 Just tell me what it is. Just you can take them off now, time. How not to make your vagina flaps get really sore when you're riding? Okay. And what did you learn? There's nothing you can do. You just need lots of kiloneeters. Right, there you go. I think they're hard enough. Welcome back to the Friday vlog series, where today we're gonna split the video into 10 parts. I know that's slightly controversial, but both my wife and I, my wife was a beginner cyclist in 2019 and I was a beginner cyclist way back in 2009. We're both gonna share with you our thoughts, things that we wish we knew when we would begin a cyclist and there's gonna be 10 of them with a little bonus tip at the end. So let's get into it. Tip number two, while these are in no particular sequence of order, I could argue this is the most important one and that is don't underestimate the value of a good quality local bike shop like Trilogy Cycles here on the Sunshine Coast. Reason being when I first got into road cycling, when I was a beginner, I was very much focused on price, finding the best deal. And look, that's human nature, but I wish someone told me, focus on establishing a trusted relationship with a good quality local bike shop, assuming you've got one in your area. Yes, you might have a mate that can guide you and thinks he knows a thing or two about road cycling. Hey Terrence. Yeah, mate. What PSI do you reckon, mate? Mate, you gotta go 120 in the front, 150 in the rear is the fastest. Oh, yes. But there's nothing quite like being able to come to a local bike shop. When you're a beginner cyclist to find out what are the best upgrades for you given your budget? What are the best group rides to join in your local area based on current fitness levels? What's the best cycling club to join, given what your goals are in cycling? And of course a save haven when you run into mechanical issues. Tip number three, and we are knocking out the big important ones first. And that is when I was a beginner cyclist for the first few months, I was a bit silly. I rode around with my helmet strapped like that, which is dangerous. So I wish someone pulled me aside and said Cameron, first of all, does your helmet fit your head properly? How do you know that? Undo the retention system at the back. Can you fit one finger just between your head and the helmet? Then it fits. Then put the helmet strap on. Do it up tightly. The old two-finger trick, two fingers between your eyes or eyebrows on the top of the helmet and two fingers just underneath your chin and the chin strap. Or you can do the old yarn trick. At the bottom of the yarn, you should be able to feel some tension in the strap. Make sure the Vs are just below your ears and please, if you're wearing cycling glasses, ensure the arms go over the straps of the helmet. Reason being it's not the cool thing to do if you get into an unfortunate incident. You come off your bike, you don't want these glasses getting caught up in your helmet straps. So tip number four, and this has become more of a personal agitation of mine, but I was guilty of this as a beginner cyclist. See this cream right here. Nowhere on that label does it say arse smearing cream, nor on the instructions does it say. Go out into the public and smear this cream all over your body like you're in a porno. It's chamois cream, which means you can put some on your chamois, which is what I like to do. Little bits in here where the agitation spots are. I put a little bit on my skin as well. That's what I like to do before longer rides, but please don't be the guy or girl that goes out into public giving yourself a reach around. Do it somewhere discreetly and remember, less is more. Number five is I wish I had a simple strategy for saddle height when I was first a beginner cyclist. I had no idea. So what I want to do in this little section is share with you a simple strategy you can use, which has come from expert bike fitter, Neil Stambry. But before I share that strategy with you, I did want to thank today's video sponsor being Surfshark and notably for this section, I wanted to talk about booking travel because recently old mate. Look at what we have here, 100 bucks less. He got $100 off his car hire booking recently and we had a question, how? Well, with Surfshark award-winning VPM, when you log onto your computer or your device, instead of connecting straight to the internet and opening yourself up to all sorts of security risks, you go via a secure server. And with Surfshark, you can choose from over 3,200 servers in 65 different countries. Now, believe it or not, many of these travel websites will display different prices based on your location or country. So what you can do, use Surfshark's VPN to change your location and see if that changes the price when you're on the same travel website and if it does and it may just do this, you could save yourself a few hundred dollars on your next trip. So if you're keen to give this a go, check out the link below and enter the promo code CAMNICLES to get your 83% off with three months extra for free when you sign up to the 24 month plan. So what you need to do for this saddle height strategy is sit on the bike, either on an indoor trainer or go out onto the road. And if you're out on the road, get the bike up to speed and then unclip, extend your leg out so your heel can comfortably reach the pedal without having to lean into it. Then drop the seat height by 15 to 20 mil and then ride in that position for two to three minutes at roughly your 20 minute intensity and take note on how the position feels. Then slowly raise the saddle height in increments of three millimeters and then repeat the same two to three minute test and see how it feels until you get to a point where things start to feel a little unusual. You'll possibly start compensating somewhere. Notably, you'll feel a chopping sensation at the bottom of the pedal stroke. Something will just not feel right. So drop your saddle height back two to three millimeters and then you've got a good rough starting point. Number six, make sure you're seen, particularly when riding solo. Wear bright colored kits or jerseys like this one here. Oh, something like this. When I first started road cycling, I followed the lead of my mates who had been riding for longer than me and at the time, dark kits were in fashion so blacks, navy blues, et cetera. So I bought a navy blue kit and it wasn't until probably two years ago to be honest with you, I got hit by a car unfortunately riding solo and guess what colored kit I was wearing at the time? It was a black kit. So I was lucky to get through that but moving forward now, I learned a valuable lesson. Be seen as much as you can on the road. I now wear these bright colored kits from the peddler, these bold kits. I also run flashing lights even during the day. You can see a red one on the back there. I can't find my front though at the moment. So a little bonus tip, don't leave your lights, your bike lights on the floor when your kids are around because you'll probably never find them again. Roobz, did you take my bike light? Oh, you took it. I think it might be in the pool. So for tip number seven, let's hear from my wife first. Cleats thing, that is so basic. You know, I fell over at a set of traffic lights at the Keltex on Beach Road, very famous cycling gathering location. Yes. So what do you wish you did in order to learn how to clip into clothes? Nothing, it was exactly right. You just have to get out there and rescue life. And look, to be fair, I did a similar thing to my wife and I wish someone told me up front that bike handling skills is kind of like training. You want to progressively make things more difficult as you become more experienced. So if you haven't ridden one of these things ever before or if you haven't ridden a bike in a number of years, skinny tires, aerodynamics, these things are quick. So what I would recommend is buy some flat pedals first, come to a quiet environment like this local criterion track I've got here in my hometown and just practice taking off, riding around corners, stopping, get a feel for the bike first. Then once you're confident here, go out onto the road and get confident out there. It might take you three, four, five weeks. Once you're confident out there, go buy some clip-in pedals and come back to your quiet environment. Practice clipping in, clipping out. Stopping starting, clipping in, clipping out. And then once you're confident here, you can go out onto the road. Number eight, I wish I understood the importance as a beginner cyclist of zone two training, particularly putting constant pressure on the cranks while training the aerobic engine. None of this. You see, when I first got into road cycling, I was in my late 20s and at the time I was going to the gym, I was pumping iron, eating Sultana brand and playing Aussie rules football. And those two things, my friends, they are intense and that was my mindset. Things needed to be intense. So I carried that mindset into cycling and every single ride was hard when I was a beginner cyclist and that is not how it should be. So if you have not done endurance sports before or it's been a long time since you've done them, say it was back in your school days, you will have an underdeveloped aerobic base engine and what I realize now, particularly as a road cycling coach is that is a huge opportunity for improvement on the bike. So get yourself a heart rate strap, go out and figure what your max heart rate is, perhaps look for a local five, six minute common, rip it apart. Doesn't have to be your max, it can be almost your max and take 70 to 75% of that max heart rate and between your heart sessions on the bike, whatever they look like, do zone two sessions concentrating on constant pressure on the cranks, keeping your heart rate around 70 to 75%. Now those of you with a power meter, do an FTP test and go about 70% of your FTP. Tip number nine is I wish as a beginner cyclist, someone had pulled me aside and really emphasized the importance of bunch or group riding progression. Now I've got some examples to show you here, as this was my first proper bunch or group ride, which is the Tuesday World Champs on Beach Road in Melbourne, Australia. It's full of A graders and good riders that know how to go fast. Now while that was the ride that enticed me further into the world of road cycling, the fact is I was not ready for that level of skill and speed combined far from it. Where I did learn a thing or two was through my local cycling club. So joining a local cycling club and doing E grade criteriums or what they call latte laps where you get coached on bunch riding etiquette from an experienced rider as you go around. So before you seek out the local fast bunch rider for that matter, hit up your local cycling club. See what rides they've got available on a weekly basis to learn bunch riding etiquette. Contact your local cycling coach and go out on the road with him. Put your ego aside and listen and learn about bunch riding etiquette. If you wanna learn more on this topic, you can check out a little video I've got up there. And this is by no means number 10 on the list. This is very important, this one. And that is I wish someone pulled me aside as a beginner cyclist sat me down and drilled this one home, perhaps the most. And that is, once you've got a good quality local bike shop you got your helmet on properly. You've developed your skills, you're confident. I wish I was sat down and told to be predictable. Out on the road. So the bonus tip. Originally it was gonna be about upgrading your wheels. Get some carbon hoops. Do not underestimate just how good a nice set of carbon hoops is. But I've got something more important to say. And look, I might get a few dislikes from this comment. So if you're with me on this and you've enjoyed this video please don't forget to give it a like. That would be greatly appreciated. And that is, can we all please just agree? If you're gonna expose your skin out on the road just shave your bloody legs. I see how I'm doing. I'm driving after tell you good. Tell you that, tell you good.