Your Unang Ahon — A Quick Guide for Newbies in the Cycling World

Cycling is fun as it brings you anywhere you want to be with the freedom you choose as you ride alone or with someone. It depends also on your desires whether it is for exercise, lifestyle, transportation, or whatever you want to call it and I know most can ride one but, there is a question I want to ask you: “Have you made the most of it?”

Photo from Giant Bikes

The joy of riding a bike lies in its adventure of solitude and fusion with the outside world. Its open and environment-friendly build helps you to be one with your surroundings and experience the joy of adventure with fewer restrictions than motorbikes. It is a tool with a long-term usage than petrol-powered engines that requires something to consume and is also an ache in our pockets and to the environment.

We have what we call “ahon” and you may have heard of it, even the “unli ahon” term that cyclists use. The term “ahon” is associated with rising or an uphill rise commonly used in trailing and is a relevant phrase to most. The term “unli ahon” is a colloquial phrase combining the word “unlimited” which means “multiple times” or “as long as you can” together with the noun “ahon,” producing a phrase pertaining to multiple uphill riding and is also associated to the setting or destination composed of countless uphill roads and trails. But first and foremost, what to expect and what must one do? Here are some guidelines that I think could help you as a beginner.

1. Understand the purpose

Plans to invest on a bike is a brilliant idea especially if you’re influenced by a friend; someone or something. Before owning one, always remember to first figure out your wants rather than to be attracted by the looks, and to understand the basics of bikes such as how it operates and its basic maintenance.

Surely, you are wondering about bikes and creating assumptions of which is better without analytical methods of thinking and educated-decision making based on what is displayed on social media platforms. You better not do something like that nor create an assumption among bikes or your poor-decision making will kill you.

You must understand first your purpose of owning one so that you can narrow down your choices to what you are looking for and be saved from critical errors and consumer mistakes.

2. Know the types and create an educated-decision making

There are two basic types of bikes that we use for extreme sports: mountain bikes and road bikes. Below are some details that might help you.

• Mountain Bikes

Mountain bikes are the bikes we usually see, the somewhat straight handlebar with standard to fat tires and medium-looking ones while the road bikes are the thin and slim bikes with curved handlebars with different options and slim-thin tires. Usually, there is a fuse between both: the gravel bike.

Mountain bikes are bikes built for endurance, reliability, and strength which is required for trailing. It varies in different types such as the Cross Country, Trail, Downhill, Dirt Bike, Enduro, and Fat Bike. These classifications differ from chassis and suspensions (the spring things that we use to absorb the shock) which are upgradable depending on your desires. There are suspensions that are located only in front at the fork (the front that stems and connects the wheel and its parts together with the handlebar) and there are some extreme trailers that add suspension to their seat posts to decrease the shock of bouncing downhill from rocks-to-rocks or the roughness of the off-road. If you’re planning to do these mountain trails, the Mountain Bike is the bike for you.

• Road Bikes

If you’re looking for speed and you’re looking to be agile and win road races, then, Road Bike is the choice for you. There are road bikes to choose from: endurance, performance, aero, touring, cycle, and others alike. No one uses Road Bikes on trails­—no one has a mad idea like that.

Parts are the same with mountain bikes so it is all you need.

3. Know the safety precautions

Checking gears and equipment are necessary to avoid accidents. Ensuring that your brakes are high-quality hydraulics with clean brake discs (ensure that your discs both front and rear are not greasy or smudged in any oil or substance), check your screws so no screw is loose, check your crankset and gears at the rear including your cassette and sprocket, check if your bike’s shifter is properly shifting from 1 to the maximum and from the maximum to the lowest. If you’re a beginner and have no confidence, I highly suggest you visit your preferred bike shop and let their mechanic check it.

Learn the basic maintenance such as tire maintenance and tightening the screws. Always carry your tools including a set of Allen Wrenches, a bicycle hand pump, first-aid kits, identification card, money, and, most importantly, water to avoid dehydration along your way.

4. Practice

Get to know first the process of how your bike works and practice the proper riding speed and protocols. Improve first your endurance and cardio by exceeding the distant limits of your body so you could last long, especially on unexpected uphill trails. Remember also to master the shifting of your gears such as the proper use of the weights shifting for speed increase-decrease and ease.

If you have no experience of the uphill trails, the best suggestion is to practice; to ride your bike to the nearest uphill roads near you before you proceed to uphill-mountain trailing such as in San Mateo, Rizal’s Timberland Heights, or venturing in Montalban, Rizal’s Sitio Puray and Blue Rock Lagoon or even in Antipolo, Rizal.

Remember: It is okay to stop at every point where you seem fit to pull your consciousness back, where you feel dizzy and feel the urge to hurl, where you need to catch your breath while sitting and hydrating, and when you see nothing else but fading vision under the blistering sun or under the clouds of the afternoon.

To tell you, there’s no easy way but to struggle and exceed your own capabilities. It all comes from the experiences you learn and the memories you create. The thrill that cycling offers is only the beginning of your journey alone, to breathe from the usual norms that people expect you to do. You will learn to nurture the moments of solitude or the escape from the usual by just riding and rewarding yourself with every distance and place you travel and by conquering the fear it offers. So, practice and get the most out of it.