Some of you guys/girls have been doing this for years and have learned some cool tricks. Help us out...

Here's one to start the ball rolling:

The end of a swinging Kryponite chain can kill your paint job. I pulled the cloth back to expose four links and dipped them in liquid rubber. (You can buy it at a hardware store or Home Cheapo. They make it to dip tool handles.)

Let the chain hang (OUTSIDE) till dry then do other side.

Roadies - Kryponite chains - nope.

Many wheel skewers can be used as a tire lever.

Ride in the drops as often as you can.

Crush souls.

A couple of playing cards and clothes clips clipped to your fork and rear stays can make your bike almost sound like a Harley.

No really, if your significant other will let you keep the bike in the house do it. Even in a garage the elements shorthen the life of the bike.

They should really be baseball cards...

Uhhhh... any particular reason you suggest this?

I found that although it was uncomfortable a bit at first, I am much stronger in the core and more flexible in the hammys after spending a lot of ride time in the drops in the last couple of months or so.
Being comfortable in the drops also opens up new riding positions and makes longer rides easier.

YMMV of course.

what then do you use to make sure your bike remains your bike?

If a ride is broken up into quarters, the third quarter is where you should be riding hard. Same goes for climbing hills.

Wash your shorts AT LEAST every other ride.

If people can see your danglefruit through your shorts in sunlight, you should have thrown them away years ago.

[QUOTE=Cypress]If a ride is broken up into quarters, the third quarter is where you should be riding hard. Same goes for climbing hills.[QUOTE]

Interesting. Ignoring the obvious bad math-ness... four even quarters?

[QUOTE=Hambone][QUOTE=Cypress]If a ride is broken up into quarters, the third quarter is where you should be riding hard. Same goes for climbing hills.
Yes? What other quarters are you thinking of?

For example, my weekday morning ride is an hour.

If you were training on that, would you break it into four 15 minute intervals:

• warm up, 15 min
• steady pace, 15 min
• hard pace, 15 min
• cool down, 15 min

It seems like too little time at the hard pace.

I was asking about the timing not the "four" count...

First you pillage, THEN you burn!

I guess I can't construe 1 hour as being a ride. If you're only going for an hour, warm up for 10 mins, hammer for 45, cool down for 5.

Besides the usual stuff, here are some other tips that may be a little out of the norm:

- After a ride I stick a Bounce sheet in each of my cycle shoes. Keeps any funky odor from forming over time.

- Cutting the top off a water bottle makes for great storage on your bike. You can store a vest, arm warmers in the old bottle.

- Pop-tarts are a great cycling snack. They fit perfectly in a jersey pocket and provide just about enough calories if you eat one every hour on a long ride.

- I buy Gu packets in bulk (24 pack) on the internet and save about 50% of the cost.

- Store your spare tube in a zip-lock bag with some talc / corn starch. This reduces the chance of getting a pinch flat when you change a tube.

- Stuff your multi-tool and other items in a small sock before sticking it in your saddle bag. It will keep things from rattling around.

- Lemon Pledge makes for a good bike wax for your frame.

This might only apply to me....

Pick a warm-up/cool-down route close to your house and use it every time. I do that so I can go for my actual ride already warmed up and ready to deal with traffic/other cyclists.

If you use your bike to commute to work you can leave a chain/lock in the bike stand at work, it cuts down from havoing to carry the extra weight and bulk of a thick chain and padlock.

FACT: Grotesque facial grimaces increase your maximum speed.

I don't know about cool, but I'll share a few things I've learned and like to do; most are ride prep tasks:

Recon routes before riding - before I started riding outside of my neighborhood, I drove the potential roads and captured the approximate mileage, possible combination routes, and potential hazards such as rough patches, blind spots, loose dogs, railroad tracks, narrow passages, sharp turns, gravel, traffic, broken glass from frequent accidents, etc. It also gives me a map to determine routes based on desired distance and something my wife can refer to in case I don't return home in a timely manner.

Prep the bike before getting dressed to ride - I like to check/pump the tires, load the seat bag, fill/load drink bottles, and gather stuff for jersey pockets all before getting dressed so that once I am dressed, I can get on the bike and roll. I learned this the hard way after getting dressed and then going out into a hot/humid garage to prep the bike; after pumping, changing a tube, and more pumping, I felt like I had worked out already.

Deflate tires before inflating - I learned here in BF that if you deflate the tires some first, they are easier to inflate.

Sunglasses - a nephew gave me a pair of frameless Adidas sunglasses that I love; I find that the top of the framed glasses hinder my vision when I'm in the drops.

My $0.02 FWIW

ride primarily for exercise? ride about every day? ride the same route every day because it's familiar and convenient? don't do that. you're in a rut. mix things up, vary your routes and distances, and always be exploring new roads....

To get the true Harley sound you need to build a bracket that offsets the card on one side about 20mm from the card on the other, mimicking the Harley's offset firing order. But you run the risk of Patent infringment if you get it too close

+1 Absolutely !

I remember that now, my Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris cards worked the best!

[QUOTE=Cypress][QUOTE=Hambone]
Four Canadian quarters are only 89 cents.