Best way to clean my bike?

[esmorin]

Hi everyone! I am enjoying this forum sooo much, and have learned so much already!

So, I am a newbie to road riding (been riding my whole life,...but new to it in a 'serious' capacity), and my husband and I are having a disagreement about how to clean one's bike.

It seems that the best information I have seen in many places (including the RBR newsletter) is to hose the bike down to rinse sand and and sweat off after every ride....dry completely and then lube the chain (and of course remove excess lube).

Is this far from what everyone else does? What is your daily, weekly, monthly routines? Is there a consensus on how it should be done, and which products are best? Also, what should I be careful of NOT doing? I tried doing a search on the forum about this....but didn't come up with much. I really want to keep my (new) bike as nice as possible for as long as possible. I am really looking forward to your responses!!! Thanks!