A Couple of Things A Cycling Couple Acquires

Admittedly, some of these pics show just my stuff (i.e., glasses, pins, race numbers).


I have about three or four numbers worth of pins in the cupholder of my car, too. I promise, Mr. Race Promoter, I'll start bringing my own pins to your race. Sometimes.


Left to Right: Oakley Minute 2.0, Oakley Radar Path, Oakley XX, Performance Siren. Not pictured: Oakley Splice, Oakley Minute, hipster Ray Bans, and some Tifosi transition glasses I won at Murad RR last year. I wear the Radars riding 99% of the time, unless I'm using the TT helmet. Then I'll wear the Tifosi lenses. Having at least one set of glasses with clear lenses is essential, too.


Catherine's got the slew of Specialized shoes. I have the Sidi 6.6 and Genius 5 Pro, along with the OLD 2003 Nike Poggios in the back. Those now have SPD pedals for spinning in on the gym stationary bikes. It's nice to have acquired two pairs of similar shoes for the rainy weekends. I used hard-to-find half-sized Sidis, and the Genius 5 Pro fit a bit looser so I use them in hotter weather when my feet swell up more. I also use them with thicker socks, so my "good" shoes actually are my back-up pair.


The core ball is a good shelf for used tires that aren't quite ready to be tossed just yet. We've also got a shoebox full of tires that are awaiting a winter on the trainer wheels. The core ball, however, has not been used much since race season started.


We prefer Clif Bar products, so we usually get them through a team pro-deal with GW Cycling. Recently we had to restock in-store because we're going through too many Clif Bloks. This huge stash will probably only last us through October. You'll notice the Clif kids' Z-bars. They taste a bit sweeter than Clif Bars and are small enough to easily eat in a few bites on the bike. I highly recommend them over Clif Minis.


After losing a number of bottles in the feed zones throughout race season, it's an understatement to say I went a bit overboard to re-stock for the Green Mountain Stage Race. Catherine and I frequently fight for the bottle caps that don't leak.


You gotta keep the drivetrain running smoothly. I usually use the ProLink, although Catherine just uses that for cleaning and then touches up her gold KMC chain with all-weather Rock-n-Roll Gold. BikeLust keeps the frames looking good, protects them from road grit, and makes wiping down the frame an easy task.


Most of the small parts for maintenance are kept on a shelf we built just for bike stuff. We both use tubes with 80 mm valves instead of valve extenders on our carbon hoops. I also need 60mm valves for my all-around 30mm deep Easton rims. The red box on the left came with a package of talc powder that looks like a baggie of cocaine. Not cool.


You need to have one to match each kit (NCVC and GW, of course), one to fight the wind, and an old one as a spare, right? Clockwise from top left: Specialized Propero, Giro Atmos, Giro Advantage, Specialized S-Works. Cat only has one cycling helmet (not pictured), but her pair of equestrian helmets are in the back. To date, she has not acquiesced to my demand for her to ride horses with the aero helmet.


A season's worth of race numbers for your average Category 3 racer.


A happy couple. Of bikes.

I know this isn't just us, right?!?!