New Guy + Dumb Question = Me

http://sheldonbrown.com/beginners/index.html

Sheldon Brown has lots of good info on his site.

Nick Smith wrote:

Stick to the bike paths with soft grass on the sides while you learn.
Ride slow and easy. Experiment. Figure out how your bike works. And read
Sheldon's site.

Never shift while pedaling hard, but only while pedaling. If you find
yourself needing to shift while you must pedal hard, then you're in (a
little bit of) trouble.

It helps if you know how to fall without injuring yourself. But if you
don't, you don't. If you ride your bike long & often enough, you will
fall. Accept it.

Here's hoping that you enjoy it enough to buy a good (better) bike soon.
There's nothing like riding a good bike on a good road on a nice day.

--
Lynn Wallace http://www.xmission.com/~lawall
I have nothing but contempt and anger for those who betray the
trust by exposing the name of our sources. They are, in my view,
the most insidious of traitors."
George H.W. Bush, April 16, 1999,

Thanks for the information. I appreciate your help.

Nick

Raptor said:

Nick Smith wrote:

Stick to the bike paths with soft grass on the sides while you learn.
Ride slow and easy. Experiment. Figure out how your bike works. And read
Sheldon's site.

But speed brings stability. Speed up as soon as you feel comfortable.

Quoted message said:

Never shift while pedaling hard, but only while pedaling. If you find
yourself needing to shift while you must pedal hard, then you're in (a
little bit of) trouble.

If you must start on an uphill and am in the wrong 'gear', turn around and
start downhill, shift, then head back uphill. Don't feel embarrassed, just
look like you think you dropped something on the ground. But really most
people won't notice.

Quoted message said:

It helps if you know how to fall without injuring yourself. But if you
don't, you don't. If you ride your bike long & often enough, you will
fall. Accept it.

The longer you ride, the more comfortable you'll become and the less likely
you'll fall.

Quoted message said:

Here's hoping that you enjoy it enough to buy a good (better) bike soon.
There's nothing like riding a good bike on a good road on a nice day.

Any day!

--
Mike Vore
2007 Photo Calendar with Scenes along the NCR and York Heritage Trails:
http://www.lulu.com/ohmywoodness/400827

Thanks again. We ride laps around the parking lot (2/10th mile) at my
son's school, every afternoon.

I had to find a bike for me too and wound up with a Huffy 15 speed. It
rides OK too. We are enjoying getting out for a bit of excersize.

On closer inspection, the Schwin turns out to be an 18 speed. We just
toodle around and take it easy. I am still figuring out the gears and
the shifting.

No crashes. (yet)

Nick

N in WNC said:

Thanks again. We ride laps around the parking lot (2/10th mile) at my
son's school, every afternoon.

I had to find a bike for me too and wound up with a Huffy 15 speed. It
rides OK too. We are enjoying getting out for a bit of excersize.

On closer inspection, the Schwin turns out to be an 18 speed. We just
toodle around and take it easy. I am still figuring out the gears and
the shifting.

No crashes. (yet)

Nick

The number of gears isn't really important. More gears just means you
have closer gears and your chance of finding just the right one to match
your desired effort in the conditions at hand is better.

Don't think you're done experimenting until you get some speed going and
shift, especially going up and down hills. It's mechanically the same,
but subjectively different from low speeds.

You've got a helmet right? Also gloves for when you do fall. When you've
got your cheap bike dialed-in, you'll want to upgrade to something with
clipless pedals and cleats that match. That locks your foot to the pedal
and makes for more power and efficiency. But it's also more learning,
which is fun.

--
Lynn Wallace http://www.xmission.com/~lawall
I have nothing but contempt and anger for those who betray the
trust by exposing the name of our sources. They are, in my view,
the most insidious of traitors."
George H.W. Bush, April 16, 1999,

"N in WNC" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Thanks again. We ride laps around the parking lot (2/10th mile) at my
son's school, every afternoon.

I know I'd be very bored doing laps. Then again, this is one of the reasons
why I loathe swimming. And when I was a running, running around a track, no
way -- I had to run on the street, where there was more variety in the
scenery. Even to do a relatively short ride, say, 5 miles, is a lot of
2/10th of a mile laps!

So I recommend, when you feel more confident about your bike handling
skills, ride around the neighborhood, too. What might seem initially scary
gets easier as you build experience.

--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
http://www.bicyclemeditations.org/
See the books I've set free at: http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky

I have an old Schwinn CrissCross myself. It was my first adult "return
to cycling" bike which I purchased new back in '93. I've gotten other
bikes since then, but I'll still get out this a fun retro-experience,
as a loaner for guests, and as an occasional travel partner.

Schwinn was undergoing major financial problems at the time this bike
was being sold, and it's hard to know exactly what your componentry is.

IF YOU HAVE THE BOWTIE HANDLEBARS - this may apply to you. (If your
handle bars look normal - it might not.) The bowtie shaped handlebar
may have the Suntour grip-shifters for your larger sprockets on the
left/driver's side of your handle bar. (Nowadays, you tend to see
Shimano-brand rather than Suntour). Unlike most shifters, these Suntour
chainring adjustments (for the three larger front sprockets) are
managed in 5 click positions instead of the more conventional three.
The high and middle gears have 2 click positions each.

Here's how: When you shift to the larger size chain ring, the protocol
is to "over-click" - or click to the second-position on the left
shifter to engage your shifter to the larger sprocket, and then
down-click slightly after it is engaged to secure the chain and reduce
some clatter noise. It's always felt a bit "industrial" to me, but it
works.

Also, the gear numbers on the right side of the handlebar may be in
reverse order, the number 1 position is actually number 7, 2 is
actually 6, and so on. . . Also rather bizarre, but hey, it works too
- and we newbies can be blissfully unaware of incorrect labeling.

At my time of purchase, Schwinn was a company (yes, it was a company
instead of just a label) with major problems. Thus, I described to
you a couple of OEM features (flaws?) that would be unthinkable today.
If you decide that you really like bicycling, then you may seek advice
on whether you should spend the bucks to "tune up" this bike. I like
mine - warts and all.

Welcome to our midst. Bicycing has been a great adult experience for
me since '93, It is still great! Hope the same good things happen for
you. Time for my CrissCross and me to go out for a ride!

Dayton Capri