Please note: Competition provided by Zalando
Please note this competition is now closed! Julie is our winning entry!
To celebrate the first year of Zalando in the UK, they have a £75 voucher up for grabs for one lucky London Cyclist reader. Read on for details on how to enter.
Zalando sell a selection of sports wear for men and women including kit for cyclists. To find all the cycling gear on offer, simply hover over Sports and choose all sports. Then, choose bike in the left sidebar.
Whilst the site specialises in sports shoes, they also sell other cycling gear such as gloves, helmets and great looking waterproof jackets. The last one being an essential item for this time of the year! The company offers free returns and have a free support line if there are any issues.
Competition
Entering the competition is easy. Simply add a comment in the section below with one tip you’d give a new cyclist who’s just started cycling in 2012. Anything that you’ve learnt from your experiences that you feel would be useful to someone else. We’ll pick our favourite answer and then contact the winner to send them the £75 voucher that can be spent on anything they want on Zalando.
Please note that this competition is only open to UK residents. It will run from today until 8 p.m. on Wednesday 18th of January 2012 at which point it will be closed to any further entries. The winner will be announced on this post. One entry per person.
If the winner doesn’t respond within a reasonable amount of time then the person in second place will be contacted.
For a free £5 voucher to spend on Zalando you can also sign up to their newsletter. This is located at the bottom of the Zalando website.
Good luck with your entry!
Keep really alert, watch out for dangers, know the highway code for cyclists and view yourself as a vehicle on the roads.
If you’re planning on commuting, invest in a decent pair of pannier bags and ditch the backpack. You cannot put a price on a non-sweaty back!
You going to get lots of advice, some good, some really good and some not so good. Some you’ll agree with and some you will think the poster has gone loco. In the end its up to you to choose what advice you take or not.
Think of it as a menu and you get to decide what works for you.
When it’s dark, watch out for cars turning through a line of stationary traffic (on your right) and across a bus lane (which you are whizzing down).
Also, don’t wait for a number of punctures before you get armoured tyres.
Be especially careful at intersections as this is where most cycling accidents occur, always approach them with caution.
My tip would be always wear reflective gear or bright coloured clothes even in the day.
Don’t undertake turning trucks and beware of tourists on Boris bikes.
for a novice rider i’d say avoid going on the busier streets until you feel completely confident that you’ll be able to handle all the situations you may be faced with.
The top tip has to be ALWAYS wear a helmet. Also, make sure that the helmet is fits correctly.
Always ring your bell or call out while passing others on the road who may not be aware that you are there.
Remember to use your headlight when it’s dark.
My 1# tip for novice riders is always keep your hands on the brake levers so if you suddenly need to brake, you will be ready to do so. If this feels uncomfortable, get your brake levers adjusted so they come closer to the handlebars.
Always make a clear indication of your intentions and make sure you know how to use hand gestures correctly . As a novice rider I was scared of putting my arm out as my steering would become wobbly so always make sure you practice riding with just the one hand first.
The golden novice rule: “Never, ever, ever, undertake a HGV, in case it turns into your path.”
This, more than any other tip, is likely to save their life. The subtlety of doing it safely when they’re filtering at lights isn’t worth getting into if they are a novice. Also, I tell novices to get off at junctions, and push their bikes through on pedestrian crossings, if ever they fell unsafe.
Who won?
Me I bet…
I haven’t been informed yet but …
Darn, I knew I should’ve copied your idea. 😛
Too late for the competition, but nevermind, here’s my 2 pence:
Aside from making sure you’ve got lights, a good lock, mudguards etc I think planning your route beforehand is probably one of the best tips I could offer. Either using a TfL map (not their website – its suggested cycle routes are bizarre) or websites like cyclestreets.net will help you to discover more pleasant alternatives for getting from A to B instead of just hitting the roads you would if you had been driving the same route, like some of our busier urban, three-lane highways.
Assuming you are commuting, maybe get a friend from work to accompany you along your route the first couple of times.
You’ll discover a whole side of London you never knew existed.
So who did win?
Thanks everyone for the really good entries – I’ll be announcing the winner on Sunday!
Hi All –
Thanks so much for the fantastic entries. The winning one is by Julie! I’ve summed up some of my favourite entries here:
https://www.londoncyclist.co.uk/tips/7-tips-for-new-cyclists/
Thanks and looking forward to bringing you more competitions!
Andreas