Send us a photo of your cycling inspired breakfast, or a description of what fuels you best….and Win.

This is a fun little contest suggested to us by our friends over at Bike2Power, and I thought it was a pretty dang great idea.  I’m a firm believer that a great breakfast starts your day off on the right track and I’m looking forward to the fun photos and breakfast ideas that you all have.  I also believe that All Cyclists are Champions….so this is a perfect combination for a contest.

Get creative and have fun with your creations…photos will be judged on level of creativity, design, and how it portrays cycling.  Written submissions should describe your idea of the ultimate breakfast and why you feel it helps your cycling.  Recipes can also be included as well.

Contest Details

• Send us a photo of a unique cycling inspired breakfast that you created (just like in the example above) OR send in a short description of what you feel is the ultimate power breakfast for cyclists.
• Photo can be taken using any kind of camera.
• Photos must be your own and not peeled off an internet site somewhere.
• Only one submission will be accepted per person, so be sure to choose wisely and select your absolute favorite.
• Feel free to use any type of post-process editing to help give the photos a little something extra.
• Make sure the photos you submit are of descent resolution.  The higher the resolution the better, but images of 750px wide would be ideal.
• We welcome submissions from all over the world, but only able to submit winning prizes to those located in North America.
• All photos submitted give Loving the bike irrevocable, royalty-free license to reproduce, distribute, and display the submitted photos.
• Only photos and submissions that meet these rules and regulations will be considered.

Prizes

Entry Submissions

Photos and/or written submissions can be sent in via the comments section below, or can be e-mailed to Darryl.  You can also tweet out your photos using instagram….just use the hashtag, #LovingtheBike with it so we can track them.

In case you have no clue as to what a Bike2Power LightCharge ultra light dual-mode charger is, I thought I better provide a little information on it so that you know what you’re in the running for with your entry.

LightCharge Product Features

“LightCharge is a compact, lightweight, and energy-efficient bicycle usb charger for LED bicycle lights and mobile devices.  Italian-made and designed, LightCharge was conceived with a performance cyclist in mind.  It is exceptionally lightweight, weighing less than 2 ounces (50 grams with cable).  The product comes with a bottle dynamo cap that reduces friction and drag effect to a minimum.  This hyper-efficient bike charger begins charging at easily achievable 8 mi/hr (13 km/ hr); with a dynamo cap, at 10 mi/hr (16 km/hr).

In addition, the built-in overvoltage protection makes LightCharge a safe and efficient bike phone charger option.  LightCharge can be used to charge bike lights and mobile devices.  Easily switch between charging a bike light or a mobile device with a push of a button; bike lights can be hardwired or simply plugged into a USB port, depending on a rider’s preference.”

Cycling Breakfast Photo c/0 Bill Wurtzel via www.dansplan.com

We had a great #bikeschool session last week; good attendance, great answers and no injuries. If you couldn’t be with us then you missed a corker as always but you can always catchup with the #bikeschool questions and answers by going back through the Twitter timeline HERE. As the evenings professor I asked for ideas for a new #bikeschool catchphrase.

We hadn’t meant to entice you all in to doing our work for us and assisting with the creative process of running #bikeschool or LovingTheBike.com but with so many great answers we decided it was probably only right that we offer up a prize for all your hard work… So don’t let me ever hear any of you saying The Boss, The Hoserhead and the dancing monkey don’t look after you!

Below are some of the answers from the night that we have picked for you to vote on. There is the possibility for some late entries to make it into the line-up but the closing date for new entries will be Wednesday 1st of February 2012 at Midnight GMT. Have a read of the tweets below and vote on which one you think should become a #bikeschool catchphrase to help spread the love.

Option 1 – @noteon

Option 2 – JuiceLee337

Option 3 – @PinkChickRunner

Option 4 – @twittyboyd

Option 5 – @johntrendler

Option 6 - @jenfairfax

Option 7 – @lizbon

We have a great prize pack for this competition from two of our #bikeschool sponsors GU Energy and RoadID. Up for grabs is a GU Energy Flavor Mix pack and a $35 RoadID gift card which will keep you on the road for longer and safer whilst you do it.

Time to Vote:

To vote all you need to do is leave a comment below and let us know which option you think is the best and most suited to #bikeschool. If you have your own idea that is entered below before the closing date it may be entered into the competition but this will only be after a shortlist has been decided on. Please don’t vote for ideas left in the comment section, only votes for ideas above with OPTION numbers next to them are eligible for the competition. The closing date for votes is Sunday the 5th of February at Midnight GMT and the winner will be announced shortly after that.

Good luck to everyone and thanks again GU Energy and RoadID… let the voting commence…

Stevie

The great folks over at Outside PR represent some smoking good companies, and they recently sent the Loving the Bike team some items for review.  Instead of doing a separate post for each one, we thought we’d get all geared up with these great products and let you know what we think.  As with all our reviews over here at Loving the Bike, we give you our totally honest opinion and let you know why you should (or shouldn’t) go out and get one of these products for yourself.

We could have went into great detail on each product and give you absolutely everything you needed to know about them….and more.  But we know what people do when a very long post lays before them….you skim it.  So I got the feedback from our review crew and cut to the goods to provide you with a quick description, what we liked best, and what changes we’d recommend for each product.

Pearl Izumi Elite Jersey and Elite In-R-Cool Short

Description: The ELITE Series by Pearl Izumi is part of their line of gear targeted to the “dedicated athlete”.

What We Like: The first time I put on my new Pearl Izumi kit and walked outside, my kids saw me and said “Wow, Dad….you look awesome”….True Story. So it’s safe to say that these are some nice looking cycling clothes.  What me and the team liked best about it was the comfort.  It felt great on and off the bike. The Elite 3D Chamois is honestly the most comfortable we’d ever worn on our butts and can totally realize exactly why Pearl Izumi has carved out a great name for themselves.

One more thing that we really liked is the waterproof (sweat proof) zip pouch on the back of the jersey.  This was my first jersey with one of these on the back, and it is a great spot to store my ipod while riding.

We’ve already had some hot, hot days over here in Texas and the thin material and In-R-Cool technology sure feels good on days like this.  I know that this jersey will be my first choice as we creep into the 100+ degree days ahead.

Recommended Changes: The waterproof zip pouch is just barely big enough to fit an itouch.  We’d like to see the zipper another half inch longer.

The only other recommended change that we have on this one is graphics.  Not like this should be all that important, but we really like having cool designs and graphics on our clothing and the samples provided by Pearl Izumi were a little plain.

Ryders Eyewear

Description: Ryders is an eyewear company out of Canada who provides sunglasses and goggles for athletes.

What We Like: I was born with a pair of sunglasses on my face, so I am definitely a lover of shades.  I personally had never heard of Ryders before getting the sample, although the rest of the Loving the Bike review team had.  We received two pairs of their Seeker series, and one of the chops (polarized) for review and think they are pretty cool.

What we liked best about the Seeker line is that they come with inter-changeable lenses so they can be swapped out for different riding conditions.  The no tint are great for evening rides, the partial tint are perfect for cloudy days, and the full tint are nice for sunny day riding.  Kelli felt that they were “very comfortable, provide a nice wide-lense view, and are great for varying degrees of sunlight”.  The Chops were more of a hanging out/social scene type of sunglasses more so than for athletic usage.

Recommended Changes: Having a small face, I found the Seeker a little big for me…but only for looks.  Kelli said the same thing about the fit for women. They fit great and stay on my face, but I feel they are a little wider than I prefer.  There might be another Ryders brand better suited to my face type.  Our team also felt that the frames strength didn’t appear to be overly strong and are unsure about the long-term wearability of the glasses.

GU Roctane Gel and Electrolyte Tablets

Description: People have been sucking down the GU packets for something like 10 years already.  Gu Energy is made up of athletes, scientists, and a production team and are out to deliver the best sports nutrition on the planet.

Their product line includes Gels, Chomps, and Brews.

What We Like: Energy and Hydration are always a great thing when you’re out riding, so any product that can help us out with this is very welcome.  We definitely loved the taste of both the gels and the hydration tabs and like that there are so many flavors to choose from.  I’m definitely more of a hydration tab user than I am of gels, and I thought the GU Brews were very thirst quenching.

Seeing as Kelli is the Loving the Bike pro when it comes to anything regarding sports nutrition, we looked to her for the most accurate review.  Here’s what she liked best about the GU Gels:

• Uses more than one carbohydrate source (maltodextin & fructose)
• Provides Branch-chained amino acids – but only in small amounts (less than 1000 mg)
• Claims natural flavors (preferred over artificial ones, but no specifics on “natural” flavor sources given)
• Includes caffeinated and non-caffeinated varieties
• Includes herbal blend that may sooth stomach (ginger, chamomile)

Recommended Changes: We didn’t have any recommendations for changes made to the Brews, but here’s what Kelli had to say about what could be changed when it comes to the Gels:

• Has a thicker texture than other gels – personally more difficult for me to get down while cycling
• Sodium and Potassium in non-physiological ratio – include 55mg Sodium, 45 mg Potassium.  Would prefer approximately 4:1 Sodium:Potassium with up to 200 mg Sodium per packet
• Individual packaging promotes high amounts of waste compared to bulk packaging jugs (did not find any source of bulk packaging for gu such as found with Hammer gels)

So there you have it.  Three companies reviewed all in one shot.  What are your experiences with these companies?  What do you like best?  What would you change?