Super-secret ultra awesomeness

Though I've had access to bike-shop-guy pricing for nearly three years now, some of this stuff is still expensive. While there's no real way to get around some necessities, there are ways to cut costs even further: food.

Sport-specific stuff is expensive, even at shop-guy prices. Some stuff you can't avoid — energy gels work well for me in long road races and in preparation for crits and such — but if you just need sugar and a little bit of fat, regular food does the trick.

And the best place to get regular food that works on the bike is Costco. Nature Valley granola bars? Twenty-five cents apiece, 190 calories. Pop Tarts, another fine source of sugar and a tiny handful of vitamins, end up being 45 cents apiece (or so). And it's 400 calories if you eat both pastries.

And those waffles from earlier this year? Yeah, those are awesome, too. There are at least a dozen regular-food items out there that would work great as on-bike food.

But there's one holy grail of bike food that has just now found its way to Costco. It's the kind of item that gives me pause when considering whether I should actually have such easy access to such things. It's so ridiculously inexpensive compared to even the generous shop-guy pricing.

Brady made me promise not to tell.

So I won't. But I'll say this: If you're at Costco searching for something to stuff in your jersey pockets, take a right at the second-run Calvin Klein jeans, a left at the big coolers, another right at the 8-pound bag of ground beef, a right at the Mexican Coke and another right at the giant tub of whey protein.

Keep your eyes peeled. You'll see what I'm talking about.