(Photo: Yuzuru Sunada)

RBA's annual collection of cycling tips comes from pro racer and mechanics, bike shop owners and employees, bright-eyed beginners and grizzled veterans. Here's the first few from a compilation of over 200! And remember that quite often, one cyclist's tip is another cyclist's worst nightmare...

1. You know which hand is your left and which is your right, but take some time to practice the drill of calling out which is which anyway; there’s nothing worse than crossing a street with oncoming traffic and yelling out “car left” when it’s really coming from the right.

2. Take two tubes with you on every ride. What better way to increase your chances of taking care of yourself and another cyclist on the side of the road without one.

3. If you’re a compulsive weight geek who frets about carrying extra weight so much that you ride without bringing extra tubes or air along, at least tuck a crisp $20 bill in your jersey so you can barter with the guy who listened to Tip #2.

4. One rule of thumb for longer rides is to eat a minimum of 250 calories per hour when on the bike, regardless of the temperature.

5. Ben Coates on setting up Lance’s bike: “We grind the housing ends and grease the cables to help make sure the shifting and braking is smooth, and we measure his stuff multiple times to make sure it is sized properly.”

Our Two Best Opposing Tips:

6. Invest in a power meter to gauge your improvements.

7. Why bother with all the redundant data? Look what Merckx was able to accomplish without them.

8. On group rides, don’t be a wheel sucker. Do your share of work pulling at the front, even in a headwind. To suffer for others is sublime. Otherwise, you will end up enjoying group rides in the company of none.

9. When riding or racing it’s easier to access your gels if you put them into a 6-ounce gel bottle and carry it in your jersey. It also eliminates any chance of littering by accident.

10. Your cleats on your shoes tend to get forgotten about until they fail. Keep an eye on them; they are not like brakes on your car where a warning light goes on or they start to squeal. When they get worn, they will start releasing at the worse possible time.

11. Road bikes are meant to be clean; mountain bikes, dirty. Still, don’t think that you can walk across a friend’s living room carpet with road shoes on and not leave a trail of grime and grease.

12. Valve stem too short to get your CO2 or pump to seal? Clip the very top off the plastic valve cap, screw it on tightly and it will seal against any Presta head. Clip it short and it will allow you to fill a Presta valve with an automotive Schrader head at a gas station.

13. The urban cycling legend that a dollar bill makes a great boot to fix a slashed tire is weak. Keep your money. If you want to roll home at 100 psi, a far better fix is a slice of plastic from a water bottle or a discarded polycarbonate sports bottle. Better yet, a laminated picture of your ex will boot a tire quite well.

14. Desperate for chain lube in the middle of nowhere? Rummage through the trash receptacle at a gas station for an empty quart of motor oil or transmission fluid. There is always enough left in the can to lube a chain. tubeless sealant. (They sell a tiny 4-ounce bottle that disappears in a jersey pocket.)

15. Is that fancy carbon seatpost slipping during a ride? Take it out, splash some dirt on it from the side of the road, dust it off and replace it. The tiny grit particles will keep it from slipping, and when you remove the post, they act as ball bearings that prevent the post from sticking to the seat tube.

16. Want to go faster for free? Pedal a three-minute stretch of relatively flat ground with one leg only and then alternate with the other. (Don’t do this when you are riding with a group.) You can rest your other foot on the chainstay. Do this once a week, and reinforce the exercise by simply concentrating on one leg at a time and you will probably ride one gear higher as a result.

17. When you are in a pace line, get into the drops when you are third from the front and don’t return to the flats until you have fallen back and completely rejoined the group. You will save huge amounts of energy.

18. Don’t buy a tubular tire unless it has a removable valve. Should you puncture, you can save almost any tubular by squeezing in some Stan’s

19. When you pass by a huge black SUV, glance over while you are alongside and use it as a mirror to check your posture on the bike; there are a lot of those land yachts on the road, so try it in a tuck, on the flats and out of the saddle, too. Most of us believe that we look like pros, but a quick reality check couldn’t hurt.

20. Afraid of a slick tread? Consider that the pavement you are rolling on is about 200 times more grained and edged than the stupid file pattern that some manufacturers use to make non-believers feel safe and you might get the idea that slick tires are the only sensible types for performance road riding. Tread patterns are placebos.

21. Race cyclocross in mountain bike shoes and use mountain bike pedals. Those guys know a lot more about getting on and off the bike than you do, so drop the pride and exchange it for a few places at the finish line.