Advice for nervous and wobbly cyclists

My mountain bike is already pimped... pimpin' slicks, blinging bell, front AND rear baskets, kick stand and a trailer hitch! Come on!!!

Uphill in the morning, down hill in the afternoon

sun, rain, snow.

Ah, and if we had tripple games, we used to go down the hill to the sports fields, and back up after Anyone who got caught taking the buss got detention

P

@Tom17

I can do you a good deal on a pink fluffy leopardskin saddlecover. Understated taste is what pullz de ladies .

Practice is all you need. It's the same when learning how to drive a car. At the beginning you are always scared about trucks or other cars taking over, the rules are not always clear, shifting gears may get confusing and stuff like that. But as time goes by you even forget about all of those things and drive your car as an automatic action. Same with biking.
Biking is a fun and healthy activity and a city like Munich is great for biking. There are bike paths almost everywhere and it's fairly flat. Back at home biking as a transportation activity is very close to the definition of suicide, cause there are no bike paths and sidewalks are very narrow. Here, biking is an enjoyable everyday activity. Sometimes weather doesn't help too much, but whenever there's some sun, going for a bike ride rocks!
Let's organize some TT biking mini tour for everybody, the beginners and the rest. It will be certainly fun and riding with more people gives more confident. What do you all think about it?

This is what I first read...

Most important post on the whole thread BB but as Tom isn't showing any interest perhaps you would care to purchase the aforementioned item ?

I already have a bananaskin one, sorry

Some good advice was given already, and I'll reiterate some of it:

Always make eye contact with drivers when there's the remotest possibility that you might cross paths.

Be aware of your surroundings at all times...toddlers don't notice bikes.

Always be ready to use your brake at a moment's notice.

Brake *before* you turn, not *while* you turn. This is especially important in the rain and in the winter.

Don't rely only on your front brake. Get used to using both brakes.

When you come to a stop make sure the pedal of your dominant foot is at the 2 o'clock position. That way, when you get going again you don't really have to push off. Use the pedal to move forward.

Brake in one smooth motion, not in stages. The only time you need to brake in stages is if you're descending a mountain pass with tubular tires (if you need to ask, you don't have them).

Ride defensively. Cyclists should believe they are invisible.

HAVE FUN

Oh, and about the wobbly part? You may find that actually moving a bit <i>faster</i> will help. It will help you balance more easily. Just practice in a quit street or carpark.

I honed my cycling skills in the Hirschgarten - no cars around and it doesn't hurt so much when you fall off

I grew up cycling everywhere as suburban kids do. I could ride around no handed, with a passenger, dancing, singing, swerving and jumping like the thing was just an extension of my body. Nowadays, I'm wobbly as hell - especially with some weight in the front basket, as Blimeygirl noted. You really can forget how to ride a bike. I'll be practicing all summer though, and I won't be satisfied until I can ride the way I used to.

I had a big bicycle accident when I was twelve years old and have a scar over my upper lip. I had surgery to remove the scar when I was 15. It looks alot better but it's still there. I was teased and called names growing up. I cried rivers growing up as a teenager thinking I'd have no boyfriend or husband, etc. I hadn't rode a bike since that horrible day. Coming to Europe and seeing EVERYONE bike riding (especially in Amsterdam) was weird for me. I'd never seen 80 year old ladies biking to the bakery every morning. In America only kids or sporty/athletic types ride bikes. My husband and kids can ride very well. Last year my mother-in-law gave me her very nice bike with 2 brakes, about 20 gears, basket, and front bag. I was terrified! I hadn't rode a bike in 20 years! My husband took me to a empty parking lot, I got on the bike and rode - without falling! I was shocked to say the least. I was so nervous but excited at the same time. I would get very nervous when people rode near me or when I had to go on or off sidewalks. I rode very slow and careful. I'd stop and push the bike to cross the street, got afraid when dogs or kids were on the path, etc. It's been one year now and this year I'm doing much better. I can ride along side my hubbie and kids without being nervous. I go up and off curbs with no problem. My new goals are to cycle standing up and taking one hand off the handle bar. Just to show you there is hope to get over the nervousness. We vacationed on Bodensee for two weeks and it was very nice cycling around the lake. I also learned to ski this past winter and learning to swim is next on my list...

Just thought I'd write a quick update.
All the advice has been very useful (well, wee mun's stabiliser advice made me laugh) and I've been cycling almost every day. I've been sticking to my home > work > home route but will be adding extra stretches soon, including Schwabing (so watch out people!).
One thing I've noticed is that I need to get some kind of rucksack as using a courier bag still can make me wobbly.
Another thing is how not that many ride defensively or indicate or look when they cross junctions (particularly if the junction crosses a bike path). And it makes it almost tempting to go over red lights or in the opposite direction. But if others want to be road pizza, that's up to them I guess.
Only one near miss so far, was on the Nymphenburg where a woman stepped out into the bike lane without looking. No impact though (and it gave the guy riding too close behind me a scare - good).
Rotkreuzplatz to Hackerbrücke takes under 10mins now (observing all lights)! I'm quite chuffed at how I can easily beat the bus from Rotkreuzplatz to Donnersbergerstr.
Still need more practice and confidence but it is a work in progress and progress is being made. Just wanted to give some feedback (as many of you were so kind to post and it's only right and polite to say thanks).

Good work Katrina!

Believe it or not, I saw an adult woman riding a bike with stabilizers last night!!

Never seen that before!

Strange, I saw it the same day you posted the original comment but forgot to mention it in here.. They were like "adult" stabilisers... But I think that was because I was near a facility for disabled people so maybe it was a specialised thing for that.

Anyways, well done Katrina! keep it up

I know I'm a bike-spazza but

Good job Katrina! It won't be long before you're riding wheelies and doing 'bunny hops' on your bike...just let me know when you're ready, I can give you a great lesson on how not to fall over backwards when doing a wheelie

To those who said "pimp my bike"...
check this out.
"Danke MTV, für pimping mein Fahrrad so geil!"

Also, to the wobble wobble. Speed will help with that a bit. The gyroscope stuff and all. The wheels will keep you upright a bit easier when they spin faster.

Vision is the best thing for riding a bike too. In a car they say you should look ~10 seconds up the road. On a bike, you need to know what's 10 seconds in every other direction as well as increase the forward vision as much as possible. You can still see what is directly in front of you while looking far ahead. And if you can start to listen for what is around you too, that will help. Listen to the cars coming, listen for bells, and the sound of other bikes (wheel noise, pedeling noise, loose bolts jingling). That will make life so much easier when you can ear/see what is around you. Especailly cause you will be less likely to get yourself into an emergency situation (not that it wont still happen, just less often). I definitly saved my own arse about three weeks ago when I was able to hear a car on some gravel before it shot out of a blind driveway right in front of me. The guy had his wheels fully locked just to avoid going into the street, and definitly didn't give a second thought to the bike/ped path that he was crossing. Had I not heard him coming, I would have run right into his door or been hit from the side by his bumper.

And I'd like to add in one other thing. As it is summer now, this will be a big thing to remember (it almost caught me out about two weeks ago). When it is sunny for a while, i.e. no rain for a couple days to a couple weeks, the oils from the cars will stay on the streets and not be washed away. The next time it rains, it will be reaaaaalllly slippery. So do be carefull when riding in the wet. I took a corner in the wet about two weeks ago, and something didn't feel right. Took the next corner, and it felt even worse (and was going faster). The next corner I almost didn't survive as the front, then the rear tires slid out and almost threw me into a car. It was nothing more than luck that I didn't cheese-grate my leg at the very least. It was only then that the light from a car was enough to show me the rainbow colors of the oil on the road.