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Interviewer: Cycling has been shown to be a fun way to get physical activity into your life, and there are plenty of health benefits that go along with it for any age or skill level. But if you're just getting started out cycling, you might find getting into it being a little overwhelming and wondering just how to get started.

Joining us today is Ned Dowling, a physical therapist with the Cyclist Clinic at Ï㽶ÊÓƵ of Utah Orthopedic Center at Ï㽶ÊÓƵ of Utah Health.

Now, Ned, to start, I did a quick Google search, "How to get into cycling," and I got articles about what socks to wear, what bike to get, what helmets, everything. It just seemed like a whole big thing for me to try to get into. Where can someone start?

Choosing the Right Bike

Ned: First thing, you need a bike, whether that's a spin bike or a Peloton or something similar to be riding inside, or the normal bike with wheels that you're going to ride outside.

As much as we have come to be internet shoppers, buying a bike through the internet has a lot of challenges. It's doable, but you need to know ahead of time what you're doing, lest you spend a lot of money on something that's not going to work very well for you.

So I would send you to a local bike shop. Folks in a local bike shop are knowledgeable, helpful, can get you started, and can show you what your options are based on what your cycling goals are. Whether that is how far you want to ride, how long you want to ride, how comfortable you want to be on a bike, whether you're going to be on dirt, whether you're going to be on pavement, they should be able to steer you in the right direction.

Key Factors to Consider Before Buying a Bike

Interviewer: You come to them, what are some of the factors that they might be asking you about? I mean, you said distance. Is it skill level, what the goals are? What are the key factors that people should think about maybe before they show up at the bike shop?

Ned: I suppose the assumption is going to be that you know how to ride a bike already. They tend not to sell adult bikes with training wheels. So they're going to assume that you know how to ride a bike.

Now, skill level, we can talk skill level on a mountain bike in terms of how well you can handle the bike going downhill and whether you want to go fast downhill, have the skills to be able to go fast downhill, or whether you're going to be squeezing the brakes for dear life the whole way down.

And even with that, a good bike shop employee should be able to gauge what your level is and pick a bike or steer you towards a bike that's more suitable for you.

In mountain bikes, there are ones that are aimed a bit more towards going uphill fast and not so fast downhill, to bikes that don't go uphill very well at all, but go downhill really, really well.

On a road bike, it is going to be more about how comfortable the bike is. Quite honestly, if you watch the Tour de France or even the Olympics road race, you're going to see cyclists who are in positions on their bikes that do not look comfortable.

And most of them, they're comfortable because they've been doing this for a long time, they've spent a lot of time on a bike, and their bodies are able to go into that position reasonably well. For a lot of us, we're not going to be comfortable on the same bike that the Tour de France winner is riding.

But, the bike industry builds bikes that come in different shapes and sizes to accommodate a lot of different shapes and sizes of people. So again, the local bike shop is a good place to start and get a sense of what's out there.

Probably the next question that they're going to ask you is, "How much do you want to spend?" And these days, you don't have to spend a ton of money to find a good bike that's going to be durable, that's going to perform well.

You can spend an awful lot of money if you are so inclined to get something that is going to perform a bit better, but it doesn't have to be your life savings to get a good quality bike these days.

The Importance of Proper Bike Fit

Interviewer: You just mentioned that not all bikes fit all people, all shapes, all sizes. What is the next thing that they should be thinking about after they have the bike in front of them?

Ned: Having the bike adjusted properly and knowing how to sit on it properly. Those are biggies. Depending on the bike shop, some of them will provide some level of bike fitting, whether that is just kind of getting the saddle in the ballpark to a full-blown bike fit where they will put your new bike on a stationary trainer and have you pedal the bike on the trainer and take a lot of measurements.

With bike fitting, we have ballpark ranges, and we know these ranges from research studies that have looked at biomechanics or the efficiency of pedaling. So we kind of have a good idea of where we want somebody to be, but it may take an awful lot of adjustment to get there.

We have a lot of adjustable parts on the bike. The seat can go up and down, it can go forwards, backward, we can angle it, we can change the location of feet on the pedals, we can move the handlebars around. So there is a lot of adjustment to getting someone in a desired position on the bike.

Sometimes a bike shop can take care of that. Sometimes they don't have those services, and you're looking for someone who is a specialized bike fitter.

Potential Issues with Poorly Fitted Bikes

Interviewer: What is the downside to maybe riding a bike that does not fit well for you?

Ned: Part of what I do as a physical therapist here at the Orthopedic Center, my specialty clinic is called The Cyclist Clinic, because I work with cyclists. I do what we would call a medical bike fit. The cyclist is coming in to see me because they have pain or some adverse symptoms associated with cycling. In addition to a fairly typical physical therapy examination, I'm having them ride their bike on a stationary trainer, and I'm looking at them as a bike fitter.

So, from a physical therapy side, I'm looking to diagnose their symptoms, and as a bike fitter, I'm looking at "How is the bike causing all this?" If the saddle is too high, let's say, then there's too much stretch of the leg through the bottom of the pedal stroke. On the flip side of that, if the saddle is too low, then maybe we have the knee joint or the hip joint being pushed a little bit further than it wants to go.

So when we sit on the bike, the bike helps us a lot in terms of giving us stability while we push on the pedals to generate momentum. But if things are not adjusted appropriately, then it stands to push the body around or put the body in places where it doesn't really want to be.

Essential Gear for Beginner Cyclists

Interviewer: So maybe they've gone to you, maybe they've talked to someone at their local bike shop, they got the bike, and they're fit. What other gear is necessary to get into bike riding if you are just starting out?

Ned: A helmet is number one. I would argue for some sunglasses, maybe a little bit larger profile sunglasses to deflect any bugs that you might be smacking along the way.

A good pair of cycling shorts. This is probably one of those places where, quite honestly, the more money you spend, the better quality you get. Shorts need to fit well. They need to have a good pad that is positioned in the right place. It's a bit of a Goldilocks. If it's too thick, it's a problem. If it's too thin, it's a problem.

Then cycling shoes. If you are relatively new to cycling and you're using flat pedals that don't have any way of holding your foot onto the pedal, using something that is relatively stiff and with a pretty smooth sole is going to stick to the pedal the best.

More advanced cyclists will use a shoe-pedal combination where there's a . . . we call it a cleat on the bottom of the shoe that clips into the pedal with a spring-loaded retention system, and then by twisting the ankle to the side, you can pop out of the pedal.

There is a learning curve to that, making it a habit or quick reaction to be able to get out of the pedal. But the nice thing about those shoes is a proper road shoe is going to be very stiff. They're not fun to walk around in, but they're very good at helping transfer the power into the pedal so that your feet don't have to work as hard.

And the big advantage of the cleat is the bike fitter adjusts the cleat to the right place, and then every time you put your foot on the pedal, then it's in the right place.

From there, you can spend a fortune on a fancy-looking cycling kit. It doesn't need to be fancy. It just needs to be functional. And that's where, again, good-fitting, good-padded shorts are a bonus, and your helmet, like I already said.

Finding the Best Places to Ride

Interviewer: All right. It sounds like we got our cycling beginner decked out. Their bike is fitting. Now what? Where is a good place to start to get into the actual putting rubber to the road with your bike?

Ned: Knowing where to ride in your community is going to be a big one. Ideally, you have a bike path that is separate from traffic if you're on the road, or at least roads that have bike lanes. I always look for the roads that have the least amount of traffic to ride on versus busy roads. Maybe there's a busy road that has a huge shoulder, but still, cars are very big and very heavy and very life-threatening relative to the cyclist in Lycra.

If you're looking at going mountain biking, there are some map resources that you can get either online or as an app. Things like Trailforks will show you your local area, show you the mountain bike trails that exist in that area. Typically, they're rated from beginner to intermediate to advanced. So that's a good resource as well.

Pacing Yourself When Starting Out

Interviewer: And I guess as someone who is an outsider, kind of a newbie to all of this, how hard should I be pushing myself when I first get started? Should I really be going out and giving it my all, or what's the best way to kind of get into this?

Ned: That depends a lot on the aerobic fitness that you have coming to cycling. So let's say that you are an avid runner and you want to take up cycling as an alternative to running. You probably have the ability to get on a bike and head up the mountain and not die.

If you are coming from a relatively sedentary lifestyle and you're trying to get some exercise in your life, then the intensity that you're going to be able to sustain is going to be much lower.

So, for that person, get on the bike, go out and ride, but find terrain that is relatively flat and moderate your intensity, which you can do by selecting gears on the bike. That's why they're there, is to help us not need to go all out all the time.

Find an intensity where you are able to talk in complete sentences, you can carry on a conversation. If you can continue to talk in complete sentences, then your heart rate is going to be low enough that you're in a range where you're getting very good physiological benefits in terms of how well your cells are functioning at utilizing oxygen and energy and maximizing that efficiency.

If you go higher than that, then your body is still working and you're still going to get a lot of benefit, but you start to increase the demand and the load on the system very quickly. And as someone who is just getting into aerobic exercise, that might be too much too fast.

Staying Motivated in Cycling

Interviewer: Now, to kind of wrap things up a little bit, say someone is listening to this for the first time. They're feeling a little bit better about whether or not they want to go out, get on a bike, maybe get one of those stationary bikes. What do you tell people to get them kind of interested and motivated into not only getting into cycling but maybe staying into cycling?

Ned: Finding other people to ride with can be a big motivator. That's where your local shop might organize some group rides or a club in your area might organize some group rides.

Being out with other people can be a lot of fun. It can be motivating. If you're on the road, it can help a lot because if you're riding behind somebody else, then you get to draft and it reduces the amount of energy that you have to use by quite a bit.

If you're out on a mountain bike, then it's a good opportunity to learn from other people. If you're not sure about some of the technical aspects of how to get around corners and descending and moving through technical terrain, being around other people, you can see what they're doing or maybe get some mentoring from more experienced riders.