Newsletter Issue No. 911 b

Do you work in the cycling industry? Is business where you work up, the same, down or at a complete stop? I’m hearing lots of conflicting information and would be interested to hear what’s happening where you work, to get a better sense of what’s going on. If you’re not in the cycling industry you’re also welcome to respond. Not sure how many I’ll get, so I might not be able to respond to them all. Just hit reply to the email.

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What’s the Best Breakfast You Can Eat?

By Gabe Mirkin, M.D.

For many years I have recommended oatmeal as the ideal breakfast food. It is filling, does not cause a high rise in blood sugar and is an excellent source of soluble fiber. You can enhance the flavor and nutritional value of your oatmeal by adding your choice of nuts, raisins or other dried fruits, fresh fruits such as blueberries, and spices such as cinnamon or nutmeg. The soluble fiber in oatmeal and in fruits helps to keep blood sugar from rising too high and to control cholesterol. Read more.

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Why Increasing Intensity is Good for All Road Cyclists

By Coach John Hughes

I’ve written about the benefits of riding miles at a conversational pace. I also explained that once you’ve built your endurance base in the spring, just riding more miles won’t make you a much better rider. Further, if you’ve been riding for years then just piling on more miles brings little improvement. Read more.

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A Primer on UV Protection with UPF Cycling Apparel

By Coach Rick Schultz

Now that spring is here and the sun it starting to shine again, it’s time to think about sun protection. When in the sun, you want to protect yourself against the harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays that can cause skin and related damage across a range up to and including cancer. Read more.

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Quick Tip: Perfectly Aligning your Stem and Handlebars

For those who are perfectionists, aligning your stem/bars can be a pesky issue. Correcting the miss-alignment simply by loosening the stem and trying to nudge the bars has always been an iffy, trial-and-error exercise. Now, with this straight-edge technique, I can nudge it around during a single session and finally get it right without having to set it, go ride to try it out, then re-set, etc. So for me, it works well and gets a faster, more reliable result than what I’ve been doing. Maybe others will, too. Read more.

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Bicycle Maintenance Tips to Avoid Crashes

By Jim Langley

Poor bike maintenance can cause big crashes. We’ve been sharing crash stories in order to reduce the chances of going down. Mostly, we’ve covered biffs caused by rider errors, road conditions, drivers and other cyclists. Yet, another whole crash category is those caused by bike maintenance issues. Let’s look at some common ones, what fails and what checks and maintenance to do to help avoid hitting the deck. Read more.

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Top Cycling Shorts Under $100

Looking for a new pair of cycling shorts, but don’t want to spend too much? These are our picks for the best cycling shorts when you’re on a budget. They might not be the top of the line, but they are still high quality and comfortable. Read more.