The news of the Spanish Cycling Federation not banning Contador for his positive drug test has spread all across the world. I tweeted yesterday that I had considered writing a blog post about the ruling but decided I wouldn’t because it would be a complete waste of time. My opinion hasn’t changed and I’m not going to write about Contador. Instead, I’ve decided that he and pro cycling deserve each other and that pro cycling isn’t my cycling.

Before I get into today’s blog post, I wanted to tell you about my ride this morning. I knew it was going to be cold (in the twenties) but I knew I wanted to ride. I needed to ride. My body needed to be forced to work. The alarm went off at 5 AM and a quick look at my phone confirmed that the temp was 28F with windchill down to 19F. I hopped out of bed and went about the task of getting kitted up. Tights. Long sleeve thermal baselayer. Bibs. Long sleeve jersey. Socks. Shoes with shoe covers. Balaclava. Full-fingered gloves. Helmet. Jacket. I was ready to roll.

I can’t describe to you how crisp the air is on these cold, clear winter mornings. Venus looked like somebody from the heavens was shining a flashlight at me. The stars looked like they were held in suspended animation between the earth and the sky. Just awesome.

By now you’ve probably heard that Alberto Contador (a.k.a. Pistolero) has apparently tested positive for both Clenbuterol and Plasticizers. Did he? Who knows.

Last week I asked you to vote in a poll about when you prefer to ride. 18 of you responded and Early Morning beat out Mid-Morning by a vote of 7-6. Evening came in with 3 while Afternoon got 1. There was 1 other.

I asked the same question on Twitter and got the following replies:

From eqtmgr: “I prefer morning.”

From Eric_McWhirter:”Right in the morning, but the temps get to a point that I like 60/70 range anytime would work.”

From daveydave999: “I prefer to cycling at night. Sometimes after dark. I never was a morning person.”

From mx4789: “ride time: usually anything except *early* AM.. hate getting up to alarm clock on weekend just to ride.. I’ll sweat instead.”

Just looking at the results, it appears that most of my readers prefer to ride in the morning. I couldn’t agree more and believe the morning is the best time for road cycling.

Seven Reasons Why The Morning Is Best Time For Cycling

Before I headed off to Dallas for 18 months I had gotten into a routine of getting up at 5 AM to ride. Getting up wasn’t that big a deal to me as long as I got plenty of sleep the night before. Getting enough sleep is a big problem for me though (a bad habit left over from my military days). Anyway, a long time spent in the military got me conditioned to getting up early so doing so to ride wasn’t a big deal. Now that I’ve returned from Dallas I have pushed my wake-up time to 6 AM. Here’s why I think cycling in the morning is best:

• It’s a great way to start the day. Getting up and riding before the city starts to awaken is an awesome experience. The roads have far less traffic and you can actually take the time to do a little sight-seeing. I see new things on almost every ride that I can’t see when in my car or when it’s mid-afternoon. Personally, I think the morning feels and smells fresher than any other part of the day.
• Riding early wakes you up. Riding first thing in the morning gets the blood moving and wakes the body up. I always feel refreshed after my ride (as long as I got plenty of sleep the night before) and am ready to go to work. I find that I have energy throughout the day instead of losing steam in the afternoon.
• You beat the heat. If you live in a warm environment, cycling in the morning is a great way to avoid the hot temperatures of the afternoon. The temp lately has been around 80F (26C) when I roll out of the garage which is way better than the 105F Heat Index later in the afternoon. I still feel the humidity but the early morning sweat is a great thing.
• You miss the traffic. I mentioned this up above but it’s an important issue. Getting up early to ride let’s you miss the rush hour and avoid traffic. Having less cars on the road lets you enjoy the ride more and is safer. You can’t get complacent though because there will still be early-risers heading to work. Make sure you bicycle is properly out-fitted with lights and wearing a lighter-colored jersey helps too. (Side Note: I’m currently reviewing the Cateye HL-EL450 Headlight and love it. I’ll have a full review up soon)
• The ride gets done. By cycling in the morning before heading to work you’ll feel good knowing you’re workout for the day is done. It’s too easy to let work or other obligations trump your workout if you wait to do it. Even if the time is available in the evening you’ll be tempted to just say, “I’ll skip today’s ride and ride tomorrow.” By riding early you don’t put myself into that position.
• It forces a good diet and hydration. I find that knowing I have to ride in the morning makes me more conscious of what I eat and how much water I drink the day and evening before. I’m notorious for not drinking enough water but having to workout in the morning puts pressure on me to make sure I’m hydrated.
• It leaves time for family. All of us know that it’s important to spend time with the family. They need our attention just as much as our trusty steed. By riding early, when they’re still asleep, I can indulge in my cycling habit which leaves my evening open to spend time with my wife and girls.

A lot of people will say that working out in the morning in a fasted state (not having eaten food for the last 8-10 hours) will burn more fat. I don’t know if that’s true or not. I tried finding an article, study, or research from a reputable source, either for or against it, but couldn’t. The early morning workout might help but one thing you need to be careful about is thinking you can eat whatever you want for the rest of the day because you’ve already got your workout in. Getting a good road bike ride in first thing in the morning and then pigging out on fast food and ice cream the rest of the day isn’t a recipe for success.

Give It A Try

I know riding in the morning isn’t for everyone. Some of the commentators over on the poll page and on Twitter said as much. Each of has unique needs, family, and work commitments that dictate when we can get our cycling in. There are others among us who will never get up before the sun is up (I have two daughters that way). If you have the opportunity though, I encourage you to get out early for a ride. It’ll give you a whole new perspective.

PHOTOC: Martin Bravenboer

The age old question of supporting your local bike shop or ordering online has raged for a while and is still a very hot topic. I don’t want to banter the pros and cons of doing so but would rather discuss why local bike shops aren’t taking advantage of social media and trying to draw local riders into their shops.

As most of you know, I’m in the hunt for a new bike. As I sat here at the kitchen table this morning drinking a cup of coffee, wishing I was riding instead, I wrote a tweet saying that I was considering going to a local bike shop to look at what they had to offer. Then I tacked a question onto the end of it: Why aren’t they (the local bike shops) on here (Twitter) trying to get me into their shop?

I think that’s a valid question. So many people are using social media (Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, etc.) and using it to connect to one another. Cyclists in particular are using Twitter like nobody’s business after seeing professionals like Lance Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer, and Christian Vande Velde (to name a few) create accounts and begin interacting with their fans. Local Bike shops are missing out on this by not using the tools to connect to cyclists in their area. I could see local bike shops offering special discounts or coupons via Twitter, group discussions on Facebook, or posting pictures from the local evening ride on Flickr. Lance Armstrong did this the other day when he invited Twitter followers to a group ride that departed from his own bike shop (Mellow Johnnys).

After posting this tweet I had one follower (thanks for the feedback @lowcandence) say that,

“They may not know where you are. If you are in CA, it wouldn’t do much good for a NY shop to try to get you in.”

I couldn’t agree more. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t people in NY looking for bikes, parts, or repairs. If that’s holding the local bike shops back then that means they don’t know how to use the tools that will connect them to local cyclists. Tools like Twitter Search, TwellowHood, Facebook Search, etc. The tools are there, they just need to use them. Or hire somebody who knows how to use them.

Local bike shops are always complaining that they lose business to online retailers. Fine. But what are they doing to pull the local cyclists in? If they aren’t using social media tools to connect to the cyclist down the street, around the corner, or across town then they are missing out.

Tell me what you think. Am I wrong? Is Social Media not what it’s cracked up to be? Do you know a local bike shop that is using Social Media?

This post has been brewing for a while and I’ve talked myself into writing it and not writing it several times. Am I bitter? Probably. Frustrated? Certainly. If you’re one of those cyclists that has bottomless pockets or an unlimited cycling budget you may want to skip this one.

Any hobby has its expenses. If you like to knit then you have to pay for yarn and needles. If you enjoy scrapbooking then you have to pay for paper, stamps and stickers. Cycling is no different. If you want to enjoy the sport of cycling you have to maintain you bike which costs money. Cycling clothes cost money. Bicycles cost money. And so on. Cycling is just like any other hobby we have. It costs money. But does it cost too much?

Road Bikes

Let’s talk about bicycles first. Are there affordable bicycles out there? Sure, if you start with the low-end beginner road bikes, you can find a bike or two for right around $1000 that may suit your needs. On the other end of the spectrum you have the new Madone 6.9 that’ll set you back $8600 for the basic version. Throw in upgrades and custom paint and you can get it up to $14000 ($8600 sounds like a real bargain now). Custom road bikes can be even more.

I don’t know about you but the planet I live on would call $1000 for a road bike expensive. Am I out of touch? Maybe but in my book $1000 is a lot of money. I couldn’t fathom paying $8600 for a bike. Who would actually go out and pay that for a bicycle anyway? Not anybody I know. I’m sure some of you know people who would pay that for a bike but is it a bike they’ll actually use for the purpose it was designed for?

Regardless of what kind of road bike it is I think the prices have just gone through the roof. Having to drop $1000 to $3000 on a new bike is ridiculous. Has the technology advanced so far that the research and development costs are driving up the end price? Perhaps but I also think the bicycle companies are taking advantage of cyclists with large mark ups.

Cycling Clothing

I’m a cyclist who owns just a few pieces of actual cycling clothing (four to be exact). And they aren’t even name brand bibs or jerseys. If you want name brand, or top of the line, expect to pay out of your proverbial arse for it. $80-130 jerseys. $150-$200 bibs. I talked the other day about how I was looking for a sleeveless jersey and was shocked when I found out one I was looking at cost a $100 at one of the local bike shops. Come on! It doesn’t even have sleeves for crying out loud!

There is cheaper cycling clothing out there but I hear that you do get what you pay for with regards to cycling clothing. I wouldn’t know if the expensive stuff is any more comfortable or not but I’ve been told it is. But is it so comfortable that it should require you to take out a second-mortgage to totally outfit yourself for spring, summer, fall and winter riding? Are cycling companies just like the department stores that mark up clothes 200-300% and take advantage of the shoppers? I would say yes.

Cycling Accessories/Maintenance

This is the low-hanging fruit of the cycling hobby that can really start to add up. $200 carbon shoes and handle bars. $1000 sets of wheels. $300 GPS enabled computers. $100 saddles. $1000 (and more) component groups. And the list just goes on and on and on.

I guess the real question is how serious are we with this hobby/sport we call cycling? Are we serious enough to blindly fork out thousands of dollars on bikes, clothes and accessories so we can have the latest and greatest designs or technology? Do we have unlimited funds where we can simply pay whatever the cycling companies want for their products? Are we willing to pay anything so we can fit into “the group” on the next ride?

Some people are perfectly happy to pay these prices and do. I can’t and won’t but that still doesn’t mean that the prices the cycling companies are charging aren’t inflated and ridiculous.

I expect a lot of flak from this post but I really don’t care. I would like your opinion on the subject though. Do others feel the same way or am I’m a minority in this line of thinking and should just get out of the sport of cycling right now.