Some simple tips

I have been racing and training long enough to have seen some crazy mechanicals.
Broken derailleur cables, broken forks, disappearing saddles, etc. When on a 4 hour training ride, breaking a rear derailleur cable is only a painful nuisance.  In a race it spells the end of your day.  As anyone that knows me will attest, I am a much better mechanic than racer.  So in an attempt to save your race or your training partner's day, I offer up the following bike maintenance advice.  Follow religiously...

January 1: Replace your cables and housing

I know you just did this last summer after you broke a derailleur cable in a race, but do it again.  Cables and housing are cheap.  I know you will be tempted to just replace the cables, but your housing has stretched and the metal is exposed under those end caps and is slowly fraying your cables.  REPLACE the HOUSING and CABLES together!  If you bought a housing and cable kit, make sure to use your old housing to measure out the new housing.  You might have enough new cable leftover to replace come the spring.  (Yes you are going to replace your cables and housing again after your winter training).

After adjusting your brakes and derailleurs and trimming your cables, you are going to use one of these  to crimp on the end of your cables.  I am sure all of you know what these are, but they are shown because your brake and derailleur cables do not possess this vital safety component.  How do I know? Because I was impaled by the frayed ends of your cables in our last Cross race.  Thanks again, because chicks dig scars.  If you lost these vital cable end caps, please see me.  I was able to acquire 500 of them for less than $5.  I won't even charge you for them, and I will provide a lesson on how to install them so they do not fall off.

Replace your Bar Tape:

Now since you removed your frayed and patched bar tape to change your cables, you should now take the time to replace the tape with fresh black bar tape.  Black you say?  Yes, it matches your $5000 Cervelo perfectly, and won't look like shit after the first winter training ride.  I know you are sitting there saying "Lance has white bar tape on his bike at his Caribbean training camp, so should I."  Wrong!  Lance has someone to wash his bike after every ride, and to replace his white tape after he spills his enhanced blood from a paper cut counting all of his sponsorship $.  You want black.  White can be put on the bike on May 1st, but please replace it when it turns the color of my dog's feces.  Another tip - these came with that pretty black bar tape(center of tape).
They go on the ends of your bars.  Why do I take the time to tell you this?  Because I still have the perfect circle scar on my rib cage where I was impaled by your bars sans end cap in the wreck at Ault Park on the lap 5 sprint for 36th place.  If upon inserting into your bars they are easily removed, wrap them with plumbers tape and re-insert.  If you see me at a race and you do not have these end caps, please ask and I will provide you with new ones.  No thanks needed, it is just the kind of guy I am.  While we are speaking of wrapping your bars, at no point in your cycling career should electrical tape be used to secure the tape except for finishing the end of the tape by your stem.  I know you are a starving cyclist, but come on you are riding a $5000 Cervelo why is the frayed tape secured with electrical tape in the drops????   Bar tape is cheap.  Replace it.  BTW, unless you wrecked, your bar tape should not come unraveled or frayed.  If it does, you wrapped your bars the wrong way.  You didn't know there was a right way and a wrong way to do something so simple?  There is, so go to YouTube and find a video on how to wrap bars.  Apparently, people have more patience than me, and have posted how-to videos of bar tape wrapping.  God bless them.

Clean and lube your Drivetrain:
Now we get to the fun stuff.  Your Cervelo looks great with new cables and bar tape, but the drivetrain sounds like a 72 Pinto.  1st problem is you are riding Shimano.  I know there are greater sins, so this one can be forgiven but please next chance you get - Make the Leap (SRAM) or choose The Divine (Campagnolo).  You are probably not aware, but your drivetrain is annoying the hell out of all of your training buddies.  1st, clean it.  Use simple green, stiff bristle brushes, and make sure it is spotless.  Then use a dry lube and  lube your chain. 

If this didn't work, then we are going to solve this!  First measure your chain.  Ha, you didn't know this can be done?  Then remove the chain and replace.  This should be done at least 1x per year.  Chains are cheap.  Chainrings and cassettes are not.  If you chain is stretched, then replace it ASAP.  I do this in Jan and July.   Always.  This will save you a ton of money in the long run.  I can hear you now, so quit bitching.  Chains are not that expensive.  The $100 cassette is.

Now that your chain is replaced.  Adjust your derailleurs.  If this is beyond your skill, then call me.  I will do it for you.  Going rate is a 6 pack of a European beer (Miller light does not get your bike worked on). If you need help 5 minutes before you start a race, then the price goes up to a 12 pack.  After a perfect adjustment, I should not here your drivetrain when I am 100 meters off the back of the pack and you are safely ensconced in the peloton pissing everyone off with the screeching bike.

Replace those worn tires:
Now take a look at those tires you put on 2 seasons ago.  Yes they need to be changed.  Replace them.  You do not want to be out on a ride with a blown out sidewall, no phone, and it is 5 miles to the nearest gas station.  That is a long walk, and the chances of you being picked by some kind stranger are slim and none.  If Bubba in his pickup truck stops to give you a ride, I doubt it is charity he is interested in.  Also, remember it is January.  You will be training on the road and on the trainer.  Save your nice Kendas for race season.  Buy the sturdiest tires you can find.  I know you like to train on your Zipp 404's because it makes you look cool, so if you have to risk your $2500 wheels at least wrap them with some 25's with a kevlar belt for the extra protection.  You wouldn't sleep with Brittany Spears without protection right?

Now get out and ride.