At certain times of the year, you will have to venture out in the rain if you don’t want to stay cooped up indoors. If you’re a racer, riding in the rain is a good idea, since you never know when you’ll end up racing in the rain.

The good news is, riding in the rain can be a ton of fun! The bad news is, rain and road debris do a number on your bicycle!

So here are 10 tips to keep your road bike in good condition when you ride in inclement weather:

1. Use fenders

Running a set of fenders on your bike will keep mud and dirty water off your clothes and out of your eyes, and they’ll limit the amount of dirt that ends up on your bike.

If you ride a mountain bike, you can get fenders that attach to your fork and seatpost. If you have a road racing bike, you can get a set of fenders like the SKS Raceblade, which use rubber straps to attach to your frame and fork.

2. A post-ride rinse and dry

As soon as you finish a ride in nasty conditions, give your bike a quick rinse with fresh water and then towel dry. This will rinse off all the dirt and debris, and drying it will prevent rust.

This should take less than five minutes, so do it as soon as you get home. (And it’s better to do this before you shower, anyway.)

3. Lube chain with waterproof lube

Make sure you have a good lube on your chain before heading out in the rain. Dumonde Tech Lite is a very good choice for wet conditions.

If you’re using a thinner lube (usually called a “dry lube”) it will wash off quickly when exposed to water. That will lead to more wear and tear on the entire drivetrain, and your chain will rust shortly after the ride.

4. Pour wax in bolt heads

Don’t you hate those rust spots in your hex bolts? Water just loves to pool in there and rust the bolt.

But there’s an easy way to prevent that. Just drip a little White Lightning or Boeshield T9 (or other wax-based lube) in your hex bolt heads. This shields the bolt from standing water but leaves enough room to easily use a hex wrench to tighten or loosen the bolt.

5. Clean your rims and brake pads thoroughly

Next to the drive train, the brake pads are the most important part to keep clean during the rainy season. What happens is your rims pick up grit from the road, and when you use your brakes, some of that grit gets embedded in the pad.

Then when you apply the brakes, it’s like you’re grinding away at your rims!

So you want to clean your brake pads after each ride. Wipe them off and pick out any debris.

Also, the brake pads will wear faster due to the grit, so pay close attention and replace the pads before they’re worn out. (If they’re old, you could easily wear through them in one ride.)

6. Switch to a cheaper seat or use a seat cover

You definitely don’t want to ruin your $350 leather saddle by getting it soaking wet and dirty! If you’ll be out in the rain often, you may want to invest in a cheaper version of your preferred saddle.

Or, spend $10 for a waterproof saddle cover.

7. Grease metal on metal areas (especially your seatpost)

Greasing your bolt threads, seatpost, and other parts is routine maintenance, but it is even more important when you’re subjecting your bike to bad weather.

Without that thin layer of grease, you’re going to get a thin layer of water on all those metal surfaces, which means they’re going to rust together! So make sure everything is greased.

8. Invest in sealed bearings

Unsealed bearings in your hubs, headset, and bottom bracket require more maintenance than sealed bearings. That’s not a huge deal in good weather, but if you’re riding in wet weather, you will be doing a lot of extra maintenance to keep the bearings packed with fresh grease.

So if you don’t wish to overhaul your hubs on a weekly basis, you should probably invest in sealed bearings.

9. Don’t ride through deep water

Whether on or off-road, if you ride through deep water, it could seep right into your hubs and bottom bracket bearings. (That’s the difference between water dripping on your hub and having your hubs submerged!)

This advice is mainly for mountain bikers who deal with stream crossings, but certain roads that don’t drain well could certainly have hub-deep water on the shoulder! (Not to mention, standing water is a safety hazard.)

10. Don’t use your race tires, unless it’s actually a race

If you’re racing in wet weather, by all means, run your Michelin Pro3 Race or Pro Grip tires for the best traction.

But for training rides, there is no point to subject your expensive tires to roads that have had tons of debris washed out onto them. Instead, use your older race tires or some thicker, heavier tires designed for durability.

If you follow all these tips and do a little more routine maintenance, you’ll be able to ride in the rain without all the extra hassle!

For more advice on riding in the rain, read “8 Safety Tips for Riding in the Rain.”

Photo credit: miks pix

While it can be fun and exhilarating to ride in the rain, it can be pretty dangerous as well. From poor visibility to decreased traction, and everything in between, there is always some sort of hazard waiting to take you down.

So here are eight tips to keep you safe when you venture out in the rain:

1. Use Blinky Lights

The easiest way to make yourself more visible on rainy days is to install some blinky lights on your bicycle. To be safe, you could mount a small white headlight on your handlebar and a blinking red light on the back of your seatpost.

At the very least, clip a little light onto a jersey pocket. (Various cycling events will hand these out for free.)

2. Use Reflective Tape

Lighter in weight and less obtrusive than the blinky lights is reflective tape. This looks just like electrical tape, but when light is shone on it, it reflects a bright white flash.

You can put this on your bike and forget about it, but when a car’s headlights flash over it, the driver is more likely to spot you. My favorite way to use this is to put silver or black reflective tape on my crank arms. (The spinning motion makes the reflection even more visible.)

3. The Road Is Slippery When Wet

You can ride over most obstacles without thinking, if the road is dry. But when it rains, everything becomes a safety hazard!

You need to watch out for wet leaves, painted lines, railroad tracks, and metal grates or sewer lids. All of these surfaces are very slippery when wet, so it is best to avoid riding over them (or at least do so with caution.)

Also, the road itself can become quite slippery. When it starts to rain, motor oil and other substances coating the road are brought to the surface, decreasing friction even more than plain rain water does.

4. Pot Holes Are Deeper Than They Appear

Pot holes are always dangerous, but if you can see them, you can avoid them. Unfortunately, when roads are covered in water, pot holes can become hidden. Or at least, big pot holes will look smaller than they actually are.

If you see standing water or anything that looks like a pot hole, avoid it.

5. Use Good, Sturdy Tires

While you might not want to ruin your good racing tires by using them in nasty conditions, you don’t want to use a cheap or worn out tire.

Why? Because these tires will provide absolutely no traction on wet roads.

Use this test to determine if your tires have enough traction: Find a fairly steep climb where the road is nice and wet. As you climb, stand and sprint in a low gear, and see if the rear tire spins out.

If it spins or slips there, it probably won’t provide traction when you really need it.

6. Watch For Debris

You need to watch out because there will be extra debris on the roads. Rain is going to wash gravel, sand, and nearby trash onto the road. This could give you a rough ride, or worse, knock you down!

The shoulder is usually completely covered with junk, so if possible, ride towards the center of the lane. (If the rain was hard enough, there will still be dirt and gravel in the middle of the road as well.)

So make sure those tires are tough or you’ll be changing some flats!

7. Be Prepared to Brake

Wet rims and brake pads have virtually no stopping power. When you apply the brakes, the first couple revolutions of the rim will be used to squeegee water off the rim, and then the braking may take place.

So you should pay very close attention to situations where you may need to brake, since you’ll need to apply the brakes much earlier than you would on a dry day.

(If you’re running disc brakes, this won’t be as big of a problem, but keep it in mind.)

8. Run Lower Tire Pressure

Even when running good tires, traction on wet roads is hard to come by.

An easy way to increase traction on wet roads is to lower your tire pressure. A drop of just 5-10 psi could improve traction noticeably.

For a 150lb cyclist riding in the rain, 80-85 psi up front and 90-95 psi in the rear should be sufficient. (Experiment for best results.)

If you follow these tips (and dress appropriately,) you should have a fun, safe ride in the rain!

Photo credit: miks pix

Ever watch Saturday morning infomercials?

You see all sorts of fitness products designed to get you in shape in minutes a day. They usually make the exercises easier too (like doing “easy” exercises is actually a good way to stimulate muscle growth.)

The only worthwhile device I’ve seen advertised with infomercials was the Perfect Push-Up (like the Push-Up Pro I reviewed.) Otherwise you just get some gadget that miraculously gives you six pack abs in minutes a day, no effort required. Quite funny how those gadgets never work yet people still buy the latest gizmo thinking “this one has to work!”

Anyway, something you may have seen is called the Bender Ball. I never paid attention to this but a friend of mine actually bought one…

If you just see a picture, it looks like a nice medicine ball. But in reality, it’s a joke. It is just like one of those inflatable playground balls that little kids use for kickball!

You might as well just get one of those balls for $2 from Wal-Mart. It’s not like the Bender Ball is super expensive, but it is once they sign you up for automatic monthly DVD shipments. Yep, every month Bender Ball will send you a new workout DVD or something like that and charge your credit card without your consent!

My friend called the Better Business Bureau to report them, and lo and behold, the BBB had received tons of complaints already!

All you have to do is Google “bender ball scam” and you’ll find a lot of interesting pages. Such as:

http://www.infomercialscams.com/scams/bender_ball_complaints

http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/303/RipOff0303187.htm

Lots of companies like it when you sign-up for monthly memberships. FRS for example – they will give you a free trial if you sign-up for monthly shipments. But the more reputable companies like that do actually have the terms and conditions listed on their website.

I scoured the BenderBall.com site and there was no mention of auto-enrollment in their membership club anywhere that I could see!

So what should you do?

My first suggestion is to avoid this whole idea. Doing crunches with this ball is just dumb. It supposedly makes crunches “408% harder,” but if you think crunches are too easy, you’re not doing them right.

What you should do is actually focus on working your abs, in which case you don’t need the Bender Ball or a substitute.

And if you actually do need to make your exercises harder, just try your exercises on a stability ball – it’s the same concept where instability requires you to recruit more core muscles into your movement.

My final verdict is…

Avoid the Bender Ball at all costs.

If you go against my advice, at least buy it on eBay so you’re aiding someone who decided they shouldn’t have bought one of these in the first place. Surely you can get a good deal from someone who got roped into purchasing one of these things and now wants to sell it to some other sucker.

What you should do instead, is invest in a full-size exercise ball (i.e. Swiss ball) which is the same price or cheaper, and can be used for a wider variety of exercises. Or just do the plank – it’s better than any crunch variation you can do with a Bender Ball.

Official website: www.BenderBall.com

Buy online: Amazon.com or www.eBay.com

Honest Tea usually focuses on healthy, organic teas low in sugar. Seeing an “energy” tea came as a bit of a surprise, but the Honest Citrus Energy Green Tea made sense once I saw the ingredients.

It turns out that the energy comes from a blend of yerba mate and green tea. While that’s a great combo for a good taste and health benefits, let’s be realistic – you’re not going to get an energy boost from it.

The energy boost from this was no more or less than I got from the Bombilla Gourd Yerba Mate tea or any of the Function energy drinks. If you’re buying a bottle of green tea and expecting a huge caffeine rush or energy boost, you’re kidding yourself.

The taste turned out to be pretty good, despite the fact I’ve never liked green tea with citrus. I’ve had a few teas like that, for example a green tea with orange and jasmine, and I just don’t like the flavors together.

But I was pleasantly surprised with this tea. It was a little bit like I remember the citrus green teas to be, but different enough to make it pleasant to drink.

I taste the green tea with a little bit of lemon/lime and orange in there. Just the right mix. I guess there’s no lime in it though, so it’s kind of like “green tea with lemon, plus a little orange for good measure.”

I don’t love it (I’d prefer the Honest Pomegranate White,) but it’s not bad.

Health wise, this tea is full of healthy, organic ingredients. You get 100% DV of Vitamin C per serving, plus 250mg EGCG super antioxidant per bottle.

There is only 10g sugar per serving, from the organic cane sugar (way better than anything with high fructose corn syrup.)

I wouldn’t say this is any healthier than a regular glass of green tea or yerba mate you brew yourself, but it’s a big step up from soda.

My final verdict is…

If you’re looking for something that has a green tea flavor yet tastes different than any other ready-to-drink tea, try this. It’s not the greatest taste, nor does it pack a real energy boost, but it’s something different.

Official website: www.HonestTea.com

I have used ACT Energy Drink on occasion for the past few years and thought it was pretty good (as stated in my ACT review,) as long as you get past that whole MLM scheme.

Well they came out with a new drink called ACT Body Trim, which is an energy drink that is supposed to help you lose weight since it contains natural appetite suppressants. It’s a little bit like Lean Out, but without having to swallow pills.

Let’s look at this drink in a little more detail…

ACT Body Trim: Health and Nutrition

According to the manufacturer’s claims, Body Trim:

• Boosts Energy
• Promotes Healthy Cholesterol Levels
• Promotes Healthy Blood Sugar Levels
• Promotes a Healthy Cardiovascular System
• Promotes a Healthy Immune System

Going by that, this would be a very healthy drink! How all those claims are accomplished, though, is left out of the sales material.

So what I like to do is look through the ingredients one by one and make sure there is nothing inherently unhealthy in there.

At first glance, I don’t see problematic ingredients. Stevia is used for a natural sweetener, green tea is great, guarana seed is a natural source of caffeine, and then the dehydrated juice, fiber, fennel seed, burdock root, and peppermint leaf are natural ingredients.

Vitamins B3, B6, and B12 are included, as well as Chromium and Potassium. So far, so good.

The few odd names left are Cha-de-bugre, Garcinia cambogia, Senna, and Pau d’ Arco.

Cha-de-bugre is an extract from a tree in the Brazilian forests that has been used as a weight loss product, appetite suppressant, heart tonic, and circulatory stimulant. (Rain-Tree.com.)

Garcinia cambogia extract comes from a fruit grown in Asia and Africa, and it’s used in many herbal weight loss supplements to suppress appetite and enhance fat-burning. Evidence of this seems inconclusive, however. (WiseGeek.)

Senna is a tropical plant and is also an ingredient in laxatives. It is used in diet products to move food through the body more quickly, to decrease the amount of calories absorbed along the way. I was afraid of that, because wouldn’t that also mean you miss out on a chance to absorb important vitamins and minerals from your foods?

On a lighter note, it also contains resveratrol, a powerful anti inflammatory compound. (Wikipedia.)

Pau d’ Arco is an herb derived from the inner bark of a South American tree. Studies have shown that pau d’arco has pain killing, diuretic, anti-inflammatory, anti-infectious, anti-psoriatic, and anti-cancer abilities and it has long been used in Brazil to treat these conditions. (UMM.edu.)

Overall, Body Trim is pretty cool. My concern comes from the effects of Senna, and for that reason, I wouldn’t want to take Body Trim for any extended period of time (until I did further research.)

ACT Body Trim: Taste Test

Body Trim comes in a pink lemonade flavor. I really like the flavor. (It’s much different than Emergen-C pink lemonade and EBOOST pink lemonade, neither of which I liked.)

I guess the Body Trim pink lemonade tastes more like cherry lemonade or strawberry lemonade. That was nice because it was kind of sweet, where the other drinks I mentioned had a tart pink grapefruit taste. It’s not sweet like pink lemonade from Hawaiian Punch or Kool Aid, but it’s good nonetheless.

The taste is nice and strong when mixed with roughly 12oz water. With 16oz water it starts to get weak but it’s still drinkable.

As for texture, it’s the same as regular ACT powder once it’s mixed. It might not be as crisp and clean as something ready-to-drink from a bottle, but it’s not chalky or grainy.

ACT Body Trim: Shake It Up

Here is how to mix Body Trim:

First, open the pouch. You can easily tear open these packets, (as opposed to the regular ACT packets which require scissors.)

This is where you have to pay attention – ACT Body Trim needs to be shaken. Mixing or stirring will do virtually nothing! (Try stirring it and you get powder stuck on the bottom of the cup and a bunch of fluffy powder floating around the top.)

I put it in a water bottle where you can shake it. Doing it that way makes it mix extremely easily.

It goes something like this:

Then drink!

When you’re finished, there should not be any undissolved powder at the bottom of your cup or bottle.

ACT Body Trim: Price

The real downside here is the price. Body Trim is more expensive than regular ACT (which isn’t cheap.) Plus, since it only comes in single-serving packets, so you don’t have the option to save money by buying in bulk.

A box of 35 packets is ____, which comes to ___ per serving. Then there is still that pesky problem of having to find one of the independent distributors, or signing-up for the network marketing thing.

While there are more expensive diet pills and drinks, I still like the cheaper “diet and exercise” method of weight loss.

ACT Body Trim: Does It Work?

This is the real question, right? It has to work for dieting or it would be very overpriced pink lemonade!

I didn’t set out to use this religiously because I’m not currently looking for diet aids, so I first tried it on a day where I wanted to eat very little (basically a liquid fast.)

Normally I’d be very hungry on a day like that. But the goal of this drink is to suppress your appetite, and surprisingly, it did. Drinking Body Trim made it so that I could eat a little bit and then not crave a bunch more food.

This effect seemed to last, because there were times I’d walk into the kitchen looking for something, but then decide I didn’t really feel like eating. (Which is very rare for me!)

So I tried it for a week this past winter (one packet per day) and my weight went like this:

Day 1: 161
Day 2: 159
Day 3: 160
Day 4: 160
Day 5: 159
Day 6: 160
Day 7: 159
Day 8: 162
Day 9: 162

That’s a typical weight fluctuation for me, so it would appear the Body Trim had no effect. I did eat less than usually thanks to the appetite suppressing ingredients, but it did me no good. If anything, I gained a pound!

However, I decided to finish off what Body Trim I had left, so I did like three weeks on the stuff. In the end I think it did have a positive effect, even though my weight stayed the same. Why? Because normally I’d gain at least five pounds during the off season, and I avoided that while on Body Trim!

But it’s pretty obvious this won’t have a major effect on an athlete with low body fat. Body Trim could quite possibly help you lose 50 or even 100 pounds to get yourself down to 20% body fat, but if you’re already at 8% body fat and healthy, it won’t be all that useful.

At that point it could even be dangerous if you suppress your appetite too much. Because even if you are cutting calories, you still want to get enough food to fuel your body and give it the vitamins and minerals it needs. Not to mention, if the food moves through your body too quickly, you could miss out on the few nutrients you ingested!

Lastly… don’t use this the day before a long ride! During the ride, you will want to have eaten plenty the day before! Body Trim could actually give you a false sense of satiety.

As for energy, I think it did give me a little energy boost. It was not a huge boost, but it lasted for a while and wore off gradually, much like regular ACT.

My final verdict is…

The best part about Body Trim was the taste. I really enjoyed it and now I wish regular ACT Energy came in this pink lemonade flavor, too.

Health wise, I’m a bit weary of this stuff. It’s certainly better than other miracle diet pills that are more expensive and do nothing, but I think you would have to be significantly overweight for this to have dramatic results.

Endurance athletes – save your money and don’t bother with Body Trim.

If you were to use this, I wouldn’t advise using it for very long. For short periods of severe calorie restriction, yes, it helps. But healthy eating and exercise is a better long-term strategy.

Official website: www.DrinkACT.com