Things You Need To Have When Bike Riding

Cycling is an activity that can be done for different reasons. This might be for recreation or done as utility cycling. For any purpose, there are things that you require to have to cycle. That is, apart from the bike itself. It doesn’t make much difference for which reason the cycling is for, the requirements are almost similar. For the purpose of this article however, we are going to focus mainly on the professional cycling or the athletic cycling as a measure of what you need to have when bike riding.

Protective Gear
Safety should always come first in the checklist. You must ensure that you have all the necessary protective cycling gear when cycling. The gear should also be comfortable to wear as well. Comfort of the cyclist should not be sacrificed for safety otherwise the cycling experience won’t be as wonderful as it is supposed to be.

The cyclist for example should wear a helmet to protect the head from impact in case of anything. The helmet should be up to standards and should preferably be changed with a new one every five years to ensure maximum safety. The helmet straps should not be too tight on the cyclist and should also not be very loose. The space between the straps and the chin should fit just about two fingers. It is also necessary to wear elbow and knee guards to protect the joints. This protective gear can be very helpful for a cyclist if they are involved in a collision or a crash.

Cycling Apparel
For the best cycling experience, you require cycling apparel which is most suited for you. Wearing cycling apparel is important since normal clothes might get caught up in between moving parts of the bike while cycling which is a very fatal occurrence and can cause a very bad accident. Most people rarely pay attention to what they wear when cycling which is an unfortunate thing because it can cause an accident. Cycling apparel also help to reduce the resistance of a cyclist hence they are able to move faster and more swiftly.

Hydration Pack
Dehydration is a common problem for many athletes because of the loss of water through sweating. One might dismiss the problem as inconsequential but dehydration has been reported to even cause death of athletes. It causes the amount of blood to decrease and hence the heart pumps faster with no significant performance increase. You therefore need to keep your hydration levels in check for best performance. The usual way of countering dehydration is by drinking an electrolyte drink regularly when cycling. It helps replace the water lost as well as the electrolyte salts that are lost through sweating. Plain water is not recommended for hydration because it doesn’t replace the lost salts and in some cases even worsens the dehydration. Different people have different levels of hydration and therefore you need to find out how much water you lose in an hour.

There are other miscellaneous requirements which may vary depending on the purpose of cycling. Sometimes you might require a map to help you navigate through the city and to identify bike paths around the city. However, a map should be just guide and is not to be fully depended on. It should not overcome personal judgement. Nevertheless, to have a good bike riding experience, you require to have these basic things. The lack of one of them could prove to be fatal to the life of the cyclist. It is also important to carry a wheel pump with you bike to fill up the wheels if the pressure drops.

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