CycloZeal Cycling Tips - Library

Short, practical cycling lessons built from years of coaching racers, endurance riders and brevet cyclists - focused on early decisions, not personalised coaching.

Part of the Cycling Tips Library - focused on early decisions, not personalised coaching.

Short explainer videos — designed for clarity, not cinematic visuals

Getting Ready to Ride

Safety First prepare yourself, your gear, and your environment for every ride.

Helmet, visibility, lights, eye protection and situational awareness.

Always Wear Your Helmet

Your head is valuable; protect it by wearing a helmet.
Unforeseen accidents can happen, so it's better to be safe.
Helmets are both for safety and style.
It's your choice: look cool or risk your safety.
Ensure your helmet fits well and meets safety standards. Don't compromise on safety for cost savings. Check for safety certification on the helmet.

2.1) Emergency ID/Tags can sometimes can be life saver. Remember to have your emergency details on you when you go out for cycling, it’s always better be safe than sorry

You are going for a ride and not a war so remember to ENJOY YOUR RIDE!!!

3) Eye Protection:

Choosing the Right Sunglasses for Cycling - Invest in high-quality sunglasses suitable for the prevailing light and weather conditions. Dark shades for daylight, Amber for low-light, and Clear for night rides offer the best protection for your eyes. Avoid wearing lenses for long rides, Opt for eyewear options that allow you to wear your prescription glasses along with sunglasses for added comfort during long rides

2) Bright and Light

1) Be Visible - If someone spots you from a distance it's highly unlikely s/he will drive to knock you down. We recommend that riders should wear cloths that are bright in colour

2) Beat the Heat - Bright and Lighter shades will reflect more heat than absorb it as compared to darker shades.

Front Bike Lights: Essential for Safe Riding in Low-Light Conditions

Invest in a quality front light for a clear view of the road and to avoid unexpected obstacles like potholes, we can not live without ;)

Tail Light - Enhancing Safety on the Road

Choose a non-flashing mode for your tail light to help drivers judge distance accurately, and remember to turn it on in low-light conditions

4) Adhering to Traffic Rules

Stop at Red Signals: Always come to a halt when the signal turns red.
Use Hand Signals: Develop the habit of using hand signals consistently and at the right time to communicate your intentions to others on the road.
Maintain Lane Discipline: Stay within your lane to prevent accidents caused by lane breaches. Accidents often occur when someone deviates from their lane, catching others off guard.
Avoid Sudden Maneuvers: Refrain from making sudden bike movements that can pose risks to cyclists behind you.

5) Keep the volume low

We all like to listen to some music and many likes to keep the volume to the maximum with their headset on...Its also a good idea to plug it into your left ear so you can hear the traffic coming from the right or vice versa and hope we don't have them to HONK!!!

Try and avoid ear phone completely if you can!

6) Eyes on the Road:

Anticipate and Stay Attentive

Always keep your eyes on the road, even when taking a glance be sure of road ahead.
Anticipate the actions of other riders and drivers. If you can't predict, slow down to buy precious seconds for a safe response.
Maintain focus even when taking a sip, as shown in the picture

essential riding techniques

Improve efficiency and comfort on the bike.

Gears and Ratios

How to use gears effectively and avoid common mistakes.

Yeheeee….I have a Geared Bike!!!

Gears are not about speed — they are about managing effort.

In this video, Effort Equation – Gears & Ratios (Part 1), we break down how bicycle gears actually work and how gear ratios influence pedaling effort, cadence, and efficiency.

This video is part of the CycloZeal Library, created for riders training in racing, endurance cycling, brevets and triathlon.

Gears & Ratios (Part 1)

Part 1 of Gears and Ratio

In this video, you’ll learn:

- How bicycle gears are counted

- What gear ratios really mean in real-world riding

- The relationship between gears, cadence, and effort

- Why riding at 80+ RPM is recommended for efficiency and joint health

- How to think about gears from an effort-based perspective

Key takeaway: The best gear is the one that allows you to sustain your ideal cadence and effort, not the highest speed.

Gears & Ratios (Part 2)

In Part 2 of the Gears & Ratio,

We break down cross-chaining: What it is, Why it happens, Why it costs you efficiency, comfort, and component life

Using clear chainline visuals, this clip explains why: Big chainring + biggest rear cog / Small chainring + smallest rear cog …are combinations every serious rider should avoid.

This is especially critical for racing, ultra-endurance cycling, brevets, and triathlon, where small inefficiencies add up over long hours on the bike.

Learn how to: Recognize cross-chaining instantly, Reduce drivetrain noise and wear, Maintain smoother cadence and power delivery, Make smarter gear choices under fatigue

FAQs on Gears and Ratio

Which Gears is the best gear to ride, is a question frequently asked

Gear that allows you to sustain your ideal cadence and your desired effort (not speed) is just about right for you. Choosing the best gear to ride depends on various factors, including your fitness level, strength, terrain, wind conditions, and more.

Aim riding at 80+ RPM - Sustain a cadence above 80 revolutions per minute (RPM) in gears that put less stress on your joints, as recommended by scientific studies.
Determine your ideal cadence or RPM (Revolutions Per Minute) that you can sustain throughout your ride by finding an effort level where you neither have to push too hard nor pedal too fast, avoiding bouncing on the saddle
Use a cyclo-computer in RPM/Cadence mode or manually count revolutions for 10 seconds and multiply by 6 to get your one-minute cadence.

Scientific studies suggest an average human's cadence falls between 80-85 RPM, with elite and professional riders achieving 100+ RPM through dedicated training.
Shift to the appropriate gear for the terrain you're riding. Climbing may require a lower RPM, but it's important to maintain a rhythm and start easy to sustain effort, gradually increasing as you progress up the climb.
Anticipate the terrain/conditions to shift to appropriate gear to maintain your ideal/sustainable cadence on what ever the terrain is. On climbs we need to push harder to go against the gravity demanding more force which may result in lesser RPM than desired so getting over the climb is all that matters, this is especially useful tip for novice/riders with lower power to weight ratio.

Master your Drafting Skills

Reduce effort and ride efficiently in a group

Cycling Drafting Skills

Drafting is one of the most important - and misunderstood - skills in cycling.

In this video, we break down how to draft correctly, why it saves energy, and how elite riders use drafting to ride faster while keeping effort under control. You’ll learn proper positioning, spacing, cadence control, and common mistakes that can turn drafting from an advantage into a risk.

Smooth riding saves energy.
Smart drafting builds efficiency.
Safe drafting earns trust.
Ride smart. Ride strong.

Tips: When you try this for the initial period, do this at a slower speed and maintain a safe distance from the rider in the front, allowing you more time to act.

More about Drafting Skills

A technique used by cyclist to conserve their energy and sustain higher speeds for longer distances/time. Riders will be sharing the work load in the front and will recover while in the shelter. This technique is believed to save up to 30% of rider’s energy.

How it is done

a) Riders are following each other closely, which is saving them from wind in turn helping them to conserve their energy

b) Rider in the front takes his/her turn to face the wind, expelling more energy and maintaining the speed.

c) Rider in the from after leading will move slowly to the left and slow down just a little (38kms) by reducing the RPM and conserve until the last rider passes by, to get to the right side following the other riders at higher speed (40 kms).

This process is followed cyclically allowing the group of riders to rider faster for longer duration.

Risks: Many a times riders overlap their front wheel with the rear wheel of the rider in the front and which may lead to a crash involving other riders riding in the formation.

It is highly imperative that riders maintain their line, especially after taking their turn to lead/pull and when moving out of the line to the slower lane.

Elite riders use their Elbows to signal the rider behind that s/he is done with her/his turn, BEFORE MOVING to the slower lane and slowing down

Follow these rules

- Maintain a steady Speed/RPM to maintain a steady pace

- Fast Lane is on the Right and Slow Lane on the Left, keep this as a standard practice for all the rides, at least until you’ll have mastered the skill of Drafting!!

- Flick your elbow not your bike

- Slowly change your line to get into the slow lane after you have taken pulled

- Slow down with your RPM just a bit

- Wait for the last rider to pass by

- Increase your RPM and get back in to the line

- Warn the riders of any hazard approaching (be vocal if necessary)

- Be cautious when using your brakes

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