Eight Tips For Bicycle Owners

Cycling is a fun sport and recreational activity, and loads of people love to post tips online for their fellow cyclists. The best tip that I picked up lately was from Dave Leone. He reckons that when you fall off your bike, get back up quickly before your friends ride over you. Here are eight more great tips that I have picked up over the past few weeks.

Tip No. 1:
If you cycle on the roads, make sure that you know all your road signs. This knowledge could be crucial to your safety and well being. So many cyclists fall short because they failed to read a sign correctly, or simply ignored the rules of the road. Keep a copy of the road rules with you, so if you are given any trouble by traffic authorities, you can use them for reference, providing of course you are in the right.

Tip No. 2:
When riding on a trail, make sure to stay on the trail. Don't widen the trail by riding around muddy puddles, rather just ride straight through them. In this way the riders that follow you can also enjoy the trail.

Tip No. 3:
By filling your water bottle with water and using a denture tablet in it, you will keep it clean and hygienic. Leave it like this overnight. This will remove all the stains and leave it fresh smelling too.

Tip No. 4:
Keep your cycling helmet clean. With all the sweating, it can get stinky and here is an easy way to clean it. Try wearing it in the shower. Shampoo your hair and then put the helmet on and massage your scalp with the helmet for a few minutes and then rinse it out thoroughly.

Tip No. 5:
Before going for a ride, make sure to warm up. This will prevent injury and ease you into the exercise easier. You can do jumping jacks, a few stretches or even have a warm shower. A brisk walk also works wonders for loosening your joints up. When you have completed your ride, remember to do a cool down. Do this by riding slowly for the last few minutes, and then stretch out the buttocks, quads, calves and hamstrings.

Tip No. 6:
Get more sleep when training hard for an event. Try to get about nine hours of sleep a night, because during the 7th and 8th hour your mind will really repair and restore itself the most, during the last phase of REM sleep. You will wake up feeling alert and energized all day long if you can get this one right.

Tip No. 7:
If you rip the sidewall on your clincher tire while out for a ride, try this handy tip. Remove the tire first then insert a dollar bill or a wrapper from a power bar between the tire and the tube. Patch the tube if need be and then re-inflate. The strength of the bill or wrapper should be able to get you home safely.

Tip No. 8:
Make sure to replace worn bicycle chains regularly. In this way you will get a longer life out of your cassette cogs and chain rings. To check whether the chain is worn press lightly on the right pedal to tension the chain. Hold a twelve inch ruler against the chain. On a fresh chain the distance of twelve full links from pin to pin is exactly twelve inches. If twelve links on your chain measure 12 1/8 inches or more, then it is time to change it.

Hope you find these tips as useful as I did.