Every spring, a goal of all riders should be encouraging others who have not ridden for a while to get back on a bike. Here are some great tips on making sure they keep riding!  

If you've been in this sport for long, you've probably seen it happen. An enthusiastic person shows up for his (or her) first ride with the local club. He's a bit intimidated by the lingo he overhears, but that's nothing compared to his anxiety about what to do and how to do it once the ride gets underway. Before long he's trailing behind, spooked by the interplay of bike wheels and feeling as wanted as an IRS agent in a Super Bowl pool.

Do you think this guy will be back for another ride next weekend? Not likely.

It's unfortunate, but experienced cyclists are often pretty tough on newcomers. It may be intentional because of the risks that an unskilled bike-handler creates for everyone, but more often it happens because we forget how much a novice cyclist doesn't know. If you think about it, riding a bike isn't all that easy.  

 read more about the First Crucial Ride  

Dave Orr

I live in Oak Park, IL, which is about ten miles straight west of Chicago's "Loop." I'm writing during the Great Blizzard of 2011, and I know that any day now it will be time to get in that first ride of the season.

I have only the faintest memories of my first bike, a direct-drive model with pedals on the front wheel, and a seat that just seemed cavernous to a four-year-old. Slightly stronger are the memories of flying down the 50 or so feet of

circa 1950's

our driveway, with my folks at the end to keep me from heading out on the open road. I suppose down and back would have been a century!

As I got older, there were bigger bikes and longer rides. It was not uncommon during summer days to take off after breakfast and return for dinner after exploring as much as we could. One memorable ride when I was 10 or 11 took three of us from my house in St. Louis north on a fairly busy highway across the narrow old Lewis and Clark Bridges to Alton, IL. It was maybe 30 miles round trip, and that's where the fireworks were . . . During high school, I made frequent trips across another bridge to watch planes at a small airport. In the early '90's I finally realized a lifelong goal and earned my pilot license.

During the mid-1970's I spent a semester abroad in Berlin and when that ended I got a beautiful Peugeot, bought the cheapest train ticket to West Germany, and started riding from near Wolfsburg without much of a plan, or even a very detailed map. But somehow I made it over 1000 miles, riding to the North Sea, through Holland, and ending up in the wine region west of Mannheim known as Rheinland-Pfalz. There are parts of that trip, especially the Eifel Mountains, which I would love to revisit. 

I rode very little during the next 25 years while I was in the travel business. But in 2005 my friend Don convinced me to join him on DALMAC, a supported tour in Michigan from Lansing to the Upper Peninsula, culminating in a spectacular ride across the Mackinac Bridge. 

Dave at the MAC bridge (note photos of grandkids on bike seat, a sure way to meet new friends)

There have been four more DALMACs since then, certainly made easier with the luxury of Shuttleguy. And in 2008 I rode the first Shuttleguy Tri-State Tour  through some very scenic country in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa.

Dave cresting "the wall" on DALMAC

While I much prefer riding on country roads, it's often difficult to find time to get out of the metro area. So most of my rides are from Oak Park to the southwest suburbs of Chicago, which offer great roads and relatively fewer cars. I can plan my route to provide anywhere from 20- to 60-mile rides. And believe it or not, there are some hills to be found in the Des Plaines River Valley.

A few times each year I ride downtown then take the Lakefront Path. If you'll be in Chicago I recommend it, especially on weekdays. Bike rentals are easy to find.

Dave and typcial Chicago kit

Next year I'll turn 60, and dream of an epic tour across the US.