Here are my top three unasked-for tips:

1. Hydrate. Even for a 5-mile ride, be sure to carry water and drink before and after the ride.

2. Get your saddle just right. For me, this means absolutely level (I use a spirit level on the middle point of the saddle where most of the sitting occurs.) Some here advocate a slight downturn. I don't. I found with even the slightest downward angle, there was a lot more pressure on my hands and numbness was apt to result.

3. Get the distance between seat and pedals just right. Books will give all manner of complicated ways to do this, some pretty worthwhile but including a formula to three decimal places (!) which to a reader with a scientific turn of mind seems pretty silly.

The cardinal goal is to have the leg slightly bent when the pedal is at the 6 o'clock position. For a person just beginning to cycle this is often unobtainable: you'll fall off the bike when you stop, or you'll strain muscles. So the best thing to do is to reach that position gradually, by raising the seat no more than a couple of millimeters every other day. It sounds implausible, but such a tiny adjustment really does make a difference.