Ahhh Twitter. One could create a pretty strong argument that Twitter’s popularity among cyclists is a direct result of EPO. One could also argue that it is simply the easiest way to share your race success with your friends and fans while still gasping for air at the finish line.

So, in a fashion not unlike Follow Friday (but clearly not #FF, because that is all messed up lately) I thought I’d throw out some of the names I follow. This list is by no means complete, nor should you assume that someone that I do not follow is not worth following. But of you are looking for something else to consume data on your smartphone’s data plan, here’s some good ones to follow:

Pro Cyclists and Teams

• Jens Voigt @thejensie – #ShutUpLegs had to be a thing.
• Chris Horner @hornerakg – Because who doesn’t want to wonder why the hell ‘akg’ is in his handle
• Emily Kachorek @EmilyKachorek – Bad ass cyclist from VanderKitten
• Vanderkitten @vanderkitten – Because they’re full of bad ass cyclists like Emily Kachorek. And they also seem to have this whole social media thingy nailed.
• Jonathan Vaughters @Vaughters – Has some funny stuff to say sometimes. And knows a thing or two about cycling
• Johan Bruyneel @JohanBruyneel – He says a ton of funny stuff too. Unfortunately it is usually when he is actually being serious.
• Alberto Contador @albertocontador – We all need a reason to work on our spanish.
• Team Sky @TeamSky – They taught me that Brits race bikes too.
• Fabian Cancellara @f_cancellara – Apparently his tweets are sexier than everyone else’s.
• Cadel Evans @CadelOfficial – It is fun to read his tweets with an Australian accent.
• Phil Southerland @PhilSoutherland – Because diabetic cyclists kick ass. I know from personal experience.

Cycling Media Folks – Bloggers, journalists, photographers, etc

• Veloimages @veloimages – Nice guys taking beautiful pictures. ‘Nuf said.
• Richard Masoner @cyclelicious – Guy spits out blog posts like a sub-machine gun.
• Ted Rogers @bikinginla – Because he’s on the VeloReviews home page.
• VeloReviews @veloreviews – Because I’m under contract to plug them.
• Bike Hugger @bikehugger – Because. Just because.

Tweet away folks…

Technology and bikes seem to go hand in hand a lot.  It was not to long ago that I wrote about the effect of Twitter on the cycling world.  Now, we’ve got a bike that can do the tweeting for you – as well as post ride stats like location, grade and more to a website.

The bike is Precious – and it is being ridden cross country by Janeen McCrae to help raise money for the Livestrong Foundation.  You can follow her progress on the Yes I am Precious website – which has a wonderful application with up-to-the-minutes stats on the ride.  For example, as I am writing this post I can see that Janeen is riding just shy of 20 mph, in Hodgenville, KY.

According to the Biking Bis blog, this is Janeen’s second attempt after an unfortunate crash prior to the first attempt.

While the sensor data – like speed, temperature, etc. – is automatic, the twitter posts the bike is capable of are also automatic – partially.  Janeen has pre-programmed some set messages that the bike will send to twitter based on some selection criteria.  Again, fro Biking Bis blog:

As explained at Mashable, if McCrae’s bike records a long downhill stretch and high temperatures at the same time, it might post the Tweet, “Coasting is easy but somehow I’m still sweaty.” That Tweet is removed from the list and never appears again.

McCrae can also press a button that sends out a Tweet from several categories.

It is unquestionable that twitter has had a huge impact on cycling.  It is probably safe to say that a lot of cyclists – both recreational and pro – would have never heard of the social media and microblogging service if it were not for the tweets of a particular American Pro Cyclist.  “Tweets” – or postings to twitter – are increasingly becoming one of the most accurate and timely sources of information on the international racing scene.

There have been many international scene races in the last year or so where numerous fans on the roads have helped to provide up to the minute race coverage.  However, perhaps the power of Twitter as a source of pro cycling news came to a head most poignantly at the 2010 Amgen Tour of California when there were folks tweeting events as they happened – from cars in the pro peloton.  I know that personally, as I was positioned at various finish lines of the race, I became a sudden celeb in the crowd of folks I happened to find myself in.  It was not because of any particular status or insight.  Rather, it was because I was able to capture these up-to-the-minute tweets right there, at the finish line, on my smartphone.  I knew where the peloton was, who was in the breaks, and how many km were left to go.

All of this information is great when you are standing at the finish line or somewhere along the route waiting for the teams to roll by.  However, it is a much different perspective when you’ve gone back to your day jobs and have to wait until you get home to catch the day’s racing (or at least the meager sampling of the day’s racing that Versus manages to get to the American public.)  However, if you’ve got your “twitter in a bunch” and utilize tools such as TweetDeck on your laptop, or Twidroid on our Android powered smartphone, another new and perhaps unexpected problem can arise.  Specifically, with Twitter hooked directly to your social-media blood stream, it can be really really hard to avoid knowing what has happened in that big stage of the day’s race (like Stage 4 of the Tour de Suise) before you have the opportunity to get home and watch that delayed broadcast of, or recorded copy of, the race of the day.

I’d like to say that I have some great solution for those of you out there that are suffering from this like I am.  Unfortunately there is no middle ground between wanting to know every single details, and wanting to know every single detail but 8 hours after the fact.  No middle ground, that is, except for unplugging a little bit, putting down the phone, turning off the auto-popups on every tweet you follow.  And if you are addicted like I am, you sure as hell aren’t going to be turning off those alerts any time soon.

On the other hand, if you pass it off as casual predictions, your friends will be amazed at the accuracy with which you can “predict” the outcomes of those tragically delayed Versus broadcasts of the European races.  Maybe it is high time you started wagering six packs and seat posts on your amazing predictive powers, eh?

Until then – see you at the races, and @delducra will be listening!