The No-Drop Zone: Everything You Need to Know about the Peloton, Your Gear, and Riding Strong

The No-Drop Zone contains all the information necessary for new cyclists to gain the knowledge and skills to take them from buying their first bicycle to starting their first race. Cyclists learn how to handle the bike, perform minor maintenance, select clothing and accessories, join clubs, and find events. The book also covers every aspect of riding in a group, emphasizing such specific skills as how to avoid bumping into other riders when riding in close quarters and fixing a flat quickly enough to rejoin the group. Author Patrick Brady explores the particular pleasures that come from group riding, a unique experience at once social (talking with friends while riding), exciting (descending in a group), and exhilarating (finishing a long hill). Brady also details the enormous fitness benefits of riding in a group. The No-Drop Zone has all the knowledge a cyclist needs to move to that next level of skill.

About the Author :
When Patrick Brady began writing about cycling, Greg LeMond was still a pro and Lance Armstrong was an amateur hoping to make the Olympic Team. His first freelance article was published in 1991 and he quickly made a name for himself working for Bicycling, Dirt Rag, VeloNews, Outside Online, and NORBA News among others. After serving on a freelance basis, he joined the independent publication The Ride as Industrial Strength Editor. Patrick's cover story for VeloNews of the 1995 Cyclocross National Championships held in blizzard conditions attracted the attention of several magazines including Bicycle Guide. The offer to work for Bicycle Guide--a 180,000-circ. national monthly magazine devoted to cycling--was almost too good to be true. He made the trip west to Los Angeles and joined the staff. As Associate Editor, Patrick was charged with helping the magazine embrace newer riders with how-to articles and bike reviews. He transitioned the magazine into a greater focus on lifestyle and penned its first travel features as well. His other accomplishments included launching www.bicycleguide.com, Petersen Publishing's first in-house Web site. Patrick directed the on-line archiving of nearly 15 years' worth of bike reviews. During the Internet boom of the late 1990s Patrick supplied content to a variety of Web sites, but he was called on most frequently to write how-to articles for new riders on everything from how to dress in cold weather to how to ride in a group. In 2001 he launched www.asphaltmag.com, an online cycling magazine, followed in 2002 by a print edition. Asphalt was a super-premium journal printed on heavy paper with a perfect binding and color throughout. It was immediately hailed as the best bike magazine ever, setting a new bar in both design and content. He established scientific criteria for bike tests bringing greater validity to the reviewer's conclusions. Patrick has continued to freelance for a variety of cycling publications, including VeloNews, Road Bike Action, and Bicycle Retailer and Industry News. In 2007 the Los Angeles Times ran an op-ed piece he wrote. Seen by more than 1 million readers, the piece, which suggested a way to learn how prevalent doping is, was forwarded to the head of cycling's international governing body, the Union Cycliste Internationale. In 2007 Menasha Ridge Press published Patrick's first book, Bicycling Los Angeles County. Despite the number of cycling guide books devoted to Los Angeles, Bicycling Los Angeles County quickly rose to the top of the heap for several reasons: It was the first road cycling guide book to use GPS technology to map routes as well as the first to include group rides--a central part of road cycling culture. The book has been praised for concentrating on areas cyclists enjoy while avoiding where a rider's safety would be at risk. When he's not writing for publication, Patrick is in high demand crafting copy for Web sites, catalogs, and white papers for some of the bike industry's biggest and most technologically advanced bike companies.