Essential And Advanced Road Cycling Skills

If you are looking to become the most refined and skilled cyclist on a road bike, then there are a number of different skills to master. In this post, we look through some of the skills that you should master when riding a road bike. These skills vary from some of the most basic, right across to skills which help you feel and look your very best on a road bike, allowing you in the process to feel and become incredibly comfortable and confident.

Looking Ahead

One of the biggest and most important skills to master nice and early is having the ability to read the road ahead. Looking ahead will not only help keep you safe and avoid hazards, from queued traffic to potholes - but also allow you to pick the very best line for you and your bike to take. The more you practice this and the more you cycle, the more you will learn - you will be able to read the road ahead, and look for tell-tale signs for change in road conditions, surface changes and tight bends and corners.

Cornering

Looking ahead, covered in the above section of this post leads us nicely onto mastering the art of cornering. For a lot of road cyclists, cornering is one of the biggest challenges to sort out - so putting into practive looking ahead is the perfect place to start, with the bike typically following where your eyes and body are looking and travelling.

Many riders scrub too much speed off the bike when cornering, one way to avoid this is to commit and lean into the corner. Place greater weight on your outside leg, which will help increase traction alongside increasing the weight on the inside arm - leaning into the corner will maximise performance and cornering speed.

Be mindful that if road conditions are poor, lean and corner less aggressively, with the bike remaining more upright.

Riding 'Stood Up'

Riding out of the saddle, is another important skill that we recommend learning. This allows you as the rider to gain maximum power when riding up a hill, or sprinting on the bike. Riding out of the saddle allows you to use your bodyweight to drive the pedals. Remember to ride in higher gears when riding out of the saddle, to minimise the chance of wheel spin and lost traction. In wet conditions, riding out of the saddle is not always the best thing to do - as this can increase the likelihood of spinning out on the wet road surface.

Riding With Others

If you are planning on riding competitively, then it’s important that you learn to ride around other people - taking note of the right times to overtake and pass others. Riding with a group of people also increases the social benefits of cycling.

Fuelling On The Move

Learning to ride your road bike with one hand is much more than showboating. Riding one handed allows you to drink and eat on the move, eliminating the need to stop and lose both pace and momentum. Muscle memory is the key here, especially when it comes to hydrating. When learning how to drink whilst cycling, keep your eyes on the road ahead and reach down and remove the bottle from your bottle cage. Practice keeping your eyes ahead whilst you drink and whilst you place the bottle back into the bottle cage.

Eating on the move is another important skill to master for those who do not want to stop and pull up to refuel. Thankfully, most cycling foods and gels are designed to be both easy to store and easy to use - with wrappers designed for easy access. The same ethos applies, practice refuelling on the move, with the cycling nutrition products you use most.

Practice Track Stands

Track stands provide a massive training benefit - allowing you to feel more comfortable and in control on your bike, at a range of different speeds. An empty car park is the perfect place to practice track stands - flat pedals are the ideal way to train and practice track stands. Keep both hands on the bars and your fingers covering the brakes, and bring the bike to a slow stop - keep your pedals level and focus on placing all of your body weight on the pedals, if you need extra balance, turn the wheel. Look ahead, not down and come off the brakes to get moving again.

Pick Up An Object

Much in the same way that practicing track stands in a car park helps overall bike control, there are other things you can practice to increase your comfort on the bike. Another great way to improve overall bike skills, is to practice picking up a water bottle from the ground as you ride past it. Once you master it with one arm, try the other!

Bunny Hop

Those familiar with a mountain bike will be familiar with the art of the bunny hop. It can be a pretty complex movement, and again - an empty car park is the best place to practice. Stand up on your pedals, and lift the front wheel before pushing your weight down and lifting your weight back up - lifting the wheels. Although this is not an obvious road bike skill, it’s perfect for avoiding gnarly parts of a road, including potholes.