As I jokingly admitted in the excuse mom firestorm thread, I suck at riding my bike. But worse than that, it rather terrifies me, to the point that I shake all over for the duration of any ride. After I get where I’m going, I have to take several minutes to calm down enough that my knees don’t give out and drop me to the ground when I step away from the bike.
And no, it’s not physical exertion causing the shaking, it starts within the first couple of seconds I start off on a ride, and no other exercise makes me shake like that. For example the elliptical, (which is my favorite), I hit it pretty hard, to the point of choking, sweating like crazy and hacking up a lung, but it doesn’t make me shake like that.
And I never used to be afraid of it, when my ex-husband and I were together, we used to take all day rides all over the Anchorage bike trails. If it were just my brain going “yikes! this is scary…OMG this is scary, OH HILL!! GAH! I’m gonna crash”!! I’d be fine, I could deal with talking my brain down, but I can’t seem to make my stupid body stop reacting. What’s odd is, this is the only thing that really scares me to this point (as much as I hate spiders, even they don’t cause the shakes). I want to start riding my bike to work (only about 4 and a half miles away, and is a fairly easy ride, but for a few hills). I do practice runs to work on the weekends sometimes, but the only time I’m not fairly nervous to actively terrified is when I’m going UP a hill (then it’s slow enough that I’m not afraid of crashing). But it seems as if practicing makes it worse, not better.
Does anyone else have similar issues with something? Even if it’s not exercise related. How did you deal with it?
I’m not clear how you can “suck” at riding a bike unless you have some underlying physical impairment. If it’s a muscular or balance issue you might want to consider a trike or fat tired cruiser. If it’s just some fear reaction that’s not getting better with more riding experience then (honestly) I’d just bag it.
Hopefully I’m not stating the bleeding obvious, but if I were you I’d check to make sure your seat is adjusted right for the optimal angles, having it set too high would result in shakiness. Beyond that I got nothin’.
Well, I see all of these other people on the trail and they’re just ZOOMING down the hill, and taking corners like mad, and I am not that good at it, my corner taking is clumsy and slow (afraid of falling) and going down hills YIKES. I don’t look like the other people riding bikes, that’s why I say I suck at it. They all look so natural and fast. And again, the cornering…they’re good and graceful, I’m not.
Typically when riding a bike, even at moderate speeds, there is enough momentum that there is no “falling experience” to fear. It sounds (form your description) like a mental thing and if that’s the case I’m not sure what you can do to overcome it if it is persisting despite continued riding.
Is the bike properly fitted to your legs and torso size?
I’m not sure, I’ve got the seat adjusted so that it’s comfortable, that is my knees aren’t all squished up around my chin :D. How do you know if it’s right?
Check the link in post #3. If the seat is too high and the angle is too shallow your centre of gravity will be too high and make you unbalanced. The frame could also be too large, with the same result.
Cleats? We’re supposed to wear cleats? Just one more thing that shows I don’t know what I’m doing. I just wear normal tennis shoes. Okay, my leg angle looks right, but I don’t really know about the saddle back one, and I don’t really know how to change that. My seat seems to move up and down but not back and forth.
Not cleats like a football or soccer shoe. Special cycling shoes take cleats that either fit over the pedal spindle and are used with toe clips and straps(old school) or clipless shoes(w/cleats) that lock to the(matching) pedal like a ski binding.
Cleated foot ware IMO would be a no - no from someone who is not a reasonably good rider. YMMV
When you were riding with your ex, what was it like? Going slow & easy with not many people around & not on busy roads like you would need to use to go to work?
Yes, I saw the picture, and some of my coworkers have bike cleat shoes, but I thought they were just for fancy mountain bike type biking, not old lady bike biking.
Maybe you’re just getting old enough to realize going down hill at high speeds is plain unsafe. Don’t be afraid to use the break and go at a comfortable speed.
Well, when we rode it was recreational and just going around the bike trails. We were young and very healthy so we did hills and stuff like that. I don’t remember being afraid or trying to go particularly slow. Thanks for the advice regarding the cleats. Yeah, I don’t really want to give up on this. I’ve had the bike for probably 4 or 5 years and have been working on this for awhile. I only rode it once in Seattle, but slipped on some moss and went sliding and put it up for the entire rest of my stay there.
In Colorado it’s a lot more dry and the hills aren’t as insane, so I’ve been venturing out a lot more, and now that it’s reasonably cool, I’d like to try biking to work. It’s not that far and the physical exertion wouldn’t be so much that I’d be all gross and sweaty when I got there, especially since it’s cool in the morning.
A month ago, I went almost to work on a weekend day and when I got to the intersection that I’d have to cross to get there, I got off the bike and was so shaky that my knees wouldn’t have held me to get across the road! I’m not quite ready to give up, but still not sure what to do.
Maybe you’ve quietly developed a phobia related to bicycles and should get some advice from a cycletherapist.
As for riding around traffic, its good to be a bit on edge. Drivers tend to be oblivious to anything except in their tunnel vision and those lefthooks come out of nowhere.
It’s not clear to me what your fear is based on. I understand the speed and hills and turning sharp corners, etc… but you’ve not mentioned falling and being injured and being afraid of having that happen again. So, <shrug>.
My advice is - ditch the two wheel bike and get an adult trike. It’s stable and it’ll get you from home to work and back safely. Same amount of exercise. Less stress and fear of injury.
I got one to run my dogs because of the easy bailout factor. It’s not as fast as a regular bicycle, but is faster and easier than walking and is a nice workout if you want to push yourself.
I spent some time riding and never had cleats. I preferred toe clips. The idea behind either of them is to keep the ball of your foot on the pedal and to allow you to pull up in your pedaling cycle.
As for the shakes, besides making sure the seat is adjusted right for you, maybe have your wheels checked out for being true. At speed, that can cause wobble and shakes, just like an unbalanced steering tire on your car.
IMO, nobody who’s uncomfortable on a bike should wear cleats OR toe clips. In fact, I don’t really understand this whole “toe on the pedal” thing - I expect it makes you more efficient or something, but I really doubt if Shoes wants “efficient” - she wants safe
Personally I ride quite a lot, but have crap balance and I know it - and it’ll be a cold day in hell when I ride a bike I can’t put my feet down instantly on both sides the second anything happens to disturb my smooth passage. In a case where someone’s really getting scared of riding I’d be wondering if the seat was too high … or going the trike. They seem to be getting more common around here.
I’m not quite ready to give up, but still not sure what to do.