just doing it more. Here are a few basics though. First, don’t over-react. To ride smoothly with riders in front and behind, you don’t want to be accelerating and braking all the time. Relax a little, half a beat. Modulate. Second, and related, you will occasionally overlap wheels with other riders. It’s dangerous, in the sense that a slight deviation in line, while overlapped, can bring multiple riders down. But see, point one, about not overreacting. You’ll overlap sometimes. Try not to, but don’t freak out. Adjust your position slowly. You’ll be fine.

Let’s briefly just talk about having more fun, too, because better might just mean more fun. If you’re riding feels stale or rote and you want to change that, here are some quick recommendations.

• Carry binoculars with you and stop a lot, to look at birds or streams or mountains. Find a favorite tree and visit it in multiple seasons.

• Carry a Jet Boil or camping stove with you, so you can ride out to a sweet spot and make yourself a cup of coffee or tea.
• Go to an obstacle you find challenging and spend the afternoon with it.
• Ride someplace different.
• Ride with someone different. 
• Get a new bike that’s good at a new thing.

Look, we all love bikes, but familiarity breeds contempt. That’s a saying that humans have been using since at least the 5th century, according to the OED. For the purposes of this discussion, it basically means change something about your riding if it’s not getting you what you want, or maybe even <gasp> take some time away from riding. As always in life, the narrow path we envisage for ourselves, doesn’t begin to encompass our options. Change your mind to change your riding.