With my awesome aero carbon bike I smoke to make it fair for the competition.

Just sub one vice for another. Cocaine, gambling, or risky sex. Every time you want a cig, just do one of those things instead. You'll be fine.

thanks for the helpful responses guys. i do know damn good and well that smoking is bad for me. and i am committed to quitting. my housemates and i have all made a pact to quit together starting on sunday. sooooo.... we'll see how that goes. i'm tired of spending money on such a silly habit and i'm tired of feeling tired on my bike so yeah. wish me luck!

Those guys are on a little ride known as the Tour de France, and they are smoking.

haha, seriously tho smoking will really mess you up. I've been a smoker for the past 5 years, but in the last year or so I've gotten it down to like one a day...literally. Since I'm doing a century tomorrow, I haven't had one in a few days. Oxygen uptake is crucial to cycling. Eddy Merckx had the highest recorded oxygen uptake of any athlete ever, and he was a cyclist.

Here's how I quit...

First, lose your job. Start selling things you own to be able to pay rent, and buy food + smokes. Buy some cheap cigarettes, 3 packs for the price of one. Light up and find out they are the worst tasting things you ever tasted. Only smoke them when you really need a fix. Come to the realization that you're still on the second pack a week later because they taste SO damn bad you've tapered off to about four or five a day. Decide that if you can live on four or five a day, you cn live on none. Open up the last pack and crumble the cancer sticks into the toilet. Gain 30 pounds over the next 3 months.

EASY AS THAT!!!!

Add up the money you're spending on smokes and realize what you could be buying to support your cycling addiction... worked for me

You don't need luck. You need determination, which it seems like you have.

Decide to do it. This is one of the most important decisions in your life. Probably top 10, literally. Decide and be done with it.

My college roommate quit because he was tired of going from his warm bedroom, getting dressed and going to the cold porch to smoke. "I'm in my shorts, in my warm bed, watching TV and I get the urge to go out in the [freaking] cold just to smoke a cigarette for 2 minutes. That's [freaking] addiction. [Freak] that. I'm quitting this sh*t." And that was that. Cold turkey.

The key is deciding to do it. Not "thinking" about doing it or "gonna try" to do it, or "giving it a shot...". No. You have to decide to do it and it will be done. You become a non-smoker the very second you decide to not smoke again. That very second.

+∞
Every person I know that has quit & has stayed quitted did it that way.

This implies that there are cigarettes that taste good. I'm not buying it. After smelling cigarette smoke, the thought "That smell makes me want to put that in my mouth" hasn't come to me in 35 years. Noooooo.

Further...

Understand that you will always have cravings. Strong at first and they will fade in time. But, you will always know what a cig feels and tastes like and that's OK.

You will see somebody light up and you'll think, "Ha! That looks like a good idea. I'll have one, too." which is how smokers trigger other smokers to smoke. Just understand that that feeling *will* come. When you feel it, that doesn't mean that you are "still a smoker" or "quitting didn't work." No, it worked. Being able to relate to smokers will always be there. Be aware of it and control it.

But, did you know that Eddy was also a smoker? During the Six Day track races, he would sneak smokes behind the stands between sessions. Imagine what he could have done if he hadn't smoked! I raced briefly in 1980 in Belgium in the Kermesses, which are circuit races over the brutal pave. Registration for the races was held in local pubs that were filled with cigarette smoke so thick that you could hardly see where you were going. By the time I had left to get ready for the race I could hardly even breath. Smoking was simply a normal thing back then and no one really thought much about the health or fitness implications. Some racers actually thought smoking was good for you.

A psyche to adopt while trying to quit addictive things is to realize that you only have to be cigarette free for just one day. People get in trouble when they start thinking " I can never have cigarettes ever again for the rest of my years" because it is daunting.

But it is way easier to just say, "I will not have a cigarette today". Then the next day when you wake up, say the same thing. Soon you won't have to think so much about not smoking, and the idea that you won't have another cigarette won't be so difficult to manage.

Good luck brother!

someone mentioned those E-cigarettes.....

i know a few people that use them and really like them....

it gives you nicotine and the oral fixation of smoking, without the smoke (vapor instead)
you have to buy little catridges that fit into the vaporizing unit, which obviously is shaped like a cig.

You guys should get those vapor cigarettes. I don't*really buy there 99% like smoking the real thing though, and Im sure the FDA will issue alerts on them in a few years. There kind of pricey too. Theres always the stale bubble gum cigarettes you find in old dusty shops.

When I got into cycling in the 80s it wasn't unusual even then to see the guys light up at the finish line after a race.

Dude just quit. Stop looking for excuses and just stop.you'll feel so much better and have more money for bikes

i dont know why.... and i totally do not condone smoking because you'll die like next year but..
the fastest guy and chick here from davisfixed are both smokers...
they are always in the lead and always climbing faster than anyone else~ and we're not even going that slow @ about 21~mph but they'll always be around 23,24~mph and we'll all have to catch up~

my theory is:
maybe they have the incentive to sprint faster so they can go and take their cigarette breaks... i dont understand it...

but bottom line is:
dont smoke cigs brah~

I smoked for about 20 years until I "quit" last March. It's been a little over 13 months for me now. I say "quit" because it seems like everyone who "quits" ends up smoking again, sometimes 5 or 10 years later. I'm thinking of it like this: I'm just trying to see how long I can go between cigarettes. That said, I hope I never smoke again. There were a lot of reasons that I didn't enjoy smoking anymore, one of which that it is impossible to get good tobacco in the U.S. anymore (I had been a rolly guy for years). The second reason, and this is reinforced to me almost every day, is how terrible people smell after smoking. I never noticed it on myself while I was smoking, but man it is horrid.

I battled and tried to quit off and on over the last 5 years. I tried the patch, gum, zoloft, lozenges etc but all of those (with the exception of zoloft) keep nicotine in the blood, thus keeping you addicted, thus making it much harder IMO to get away. The hardest part, though, is the mind. Man, over the last 5 years everytime I would try to quit I would go through this mental agony where I would just obsess over smoking until I was practically crazy. I would smoke just to quiet my brain. I would give in when that incessant nagging would start, it beat me every time. It got depressing after a while. This last time was really no different, except I didn't smoke. The nagging was still there, the feeling of being hopelessly addicted, that I could never get away, still there. I just didn't smoke. In fact, there were numerous times when I decided to smoke, mentally giving in to the noise in my head, but it would almost vanish, like fog when the sun rises. It was weird. It happened for way longer than I thought it would, it was pretty touch and go for about the first 9 months. It was the hardest thing I've ever done to this point; though lately I rarely feel tempted or have any urges. Some days I actually feel like a non-smoker. It's a good feeling. I didn't use anything, this time. No pills, patches, powders or potions. I just didn't smoke.

As for how it affected my cycling, honestly, I don't think it made that big of a difference initially. In fact the first couple months off of smoking I was often short of breath. I also gained about 20 pounds. This didn't make me any faster. What I notice now is that my smoker friends, who were about as fast as me when I was smoking, have all since gotten really slow since I quit smoking. They say that cycling doesn't get easier, you just get faster. Well, I can say now that quitting smoking did make it a little easier in addition to making me a little faster. I'm slowly working off that 20 lbs too. Slowwwwly.

The most important thing is to not quit quitting. You'll probably fail. You'll probably fail several times. This **** is evil. It will take time, and practice. Don't get too down on yourself, and if you have to smoke, at least try and enjoy it. Then, when you feel like you're ready to give it another try, try. Try a different method. Try them all. Just keep trying. If I can do it, anyone can.

I love smoking, let me put that out there first... However, by most people I knows standards I'm very much on the lighter side of it (my girlfriend might disagree)... Anyway, I always told myself that the day my smoking affects my riding is when I quit... So you need to ask yourself how much your riding means to you? Do you want to just bop around town or hit some good double digit rides twice a week? I know where we live it can be hard as so many people smoke here (and drink too among other things) but it can be done... One trick I found was to share my cigs freely... Thus making its an even more expensive habit... Also allow yourself some wiggle room, if not its way harder and you are more likely to fail. Giving yourself that wiggle room makes you able to stick with it. If Im gonna see you at the track Id like it to be a test of legs not who is or is not a smoker Try it for the summer see how you feel and maybe in the fall you go back maybe you dont, I can say after the first week or 2 a cig tastes pretty funky once you have one again. Hell I had one tonight but Im not beating myself up over it, its been like 2 weeks otherwise. You can do it, and once you have control over it maybe you can actually enjoy one every so often... Anyway as Yoda once said "there is no try, just do" (I think I quoted that right)

And then there's the girlfriend who smokes. Like kissing an ashtray.

I quit in 1988 - I am 66 years old and smoked for 25 years, quitting every once in a while during that time - smoking 2-3 packs a day near the end years. I quit when my dad died of smoking-caused esophageal cancer, a real bad way to go. Hardest thing I ever did! If it hadn't been for pot, acupuncture and divorcing my 2nd ex-wife, I frequently joke, I couldn't have done it. Throughout I rode, ran, played city league and indoor soccer, and gym workouts to exhaustion. Actually I loved smoking, but then I am kind of an addictive personality. I was in a bar last night with my band on a gig and cigarettes are $8.00 a pack out of that machine. It's better to leave them alone.

Im lovin this^

I smoke, been more lately but somewhere in the neighborhood of 7-12 cigs a day. I definetly feel it and know my preformance onand off the bike would be significantly better if I didnt. If you are motivated enough, quit. Hand rollies are horrible tasting compared to store bought and they are definitely harder on the lungs (both in my opinion at least, everybody is different).

Good luck if you decide to quit, no worries if you dont. But know that your lung ****ion *will* begin to improve once you stop for good, no one can deny that.

Physiologically, smoking does give you a higher hematocrit, but lots of good that does with small black lungs. I am a recovering smoker, and I can tell you for sure that I was way faster on the bike before I started to smoke. For me quitting had an effect on every single part of my life. It is a big deal. I would advise giving up a few other "triggering habits" for the first couple weeks-coffee and alcohol mostly. Start drinking tea in the mornings. I truly hope you can succeed. Check out whyquit.com if you need some inspiration/data. As a parting thought, my pops became addicted to heroin while in vietnam, he says quitting cigs was harder than quitting the smack- but it is possible, and you CAN do it.

as they say: Everyone who smokes cigarettes will quit some day.

My Mom quit about 13 and a half years ago, due to large cell lung cancer. (3 packs a day though)

My Dad quit (2 packs a day) within 9 months of her death, cold turkey, and still has not smoked again.
He says it was hands-down the most difficult thing he's ever done in his life, that there were some
days that all he did that day was 'not' smoke a cig.... He says every once in a while he'll catch a whiff
and want a puff, but he's come too far now and he truly does hate the smell, on his clothes etc....
My Dad is 67, and is pretty active now. He rides his bike, walks, and bowls on a team in a league.
I'm glad my Dad is still around, and I miss my Mom every day.

As other have said, quit for yourself, not for anyone else. All of the good aspects of
not smoking will become more apparent day by day. Good Luck in your quest of quitting..!!

my roommate quit. kind of made me feel like a jerk when i'd smoke near him or out on rides. i just felt weak. in the past couple weeks i've had maybe 6 cigarettes. i don't even really like em anymore it's more that im around friends or im out drinking (one implies the other, typically) and i get bored or its just whatever. i dunno. it's like a previous commenter said: you'll always want one but it fades. i've been using the same thing that helped my roommate: nicotine lozenges. they work miracles. keeps from wanting to kill people when i feel really really stressed.