VERSUS NETWORK
Well, if it’s July 4th, then that means the Tour de France starts tomorrow. We watch quite a bit of cycling in our house - just about every Sunday is Cyclism Sunday on the Versus Network.

The Versus Network is the official broadcaster of the 95th annual Tour de France which takes place from July 5th through July 27th. This years Tour de France covers 3,500 kilometers in 21 stages, including 2 personal time trials and 2 rest days.

I plan on watching more than my fair share of the tour. Versus shows live coverage of the tour every morning with recaps throughout the day. Check the Versus website for the complete TV schedule and to watch live streaming video directly on their website.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE
Visit the official Tour de France website to find out all the latest news about the tour and view videos, read articles and much more.

RIDERS TO WATCH
There are 199 riders, representing 20 teams, that will be starting in the Tour de France tomorrow. Here are the riders, and the teams they ride for, that I will be paying special attention to during the tour.

Cadel Evans - Silence Lotto
Robbie McEwen - Silence Lotto
Fabian Cancellara - Team CSC
Stuart O’Grady - Team CSC
Christian Vandevelde - Garmin Chipolte
David Millar - Garmin Chipolte
Oscar Freire - Rabobank
Thor Hushhovd - Credit Agricole
Mark Cavendish - Team Columbia
George Hincapie - Team Columbia
Alejandro Valverde - Caisse D’Epargne

I CAN’T WAIT FOR THE TOUR TO START!!!!

Posted by Bike Diva | Bike Diva | WebbleYou Blog Network | © 2008 | Permalink | Comments

The best money my husband and I ever spent on our road bikes was getting a professional bike fit. We made an appointment with our friend Matt GoForth, at his bike shop, On Your Mark Performance Center. Along with being a certified USA Cycling Coach, Matt is also a certified Wobble Naught Precision Laser Bike Fit dealer.

SMOKE AND MIRRORS
Initially, the thought of getting a professional fit, seemed more like a smoke and mirrors bullshit way to squeeze more money out of those of us with a biking obsession. But man, it was the best money I ever spent. Well, it was the best money my husband ever spent. I’m a freelance writer and don’t have a steady source of income, so we used part of his paycheck to pay for the fittings. We definitely have our priorities straight – BIKES BEFORE BILLS. I think I’ll have to trademark that – can we get that made into t-shirts?

My last road bike, who’s brand name shall not be mentioned, was never properly fit for me. It really was the wrong size frame, so no amount of fine tuning will ever make it as comfortable as my 2008 Trek Madone 6.5 WSD road bike. Yes, that was a shameless plug for Trek. If the Trek GODS would like to gift me with a time trial bike, email me and I’ll get you my address.

NOOB RACERS
My husband and I, at 51 and 44 years YOUNG, decided to start racing this year. We have our USCF racing licenses and have done three time trials to date. We didn’t have the resources to go out and buy time trial bikes, so we were hoping Matt could get us set up for a more racier position on our road bikes – uh, is that good English, NO?

And my husband, Rob, was never able to ride in his drop bars on his road bike. But now Rob is a SPEED machine. After getting his Wobble Naught bike fit he can now ride comfortably in his drop bars and no longer has to worry about my beating him at the time trials. If you haven’t already heard, I beat him by 26 seconds at the first time trial we did back in March. It was bad enough to lose to a girl, but getting beat by your WIFE – well, he got his MAN CARD taken away for that.

FLY BIKE DIVA
I was pretty comfortable riding on the drop bars once I got my new Trek road bike in February. But Matt was able to get me in a much racier position. Based on various measurements he took of me as part of the Wobble Naught bike fit, he ended up raising my seat, moving my seat back and lowering my handlebars. MONDO COOLNESS!!!! Now I fly all over south Florida on my road bike, and I don’t even have aerobars. COOL!!!!

Go out and get a Wobble Naught bike fit – it will be the best money you’ve ever spent.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Go to the On Your Mark website for additional information on the Wobble Naught bike fit. See my article, On Your Mark Racing Club, for information on the bike club that Matt has started.

On Your Mark Performance Center
7100 Fairway Drive
Suite 39
Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33418
http://www.oymbike.com/

Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Bike Diva

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ABOUT THE RIDE
My husband and I participated in the Lauren Katzenstein Celebration Ride on Sunday, June 29th. This was the 6th annual Lauren Katzenstein Celebration Ride.

On April 26th of 2003, Lauren and her father were participating in a charity bike ride in Miami, FL (the MS150). During the ride Lauren was hit and killed by a reckless driver. This ride is to “Celebrate” Lauren’s brief life. The money raised goes to the local MADD Chapter for their education fund to help prevent future, senseless tragedies.

RIDE OPTIONS
There were 62, 40, 22 and 10 mile options. Rob and I did the full 62 mile option. We averaged 18.1 MPH - not bad for a couple of old folks! Due to construction detours, we ended up dong 64.32 miles.

I burned 3,650 calories during the ride, Rob, being a big guy, burned 4,800 calories. WOO-HOO!!! We got IHOP to go later in the day - Rob got the meat lovers omlette with regular pancakes and I got the chicken Florentine crepes with harvest nut & grain pancakes - YUMMY! Always nice when you don’t have to worry about counting calories for a change.

WELL ORGANIZED RIDE
It was a well organized ride. 4 rest stops along the way, with the last one being at the halfway point at Lauderdale-by-the-Sea. Due to road construction the ride had to be detoured from E. Ocean Ave. in Lantana, west to US1 then south to Ocean Ave. in Ocean Ridge, to get back to A1A.

The rest stops were well staffed and had water, gatorade, cookies, bananas and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches available. We forgot to bring and gel packs with us, I was starting to slow down a bit with 15 miles left to go, a gel pack would have been nice to have - but we both forgot to bring any with us.

We got stuck at 3 drawbridges along the ride, which slowed us down a bit. We caught the draw bridge both coming and going at the Hillsboro Inlet. And we caught the draw bridge at Camino Real. Oh well, I guess we could use a quick rest stop and it allowed us time to say HELLO! to our fellow bike riders.

TEAM IN TRAINING
Rob and I rode with our friend David, from Team in Training. And I was happy to see some of our new riders from Team in Training showed up and did the 40 mile option - this was their first long distance cycling event - GO TEAM!!!! Larry, and his friend Mary, Charlie, and his wife Lori, Angie, Tracy and Marjie - you guys all did FANTASTIC!!! And this was after doing a 40 mile training ride the day before. YOU GUYS ROCK!!!!!!

The ride start/end location was at the pier in Lake Worth. Lots of food available for riders before and after the ride. We hung out under the pavilion, after the ride, with our Team in Training friends. Rob and I wore our Office Depot Foundation team jerseys and rode with a few of our ODF team mates that we did the MS150 ride with in May.

ABOVE: Waiting for the draw bridge to go back up. That’s Rob and I in the red/black/white Office Depot jerseys.

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TOUR DE CURE IS COMING TO SOUTH FLORIDA
I just spent an hour today with Katie Hawken, the Manager of the south Florida American Diabetes Association. She saw my Bike Diva blog and asked if I could meet with her to talk about starting a charity bike ride, to benefit the society, in the south Florida area.

TOUR DE CURE IN BROWARD COUNTY
The American Diabetes Society is trying to bring a Tour de Cure ride down to the south Florida area next year. Right now they are looking at the first weekend in March. But Katie will let me know when she has a definite date. The other locations of the Tour de Cure in Florida are Tampa, Jacksonville, Orlando and Sarasota. They are looking to start the south Florida ride somewhere in Broward County, that way they hope to attract riders from the Miami/Dade, Broward and Palm Beach County areas.

Katie is looking for feedback/ideas from cyclists familiar with biking in the south Florida area. Once she has a tentative route for the ride mapped out, she is looking for a few cyclists to actually go out and ride the route, or at least part of it, to let her know if it is a good or bad route to ride.

Rob and I were thinking about doing the Tour de Cure in Orlando for the past two years, but just never made it up there. I’m not sure of the exact miles, but I was just looking at the Sarasota Tour de Cure which has 100, 62, 35 and 15 mile options. Fund raising minimum is $150 per person. Proceeds benefit the American Diabetes Association. You can register for the ride as an individual or form a team.

DIABETES PREVENTION
I had gestational diabetes when I was pregnant with my daughter which puts me at risk for getting adult onset diabetes. Both my sister-in-law and father-in-law have diabetes. So I will definitely be doing this ride in order to support the American Diabetes Association. The societies mission is “to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes.”

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
Katie is also looking for volunteers that would like to be part of the committee that will actually be planning the ride. The American Diabetes Association is a non-profit organization and needs all the help they can get to help make this a really terrific ride. You can contact Katie my emailing her at khawken@diabetes.org.

I’ll post up more information when it becomes available.

Take care,
Lynn AKA the Bike Diva

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COOL SOCKS
I have been a big fan of Sock Guy socks ever since I first became involved in cycling. I was happy to discover that in addition to making mondo cool socks for cyclists, they also make a variety of high quality running socks. I have recently added running back into my workout routine and plan to do my first marathon by the end of the year. So having some nice and comfortable running socks will definitely make running a more pleasant experience.

AERO COVERS
I have participated in three time trial races so far this year and have been thinking about buying a pair of those aero covers for my bike shoes. Aero covers, or booties, are supposed to help cut down on wind resistance and thus improve your speed, while racing in time trials. Was I ever STOKED when I went over to the Sock Guy website and discovered they also offer a variety of styles of aero covers in addition to all their cool socks.

I can’t wait until my red, white and black Sock Guy aero covers get here. They will match my red, white and black On Your Mark racing jersey and cycling shorts and my new red, white and black Trek Madone 6.5 road bike - BLING-BLING!!

Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Bike Diva

Posted by Bike Diva | Bike Diva | WebbleYou Blog Network | © 2008 | Permalink | Comments

Are you an athlete? Then you may be interested in signing up for an account with SponsorHouse. SponsorHouse matches athletes with companies that offer a variety of sponsorship opportunities. Nearly 1 million sponsorship matches since 2001. Create a profile. Get Noticed. Get Sponsored.

Key Benefits:
Free profile for photos, videos and stats
Submit online sponsorship requests and get faster responses from companies
Promote your sponsors to receive discounts, free products and incentives

It’s never to late to start attracting sponsors for your sport. I am 44 years old and just started racing time trials this year. I currently have 5 sponsors, and am waiting to hear back from a few more companies. No matter what your sport, you can find sponsorship opportunities on SponsorHouse. I am a road biker so I’ve been filling out sponsorship applications for cycling sponsors. I have recently started to train for my first marathon, so now I am also looking for running sponsors.

Check out my SponsorHouse profile for a listing of my current sponsors, race schedule and photos from my latest cycling events.

A free membership on SponsorHouse lets you submit up to 5 sponsorship applications to the companies of your choice. I opted to upgrade to a paid membership for $39.95 which lets me submit an unlimited number of sponsorship applications.

So far my sponsors have sent me the following gear for the 2008 season:
Fluid Recovery - stickers, water bottles and container of Fluid recovery powder
Vetta - RT200 cycling computer
Motor Tabs - stickers, water bottles, and two boxes of Motor Tabs electrolyte tablets
Rudy Project - 2 AWESOME time trial helmets

Check out SponsorHouse and get sponsored!

Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Bike Diva

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IT’S RACING TIME
We went out and got our USCF racing licenses this year. Rob is a CAT 5 racer, and I am a CAT 4. So far we’ve only raced in a couple of time trials, but our racing license allows us to race in road, track and cyclo-cross events - SWEET! To make ourselves appear as “serious” racers we decided to join one of the local race clubs. That way we can show up to all our racing events wearing official team uniforms, and maybe look like real racers, and not the couch potatoes that we actually are.

TEAM ON YOUR MARK
We joined Team On Your Mark, a local team that meets out of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Our friend Matt GoForth is the coordinator for the team. He runs the On Your Mark Performance Bike Center in Palm Beach Gardens. The club is for anyone with an interest in biking and racing bikes: road bikers, mountain bikers, recreational bikers and more. Go to the teams website for additional information on the club and membership benefits.

Matt is getting ready to place an order for new team jerseys, bike shorts and bibs. He’s asked me to share this information with the rest of the cycling community.

Team OYM Wants You!
Its time for new kits! OYM has a new brand/identity and we want clothing to match. We purchased clothing this time last year so the time is now to order more. We have been getting outstanding response to our new logo and would like to extend the opportunity to the riding community to order a jersey, shorts, or a complete kit for themselves.

Jersey’s are $55.00, Shorts $60.00, Bibs $65.00; or a complete kit for $100.00.

Not only will you be wearing our kits, but we feel you will be part of our team, and deserve team discounts/pro deals. Currently we are offering 25% off MSRP on everything we offer, except complete bikes and fit sessions, to those who purchase kits. A special events re-imbursement fund is in the making and details will follow.

Team OYM is a privately funded team and will entertain any and all sponsorship offers.

If interested in a kit or sponsorship please contact Matt Goforth @ On Your Mark: 561.694.6090 or email onyourmarkperformance@gmail.com.

Deadline for kits and sponsors is June 26th. Attached to the top of this post is a mock up of the team uniforms.

Posted by Bike Diva | Bike Diva | WebbleYou Blog Network | © 2008 | Permalink | Comments

I am happy to announce my latest sponsorship opportunity. Motor Tabs has just offered to sponsor me through the SponsorHouse site.

Motor Tabs are an electrolyte fluid replacement system that can be used by athletes before, during and after their workouts. Motor Tabs are available in lemon-lime, orange, fruit-punch and grape flavors. A variety pack, which includes all four flavors, is also available. Simply place one of the effervescent tablets into a 20 ounce water bottle, leave the lid off and let the tablet dissolve. Then place the lid back on the bottle and you are ready to go.

I use Motor Tabs in my road bike water bottles when going out for training rides. The tablets come in individually wrapped foil packages. Definitely a lot easier than trying to measure out the correct portions of powder into each of your bottles. Perfect for taking with you, Motor Tabs easily fit into my bike bag or the back pocket of my cycling jersey.

My local bike shop supplier of Motor Tabs is:
Fatcat Bicycles
702 Lucerne Ave.
Lake Worth, FL 33460
561-547-1396

Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Bike Diva

Posted by Bike Diva | Bike Diva | WebbleYou Blog Network | © 2008 | Permalink | 2 comments

We are up to 23 cyclists, so far, on the team. Many of our team members are brand new to cycling, so I like to make sure they read up on the basics of riding, to keep them safe and stay informed. Every week I email the team members information on our upcoming team ride along with any fitness and/or nutrition tips that they should be aware of.

Since this weeks ride will include a few bridges, the south Florida equivalent of HILLS, I thought I’d pass along some basic climbing tips to the team members.

BRIDGE CLIMBING TIPS
1. Lean slightly forward on your bike. One of the problems when climbing uphill is a loss of traction from the front wheel. By leaning slightly forward, you put more weight on the front wheel, which gives you better traction.

2. Come up off the seat and lean in towards the handlebars to climb extremely steep hills. The problem with climbing out of the saddle, is that you will quickly blow out the energy in your legs. Climbing out of the saddle should only be done for short distances and by strong riders.

I prefer to switch down to an easier gear and stay on the saddle when climbing. But Rob usually likes to climb out of the saddle, especially towards the steepest part of the climb. Climbing out of the saddle uses more energy but will get you up and over the hill/bridge faster. Use whichever method works best for you.

3. Keep both hands firmly gripped on the handlebars while climbing. The middle of the climb is not the time to grab for your water bottle or a package of Sports Beans.

4. Start the climb in a fairly low gear that will keep your legs spinning. Trying to change gears while in the middle of the climb can cause your gears to grind and even slip. Been there, done that, not fun.

5. Conserve your energy while riding your bike uphill and over bridges. Trying to climb too fast will cause you to tire out too quickly. Climbing too aggressively causes lactic acid to build up in your muscles, which will make your legs feel like they are on fire. Slow but steady pedaling is the most efficient way to climb a hill.

6. Remember, you can always walk. I’ve walked over steep bridges, such as Blue Heron Bridge, on more than one occasion. It didn’t make me happy, but at least I was able to finish the ride.

GENERAL TIPS FOR RIDING DOWN BRIDGES
1. Don’t keep your head pointed down while riding your bike, especially when traveling down bridges. Always look a few feet ahead of your front wheel to keep an eye out for any obstacles, such as glass, gravel or other debris, that may be coming up on the road.

2. Just after I get to the top of the bridge, I switch to a harder gear. I like to pedal down hills and bridges to help clear the lactic acid build up from my legs. Coasting downhill, without pedaling, doesn’t allow you to clear the lactic acid out of your muscles.

3. Lean back, slightly away from the handlebar, to place more weight on the back tire. On steeper hills you should slide back on the seat. On extremely steep hills, you may have to slide your butt all the way off the back of the seat.

4. If you are going too fast for comfort, slightly feather the front and back brakes to slow down gradually. Sudden braking will most likely cause you to come to a sudden stop and crash. I use a bit more pressure on my back (right) brake then my front (left) brake.

Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Bike Diva

Posted by Bike Diva | Bike Diva | WebbleYou Blog Network | © 2008 | Permalink | One comment

Fluid is an excellent recovery drink for anyone looking to speed muscle recovery and improve physical performance. Fluid helps to replenish tired muscles, reduce post workout soreness and help support a stressed immune system.

I like to have a water bottle or two of Fluid after working out, especially after doing a particularly fast or long road bike ride. I keep the water bottles in a small cooler in my van, so they are ready to drink as soon as I’m finished working out. My thanks go out to the entire Fluid team for their support.

Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Bike Diva

Posted by Bike Diva | Bike Diva | WebbleYou Blog Network | © 2008 | Permalink | 2 comments