{"id":87246,"date":"2025-08-22T10:21:23","date_gmt":"2025-08-22T10:21:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/87246\/"},"modified":"2025-08-22T10:21:23","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T10:21:23","slug":"5-signs-youre-not-a-beginner-cyclist-anymore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/87246\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Signs You\u2019re Not a Beginner Cyclist Anymore"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is it about cycling that drives many of us to measure our performance, either against ourselves or other riders? How fast should I be riding? Who has the latest QOM up my local climb? Is my heart rate too fast, or too slow? Another basic measurement we hear readers ask is, \u201cWhen am I no longer a beginner cyclist?\u201d<\/p>\n

Contributor Cait Giddings explored that question in her popular story published this month \u201c5 Signs You\u2019ve Graduated from Beginner Status.\u201d<\/a> Cait has led multiple cycling trips across the country, guiding new and experienced riders to seemingly impossible feats and her story is packed with some of the most rewarding achievements we\u2019ve all hit (or are striving to achieve), like fixing your own flat tire<\/a> and knowing how to dress for cold-weather rides<\/a>.
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Bill Strickland and Tom Messina discuss Giddings\u2019 story in the latest episode of Bicycling\u2019s Bike Show About Bikes and bring their own perspectives and breakthroughs to the topic. Tom got deep into riding two years ago and has been racking up the miles. What made him feel like when he was no longer a beginner? For him it was planning and leading his first group ride<\/a>, developing preferences for cycling jerseys <\/a>and when he started bringing his bike on vacation, among others. (Tom also recently knocked out a couple century rides; our Master the Century<\/a> series is a surefire way to help you hit that milestone if it’s on your list.)<\/p>\n

But progress isn\u2019t always linear. \u201cIf you\u2019re doing it right, you\u2019re going to feel like you\u2019re a beginner several times in your riding life,\u201d Bill says, and reflects on how gear choices, routines, and even conversations with other cyclists become more nuanced as you gain experience.
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We\u2019d love to know what milestones you were excited to cross and what you\u2019re still aiming to get better at. Let us know in the comments.<\/p>\n

Get Exclusive Training Programs and Digital Issues\"Chevron\"Chevron\"Headshot<\/p>\n

Louis Mazzante is the Test Director at Hearst\u2019s Enthusiast Group, overseeing product testing and expert reviews at Popular Mechanics, Runner\u2019s World, and Bicycling; he has more than 20 years of experience testing bikes, skis, cars, tools, and cool gadgets\u2014and he is always searching for new gear that looks good, solves problems, and has a fair price. Prior to his current role, he wrote for or led several product-focused consumer and trade magazines. He\u2019s a former ski instructor, bike racer, trail builder, and, thanks to the demands of a 2005 Nissan X-Terra with 208k+ miles, amateur car mechanic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What is it about cycling that drives many of us to measure our performance, either against ourselves or…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":87247,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,53825,53828,784,53830,538,53826,53827,53829,85,1542,446],"class_list":["post-87246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bicycling","tag-cornering","tag-cycling","tag-cycling-speed","tag-fitness","tag-focused-video-series","tag-membership-video-initiatives","tag-riding-faster","tag-sports","tag-training","tag-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87246","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=87246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}