Cycling Guests Cycling Top Tips 1-23.

Cycling guests top cycling tips

In order to address the cake vs cycling bias I had been accused of I attempted to redress the balance by the introduction of my cycling guest top cycling tip feature to many of my posts. This allows my cycling guests to use their cycling wisdom and share their many years of experience. Here are the first 23 such tips which I'm sure you will find useful and will add to your enjoyment when out on your own cafe cycle rides. 

1.   For a smoother and more efficient ride, make sure your tyres are pumped up to the correct pressure.

2  To avoid punctures and skidding on your winter rides it is worth fitting some heavy duty 700c-25 winter tyres on your road bike.

3. To look fashionable whilst staying safe in the winter make sure you wear your high viz overshoe booties.

4.   In summer, to make yourself visible when signalling to other road users, wear fluorescent yellow or orange cycling mits

5.   To keep your cycling fitness and enthusiasm in the winter it is better to go riding little and often rather than wait for a nice day to go a long way.

6.   Get more from your core. Shorten your stem, relax your shoulders and engage your core for a more efficient riding position.

7.   Don't unnecessarily cycle through puddles as it gets your bike cold, wet, muddy and very unhappy. 

8.   If you have ridden in the rain don't forget to lube your chain.

9.   When you set off on a ride you should start off feeling cold or you will get too hot later on.

10. To avoid spraying mud up your back or over your cycling guest make sure your temporary back mudguard is correctly aligned over the wheel.

11. To avoid an even frostier cafe cycle ride try to remember the date of your 25th wedding anniversary and act on it accordingly.

12. If you are boiling hot when you arrive at your cafe destination make sure you de-layer when inside or you won't appreciate your cycling jacket when you leave.

13. To avoid people crying off from your 50th Birthday cycling sportive try being born in the summer.

14. When out on a cycle ride don't waste your's and everyone else's time by photographing every thing you see for a pointless blog, unless the blog is about fried breakfast.

15. Lumberjacks beware. Doing an hour of log chopping every day for a week is not a good way of preparing for a cycle ride.

16. To avoid the need for a comfort break within a few miles of starting your cafe cycle ride then don't drink a pint of water just before you set off.

17. If you want to avoid getting soaking wet and freezing cold on a bike ride then don't ignore the weather forecast when it includes words like heavy, persistent, down pour with the word rain.

18. Before riding along a narrow muddy track with river on one side and barred wire fence on the other make sure you decide if you would rather get cut or wet as you won't have time to weigh up the choices when you fall off.

19. To avoid adding unnecessary miles and time to your ride don't just blindly follow your navigators cycling sat nav when you clearly know it is taking you in completely the wrong direction.

20. To avoid being cold and wet when you arrive at your cafe stop remember to put your waterproof on when it first starts raining and not just after it stops.

21. If you go out on a ride with clearly worn tyres make sure you bring with you more than one spare inner tube.

22. To guarantee having lots of rests and view breaks on your cycle ride make sure you can't remember the so called planned route so you have to keep stopping every 5 minutes to check your tatty photocopied coloured in home-made map.

23. To avoid your cycling host getting cross when you crash the bike he has kindly lent you make sure you stay on the ground until after he has had a chance to take a photo of the incident for his cafe cycle blog.

There will be more useful cycling guest cycling top tips in most posts and another summary when they reach the 50 tip milestone. If you have a top tip you wish to share please contact me with it via Email link at bottom of blog or cakecrusader@cafecycletour on twitter