How To Get Better At Road Cycling: 6 Essential Tips

Whether you’re completely new to road cycling or are a more experienced road cyclist looking to get back into the sport, or take your skills a step further, the following guide is for you. From tips on staying motivated to finding the right gear, these are our top tips for how to get better at road cycling. 

Perfect Your Position

Posture has a key influence on aerodynamics as you ride, which is why it’s so worthwhile spending the time adjusting and perfecting your posture. In an ideal world, you want your body to be in as low a position as possible, rather than sitting up straight where you’ll catch the wind. Tuck in your elbows to help lower your body close to the bars.It’s also worth practising your drop bar position. Using drop bars can feel uncomfortable at first, but adjusting the height of your seat and handlebar, as well as doing back and shoulder stretches before your ride can really help - if you can master using drop bars you could significantly decrease your wind resistance.

Cycle In A Group

A key part of how to get better at road cycling is learning from your buddies. Finding a group to ride with will not only help you stay motivated, it will also enable you to ride faster and more safely. Riding in a group reduces the wind resistance that you experience as individuals, helping you to push further and faster, whilst making you more visible on the road. Riding in a bunch does take some practice and so it’s crucial to pay close attention, making sure you’re focusing on the wheel in front whilst intermittently checking in front of the group to spot any upcoming obstacles. Keep communicating with your bunch and shout if you spot any hazards or need assistance. Cycling with more experienced riders will help you to pick up practical road cycling tips and tricks. 

Take A Break From The Bike

Ironically, the process for how to get better at road cycling doesn’t just mean spending more time on the bike. It’s important to take a break from your bike in two ways. Firstly, it’s crucial to assign rest days (at least one a week) to give your body the time that it needs to recover. Slowing down will enable you to come back refreshed whilst helping to prevent injury. Secondly, it’s really beneficial to assign training time off the bike. Integrating activities that use movements not found in cycling will allow you to strengthen areas of your body that you can’t on the bike. Swimming is a fantastic low impact exercise for improving muscle rotation that you don’t get on the bike, alongside hiking and running which help to improve cardio fitness whilst building muscle in areas not challenged by cycling.