Beginner cyclist

[DeepfriedPizza]

I have been a runner for years but thought I’d start cycling for cross training. We went out a family bike ride on Sunday but we strapped the bikes to the bike rack and went somewhere quiet.

How can I get confident enough to set off from my home and go on the roads? We do have cycle paths near us but I’d need to go on the road to get there.

Any advice would be welcome

Is it bike handling or road safety/ positioning which is worrying you?

If it is bike handling... the only thing that’ll fix it is riding lots. The more you do it, the more natural it becomes. Go somewhere quiet initially to practice braking, taking a drink, signalling, looking behind you, cornering etc

If it’s road safety/ positioning etc:
See if there’s an adult bikeability near you: bikeability.org.uk/

Or

Check out to see what your local council offers (ours does free one-to-one sessions).

Or

If you know any experienced and regular road cyclists ask one of them to go out with you and to talk you through their road positioning, where they’re looking and what they’re looking out for. Make sure the route takes you over roundabouts, past junctions, involves left turns and rights turns, takes you along narrow roads and over the brow of a blind summit or round a blind corner.

British Cycling have a programme of women’s only ‘Breeze‘ rides. It might be worth tagging in with a few of them to build confidence. www.letsride.co.uk/breeze

Unfortunately there isn't any of those things in my area but thank you

And to answer your question it's road positioning and safety that I'm more concerned by