21 Ways to Have More Fun on Your Bike

Written by
The Editors of Bicycling
It may be true that a bad day on the bike is better than a good day off it—but here are 21 silly and simple ways to make the greatest sport greater.
Sing
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Sing. Loud. As you pass pedestrians, people in their yards, getting into their cars. Just be careful of these 11 Road Rules.
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Try a Fondo
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Ride a fondo with your dad, or mom, or children. Or all of them.
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Try Kilometers Instead
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Set your computer to kilometers and do whatever it takes to make it flash 100 kph.
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Wheelies
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Get your childhood wheelie back.
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Instigate
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Be the instigator on the next club ride—town-line sprints, granny-gear sprints, coasting races, you call it.
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Parades
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Ride in your town's next parade.
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Cut Across a Field
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Cut across a cornfield. Follow the powerline. Poach the golf-course cart paths. (If caught, apologize sincerely and profusely—in a foreign language.)
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Volunteer
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Volunteer as a bike marshal at a marathon or 10K. (Resist the temptation to throw a victory salute at the line.)
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Switch It Up
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Ride up your favorite descent—and down your favorite climb.
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Swim
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Ride to a swimming hole. Pack swimwear in your jersey pocket. Or not.
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Picnic in the Woods
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Fill a cooler with cheese, cured meats, beer or wine, and stash it in the woods somewhere along the route of the next day's ride. When the group reaches that spot, feign a mechanical, then unveil your surprise.
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Take a Trip to Cape May
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Ride Cape May, New Jersey, during the migration of the Monarch butterflies in late August or early September—one of the half-million winged wonders will alight on your shoulder now and then.
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New Roads
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Plan out a local ride that's at least 50 percent made up of roads you've never been on.
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Drag Your Cleats
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Fade casually to the back of the group. At a slow-speed section, unclip one foot then drag your cleat on the pavement—it sounds exactly like a bike crash.
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Take a Break
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Stop and read the roadside memorial, sign or marker you've always passed by.
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Accessorize
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Splurge on a really, really, really nice bell. (Or one of these fancy leather bike accessories.)
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Helmet Hair
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Don't tamp down your helmet hair next time you end a ride in public—fluff it, spike it, exaggerate your badge of honor to unprecedented proportions.
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Strava
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Turn Strava off. (Or sign up for it.)
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Stop for Flowers
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Pick flowers. Give them to someone when your ride ends. (Just watch out for these 5 Ways Nature Attacks Cyclists.)
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Watch the Sunrise
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Start a ride before sunrise; the next day end one at sunset; on the third, go for a moonlight cruise.
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Teach
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Get one new cyclist out on a bike ride every week for a month.
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