A few of my friends and several new acquaintances (many of them fellow designers …awesome!) have told me that they’re either interested in taking up cycling or have recently done so. I remember the trouble and discomfort I endured, for no reason other than my ignorance, when I first began getting serious about cycling. I would save you that discomfort if I can by offering a few helpful tips.

Note that some of these tips are a bit indelicate, referring to the highly necessary but personal issues as they relate to cycling. But that’s cycling. Deal with it.

1) Wear Bike Shorts
They’re not just for sporty good looks; bike shorts are made specifically for keeping you comfortable in the saddle. Aside from having a nice, aerodynamic fit, they have a built-in chamois that pads your backside and helps to distribute weight more evenly on the saddle. You men will have to get past the fact that the fit leaves little to the imagination of onlookers, but that’s life. It doesn’t matter that you’re not training for the Tour de France; if you’re on the bike, wear bike shorts.

2) Don’t wear underwear
Bike shorts are made to be your all-in-one lower garment. Just the shorts, no undies. The seams on your underwear will give you saddle sores. Just, don’t. You might then wonder about the hygiene of going sans underwear, but that’s not an issue for clothing! Instead, see #3…

3) Keep it clean!
You cannot get on your bike if your ass is dirty. Seriously. And I’m not just talking about a good couple of wipes, I’m talking about actual cleanliness. Before any ride, a quick 30 minutes or an epic 6 hours, take a shower to wash your backside. Wash it good. Twice. Seriously, twice. You do not want to spend any amount of time rubbing, grinding, and sweating on a dirty backside. There’s no need for you to deal with the discomfort, pain, and infection that will come from a dirty butt. Keep it clean!

4) Fuel-up properly
Cycling is pretty intense and you burn a lot of calories doing it. In order to feel good in the saddle you’ve got to make sure you’ve got gas in the tank before you start …and keep re-fueling during your ride. Take water or a mix of sports drink and water to replenish what you sweat out. If you’re on the bike for more than an hour it’s also a good idea to take along a snack or two. You’ll have to decide what’s best for you, but I generally bring Fig Newtons and eat one every 30 to 40 minutes. Those calories plus what’s in my water bottle usually keep me from bonking (running out of fuel and crashing). Don’t skip your pre-ride meal. If you ride in the early morning, get up early enough to eat a good breakfast and let it digest before you ride. And make sure you’re well hydrated before you go out, too.

5) Clean your bike
Even a modestly-priced road bike is going to require a serious investment. You’re an idiot to let that investment break down due to carelessness and apathy. Learn how to properly clean your bike and put that knowledge into practice regularly. It’s probably a good idea to give your bike a basic cleaning after each ride, but at the very least, your bike requires a decent cleaning once a week, and a through cleaning job each month. If your drivetrain isn’t shiny, you shouldn’t be riding the bike. Clean the drivetrain with a good degreaser and wash with detergent and water, then dry it down and lightly reapply oil to the chain. Basically, keep the bike looking like new all the time. A thorough cleaning requires some specialized know-how, so buy a book that shows or describes the full process or ask an experienced roadie for instructions.

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There’s plenty more I might share, but this short and sweet list of tips should go a long way toward helping you to stay on the bike and letting you do the rest. Remember though, no matter what you do you’re going to feel discomfort and you’re likely going to suffer a bit (or a lot) while you work toward improvement. This is true of any worthwhile exercise. If you’re like me, you’ll enjoy that suffering a lot more on two wheels and the results will far outweigh the discomfort. Stick with it and keep rolling.

Funny. Today brought that home in an interesting way. I thought I might share.

Today is Tuesday, so this afternoon I was out riding my bike on the hills near my home in the 100F degree Texas heat. I wished it were not 100F degrees, but that’s life. One cannot be a cyclist here in the Dallas area and avoid riding for many hours in 100F+ heat in the summer. In any event, I planned to take it just a little bit easier than normal since I’m still acclimating to these temperatures (it generally takes the average person about 10 days for your body to get used to extremes like this). My plan was for about a 1.5 hour ride.

I had been out for about an hour, cruising along at between 30 to 56 kph (18 to 35mph) when a small SUV pulled up beside me while I was going up a hill. The passenger window powered down and the driver called to me.

“Hey, how’s it going?”

“Okay,” I said. At least he wasn’t crowding me. He stayed in the other lane.

“You getting ready for a race?” the guy asked. He was in his mid-thirties with dark, short hair. He reached over to turn the radio down. He looked okay; not like someone getting ready to make mischief.

“Nope, just training,” I answered.

“Ha, for what?” he asked. He was nodding like he understood, but his face make it plain that he didn’t.

For what? A tinge of agitation swelled in me. “For …life, man,” I answered, feebly. “I have wife, a son …a few employees. I have responsibilities.” I think that made sense.

The guy made a face like I told him that the sky was purple and dinosaurs were going to construct a straw bridge to Valhalla. He gave a little chuckle, “Alright. But it’s like a hundred degrees,” And then he added, “…and you’ve got a lot a grey in that beard.” He smiled.

Yeah, he actually said that. He seemed to mean it a like an attaboy or something, like it was good that I was doing so well at such an advanced age. At least that’s how I took it.

I couldn’t help but laugh. What are you, the friggin’ ageist athletics police? I said, “Yeah, but it’s Tuesday.” I didn’t know what else to say. I’d had enough of this guy. I took the opportunity to reach back into my jersey pocket to grab a Fig Newton from the baggie there. I sat up and popped it into my mouth.

He was right. It was 100F degrees out and I do have a lot grey in my beard. That’s life. And life is funny sometimes. Like right now.

“Alright man, have a good ride!” he said. He seemed to mean it. He rolled on ahead and the window powered up as he drove away.

After a few seconds I sort of chuckled as I thought, that actually just happened. Was that the weirdest conversation or what? So then I started thinking. Why am I actually out here in 100F degree weather, kicking my own ass, training for “…life?”

My first thought in answer to that was that life is no sure bet. It is not outside the realm of likely possibility that I may one day be beset with some burly, scary thing that will try and knock me down. I have to be burlier and scarier than it so that I can kick it’s ass to the friggin’ curb. In fact, it’s my responsibility to be a burly, scary man when life demands it. It happens. Life is like that sometimes.

Then I got to thinking corny stuff, like life is what you make it. People often refer to that as a tired adage, but it’s right! Life is what you make it. And my life is friggin’ awesome. Seriously. In my mind, I was starring in that Nike commercial with Lance Armstrong. “…People are always asking me what I’m on. What am I on? I’m on my bike 8 hours a day. What are you on?” Okay, I’m not actually on my bike 8 hours a day. But you get the drift.

So riding along there in the 100F degree heat with all of that righteous emotion and corny fervor, I decided to make a statement; a righteous, corny statement. For me. I reset my bike computer and dropped the hammer. See I typically ride at an average speed of about 33 kph (20 mph) on my training rides and I am in no way a competitive-level cyclist right now. But it was Tuesday. And I have a lot of grey in my beard.

I rode the last 5 miles of hills in the 100F degree heat at almost 39 kph (>24mph). I’ve never done that at any temperature before. But I did it today.

And you know why? ‘Cause fuck 100F degrees.

I continue to explore the cities around me, looking for likely cycling routes, but this one (below) has become my standard Saturday route. It takes me from my home in Lewisville, out through Flower Mound, across the lake dam and into downtown Grapevine. It allows for anywhere between 90 and 105km, depending on how many loops around the mid-portion (Lakeside Parkway) I choose to take.

As summer is coming on and temps are staying on the 98F degree area, I may cut back on my mileage a bit for the longer rides. This past Saturday, for instance, I only did about 90km and felt like death for the last 10km. Time will tell.

This route was made on Bikely.com. Pretty cool tool for cyclists.

My training continues these days with 120 to 180 miles/week, riding 4 to 6 days/week. Recently, though, I’ve been considering racing. Like most athletes, I’m a fairly competitive guy and I like having a goal to work toward in anything I do. I think I’d enjoy racing and it could become a fun and inspiring component of training.

Having never ridden in a road race, I’ve been looking around for information on how to prepare for a first race, likely a criterium race. In doing so I came across this interesting series of videos on training for each day of the week; a couple of them are specific to crit training and racing. I thought others might enjoy them too, so I’ve posted them here. They’re fairly short and to the point. Hope you like them.

This one is on your base miles training; the foundation of everything else.

This on is specific to training for crit racing.

Monday Training:

Tuesday Training:

Wednesday Training:

Thursday Training:

Friday Training:

Saturday Training

There are several other videos in this series of short, concise lessons. Interesting stuff.