Outdoor cycling is physical exercise. Bring the necessary equipment to better protect your body and increase your riding mileage.
What is outdoor riding equipment?
Following is a list of “Riding Gear” that you MUST bring with you to class to ride the training bikes.
1. Cycling Helmet
In riding, I often hear a saying that “you can’t participate in cycling activities without wearing a helmet”. You should wear a helmet no matter where and when you ride.
The head is an important part of the human body. When encountering a huge impact, the helmet can relieve the force of the impact and reduce the injury degree of the rider. If the accident is serious, it can also improve the chances of survival to a certain extent.
According to the Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute, using a cycling helmet can reduce the chance of head injury by 50% and the chance of face or neck injury by 33%. Ideally, we would never fall off the bike, but sometimes you can’t control what happens on the road. If the worst happens, a helmet can save your head or even your life.
When buying a helmet, pay attention to the breathability and comfort of the helmet, and try to choose a helmet with high strength and lightweight.
2. Ridding Gloves
Some people think that wearing gloves is unnecessary, but it is not. Good quality cycling gloves have the functions of breathability, shock absorption, slip resistance, and sweat absorption.
If you ride outdoors for a long time and hold your hands tightly on the handlebars for a long time, it will cause pain due to friction, and may even break the skin. Especially when encountering some bumpy mountain roads, the posture of holding the handlebar tightly for a long time. It will cause the whole palm to vibrate with the mountain road, which will lead to hand numbness over time. If we accidentally roll over, we will all touch the ground with our hands subconsciously. At this time, riding gloves can protect our hands well.
Short Finger Cycling Gloves have very thin leather that is breathable and allows us to move flexibly. There is usually an absorbent wipe around the thumb that can be used to wipe the sweat or wipe the nose. At the same time, cycling gloves can also prevent the harm of ultraviolet rays to the hands. So it is necessary to develop a good habit of wearing gloves.
3. Cycling Sunglasses
If it is a daily short-distance leisure ride, wearing sunglasses can also be used. But if you ride at high speeds, or ride for a long time, often, wearing a pair of cycling sunglasses is necessary.
Wearing cycling sunglasses will not make your eyes feel sad because of the wind, and will greatly reduce the chance of conjunctivitis. In addition, when riding off-road, cycling sunglasses can block flying sand, insects, leaves, dust, etc., and play a protective role. Another function of black cycling sunglasses is to shade and sunscreen to maintain a clear vision.
4. Cycling Water Bottle
Cycling equipment recommendation: Cycling portable water bottles have their production standards, which can be firmly fixed on the car through the bottle cage. And if you use purchased mineral water bottles and beverage bottles, it is easy to fall off when bumped. In addition, the riding bottle is designed with a special water outlet, which will not leak due to shaking or inversion. And soft plastic or rubber material is more comfortable when drinking water, and will not knock your teeth.
With the cycling bottle, you only need to squeeze the soft bottle with one hand to quickly dispense a large amount of water, which is very efficient and safe.
Cycling hydration is a skill: a small amount and many times, in order not to delay riding, I think every cyclist has the situation of hydrating while riding. An even more kettle is necessary.
5. Cycling Clothes
Cycling clothing includes a complete set of tops and bottoms.
In addition to the basic functions of keeping warm and covering. Cycling clothing also has the functions of reducing wind resistance, perspiration, ventilation, easy washing, and quick drying.
The biggest benefit of cycling shorts and bibs is the addition of a padded suede on the bottom of the shorts. A good chamois can reduce stress and increase the comfort of a bicycle saddle. Padded cycling shorts are a must if you plan to ride regularly or ride long distances.
Generally speaking, cycling clothing is close-fitting, which can effectively avoid the situation of going for a ride. I believe that everyone has the experience of ballooning on the back when riding a bike in loose sportswear.
So when you’re riding a road bike at high speed, a jersey can give you less wind resistance and speed up your speed.
6. Bicycle Stopwatch
What equipment do you need for riding, and what is the riding equipment?
The importance of the computer is almost the same as that of the helmet, it is a necessity in cycling. Especially in some complex road sections or downhill, you need to rely on the display of the stopwatch to control the speed reasonably to avoid accidents. In addition, the stopwatch is like a person’s eyes.
The numbers on the stopwatch will not only tell you your current physical condition (including cadence b heart rate/rest recovery time, etc.) The maximum output capacity of the body. A computer is an irreplaceable piece of equipment on your cycling gear list.
7. Riding Lights
“Riding Lights” are also highly recommended. When walking on the road, accidents are always inevitable. For example, when the night comes early, you need a headlight that is enough to illuminate the road ahead. Safety is always the top priority for happy riding.
In simple terms, riding lights can be divided into two types, one is headlights, and the other is taillights. The headlights can be used for lighting and can be removed after getting out of the car to be used as flashlights and camping lights.
Headlights generally use LED lighting, with three modes: constant on, fast flashing, and slow flashing. The main function of taillights is to improve the recognition of your vehicle and avoid being chased by vehicles from behind. Many European countries have very strict regulations on the installation of taillights.
8. Navigation Equipment
Daily leisure riding can use mobile phone navigation, but if it is road high-speed riding or off-road riding, mobile phone navigation is not a wise choice. For example, when riding off-road, the degree of bumps will be large, and the mobile phone is easy to fall and break. On the other hand, due to the influence of wind noise, the sound of navigation is difficult to hear clearly.
Therefore, in this case, it is necessary to use a professional and compact cycling navigation device. Which is small and easy to carry, and the navigation interface is simple and clear enough for you to understand at a glance.
9. Energy Supplement Food
No matter what outdoor activity, including cycling, proper refueling is critical.
For short rides (within about 1 hour), you can drink normal water or low-carb electrolyte drinks, and you can eat a banana.
For medium-distance riding (within about 1-3 hours), drink at least 2 bottles of low-carb electrolyte drinks and eat a little carbohydrate food.
For long-distance riding (within 3-6 hours or more), you should have drinking water and electrolyte drinks, as well as sandwiches, sports nutrition bars, and other foods.
10. First aid items
As with any outdoor activity, there are certain risks, and so does cycling.
First aid items that are convenient to carry include but are not limited to Band-Aids, tourniquets, alcohol pads (for disinfection and cleaning), medical gloves (to avoid infecting wounds from unclean hands), first aid blankets (good outdoor products/warm protection from the cold, sunscreen and reflective), triangular towel, indoor (Sterilization and disinfection), aerosols (activating blood and removing blood stasis/relieving swelling and pain), etc.
In addition, you can also bring some commonly used medicines, including but not limited to heatstroke medicines, diarrhea medicines, cold medicines, etc.
11. More cycling equipment
Cycling bag (backpack, fanny pack, car head bag, camel bag). Tire repair tool (including spare inner tube), sun protection equipment (sunscreen/sunglass/sunscreen clothing). Shelf, portable pump, car lock, assault pants, row sweat underwear, quick-drying pants, riding leg covers, down pants, sun hats, belts, magic headscarf, knee pads, sleeping bags, tents, moisture-proof pads, aluminum film floor mats, raincoats, cycling shoes, cycling shoe sleeves, cycling sleeves, cycling sports masks, walkie-talkies, cookware P, etc.
Top 10 list of essential cycling equipment. Since everyone’s riding environment is different, the matching of equipment varies from person to person, more or less.
