It’s been a busy week and I haven’t been able to post at all so I apologize. Contrary to popular belief, I’m neither a full-time blogger. The 9-5 soaked up a ton of my time this week which makes me wonder why it’s called a 9-5. More like an 8-6 but I’m not complaining. Because I’ve neglected posting this week I’ve got a few things to cover in today’s post. Strap yourself in, squirt a gel, and grab a wheel.

Thanks to Victor Jiminez of Bicycle Lab (@bicyclelab on Twitter) for his assistance in putting this article together.

As the weather warms up ever so slowly here in North America, more and more cyclists will be leaving the trainers behind and heading outdoors to get their rides in. Before heading out we need to make sure we have all the required equipment and one of those items is our helmet. Of all our road cycling gear, I think the helmet is the most important item as it offers protection for our gray matter in the event we do crash.

Five Steps To Choosing A Cycling Helmet

1. Find your price point. Road cycling helmets are typically between $60 and $250. Design, materials, retention systems and purpose are what drive the prices. They all offer protection if you crash but features like custom fitting mechanisms, visors, adjustable/removable padding, reduced weight, exotic materials, and extra ventilation will cost more. More expensive helmets tend to have more adjustable fit and retention systems. For around $100 you can get a very good quality and nice fitting helmet.
2. Check the certification. Cycling helmets have certification? Absolutely. Helmets sold in the U.S. are required by law to meet testing standards as set forth by the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC). The purpose of these tests is to make sure that the helmet can handle the impact if you were to crash. With helmets getting lighter and more comfortable every year a standard is necessary to ensure that you’ll be protected. Look for the CPSC stamp or sticker on the helmet.
3. Pick some helmets. Road cycling helmets often sport very light weights, maximum air flow for good ventilation, and improved aerodynamic designs. All of those improvements are achieved at a cost. Take a look at the helmets available and find a few that appeal to you taking into account your budget and the helmets features. They do make road helmets specifically designed for women that have more feminine sizes, color choices, and space for ponytails.
4. Find Your Size. This is the most critical step in the entire process. You want your new helmet to fit correctly so it offers the protection it’s supposed to. Some of the lower end helmets may only come in an ‘Adult’ size so you may not need to measure your head size. More advanced helmets typical come in small, medium, and large sizes depending on the circumference of your head. You can measure the circumference of your head, at it’s largest point, with a flexible tape. This will give you a good starting point as the labels on the helmets will list both the helmet size and head circumference it’s made for. This is only a starting point though and my recommendation is that you try on several brands and sizes to find the right one. You may find that a medium in one brand fits more snugly than a medium in another brand while one is more comfortable than another. Most helmets now offer some kind of adjustable retention system that lets you dial in the fit so it’s just right. This is achieved with a ratcheting wheel or mechanism on the back of the helmet that lets you loosen or tighten the fit on the fly.

Four Steps To A Great Fitting Helmet:

1. Try the helmet on.
2. Hold the helmet tightly and shake your head like you are saying no ( it should be very snug with little play and generally very comfortable).
3. Adjust the retention system so that the helmet stays on your head.
4. Adjust the chin strap so that it’s snug when your your jaw is open.
5. Get help. Don’t go it alone and ask for help when you’re in the store. The employees know how helmets are supposed to fit and can help you with both sizing and fit. That’s what they’re paid to do so take advantage of it.

Cycling clothes. They can be the bane of our existence as a cyclist. We’re ridiculed because non-cyclists think we look funny in them. We’re self-conscious because of how we look in them (at least I am). I love cycling clothing. It’s functional and jersey designs can be pretty cool. I also hate it.

Do they make cycling clothes for real people?

So what if I can’t fit into the same tshirt I wore in sixth grade. What’s the big deal? You mean, as a cyclist, I’m supposed to fit into a pair of bibs or a jersey designed to look tight on my little sister? Seriously?

By real people I mean cyclists, like me, who are struggling to lose weight. Cycling is a great way to lose weight but the clothing manufacturers out there aren’t thinking about us when designing their spring lineup. I seriously think they use a telephone pole as a prop to help them determine sizes. If they’re designing European sizes then they use a 4×4 post.

That’s all in jest of course but I think the underlying argument is valid. Overweight cyclists have a hard time finding cycling clothes that fit. Then you take somebody like me who’s overweight, and short (only a 27.5″ inseam), and you’re screwed. There wouldn’t be a problem if we (I) were height-weight proportionate but that’s why we (I) took up cycling in the first place. Catch 22.

Are there cycling clothes out there that will fit? Yes, but it’ll be hard finding something that fits right. For instance, in order for me to find bibs that can compensate for my excessive girth I have to buy in the 3XL size which is usually designed for somebody really tall. That means the bibs are too long. It takes some experimenting and shopping around to find stuff that works.

Love and Hate

Where To Find BIG Cycling Clothes

I know they aren’t popular among the ‘purists’ and ‘pros’, but Bike Nashbar has jerseys and bibs that fit me. I’m talking about the Nashbar brand clothing not name-brand stuff like Pearl Izumi, Cannondale, or others. One of my favorite pairs of bibs is a Nashbar brand. Catch their stuff on sale and you can get some good deals.

Performance Bike sometimes has some stuff that will fit too. I’ve got a good long sleeve jersey I got from them last year that’s great. Jerseys are easier for me to find though. Jerseys for big folks with cool designs are hard to find (there are some). Mostly expect to have your choices limited to solid colors. BikeJerseys.com seems to have a selection of cool big dude jerseys but I’ve never bought from them. I’ll have to do that and do a review. I’ve also recently discovered Aerotech Designs and will look at them too.

There are times I don’t feel like looking like a overstuffed sausage and wear a big workout shirt made by Russell Athletic. It’s comfy and cool. There’s no rear pockets or ‘style’ factor though.

Your Thoughts?

I know most of you just want to tell me to deal with it and ride. I can understand that. You can say as much in the comments. If you’re like me though, and can’t buy your cycling clothes off the rack, perhaps you have some additional resources I haven’t listed above.

In the meantime, it’s back to counting calories and riding.

Feature image courtesy of n0seblunt.

With the heat really ramping up here in Texas I decided late last week that I should start investing in some sleeveless cycling jerseys to maximize the ventilation. The no-sleeve design would also help me get some sun on my pasty looking upper arms. So I set off Saturday to visit some local bike shops to see what I could find.

Richardson Bike Mart was my first stop because I was up near it due to attending a WordPress conference on Saturday. I’m still totally blown away every time I walk into this place and Saturday was no different. They’ve got everything and the store is just huge. I headed over to the clothing section to check out the selection. In no time I found a sleeveless jersey that looked pretty good. It was pretty plain and red/gray in color. I don’t believe there were any designs on it. Just a plain jersey. My memory could be failing me though after the trauma I received from looking at the price tag. They wanted $100 for it. I just shook my head and moved on. Now I remember why I don’t come to this store. I did try on a few helmets since I’ll be needing one and found that I basically need a medium in any style which is good info if I find a good deal online. Alas, I couldn’t resist the temptation to have a look at the new bikes. I kept my sticker shock to a minimum and just casually browsed around looking at all the carbon fiber rigs. I pulled one or two out to see how they felt and was totally blown away by how light they are. Maybe some day.

I’ve still been riding just about everyday as I near the twelve weeks to go point until my first century (July 4th is the 12-week point). Once I hit that twelve week point I’ll be following a training plan but until them I’m just trying to build base mileage, work on the hills and get acclimatized to the heat here in Texas. Tuesday was a day off the bike so I had planned on riding hard yesterday. That I did.

The heat this week has been pretty bad with temps at or near 100F with heat indexes over 100F. Yesterday was no different. Knowing this, I’ve been very conscious to drink water throughout the day and have a bottle of G2 in the afternoon. I’ve also delayed my evening ride by about a half-hour so I’m starting around 6:30 PM and religiously doing a slow six mile warm up. This combination seems to be working for me right now as I’ve had no episodes like last week when I was obliterated after 15 miles. One good thing was that some later afternoon clouds moved in which helped with the heat some yesterday.

I use TweetDeck as my Twitter client and have a search column open for “cycling”. Yesterday, while looking at some older tweets, I saw a lady complaining that cycling isn’t a sport very accommodating to women because they don’t make cool jerseys for women. Hmmmm I thought. She must of haven’t done very much looking so I felt it my duty to help her out.

I know I’m a guy so what do I know about cycling jerseys for women. Absolutely nothing but that doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t think one of the jerseys below wouldn’t look cool if I saw it on a lady out riding. In fact, I think some of these designs are cooler than most jerseys you can get for guys. Speaking of cycling jerseys for guys, be a large dude and try finding a cool jersey. Those of us that are tonnage challenged are usually relegated to jerseys that are one solid color, maybe two if we’re lucky, that makes us look like a giant sail on a bike. Talk about uncool. Anyway, here are sixteen cool cycling jerseys for women that I found and like: