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When you decided to ride a bike, you can be jumping into a world you don’t know well. People will use new words, or words in ways you aren’t used to hearing them. People will also try and give you advice, some will be good, and some will be bad.

We felt it would then be a great idea to offer you a few tips and ideas to make cycling fun and easy.

If you've been yearning for excitement that gets the heart pumping and adrenaline flooding your veins, try hurling yourself down a steep freeride course. It should test your bike handling skills to the limit, and teach you a few valuable lessons. But it's an exploit which must be carefully planned in advance. In less hectic riding, a mechanical fault or a steering mistake is no great problem, even on a technical course – you can always put one foot down. But when you're dodging trees, pushing the envelope and close to the edge, the famous Murphy's Law applies: Prepare on the assumption that the worst will happen. You and your bike must obey Murphy – and here's how to do it.  Let's assume that you have a standard mountain bike, and an urge to tackle a freeride course for the first time. To keep yourself out of  the emergency room, there are certain upgrades you can apply to your bike, and we're going to outline them for you.  

If you’ve spent all winter putting in the miles and doing the gym work, come summer you’ll just need a few extra touches to boost your performance. These touches don’t require you to get out on your bike, and they require you to delve into your mind.

Your body can be as best prepared as it is possible to be, but without making sure your head can deal with the pressure and stress of race day, you might not get as great a result as you deserve. Fine-tuning your mental preparedness can take you that extra mile, sadly just winging it will not work for most of us.

The best way to get better at climbing is to ride up grades, and not upgrades, according to Eddy Merckx. He probably knows a thing or two about bikes. Not all of us live near huge mountain passes though, we live where hills are slightly modest and don’t provide us the opportunity for long endurance miles.

Every part of the frame is designed for a smooth aerofoil section and low frontal area – which is why the “top tube” of the frame is horizontal. To cut turbulence, components such as brakes are sheltered from the wind behind parts of the frame. A steep seat post angle allows the rider to “get on top of his work” in a streamlined position. The “seat tube” diverts airflow smoothly on either side of the rear wheel, as do the short, stiff seat stays. 

Setting up your suspension can seem complicated, especially if you talk to your friend who knows all suspension. What you want is a simple and easy to follow guide that can teach you all about suspension and do so quickly. That is why we’ve created you this suspension guide.

No matter if you're a new bike rider or cycling veteran. We have some cycling tips and advice to get the most out of your time on two wheels.