So you read our post on bike commuting and have decided that you’re digging it–but your route takes you down busy streets or downright clogged inner-city arteries. Here are a few tips on how to survive.

It’s 36 degrees in February and it has been raining and snowing all day. Unlike most in the office who are dreading the toasty warm bus/subway/car ride home I am actually looking forward to biking through the mess. After all, I have my fenders, my full gore-tex outfit and fleece shoe covers. The first 10 blocks of riding bring me back to my childhood; I’m charging through puddles and laughing maniacally at the world … until my feet are starting to feel cold… really cold.

After making the mistake of paying way too much for a pair of Speedplay carbon water bottle cages (and having them promptly toss my water out into the road and subsequently break) I started looking around for other options.

A few months of casual surveying revealed that many (if not most) who owned a carbon cage of some sort had a problem hanging onto water bottles on rough roads. It was uncertain whether or not it was the common c-clamp style or if, in an effort to be as light as possible, the manufacturers weren’t endowing their arms with enough grip.

Whatever the case, I decided that I would ignore the siren call of carbon and set my sights on metal; as a rider who burns through water I would not lose another bottle to a road anomaly anomaly-at least not without a fight…

Though it’s easy to forget, the simpler the design is, the more attention must be given to the elements remain as they will be what is noticed.

Here’s a photo from the early prototypes of the Brooklyn Arches jersey. The thickness of every line, the shade of every color, the illustration style and the depth of the palette was obsessed over to give the outfit a bold and streamlined look.

Some guys get really into their rig for mountain climb races. Since I have no delusions of winning Mt. Washington this year it didn’t make sense for me to spend a day moving my entire Shimano XP mountain bike drivetrain over to my road bike, nor to spend a boatload of money buying a new crankset/cogset/etc.

Much like a skydiver doesn’t go jumping without his parachute, I could not send myself off to attack the mountain with a 53-39 crankset.

So I started hunting for the cheapest way to add some low hill-climbing gearing to my bike, and to my surprise, found everything I needed in our apartment…

As is advised by Glen when embarking on his tours: “bring two water bottles or you will dehydrate and die”. This goes double if you’re riding longer distances with less stops than an organized tour. After nearly experiencing this fate on a recent century ride I decided to give the 72oz Camelback Raceback a try…