Newsletter Issue No. 1234
July 23, 2026
More About Park Tool’s BMT-1 Tire Bead Breaker Tool
Jim’s Tech Talk
By Jim Langley
Last week, we helped a reader named Nathaniel with his tight and nearly impossibly difficult to remove tires: Tech Q & A: Nathaniel’s Too Tight Tire Troubles. We asked your help too and you delivered in the comments with excellent suggestions for taming tight tires, which will surely help Nate and other readers struggling with their treads. Thank you! Read more.
FTP: The Number You’re Chasing Wrong
By Ric Stern
FTP. It’s the number we’re all chasing, right? But what if I told you it shouldn’t be?
I know, if you read some of the online training articles you’ll see things like “FTP is wrong, you should be using critical power (CP).” But I mean something different to that. Read more.
ROKA San Remo AIR Sunglasses – Quick Review
By Sheri Rosenbaum
At last year’s Belgium Waffle Ride, Keegan Swenson and Sophia Gomez Villafane were sporting the ROKA San Remo AIR bright green frames as they crossed the finish line to take 1st place in the men’s and women’s pro divisions. In 2025, the company launched these new sunglasses and touted them as perfect for transitioning from cycling to running to everyday wear. I recently received a pair, and I can confirm this is true. Read more.
Is our “no-drop” ride false advertising?
Question: My local shop hosts a Saturday morning ride that’s advertised as no-drop. The only place it actually says that is a flyer taped up by the register, and I think the flyer is older than some of the bikes in the shop. Nobody announces anything at the start. Over the last couple of years, the pace has crept up, and the last three weeks in a row somebody has been quietly shelled off the back. Two weeks ago, I dropped back to help a newer rider who’d been dropped, and not only did we never catch back on, I’m not sure anyone noticed we were gone. Is it still a no-drop ride if the only thing “no-drop” about it is a flyer from years ago? And whose job is it to fix this, the shop or the riders? —Ray S. Read more.
Quick Tip: Start Hot Rides Earlier
When it’s going to be extremely hot, the simplest way to beat it is to beat it out the door. Roll out early, and you can finish your ride before the day turns brutal.
The hottest part of the day usually falls between noon and 3 p.m. It isn’t just the air temperature, either. Radiant heat from the sun is strongest in the afternoon, so you’re getting cooked from above at the same time the thermometer peaks. A ride that feels hard at 1 p.m. can feel easy at 7 a.m., even on the same route at the same effort.
That’s why the old racer’s trick is to move your start time by a couple of hours rather than tough it out. If you’d normally leave at 9, leave at 7. On a really hot day, a dawn start can get you home before the worst of it arrives. The general guideline is to ride before about 10 a.m. or after about 5 p.m., but the earlier you can go, the more heat you dodge.
An early start pays off in other ways too. The roads are quieter, the light is better, and you’ll often see wildlife that disappears once the day heats up. You’ll also start the ride with your body already rested and cool, instead of stepping out into an oven.
If your schedule won’t allow a morning ride, flip it to the evening. Waiting until after 5 or 6 p.m. lets the sun drop and the pavement start giving back its heat. It’s not quite as good as the morning, when everything has cooled overnight, but it beats the middle of the afternoon by a wide margin.
The bottom line: on hot days, the clock is a free tool. Move your start time earlier and you can ride the same miles in far more comfort. Readers, do you do this in the summer already or have a different approach you like to use to beat the heat? Comment here.
Other Cool Things to Read
Road.cc: A conversation with John Tomac, the first rock star of mountain biking
PEZ Cycling: Does Being Fitter Also Make You Tougher? What Science Says About Pain Tolerance
Escape Collective: How did a Tour de France speed record survive for 27 years?
Mens Journal: Harvard Researchers Say There’s a Strength Training ‘Sweet Spot’ for Longevity
Question of the Week
Do you carry a multi-tool on every ride?
Most Clicked Last Week
Tech Q & A: Nathaniel’s Too Tight Tire Troubles
End Notes
