Their first podcast, Weight Management for Cyclists, is up and it’s great. At 50 minutes in length it’s loaded with info, humor, and great cycling tips for all cyclists. The thing I liked the most though was the round table discussion format where each of them chimed in with different perspectives drawing on their experience. Really cool.

Be sure to check out Cycling 360.

Chuck Norris. Not intimidated.

So, what do cyclists everywhere want for Christmas? I have no idea. I’m not Santa Claus. I’m a cyclist though and I know what I want for Christmas so, by the Associative Laws, you could say I do know what cyclists want for Christmas. Or not. It would depend on how loosely you apply said laws. FWIW, here’s a breakdown of some cool stuff a cyclist (me) would like for Christmas.

Explaining the breakdown. In our house each year we have the kids make a list of things they would like broken down into Needs, Wants, and Wishes. It gets them to really think about the things they ask for and how important they are. You should try it with your kids someday. You’ll be surprised at what they say.

Need

The items here in the Need category are just that. Items we, as cyclists, need all the time. Without these items our riding would become harder to do or make us unprepared to ride. Several of these things would make great stocking stuffers just due to their size.

1. CO2 Cartridges. I’m a CO2 user and don’t think I could ever have enough 16 Gram Threaded CO2 Cartridges. I say threaded 16g because that’s what I like and what fits my CO2 inflator. If your significant other is asking you what you want you’ll need to be specific (i.e. threaded, non-threaded, 16g, 12g, etc.). Don’t send them to the LBS without those important pieces of information. Otherwise you’ll get CO2 cartridges you’ll never be able to use or will have to return. But it’s the thought that counts right?
2. Tubes. Again, you can never have enough. You’ll need them yourself or you can be the Good Samaritan and give one up to a buddy on a group ride (because you always show up to ride prepared). Be sure to provide all the particulars (brand, size, etc.) just like CO2 cartridges. I prefer 700×23 with a 48mm stem.. Gotta be a presta valve too and make sure you’re clear on the valve stem length.
3. Fuel. Not gas but on the bike fuel. Energy bars and gels make great stocking stuffers. I remember as a kid getting nuts and fruit in my stocking so this kinda goes back to that. Personally, I like the PowerBar Strawberry Bananna gels and Clif Bars.

Want

Want items is cycling stuff you could get by without (depending on how much pain or inconvenience we’re capable of putting up with) but would be nice to have.

1. Floor pump. This is a little personal for me. My floor pump doesn’t blow; it sucks. I want a new one in a bad way. I’ve looked around, read reviews, and decided that I want the Serfas TCPG Bicycle Floor Pump.
2. Cold weather gear. Contrary to popular belief, it does get cold here in Florida (as I type this, it’s 34F outside). I have almost zero cold weather cycling gear and need some in a bad way. Stuff like arm warners, shoe covers, and some new full-fingered gloves. Maybe some smart wool stuff too like a merino wool cycling cap and tall wool socks.
3. A trainer. Every serious cyclist should probably have a trainer. They can be boring (i.e. staring at that crack in the wall for an hour is pretty boring) sometimes if you don’t have a way to entertain yourself while riding but they’re key to keeping form during the winter or getting rides in when the weather won’t cooperate. Looking at what’s available, and based on a recommendation from a friend, I think the Kurt Kinetic Road Machine Indoor Trainer would be a good choice.
4. Mechanic Repair Stand. I like to work on my bike and it’s hard to do that without a good way to hold your bike. I’ve used makeshift stands in the past but would like a good stand that was built for a purpose. I like the Park Tool PCS-10 Home Mechanic Repair Stand.
5. Jerseys. You can never have enough but I’m a hard fit (i.e. I’m fat) and this can be hard for a spouse to get if you don’t get very specific with brand and size. If you’re a large rider, like me, you’re kinda limited on where you can get jerseys in the 3XL (or bigger) sizes. It’s even harder to find jerseys that look cool and come in sumo sizes. And jerseys are really a matter of personal taste. What I find cool others will hate. And vice versa. I found some cool Primal jerseys that I liked and they look to come in my size (3XL). They are Fighting Chickens
   (cool name), Torch, Patriot, Ace of Spades, Legend, and Kodiak.

Sorry about the long list of jerseys but I had to give my better half (and maybe yours) plenty of options. Below you’ll find a slide show of the jerseys so I can add some images to break up this horrendously long diatribe of text.

Wish

Just like the name says, here are a few items that could be on any cyclists wish list this year.

1. Garmin Edge 500. First, I need a new cyclocomputer. Mine is old (wired, no cadence, etc.) and the mount doesn’t even fit my bikes oversize bars (it’s being held on with a zip tie). Second, I also wish I had a heart rate monitor so I could start training in the heart rate zones and have a more accurate way to measure my training efforts. The Garmin Edge 500 fills both of those needs.
2. Bicycle Tool Set. Like I said, I like to work on my bike myself. You can get by without some cycling specific tools but nothing beats having the right tool for the job (just like working on a car). Since it’s a wish list, I like the Park Tool Advanced Mechanic Tool Kit. Taking the Park Bicycle Maintenance Clinic at the LBS would be cool too.

Dream

Need I say more? I hear the wait list is years long. Maybe if I started saving now.

Vanilla Road Bikes

So, what’s on your Christmas list?

No More Twitter

I didn’t open Hootsuite for a couple of weeks. I try to keep tabs on Twitter while at work but my workload was getting to the point where it wasn’t possible. And it still is. Honestly, I don’t see how people on there can send out Tweets all day long and get anything else accomplished. They must have lots of free time on their hands.

I stopped looking at Google Reader. I have 95 feeds I subscribe to (66 cycling or fitness related, 9 financial related, and 20 others). I can see my feed count on iGoogle and it was well over 1000 unread articles before I looked at some cycling feeds yesterday. Every once in a while a title would catch my eye and I might go look at it but, for the most part, I didn’t read any RSS feeds in the last several weeks. And it felt good.

And I slowly stopped posting here. Not intentionally but it really started to feel like a burden. Don’t get me wrong. I like writing articles here on Biking To Live but finding the time to write them wasn’t coming easy. I was also backing off on my riding which was making it harder to find things to write about. I’ve ridden here and there but nothing serious. Not only did DST totally screw up my riding schedule but my wife taking a long-term substitute teaching position also impacted my riding time. I’ve also had to take time off the bike due to a medical issue. Basically, life got in the way. It sucks but that’s what life does.

And I know I’m not alone in this. I’m sure any one of my readers who has a blog of their own can relate to some of stuff above. If not, more power to you. As far as life getting in the way; I know you understand that too. If you don’t, then you do have too much time on your hands. Regardless, I’m trying to get back into the swing of things here on BTL. I’m slowly working my way through the unread RSS feeds (down to 600 now….sorry but I’m not reading every single one) and will try to check on Twitter every once in a while.

I have a few posts I need to get out of the way that are overdue. I’ve been reading a great cycling book for those looking to lose weight and need to review it. I’ve also been remiss in posting my annual Christmas wish list for cyclists (basically my wish list to my wife). I’m going to try to knock those out pretty quick and then take it from there. The new year is already upon us and I don’t want to waste this one. This year wasn’t a waste but it could have been better.

To those of you who have continued to read the blog, send emails and tweets, and subscribe to the newsletter; thanks. Would I continue to write this blog without you? Probably but your presence makes it all that much sweeter.

[Rant]

A couple of months ago I was in need of an external crank arm fixing bolt. I went to the only LBS in town that sold Specialized bikes and they sold me the wrong kind. I went to another shop looking for a new headlight around the same time. They had just one in stock that would fit my bars. I only bought it because he offered me a 20% discount. Not long ago I was looking for a cycling cap to wear under my helmet. I visited no less than four LBS’ (and one out of town) and not one had a cycling cap in stock. How can a cycling store not stock a cycling cap? I had similar problems when I was looking for a new seat post not long ago.

This past week I was in the hunt for a new saddle. Before I dropped $100-$150 on a saddle (that may not even work because saddles are so personal) I thought I would try a WTB Speed V Comp because they got good reviews and because Bike Noob put in a good word for it with his review. They’re only $40 too. So I headed off to my favorite LBS because I knew they had a WTB test ride program.

I arrive at the LBS and head to their saddle test ride display. On their display they make it a point that they are part of the WTB test ride program where you can rent a saddle for $10 a week to test before you buy. They’ve got about 6 different WTB saddles on display with each having custom ‘test ride’ graphics on them. In other words, the display shows the LBS’ commitment to the WTB saddle test ride program. In my opinion.

I look for the Speed V Comp and can’t find it. Well, that immediately blows my plan out of the water to test it first. Because the saddle is only $40, I wouldn’t mind dropping the cash first as long as I can bring it back for a refund and/or exchange if I don’t like it. I head over to the wall where all the saddles are to find it.

You probably already know the answer. No Speed V Comp saddle. In fact, there are no WTB saddles anywhere. I back up and give the wall a scan again just to make sure. Same result. There’s a pole to my left with some saddles on it so I look there and I find one WTB saddle. One. And it’s not the model I want. Errrrrrr.

At this point I’m like, “Are you kidding me?” They have a WTB test ride program and only have one saddle in stock? One? By this time I was a little upset and head to the front of the store to look at a couple of things before leaving. One of the sales guys heads over and asks me if he can help me with anything. I ask him about the saddles and he says, “Yeah, we have the WTB test saddles but we mainly sell Bontrager stuff.” No kidding. I left.

[/Rant]

That evening I found the WTB Speed V Comp at Nashbar on sale for $19.99. I got the saddle and a Camelback Podium bottle for $4.99 and still paid less than the full saddle price including shipping.

Am I The Problem?

After having the weekend to think about this I’ve begin to wonder if I’m the problem. Am I being too hard on the local bike shops in expecting they have stuff in stock? I know the economy is bad and their business is down but don’t they still want to sell stuff? I became really spoiled when I was in Dallas and had the palace of bike shops available in Richardson Bike Mart. I don’t have that here and it’s getting frustrating.

Am I being too hard on the LBS? Are you experiencing the same thing where you’re at?

PhotoC: Esthr

PhotoC: Blacknell

Driving to ride our bike kinda seems backwards but I know lots of people do it for a number of reasons. They do it to participate in fund raising events, races, and even local group rides. Or maybe they drive to ride a particularly nice stretch of road or to get some training time in the mountains. Regardless of the reason, lots of folks drive to ride. Even if you want to participate in local group rides, chances are you probably won’t be able to ride your bike to the start/finish unless you’re lucky. When I was in Dallas I belonged to a group that really took the cake when it came to driving to the ride. They would setup Saturday rides that would routinely require a 50-75 mile drive (one-way) to the start/finish point. I liked the group, and the people in it, but I think that’s just crazy and I didn’t attend any of those rides. Back here in Florida there are plenty of local group rides going on in the area but all of them would require a significant drive to get there. Luckily I’ve got a decent bike rack for my car and can throw it on so I can drive to a local ride if I want to.

My questions to you are:

1. How far will you drive to ride for a charity event or group ride?
2. How far will you ride to participate in a group ride?

PhotoC: Blacknell

Jens Voigt. The Most Interesting Cyclist In The World.

Jens Voigt (Image Courtesy of Velonation.com:Jered Gruber)

About an hour after turning the new plugin on, I got notice from my hosting provider that they had to suspend my site due to excess server load. Apparently, Intense Debate put a huge load on the server as it imported all my comments into their system. They shut me down in order to keep the server online. I made some changes my host recommended and tried again. It looked like everything was working OK. At about 6 PM last night I checked the site and it was down again and may have been down all afternoon (nobody told me it was down so I don’t know for sure). At that point I decided to just go back to the standard commenting system and drop both plugins. Since doing so I haven’t been shutdown again and the site looks to be loading faster (maybe my readers can confirm that). You won’t get the same amount of comment options as before but I think using the standard theme comment options looks cleaner. Again, sorry for the inconvenience.

The How To Start Cycling Ebook is 90% done. I have just a few things left to do and it’ll be ready for release. I had every intention of releasing it this week but am going to hold off one more week. That’ll give me time to make sure it’s polished and can make some changes to the site before releasing it. I’ll also be out of town this weekend which also influenced my decision to delay it. I didn’t want to launch it and not be able to do anything if there were problems over the weekend.

My riding is coming along nicely. I’m still just putting in base miles right now as I continue to get time in the saddle and get my fit dialed in. Victor over at Bicycle Lab has been doing wonders and this weekend we made some small changes. We moved my saddle forward 1cm, raised the saddle 1cm, and tilted the bars up about 5 degrees. It’s amazing what those small changes can do. My ride this morning was really good with my average speed up about 1.5 mph from what it was before we started making changes. Granted, 14.6 mph isn’t fast but I’m moving in the right direction.

Thumbnail Photoc: Leonard John Matthews

I’d love to get your comments on this topic as well. If you prefer to ride in the middle of the afternoon, or are constrained to riding at a particular time, please share it with us in the comments below.

PHOTOc: secretlondon123

The ‘E’ word…Excuses

Most of you knew that I was moving back to Florida at the end of May. That was only the start of the journey as the last two months have been a whirlwind of events. I’m not going to bore you with the details but some of the highlights include:

• Driving from Texas to Florida.
• Starting back at my old job.
• Moving into a new place.
• Getting re-acclimated with living with the family again. Living apart for 18 months tends to make it strange.
• Getting our oldest graduated from high school and the associated drama.
• Spending time with the family.
• Enjoying saltwater fishing again. You wouldn’t believe the fish story from this weekend. And we didn’t even land the fish!
• Two significant medical emergencies. One in my wife’s family and one in mine. Thankfully both family members are doing much better.

While a few of the excuses above are very good, a few are a stretch. But who wouldn’t be happy about kicking one of the kids out of the house? Just kidding. Seriously though, the past two months have been a whirlwind of activity and has really taken a toll on us. Some days it felt good just to be able to sit down. But I think we’ve turned a corner and I’m ready to start riding again.

Even though we’ve moved to a new place, I still have access to the good roads/routes I had from our old house. That’s a good thing. It also looks like I’ll be moving back to riding in the morning before traffic gets bad because in the evenings the traffic just doesn’t subside until really late. Our new location will also allow me multiple route options so I shouldn’t have any problems with routes getting ‘stale’ either.

The ‘C’ Word….Commuting (by bike)

I’m also seriously considering converting my hybrid into a commuter rig. I’ve even mapped out, and driven, a potential route to/from work. One-way is a very manageable 10.5 miles which would make it 21 miles for the daily round-trip. We’ve got shower facilities and secure bike storage here at work so those two large obstacles are taken care of. I have looked at some bike rack/pannier options as well since I’ll need those. I could probably make do with a backpack at first if I wanted to. I’m still early in the planning of this but I do believe it’s something I want to do. Back in my early Navy days I rode my bike to/from work for a period of time. It was only 8 miles round-trip but it felt great to do it.

Thanks for the Emails

Since I’ve been away several of you have sent emails asking how I was doing. I really appreciate those emails. I think it’s awesome how these blogs help us grow a good network of friends even though we may not live in the same city, state, or country.

Photo courtesy of tonyhall.

This has been in the works for about three months but it wasn’t until today that I received an offer for employment that’s going to take me back to Florida and my family.

I’d like to thank all my readers who have lent their support and words of encouragement over these past 15 months. It meant a lot.

I’ll miss the cycling here in Dallas because I really enjoyed my time riding around White Rock Lake. It’s a jewel in this city and I don’t think enough people realize that. One thing I won’t miss is the hills. I know they’re an important part of cycling, and they helped in my training last year, but I can’t say that I’ll miss them that much. I’ll have to really turn up my flatland workouts in Florida in order to get even a portion of the training benefits that the hills provided me here. I’ll deal with it though.

Over the next two weeks I’ll continue to ride here in Dallas. I’m sure I’ll miss a few days in the saddle before I leave and upon my return to Florida but the training will continue in my old stomping grounds. In fact, look for a post from me next week where we’ll discuss the idea of a virtual cycling group to train for a century ride.

Again, thanks for everything.

Cliff, we’ll need to make plans to get your trainer back to you at some point before I leave. I really appreciate you letting me borrow it.

Now I really need to find a bike rack.

Image courtesy of taberandrew.