The No-Drop Zone (eBook)

lt;div>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.