Cycleway, and pretty much everything else, they’ll make your life worse rather than better.
For riding longer distances road bikes still have many advantages, not least that dropped handlebars give a greater variety of riding positions and allow you to be much more aerodynamic. This can become very important if you encounter a headwind on the Fylde.
The bikes used in the Tour de France may be feather-light works of engineering art, with carbon fibre frames and electronic gear shifting, but the essence of the design hasn’t changed for well over 50 years. Bike-makers pursue innovation in the hope of selling more bikes, and there has been a steady process of development and upgrading, and the advent of ever more specialised and radical bikes, notably for time-trials and triathlons. Even so, the all-round bikes used for road stages in the Tour are still recognisably related to what Fausto Coppi or Eddy Merckx rode. This is, quite simply, because you can’t improve on perfection.
Gorgeous though the Tour bikes may be, even if money’s no object they aren’t quite perfect for the Lancashire Cycleway. You’re looking for something with a slightly softer and more stable ride, like the bikes now aimed at the sportive market. Sportives are mass-participation events, not races, over a range of distances up to, and occasionally exceeding, 100 miles.
An endurance or sportive road bike is a good choice for riding long distances
A new, but very interesting, niche is the ‘gravel’ bike (terms like ‘adventure bike’ may be used instead). At first glance these closely resemble traditional road bikes, but they probably have disc brakes, have a slightly more resilient ride and are built to take wider tyres. They’re still pretty nippy on the roads but can also handle off-road duties, well beyond mere towpaths and forest tracks.
In any case, budget at least £300 for a worthwhile new bike. If you plan to get serious, be prepared to invest significantly more. Cheaper bikes may look superficially similar but almost certainly won’t last as long (or hold their re-sale value). If your budget is much below £300, you will be better off shopping around for a good second-hand machine.
Having said all that, any bike which gets used instead of bus or car will pay for itself sooner or later. If your employer is signed up to Cyclescheme (www.cyclescheme.co.uk), you should be able to get tax breaks on any new bike up to £1000, saving you up to 42%.
Do you regularly get off and push on hills? A really vicious climb will have most people walking, but if you’re regularly getting off on slopes of 15% or easier it’s worth reviewing your bike’s range of gears. With the right range of gears, cycling’s easier than walking on any incline you’ll meet on the Lancashire Cycleway (the maximum is about 18%).
If your bike’s existing gears aren’t low enough, it doesn’t necessarily mean you need a new bike. New sprockets and/or chainrings may be all you need, with perhaps also a new rear derailleur – ask your bike shop.
If you do have a mountain bike, you’ll almost certainly have low enough gearing for any climb on the Cycleway. For long days on tarmac, do yourself a huge favour and swap those knobbly tyres for something smoother. Those chunky knobs are for soft and loose surfaces; road tyres generally have pretty minimal tread. Higher pressures give a harder ride, but transmit your pedalling effort efficiently. However, current thinking is that wider tyres and proportionately lower pressures can give a smoother ride with minimal penalty in effort. For road bikes, 25mm to 28mm tyres have become much more common in recent years, even for racing. Mountain bikes and hybrids will have wider tyres anyway.
One other thing: traditional ‘ladies’ frame designs have little to recommend them, unless you actually plan to go riding wearing a long skirt. It’s unlikely you’ll want to do this on the Lancashire Cycleway, but if you’re using the same bike for riding to work, then lots of bikes, including many contemporary road bikes, have a sloping top tube (‘crossbar’).
Correct riding position
Whether you’re on a brand new bike or you’ve dusted off an old one, a vital and yet frequently neglected issue is getting the riding position right. Cycling might require effort at times – all exercise does – but it shouldn’t be continuously uncomfortable, and there’s no need to make it harder than it has to be. All too many give up after a few outings because their knees or back always hurt. It’s simply tragic that so many people have never experienced the pleasure and sense of ‘rightness’ of a bike that’s set up correctly for their individual dimensions.
A decent bike shop will be able to help you: in fact, if they don’t take the time to fit your new bike to you, they aren’t a decent bike shop. A real bike shop will also help you check your position on your existing bike. A basic assessment can be done in five minutes, and many bike shops will give you a quick once-over for no charge, especially if you’re buying new tyres or other bits and pieces. However, if you’re planning on riding far, or fast, or both, then the finer points of your riding position assume greater importance.
These riders both have an efficient but relaxed position on the bike
A full bike-fit is a serious and skilled business, and likely to take at least an hour. You can’t expect that level of attention for nothing, but it’s money well spent.
While a proper bike-fit requires skilled professional input, you can at least make a rough assessment for yourself. There are two essential elements.
First, get the saddle position right – not just height, but fore-and-aft as well. This is vital for efficient pedalling. Once it’s right, you’ll be able to ride faster for the same effort, or the same speed for less effort. A correctly set saddle also greatly reduces the risks of problems with your knees – usually when the saddle’s too low, or hips – more likely when it’s too high. The longer and harder you ride, the more important this becomes. As a very rough guide for saddle height, your leg should still be slightly flexed at the bottom of the pedal stroke. As a similarly rough check on the fore-and-aft position, set the cranks horizontal: you should then be able to drop a plumb line from kneecap to pedal spindle on your leading leg.
Second, get the handlebars set right. This affects stability, control, aerodynamics and above all comfort. Aches in the back, shoulders or neck (possibly all three!) are all too likely if this aspect is wrong. Again, both height and fore-and-aft placement need to be right. This may mean spending money on a new stem. Again, it will be worth it many times over.
If you find it impossible to get these elements even approximately right, it may be that the bike itself, and specifically the frame, is the wrong size. If it is, no amount of fiddling with saddle and handlebars will make it completely right. With so many different frame designs now available, it isn’t possible to give a short explanation of how to resolve this: consult your bike shop or one of the recommended books/websites listed in Appendix A.
With the riding position sorted, nothing can make or break your ride more decisively than the saddle. Choose one that’s too hard and the results are obvious. But too soft a saddle can be just as bad. It may feel comfortable to sit on, but pedalling isn’t sitting. There are many weird and (mostly) wonderful designs available nowadays, including cutaway types that may look like instruments of torture but actually relieve the pressure in crucial areas. Male and female anatomy differ significantly in these areas, and there is much to be said for gender-specific saddles. Saddle-fit is very personal, but is dictated above all by the spacing of your sit-bones (ischial tuberosities). This must be measured: you can’t judge it by eye or infer it from other vital statistics.
