While going on a bike ride around your town can be a fun way to get some exercise and spend an afternoon outside, doing a long distance bike ride is anything but leisure. Especially if you’re planning to doing hundreds of miles on a bike, this type of road trip needs to be well prepared for and planned for. So if this is something that you’ve got on your schedule to complete in the future, here are three tips to help ensure that you can safely complete a long distance bike trip.
Know How To Fuel Your Body
Going for a long bike ride necessitates that your body’s ready to expel a lot of energy over a long period of time. In order to do this, you have to be ready to give your body the fuel it needs in both food and hydration. According to Alex Stieda, a contributor to Bicycling.com, you should drink at least one bottle of water each hour you’re riding, more if you’re working hard or if it’s hot outside. As for food, plan to take a few bites of something every 15 minutes or so after you’ve been on your bike for more than two hours. By being consistent with this schedule, you should be able to keep your energy up for your ride.
Wear The Right Gear
As long as your bike is in good working order, the most dangerous thing you have to worry about on bike rides is the traffic and other drivers around you. Getting in an accident with a car can have a wide range of results for you, from leaving you with just a few scratches or bruises to ending your life. So to put the odds more in your favor for physical safety, CureJoy.com advises that you wear bright, tight clothing so you can easily be seen by others on the road. Additionally, make sure you’re wearing the right size biking helmet for your head and that you do your best to protect other areas of your body that could easily sustain damage, like your knees and elbows.
Keep Your Hearing Available
Another part of keeping yourself safe on a long bike ride is maintaining your ability to hear what’s going on around you. While you might enjoying listening to music or a podcast while you’re spending time on the road, Jen Schmidt, a contributor to Active.com, shares that you should keep at least one ear open to the world around you. This means that if your headphones don’t allow you to do this, you might want to get some new ones that let you keep one ear available.
If you’re planning on going on a long distance bike trip, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you do so safely.
