My wife Laura and I are avid road cyclists. I typically put between 8K and 12K miles a year on my bike which is more than we put on the car. Where we live people know us as ”the bike people”. We ride for health, we ride for performance, but mostly, we ride for fun We love the bikes.
This is a blog about cycling. The emphasis is on road cycling because that’s what we do and that’s what I know the most about. Posts range from answering questions we are often asked by beginning cyclists to discussion of topics I hope are of interest to more advanced riders. Most of the posts are written to provide useful information although sometimes I’ll just tell good cycling stories or comment on current goings on in the world of cycling. I hope you find something of value.
May the wind be always at your back.
Greetings! Good to find your blog – it’s similar to mine (except mine’s for Europe). Maybe we can exchange links, because my readers could benefit from what you guys write! Where are you located?
My blog on Cycling in Europe: http://cyclingeurope.wordpress.com and my website is http://www.vivatravels.com
Here’s to those passionate about cycling!!
Jennifer Sage
By: reachyourpeak on July 11, 2008
at 9:10 pm
Greetings!
I had a great time reading you hill climbing 101 & 102. I am new to cycling, and enjoying it very much!
By: ali on January 29, 2009
at 9:12 am
I’m planning to do my first endurance mountain bike race and have scoured the internet for nutrition information. Your blog on nutrition cleared up a few things for me.
By: Richard McNeer on March 13, 2009
at 2:38 am
I’m new to cycling and was up at 3:00a.m. this morning thinking about the horrible time I had climbing hills yesterday on a hilly ride here in Western Washington. I got up and found your blog with just the information I needed. Going up a hill I started in a high gear pedaling pretty slow and then to lower gear and finally came to almost a dead stop going up hill. I’ll give you ideas a try today. Thanks. I was able to get back to sleep and will keep riding. After yesterday, I was ready to quit.
By: Susan Patrick on August 28, 2010
at 3:28 pm
HI – YOUR POSTS ARE FANTASTIC!!
LOVE THE CYCLING TIPS PLUS THE NUTRITIONAL ADVICE. DID YOU SOURCE THIS INFO FROM ANYWHERE IN PARTICULAR AS I’M KEEN TO READ MORE.
CHEERS
MATT
By: MATT MATE on April 9, 2011
at 10:22 am
An incredible blog. Especially for a relatively new rider. I want to improve and am hungry for advice and hints that will make me a better, stronger and more confident rider. This blog contains so much useful information and anecdotes that I can relate to and take encouragement from. I know I will keep coming back to the articles to read again and again as they provide so much learning to put into practice. Thanks.
By: Jacquie on April 30, 2011
at 6:35 am
Thanks so much. Your web site is great. I’m a new cyclist and the hill climbing articles helped me tremendously. Doing my first organized ride on Sunday May 15. The Santa Fe Century. : )
By: Francie on May 13, 2011
at 9:09 pm
By the way, I love your style of writing.
By: Francie on May 13, 2011
at 9:10 pm
I knew what my body needed, I just didn’t know why…thank you for clearing that up for me in the blog.
I just finished an eight-day ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway, carried all my own food, camp gear, and really enjoyed the experience. I found the strenuous exercise and what I put into my body with what I did after the ride (stretching, lying down etc.) made all the difference in my condition mentally and physically for the next day.
Thanks for confirming my experience with foods like gels, dried nuts & fruits, pasta, and drinks to restore my system. Plus the insight I gained will help in training…I think I want to do another long-distance ride next summer…lol
By: Keith Corbeil on October 2, 2011
at 5:02 pm
Fantastic blog with valuable information.
I’ve just also read how many miles you do each year, wow! I do a lot of road cycling, but not as many miles as that. There is a new activity based social network site called http://www.cyclingbuddy.com/ launching on 1st March 2012, a friend told me about it and I’m going to start logging the miles, just thought you might be interested also.
Julia
By: Julia on February 20, 2012
at 2:41 pm
Hi,
As an experienced rider, I thought you may be able to help me out. I have just started riding road bike and I’m getting a painful, cramping feeling from my bars. I currently can’t do more than 10miles comfortably and it’s killing me! I think the extra pressure from the different riding position is causing it.
I’ve tried:
Dropping seat down to change position
Tiliting bars slightly up and down to shift weight on my hands
Gel gloves (these helped the most)
Constant moving from hoods to tops to drops (this is inefficient for riding)
Gel inserts are the only other thing I can think of that may help but I’m very doubtful that these will solve the problem entirely
Any help (from anyone) is appreciated,
thanks
By: lawrence.ball91@virginmedia.com on April 8, 2013
at 10:01 pm
Can you give me some more info? Where are you experiencing the cramping? Hands? forearms? shoulders? neck? back? Is it muscle cramping or soreness?
Without having more info a couple of things come to mind. First, you may be gripping the handlebars too tightly. You want to maintain a loose easy grip for several reasons. One, you have much better control of the bike when your grip is loose. You can experience this easily by standing next to your bike and leaning so that your weight is partially on the bars. Then have someone kick the front wheel from the side without warning. Do this with a loose and a tight grip. Be careful you don’t fall when you’re using the tight grip
. Two, a tight grip can lead to soreness and cramping, will tire you out on a long ride and can restrict oxygen flow as the tightness spreads to your shoulders and chest.
Second, if you haven’t done this already, get a professional bike fit from a reputable bike shop where they know what they are doing. A difference of just a few centimeters in seat and handlebar height, seat position etc can be the difference between a pain free ride and agony. This is especially important if you have been experimenting with seat height and bar tilt.
Neither of these suggestions may be of any help but without more info about the nature of the problem nothing else comes immediately to mind.
By: Kevin Murnane on April 9, 2013
at 4:34 am
Hello,
I am a big fan of your cycling blog. Important information in a very nice and friendly style.
Your nutrition tips helped me to complete 8-days MTB race in South Africa (ABSA Cape Epic 2012). I was 46 and it became my first sport competition since the school days. I was a slow rider but I made it within the cut-off time and I had a ton of fun. I thank you for that!
I translated your articles into Russian with all embedded original links and I would like to share it with friends on the biggest cycling forum of Russia http://www.velomania.ru
If you don’t mind the idea, shell I put the author as K. Murnane?
Thanks again,
Dmitry
By: bort11 on April 14, 2013
at 8:31 pm
Dmitry, thank you for the kind words. Glad to hear that you completed the MTB race in S. Africa and had such a good time. I’d be delighted to have the blog posts translated into Russian and posted on the forum and am honored that you have taken the time to do so. Please indicate the author as Kevin Murnane. Thanks.
Also, I’m sorry it has taken this long to respond, I’ve been very ill with a serious set of infections.
By: kmurnane on April 22, 2013
at 5:19 pm