Fired up

I met up with Julie, Coach Don, Wendy (another mentor) and Janice (an ex-teammate) the day after our kickoff for the very first recovery ride of the season. Of course, this early in the game, the “recovery” distance is longer than the actual rides… but a temporary renaming is bound to confuse people. So, we congregated at the Chain Reaction parking lot to and prepared to ride – obvious misnomer ignored. 

Coach Don, utterly distraught over my lack of proper Garmin data, circled up to chat over the “Problem of the Missing Cadence.” As mentioned in the last post, we quickly discovered the source of the issue, and, thanks to Don’s handy set of tools and zip ties, solved the missing pedal button in mere minutes. When we all hit the road a few short minutes later, my computer treated me to a “wheel size calculated” message, which assured me (falsely) that we’d rectified the problem.

The reigned in pace of Saturday’s kickoff ride had barely whetted my appetite for bike time. I hit Foothill feeling strong, and immediately jumped my pace up to take the lead of the pack. And that’s pretty much where I stayed (usually less than a light’s worth of gain ahead) for the rest of the ride. I fear that I wasn’t super sociable for most of the trip; conversing mainly at stoplights and then at our rest stop. But my body was screaming to “gogogo” (even if, for me, that translates to a mildly unimpressive 15mph)… so, I went!

About midway through the ride, one of our other participants, Butch, caught up to us and rode with the group for awhile. He pulled Don and I down an excellent speedy stretch of Alpine before breaking off to join his family for breakfast. For the record – my “fast” more resembles those two’s “moderate pace”… but man was it fun chasing their tails! I made a break from the group again as we rode through the Stanford back to Foothill stretch, and spent the rest of my ride leap-frogging some snarky iPod-sporting dude in a club jersey. Side note safety tip: don’t ride with headphones in your ears people – it’s almost impossible to hear anything at 20mph without adding likely terrible music to the mix! 

Sadly, my pace slowed considerably in the last 3-5 miles of the ride. You remember that “Oops forgot to downshift out of the giant gear before that stoplight” knee twinge from a few weeks back? Yeah… that bad boy is still kickin’ around. I’ve been suffering an intermittent joint clicking ever since, but (oddly enough) it usually only presents when I’m going from standing to sitting or vice versa – never when spinning. Or, more accurately, “never when spinning” until I push off a couple times on that leg in too high of a gear! Pair that with a breakfast devoid of key vitamins (potassium) and you end up with a killer “broke knee and ready-to-seize-on-the-next-big-pull-up calves” combo deal. So I grudgingly eased up, and managed to eke out an average speed that will still 2-3 mph above my last few shots at the same loop. Woohoo!

Now, in case you were worried, I assure that I have not been lax in my food reviews despite our current short rides circuits. I couldn’t justify much food on the 15 mile stints, so I had to gather a couple weeks of tests before posting. No standout performances to speak of… but a few solid “middle of the road” competitors. 

Brand	Flavor	Rated (1-10)	Notes
Food
Clif Bar Mini	Crunchy Peanut Butter	5	Driest of the three mini bars means an overly “granola-y” texture. The peanut butter flavor is actually suitably subtle, but oddly sweet. Not terrible, not fantastic. Just a bit …blah.
Gu Chomps	Cranberry-Apple	8	Pretty much exactly the same rating as last Gu chomp. Good texture, solid flavor (with an unexpected salt kick on the back end). Interesting to note that chomps have the highest complex carbs, amino acids and potassium levels of all the major blocks. Perhaps this offsets their annoying giant packaging?
Drinks
Cytomax	Lemonade	6	Basically a watered down tart lemonade. Slightly weaker than the orange version, but still fairly tasty.
Luna Sport Electrolyte Splash	Lime-ade	4	The oddest combination of a very watery, very sweet limeade on first taste… with a surprisingly salty finish. I didn’t hate it… but I didn’t much like it either. I think the tart component was totally missing (which is typically how I trick myself into drinking my regular water).

As for the ride data, this should be the last week that cadence is missing. It turns out that the pedal sensor was too far from the frame reader, although it was close enough to the wheel monitor — hence the “wheel size” message. I just spent a good thirty minutes or so futzing with the positioning out in the garage (In the cold. And the dark. The things I do for you people!), so hopefully we’ll be all set for tomorrow’s timed ride.

Smooth(ish) Sailing

I might not have had time to test the new bike fully on Saturday, but you can bet I took full advantage of the long weekend to test her out Monday. And man, what a great ride it was! Hilton, Julie and I synced up with Mike (who sadly missed our early weekend adventures) at the Safeway in Menlo park for a 21 mile Woodside-Portola Valley loop. This was a new route for all of us, and I have to say… we really enjoyed it. There were no major climbs, but we passed the access points for at least two that could be easily added to make the ride more challenging (some other day). All but one road had a large shoulder, and the scenery was great. Highly recommended!

After a minor mishap involving me, a brand new bike and a dropped chain 500 yards out of the parking lot, we started with a baby climb up Sand Hill Rd. True to form, Hilton all but sprinted up the thing, leaving Julie, Mike and I to follow along behind him and varying speeds. We reached the summit and were treated to fresh roadkill deer (ew) and a nice decent. Or, more accurately, a descent that would have been nice had a minivan not raced up behind me and honked loudly for… existing (at least as far as I can tell). Asshat. Because startling and knocking over a cyclist going 30mph or so who isn’t even in your lane is such a good plan? Apparently he thought I should take a major highway on-ramp in order to better stay out of his way. Grrrrrrrr!!

Moving on. I spent most of the ride focusing on two main things: learning my new shifters and chasing Hilton’s tail. I’ve heard you improve the most when struggling to keep pace with people who are faster than you. I’m not sure if it’s true yet… but trying to catch him – or even just trying not lag too far behind – was certainly more challenging! The new bike was both fantastic and frustrating. I’ve never had a smoother ride (oh how I love thee already carbon frame!), and the bike felt very responsive on those “I can almost get him, or at least stay ahead of the guy pulling the baby in a cart” sprints… but I was *really* struggling with the stupid half-click front chain ring positions. In some ways I felt like I was back in time two years, trying to how to learn how to shift all over again. At least I didn’t have to re-learn how to clip too!

Beyond some terrible gearing noises (and a second dropped chain just before we ended), there isn’t much to complain about. California apparently realized that Memorial day is traditionally the start of summer and gave us absolutely beautiful weather. All the roads we hit were nicely paved, and everyone was riding pretty strong – if a bit strung out (definitely still some wildly different speeds). I tested and shared a few new food/drink samples and actually found a couple winners! (I seem to be cultivating popularity on rides by bringing enough snacks to share… even when they kinda suck. Guess I’m not the only one who likes to try out new eats!)

Brand	Flavor	Rated (1-10)	Notes
Food
Clif Bar Mini	Chocolate Chip	8.5	Possibly the highest rating I’ve ever given a bar. Clif took some of their classic flavors and shrunk them to roughly 1/3 of normal size. I already liked the flavor, but *really* dig the tiny form factor. I’ve never managed to eat even an entire half of a Clif Bar… so this is perfect for me.
Clif Shot	Chocolate	3	Clif giveth and he taketh away. I don’t want to chew my gels – ever. Chocolate toothpaste might have sounded cool to me as a kid, but as a cyclist looking for a quick, easy to eat snack? Not so much. The flavor didn’t compare to the GU version and the texture was terrible.
Luna Sport Moons	Pomegranate	8	I expected to hate this. Pomegranate just sounds too… rich for a successful cycling food. But I have to say that I was shocked at how much I liked the flavor. Super tasty tart-but-not-too-sour goodness and the exact same nutritional goodness of a Clif shot. I’ll be stocking these.
Drinks
Clif Electrolyte Drink	Lemonade	2.5	I think I’ll just rule out the rest of the Clif energy drinks out now. Same problem as the apple from last week – decent upfront flavor (actually slightly better than the apple) and a crushingly salty aftertaste. If I can’t do Gatorade, there’s no way I can do these.

We celebrated our ride success and the holiday with the traditional Memorial Day meal – P.F. Changs – and vowed to hit that same route up again soon. As it turns out, we’ll be riding it again tomorrow!

OH! And for all my data nerds: Garmin is in the process of shutting down MotionBased and migrating to their new site, Garmin Connect. Most of my activities have already been moved over, save a few larger ones that will lag a few weeks. The new site is pretty awesome — I love the look and feel, and the player functionality — so I’ll likely be uploading all my rides there going forward (MotionBased is actually shutting down for good later this year… I’m just trying to stay ahead of the curve!). That said, GarminConnect does not yet have any ViewPorts that I can export for this site, so for now you’ll have to deal with screenshots from my dashboard. Never fear – they’ll still click through to all the ubergeek info! Check it out!

A Food Interlude

Hey, it kinda rhymes, no? Since Saturday’s ride was unsupported (I miss you SAG!), I had a chance to scarf down a bunch of the new foods that I’ve been saving up. Surprisingly, almost everything I tried this week was pretty darn good! Here’s a quick rundown…

Brand	Flavor	Rated (1-10)	Notes
Food
Accel Gel	Chocolate	8.5	Shockingly tasty. Not pasty, not watery – even in 90+ degree hit. Something on par with a melty milkshake. Has a blend of protein and carbs…not that I understand really why that’s good for me yet.
Accel Gel	Vanilla	7	Good flavor, but a bit overwhelmingly vanilla on a hot day. Think rich vanilla ice cream melted (although not quite that sweet). I liked it, but needed a lot of water to wash it down.
GU	Tri Berry	7.5	Not overly sweet, which I’d expected from a berry gel. I always seem to like the GU texture – but prefer their other flavor options to this overall.
Clif Bar	Oatmeal Raisin Walnut	7	One of my favorite bars thus far. I typically don’t like too many raisins, but this bar is really light on them. A bit too heavy for me to eat once I get going – but a good pre-ride food.

Coach Don asked me this week if I’ve managed to settle on any foods yet after all this trialing. Well, yes and no. It’s a bit too much fun testing to give up, but I have gone out and bought big kid sizes of the Cytomax Tangy Orange (which is almost always in my bottle now), and Clif Shot Bloks – Strawberry. I’d actually be content with almost any of the Blok options, as I really like the texture, but I haven’t been willing to drop the money on another flavor just yet. As for gels, I’m definitely still in the experimental phase, but the GU Chocolate and Accel Chocolate or Vanilla seem to be my frontrunners thus far.

Bedtime now…hill repeats with Garmin data tomorrow!! (Yes, I broke down and bought one. I am so bad!)

What have they Been Feeding You?

Two in one day – I’ll bet you can hardly contain your excitement! With a number of people having complained about my “overly long” posts, I decided to pull this week’s food reviews out into a separate entry. I haven’t put these up in while, so there’s a good bit to catch up on. As usual, some good, some not so good – and at least one that rank down near terrible. Enjoy!

Brand	Flavor	Rated (1-10)	Notes
Food
Clif Shot Gel	Mocha	6	Not a bad flavor overall. More chocolate than coffee, and I swear it had notes of raisin. And yes, I said “notes” like some kind of wine snob – deal. I’d definitely eat it again, especially given that it’s caffeinated.
Clif Shot Bloks	Orange	7.5	If Lemon-Lime is solidified 7up, this blok is solid Orange Fanta. Assuming you like orange soda, this makes for a tasty option overall (not to mention the added benefit of being one of only 2 blok flavors that comes with caffeine).
Powerbar Gel	Strawberry Banana	4	Too sweet, too pasty, too…something. I’m not a typically a huge fan of banana flavored candy/sweets so I wasn’t too shocked that this one didn’t do it for me.
Drinks
Vitamin Water	Revive (Fruit Punch)	8	I love me some Vitaminwaters, even though I’m not sure they really count here. Meh, it’s my blog, I’ll include ’em if I want to! This flavor was new to me and pretty darn tasty; basically a watered down fruit punch. B vitamins and potassium.
Vitamin Water	Power C (Dragonfruit)	7	Don’t know what a dragonfruit is, but bottled into water form – it’s good. Vitamin C + taurine (again – whatever the heck that is).

I really need to get some new drink packets that I’m will to try. I have a couple GU20 orange packets sitting a drawer that I’ve been hesitant to use since my rejection of the raspberry one on our first ride. Anyone have any favorites not listed that I should pick up? Expect quite a few new gel reviews after Saturday – I already bought a bunch to take!

Energy Bars, Gel Shots, and Sport Drinks – Oh my!

As I may have mentioned once before, I’m in the process of auditioning energy food and sport drinks. I am basically the pickiest person ever as far as eating goes. There’s an entire list of wholly banned foods (seafood, mayo, eggs…) and an even longer list of foods I only eat in certain forms or textures (no raw onions – but cooked, little ones are ok, no tomatoes – but I like tomato sauces, only squishy french fries…etc…). Food texture issues are big for me. It’s bizarre, I know – but it’s true. And it makes finding cycle-friendly foods (that I’ll actually eat) quite a challenge. I mean, these things get popular by being the “least-bad” thing around!

Anyway, Charles went to REI for me this week and picked up a new bike map holder, and a bunch of new food and drink options (some I’d never even heard of). Shockingly, there were some pretty decent items in the bunch! Here’s this yesterday’s rundown:

Brand	Flavor	Rated (1-10)	Notes
Food
Clif Bar	Chocolate Chip Peanut Crunch	6.75	I like the flavor on this one better than the Peanut Butter, but less than the mint chip, which puts it pretty high up on my list. On the down side, it took me a full 20 minutes to eat it. Yes, I timed it.
Clif Shot Bloks	Strawberry	9	First time I’d ever heard of these, and I am a big fan. Tastes and feels basically like a big fruit chew. No real complaints about this one!
JellyBelly Sport Beans	Lemon Lime	8	I have no clue how beneficial these guys are (didn’t have my own to read the package), but tasted just like a big lemon-lime jelly bean. Way better than a lot of the other heavy options. Must go find out if they are actually good for me too.
Drinks
CytoMax	Tangy Orange	8	Hands down, the best sport drink I’ve tried thus far. I despise most of the salt-tasting, throat-coating drinks outright (darn you Gatorade!!) and could not have been more shocked that this was actually really tasty. Sweet, tart – like a melted, slightly watery sour candy.

All in all, a very successful day for food tasting. Hooray! Someone also had some magical chocolate-oat-cookie-goodness in a golden wrapper that I seriously need to find the name of and possibly buy stock in. (Anyone know?) More food results after Saturday’s pacelining clinic!

Side note – is anyone else as nervous about the pacelining concept as I am? I haven’t fallen in awhile, but riding in a tight line sounds like pushing it. Poor Coach Keith. 🙂 If I manage not to kill or main anyone (or their bikes), Saturday will be a good day!