Innholdsfortegnelse for Spring 2025 i Bicycling

THE BEST BIKE IS THE ONE THAT BRINGS YOU JOY. → LIFE IS TOO SHORT TO RIDE WITH JERKS. → RIDING BIKES SHOULDN’T HURT. IF YOU’RE UNCOMFORTABLE, SOMETHING IS WRONG. → FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, HYDRATE! → TAKE CARE OF YOUR BIKE, AND IT WILL TAKE CARE OF YOU. → YOU DON’T NEED SPECIAL CLOTHES TO BE A CYCLIST. → RIDING THROUGH PUDDLES AND DOING SKIDS NEVER GETS OLD. → SOLO RIDES, BIG GROUP RIDES, COMMUTES TO WORK, TRAIL SESSIONS, AND OVERNIGHT ADVENTURES. YES—HELL YES—TO EVERY TYPE OF RIDE. → WE’RE ALL IN ON GOING SLOW—UNLESS WE’RE GOING FAST. → THERE’S NO RIGHT WAY TO RIDE A BIKE—IF IT MAKES YOU HAPPY, YOU’RE DOING IT RIGHT. → WE LOVE ALL THINGS BIKES—AND LOVE SHARING THAT PASSION WITH YOU. →…

I’VE ALWAYS BEEN a bit jealous of cyclists who get really into Zwift racing or those who can endure a two-plus-hour ride indoors. That’s never been me. Five minutes after getting on the trainer, I’m already rethinking my plan to ride for 90 minutes and convincing myself that half of that is plenty. Another 10 minutes later, and I suddenly hate my perfectly dialed-in bike fit. A few minutes after that I’m stressing about work. The whole time I’m wishing I was doing something else—anything else. I’m far from the only cyclist who finds the trainer monotonous, which is why the bike industry has come up with a number of overpriced trainer accessories designed to make indoor riding feel more immersive. As an example, Wahoo sells a $250 “smart fan”…

CONQUERING THE DISTANCE IS SOMETHING THAT IS WORTH STRIVING FOR. AND IT’S THE CHALLENGE THAT KEEPS RIDERS COMING BACK.—ALISON TETRICK When you line up for a century, it’s easy to confuse adrenaline with fitness and suddenly believe you can hang for 100-odd miles with that hard-charging pack hammering away from you. And maybe you can. You’ll conserve energy with a group, right? It’ll be great. I did this during my first century and cracked somewhere between miles 40 and 70 (the memory is foggy). Then, after an extended stop to fix a flat, I rode alone for miles before limping into the finish. Don’t make the same mistake I did. But also…it’s really, really hard not to. These tips can help you avoid this common pitfall. OUTLINE A PACING STRATEGY…

The drivetrain on your bicycle translates pedaling into forward motion. It helps us travel great distances and take a short trip across town. It enables high-speed sprints and long, arduous climbs. The individual parts of a drivetrain—chain, cogs, hub, derailleurs, crank, and shifters—are found on everything from kids’ bikes to World Cup race machines. The components can be extremely simple or highly complex, but to many of us, their care and function remain a mystery. Whether you are a seasoned veteran or fresh to cycling, you’ll find something over the next 18 pages that will change how you think about your bike and help you become a better rider. 1 The front half of a bicycle’s drivetrain employs a chainring (or chainrings) mounted to the crank. The rear half consists…

“RIDING A HUNDO IS COMPLETELY DOABLE FOR MOST CYCLISTS”—ALISON TETRICK, HOST OF HOW TO MASTER THE CENTURY Bicycling’s How to Master the Century is a comprehensive guide to conquering the iconic distance. From finding a training plan to selecting an event to dialing in nutrition so you don’t bonk at mile 73, we have all the info you need to successfully hit those triple digits. And it’s offered exclusively to Bicycling members. “IT JUST FEELS SO GOOD TO GET FIT. EVEN THOUGH I’M NOT AS FAST AS I WAS IN MY TWENTIES, I STILL FEEL THE EMPOWER-MENT OF GETTING STRONGER.” —Peter Abraham, host of How to Ride Strong at 50+ Yeah, you already know cycling is fun. But did you know it fends off loneliness, sharpens your memory, improves your…

WHEN SOMEONE LEARNS I am an editor for Bicycling, they often ask, “So, what’s the best bike?” Simply answering “There is no best bicycle” might sound like the easy out, but it actually opens the door to more prodding, questions, and discussion. The best bike generally isn’t the lightest, nor is it the fastest. It probably didn’t carry a professional to Tour de France glory or a World Championship rainbow jersey. And quite often, it’s far from the most expensive machine on the market. Many cyclists over-obsess about buying “the best” bicycle; it seems to be in our DNA. When researching a new bike purchase, we pore over geometry charts and dissect the nuances of manufacturers’ specifications. We read reviews, dive down internet rabbit holes, and talk to other cyclists…

SAFETY WAS NEVER at the forefront of my mind in my early cycling days. From rocketing down descents to not always wearing a helmet to thinking safety accessories looked silly, I was doing very little to protect myself. I didn’t care. But with more road riding experience and a dash of maturity came a reality check. My first brush with distracted driving was when I watched a friend get T-boned midway through a ride on quiet country roads. Luckily, his injuries were relatively minor, but it was a wake-up call. Not long after, a driver hit and severely injured a friend who was navigating a simple intersection. A former coworker is now paralyzed after a hit-and-run. Another friend lost his brother to a reckless driver plowing through a group ride.…

A few years ago, I snapped a derailleur cable inside my shifter at around mile 40 of a local century. Luckily, the ride was two 50-mile loops, so I pulled off halfway. But it was basic maintenance I should have checked before I even lined up for the event. Get familiar with your bike before heading out on the road. Fifty miles into a century ride is a bad time to discover that your brake pads are completely worn down or that you don’t like your saddle. A good rule of thumb is to get your bike serviced before each riding season—give your local shop time to perform the required service and order any needed parts. If you’ve had your bike serviced recently, you can do a basic check yourself.…

My first century was one loop around a massive lake with a friend. It was certainly beautiful, but big lakes don’t often have simple crossings; once you get to the other side, the only way home is to keep going. Ultimately, the sun set on us, and there may or may not have been a stop at a gas station to warm up and charge the single headlight we had. We made it, but it was more of an adventure than we bargained for. For any century, but especially if it’s your first one, err on the side of caution. A lot can happen in 100 miles, and a few simple shortcut options can be the difference between a nice day out or hitching a ride home with your tail…

THE GEAR I SPLURGE ON BIKE FIT → I spend hours and hours on a bike, and I want every minute to be as comfortable and fun as possible. For a long time, I used the fit I developed by listening to my body, and that worked okay, but it always seemed like there was more potential than I could find on my own. A professional fit at Cyclologic unlocked that potential. They made a series of adjustments that led to noticeably better performance and comfort. My new, better fit was especially noticeable on long rides and after unbroken blocks of riding. But bike fits aren’t one-and-done. Ten years after getting my last fit, I went through a new fit consultation, which, like last time, resulted in a handful of…

Mother Nature has taught me this lesson countless times and will teach me many more times: Bring a rain jacket. On a ride in Vail, Colorado, I set out to ride Two Elk Trail from town. Vail proper sits at over 8,000 feet; the Two Elk ride peaks at around 11,000. This was summer in the Colorado Rockies. Just after I started the descent, the sky turned black, and it got cold as the afternoon monsoon rolled in. Two Elk descends about seven miles through open meadows in the back bowls of Vail before finishing near the town of Minturn. My best hope was to keep pedaling to stay warm, but even though it was downhill, the trail became muddy and my progress slowed. Once I reached town, I stumbled…

JON CICARELLI STILL REMEMBERS STANDING ON the ridge at night somewhere in the mountains outside of Laramie, Wyoming, in the summer of 2009. His longtime riding buddy Nash Quinn was standing next to him, and they were studying the landscape, trying to figure out what to do. They’d become disoriented on their mountain bikes and were now marooned with no headlamps or GPS and no idea how to get back to Laramie, where they were undergraduate students at the University of Wyoming. Clouds smothered the stars, but they had one way to orient themselves: Off in the distance they could see clusters of lights that could only be the cities of Cheyenne and Laramie. Getting lost was sort of the point. The two men had met through a mutual friend the…