help? - riding racing bikes

[OSW]

Until recently i had only ridden mountain bikes my whole life.
I'm not a prolific rider, but i gave my dad's old racing bike a go and it was a great pleasure to ride on the roads.

But theres definitely a bit of a learning curve.

One thing I'm struggling with is techniques to grip the handlebar.
I find it difficult to get into comfortable positions, especially those with the brakes in reach.

The handlebar seems to be a fairly common "drop handlebar" as I've read it's called, and the brakes also have an extra bar sticking out to provide another method of access. neither feel very comfortable.

Does anyone have any tips or websites to assist me with grip technique? It would be much appreciated.

One reason i'm more concerned about brake access is that I'm riding on a very busy main road (even though it's popular with other cyclists)

Cheers.

 

[FAST6191]

It may sound counter intuitive but learn to ride it no hands: those bars require more force to operate and are more twitchy to boot and no hand shifts your weights and generally makes it feel nicer to ride.

After you get that it should be easier to hold the "drop" part of the bars rather than the horizontal section negating some of the issues.

 

[Smuff]

Ah this takes me back.......

Nothing better than bombing along in the drop handlebar position..... not being able to see where you'e going, just getting there at one helluva rate of knots

Just keep practising - it will get comfortable all by itself eventually, till it becomes second nature to ride in that position.

 

[OSW]

hohoho

thanks guys

also, my neck seemed a little sore after riding... i suspect it's because of being used to a riding position where you are more vertical, so this time i was stretching my head more to look up

i went down a hill today and it was exhilarating, but also a little scary xD