{"id":216102,"date":"2025-10-15T20:44:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T20:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/216102\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T20:44:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T20:44:11","slug":"essential-bike-gear-injury-recovery-and-balance-tips-for-cyclists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/216102\/","title":{"rendered":"Essential Bike Gear, Injury Recovery, and Balance Tips for Cyclists"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Estimated4 min read<\/p>\n

Hi, and welcome to Bike Tech Tuesday Wednesday.<\/p>\n

My shoulder is messed up from a stupid low-speed fall, and the pain and resulting lack of sleep are slowing down my content creation. Think of my struggles as a reminder to work on your balance (more below) and build your overall strength and flexibility. Doing this can help prevent injuries in the first place and, if you do get hurt, help you recover faster.<\/p>\n

And now back to your quick overview of the latest gear news, what we are currently testing, and the stuff Bicycling\u2019s gear team is buzzing about.
<\/p>\n

Recently Published Gear Stories and What We\u2019re Testing\"Play\"garmin<\/p>\n

We recently posted How to Ride Faster, the latest in our video feature series. The whole thing is packed with tons of great information to help you lift your pace. Sure, there\u2019s a lot about training and intervals, but there\u2019s also tips and techniques to help you ride faster at your current fitness level. And of course, there\u2019s a chapter about gear, hosted by Bobby, that\u2019s full of great information about how unlock free speed through your gear. Watch How to Ride Faster<\/a> now!<\/p>\n

\"s<\/p>\n

Trevor Raab<\/p>\n

Speaking of faster, Tara put together a great story with tips on how to reduce your bike\u2019s weight<\/a>. Now, we\u2019ve been consistent in our messaging that improving aerodynamics<\/a> is far more effective than reducing weight as a way to improve your bike\u2019s speed. But we also know \u2014 both from our own experience and your feedback \u2014that there\u2019s something about the visceral appeal of a light bike<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\"balance<\/p>\n

Trevor Raab<\/p>\n

Natascha created a great piece with exercises you can do at home to help enhance your balance. While the headline of this story targets cyclists over 60, your balance can always be improved, regardless of your age. You\u2019re never too young to work on your balance: Balance exercises are part of the training routine of pro cyclists, who are usually in their 20s. Improve your balance<\/a> now.<\/p>\n

\"garmin<\/p>\n

Dan Chabanov<\/p>\n

Dan posted his review of Garmin\u2019s new Edge 850. The story is filled with great Dan insight<\/a> and, overall, he gives the unit high praise. But he does knock the 850 for its battery life which Garmin claims is 12 hours in standard use cases, or up to 36 when using battery saver features. And here is where Dan and I have different views. In my view, 12 hours is plenty \u2014 more than enough if fact. The difference is our charging habits. Dan prefers to charge his devices as infrequently as possible, so the more time between charges, the better. Meanwhile, 95 percent of the time, I plug in my lights and computer after every ride so I\u2019m always starting with fully charged devices.<\/p>\n

Zwift Ride Seat Angle Fixes<\/p>\n

Soon after receiving the Zwift Ride indoor bike<\/a>, I posted an Instagram video highlighting that the Ride\u2019s offset seatpost \u2014 which has a proprietary directional shape \u2014 doesn\u2019t allow me to position the saddle far enough forward to match the fore\/aft setup recommended by my fit. I wasn\u2019t the only one facing this issue, as many riders in Zwift\u2019s forum<\/a> have asked for a zero offset option. I just pinged my Zwift contact, and they told me there is not yet an official solution for riders who want to get more forward on the Ride, but there are a few workarounds. <\/p>\n

One method is to lift only the rear of the Ride by raising the trainer, which effectively steepens the seat tube angle. If you try this, you\u2019ll need to adjust the bar height and seat tilt to compensate for the changes when you lift the rear of the frame. <\/p>\n

A more elegant (and complicated) solution is the one provided by Robert Adair on his YouTube channel. It involves cutting the head off the Ride\u2019s seatpost and machining in a system that offers 20mm of fore\/aft adjustment in the seatpost head. While Adair has the tools and skills to do this himself, most of us don\u2019t have those resources. Thankfully, he generously provides the necessary dimensions and details, which you can share with a local machine shop.<\/p>\n

This Is Why We Ride<\/p>\n

The Instagram algorithm recently served me this reel of a little one having the time of his life riding a bike with his dad, and it made me smile. I hope it brings a little happiness to your day too.<\/p>\n

The Most Expensive Bike Rack Ever?<\/p>\n

While serfs like me struggle with fitting a standard bike rack into a hitch receiver, the landed gentry hire a coachbuilder to spend two years building a custom Rolls-Royce shooting brake with a hidden rack that slides out from the rear bumper (the bike rack action starts at about 1:18). <\/p>\n

This thing is clean and super impressive \u2014 my favorite parts are the fold-out auxiliary lights and the articulated license plate holder. Perhaps Honda will incorporate a similar feature into the upcoming Element revival<\/a>? <\/p>\n

\"Headshot<\/p>\n

A gear editor for his entire career, Matt\u2019s journey to becoming a leading cycling tech journalist started in 1995, and he\u2019s been at it ever since; likely riding more cycling equipment than anyone on the planet along the way. Previous to his time with Bicycling, Matt worked in bike shops as a service manager, mechanic, and sales person. Based in Durango, Colorado, he enjoys riding and testing any and all kinds of bikes, so you\u2019re just as likely to see him on a road bike dressed in Lycra at a Tuesday night worlds ride as you are to find him dressed in a full face helmet and pads riding a bike park on an enduro bike. He doesn\u2019t race often, but he\u2019s game for anything; having entered road races, criteriums, trials competitions, dual slalom, downhill races, enduros, stage races, short track, time trials, and gran fondos. Next up on his to-do list: a multi day bikepacking trip, and an e-bike race.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"4 min read Hi, and welcome to Bike Tech Tuesday Wednesday. My shoulder is messed up from a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":216103,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,47252,132131,20698,132130,35200,784,18181,23689,7591,132128,25181,132134,18495,132133,132135,92599,85,15207,132132,132129],"class_list":["post-216102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-balance-exercises","tag-bicycling-magazine","tag-bike-gear","tag-bike-rack","tag-bobby","tag-cycling","tag-cycling-tips","tag-dan","tag-flexibility","tag-garmin-edge-850","tag-home-workouts","tag-honda-element","tag-injury-recovery","tag-natascha","tag-pro-cyclists","tag-rolls-royce","tag-sports","tag-strength-training","tag-tara","tag-zwift-ride"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216102\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}