Run Forrest Run

The kids favorite restaurant is oddly enough Bubba Gumps. They disdain seafood, yet the menu is full of various shrimp dishes. It's home to some great onion rings and the best hush puppies on earth. They are basically corn meal, shrimp and whole kernal corn all fried up, served up with a mediocre sauce remoulade. Ok the diet went on vacation that day.

Merry Christmas

Aloha from the islands. It took 20 hours door to door to get here but we quickly transformed into island moods and behaviors. I tried recording the morning sounds of the birds that awoke us each day, but that didn't work too well. Christmas in the tropics is not too different from Christmas in the snow. Without a lot of people, its basically a present opening morning followed by whatever each of wants to do which means body surfing, riding, and of course special meals. Here is a photo of the view from our condo in the morning. Again if I was really smart, I would add sounds and smells. The sound would be a cacophony of tropical birds, and the smell would be coffee brewing in the kitchen. Here is a picture of sunset, sorry I didn't experience the "blue" flash some people have witnessed of the sun setting on the pacific.

I was able to ride every day. Each ride started out with 40 minute out and back route that took me along resort row in Wailea. The road slowly turned into an ocean side route with various small hills and lots of views of the ocean. The only trafic to speak of were scuba and snorkling folks getting in and out of their car. The road ended with a very narrow road that went through lava fields. Its looks a bit like another planet save the ocean and distant Mt. Haleakala. More on riding later.

Saturday Fun

Today the team went for a training ride through the rolling hills of somewhere. I never knew quite where I was until we were 20 minutes from our finishing point. It was a spirited ride with the usual intra team antagonism, both physical and verbal. Someone asked what we talk about when we ride, so today I tried to pay attention to the conversation. Ok now I know, but its top secret so I can't really divulge what I heard. Just kidding, actually most of the talk is just about bikes, equipment, and the usual acute analysis of other riders.

Today’s ride was a bit embarrassing for me. On the first town line sprint, I dropped by cell phone, on the second my chain came off (I was lucky to have survived), and on the third, my crescent wrench used to fix the previous problem came tumbling out. After that I found myself with few riders on my wheel. I did manage to do ok in the fourth sprint and dropped nothing. Note to self, zip up all pockets before riding.

It was a banner day though, for the 18th of December we were blessed with blue skies and a clear road. I will take that any day.
Mostly a zone 2 day with some pushing up some hills and a few sprints just to keep the blood moving through the legs. I got in just over 4 hours, which I felt good about.

My shoulders were sore in the last hour, not from the ride so much but from yanking dry wall off the day before and the muscles becoming suspect that they would be used to hang more of it today. Thankfully I am all done with the drywall. As my brother always says, there are two things people shouldn’t do, drywall and whatever we happened to be struggling through at the time. He is right, it’s a thankless job.

Weighing In

Today I want to touch on the delicate subject of a cyclist’s weight. I see people spending tons on carbon fiber seat posts just to save weight, so it must be important. I also know that a 200 HP motorcycle can out accelerate a 200 HP SUV by a long shot. So that tells me lower weight given the same power is a good thing.
Speaking of seat posts I see Bontrager sells an aluminum one for $50 that weighs 235 grams and a carbon one that weighs 175 grams for $140, that’s $90 dollars for 60 grams of savings, which is about $680 per pound. I can’t see any difference on performance of losing a pound off your bike vs. losing a pound of stomach fat. So for each pound you lose, congratulate yourself by paying yourself $680. Or if your coach has you on a regiment that allows you to lose a pound, then pay him/her $680.
The struggle with losing weight is the following. Everyone knows lighter is better, but at the same time, going without food is certain death or “bonking” which has negative affects for days. As insurance we tend to over eat, just to have enough gas in the tank, but over eating leads too much weight.
You can’t understand something unless you can measure it, some engineer said that and its true. So I first used a program on http://www.fitday.com/ to keep track for an entire month what I ate. Here are the results for a week.

Looks like I don't get enough E, K and Zinc. Anyone know a good tasting recipe with E, K, and Zinc, let me know.
Keeping track of total caloris in vs. the calories I burn on the bike (thank you polar S720), and looking at my weight during that period, I would have a better idea of what I need to maintain or thus lose a few pounds. Basically this is a good way to learn what your body burns by not riding, which is more or less constant. I don't know where I am going with this, other than I recommend trying to keep track of every calorie you eat for a month or a week at least. Its amazing what you learn about the food you eat everyday.

Cedar Plank Smoked Salmon

Hello, my name is Taylor, and I am a smoke-aholic. I love smoked food. I have smoked just about every meat, fruit and vegetable I can think of, and thats a lot of failures, like the smoked bananas, but thats another column for another day.

The guys at work starting smoking salmon on cedar planks before it became popular and Williams and Sonoma sold $20 engraved cedar planks.

So why use cedar planks

• It gives the salmon a unique flavor (maybe, but I can't tell)
• It keeps the salmon moist (maybe, but again I can't tell)
• It keeps the salmon from going through the grill and it makes an easy way to place, remove and serve the salmon (ding ding ding, thats right)

So if you have a smoker then this foundation recipe is for you, if not then I guess you could do this on a grill with smoking wood, but I have not tried that.

I buy a palette of non treated cedar shingles at a Home Depot or the like. Its cheap and will last forever, also the smaller shingles are good for starting a fire in the smoker.

Spread olive oil on one side of the shingle. Place salmon fillet skin side down on the shingle. Salt, pepper, what ever spices you like on the fillet.

Once the smoker is smoking and is at about 275, then place the salmon on shingle into the smoker. Keep the smoker just under 300 and it takes about an hour. A salmon fillet is different thicknesses, so the edges will be more done than the center. The juices will start to form when its close to being done. The center should just have turned opaque when its done. Time varies depending on temperature.

Bring to table on shingle and have people cut off a slice of their liking. Enjoy!

Week 2 of the Hostage Crisis

Today's ride will mark the end of the second week of the 2005 season and the second week cycling has posessed my soul. Yesterday's ride with the team was in Belgian Classic weather, cold, raining and flirting snow. Its always nice to have company for a zone 2 day in bad weather. I enjoyed a Recovery Chocolate Latte when I got home to dry and thaw out. Its still dark out now but it looks like there is a layer of snow on the roads which will challenge my discipline and my 3 mantras.

• When in doubt, ride.
• When in doubt, ride right now.
• When in doubt, ride outside.
  

Which are generally used to answer the internal questions I ask myselft, "Should I ride today, perhaps this afternoon, maybe on the trainer?" These questions only come up in non ideal weather. I've ridden everyday except a couple of rest days, when I actually stayed off the bike instead of the classic recover spin. I'm not sure of the whole spinning for recovery methodology, it reminds me of the classic hangover remedy of having a beer in the morning to feel better, the feeling is only temporary. I've felt really good these last two weeks, and look forward to pushing myself when the time is right

Recovery Chocolate Latte

Recently science has provided endurance athletes with a new option in recovery drinks. Chocolate Milk, the elixir of our youth turns out to be just as potent as the high priced terrible tasting commercial recovery drinks.
Don't believe me, well here is one of many articles on the web, hey the web wouldn't lie.

Many of my long training days happen early in the season when the temperatures are fairly cold, and I want my recovery drink to not only replenish my glycogen, but also warm my soul. This is the ticket. If you don't have an espresso machine, then I highly recommend purchasing one, if you are regular coffee shop patron, just look at what you are paying and do the math.

1 cup skim milk
1 scoop whey protein (optional)
2 shots espresso
1 tbl milk chocolate (miniature kisses)

Add chocolate and whey protein to milk. Steam mixture, the chocolate will melt during this process. Make espresso and pour both espresso and steamed milk/chocolate/protein into your cup.

Recipe Categories

And now for a bit of personal culinary organization. All recipes contained within this blog will fit nicely into one of 4 categories.

Foundation: A health conscious recipe that can be used at almost any meal. Like the name implies, these dishes or the like should make up the majority of your daily calories. Each dish has the appropriate ratio of carbs/fats/protein for an endurance athlete

Recovery: These meals are meant to be eaten after a difficult training session or competition to efficiently restore glycogen to the muscles. They are usually either able to be quickly prepared or reheated so there is no waiting around after the event.

Specialization: An item that has a specific nutritional purpose, such as something that can be taken in your pocket while training, or a dish that amplifies one of the nutritional categories such as protein or a specific mineral to make up any deficit that may occur to the athlete.


Celebration: While not unhealthy, these meals are meant to be reserved for special occasions, perhaps after a particularly difficult training session or a podium finish for yourself or a teammate. They may contain slightly more sugar or fat than the other categories. At the same time they are made from little processed foods are a healthy alternative to the fast food milkshake.

Celebration Cornbread

I like to make special meals or dishes whenever I have achieved some personal goal. The goal could be finishing a rather difficult training day, say for instance hill repeats, or achieving some weight goal, or even a podium finish for a local training race. I am sure they are serving fried shrimp and cold beer in heaven when I finish this life.

Cornbread can be made even more healthy by substituting vegetable oil for butter and adding some vegies and perhaps a scoop or two of protein powder (its tasteless)

1 Jalepeno chopped
1/3 cup Canola Oil
1 Cup unbleached flour
1 Cup cornmeal
5 tbl Honey
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Cup Skim Milk
1 Large Egg, beaten
1/4 Can (4 oz) of Corn (drained)
1 scoop Whey protein powder

Preheat Oven to 400. Saute chopped jalepeno in oil in a black cast iron skillet. Mix remaining ingredients in a large bowl and add to this the oil/pepper combination. Mix well. Pour batter back into skillet and bake in oven for 25 to 30 minutes until brown on edges and a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cut cornbread slices into pizza like slices. This is best served hot. Microwave cold pieces to return to oven baked state. I'll keep experimenting to make an even healthier cornbread, by substituting multiple egg whites for a whole egg and removing some of the honey. Besides you can always add honey or maple syrup at serving time.

A link worth visiting

My favorite action photographer http://bluezy.com/carolineyang/index.html
Check out her TdF photos, oh yeah the wedding photos are good too. Having tried action photography myself I am humbled when I see it taken to this level

Powerbar Review

Every cyclist has struggled with the proper nutrition while in competition. Powerbars and the like remain the favorite. But lets spend a few mintues looking at the product and how it functions. To begin with opening up a Powerbar requires Houdini like skills, all the while I am struggling just to maintain my position in the group. The packet is anything but easy openening. I have in a relaxed state looked at all the directions, and still find it difficult to open a package with one hand and teeth. Two hands is not an option, as that does not leave one available for steering. Once opened, even peeling the foil back enough to expose a bite size portion is sometimes difficult. Too cold and it doesn't peel, too hot and the bar sticks to the packaging. Once exposed, there is the presentation of the product. It looks much like a Dura Flame fire log looks, a melange of floor sweeping held together by some sweet glue. Luckily the manufactures were kind enough to create a product devoid of any smell, otherwise it would be difficult to get them past the nose. The taste actually is not bad, but the texture is much like what I envision saw dust would be like.

Having said all that, its a convenient way to get 240 calories down.

I do have a personal challenge of creating a Powerbar like product with an easier opening system, and well a taste I actually look forward to.

My preference is still a Fig Newton. Four cookies give you about the same amount of calories, slightly higher fat and significantly less protein, but the taste and convenience are off the scale compared to my favorite Power Bar.

My How Things Have Changed

Looking through an old training log I owned, I was amazed at the amount of sleep I was able to get when I was teenager, and the amount of steak and eggs I consumed. Here is a page




Yeah, and Mom when I die of blocked arteries, I have an excuse 5 days of steak and eggs.

Roasted Tomato and Garlic Soup

And now for something completely different
A nice winter Foundation soup
2 lbs tomatoes
head of garlic
olive oil
salt
pepper
2 cups vegetable stock
thyme
basil
1/2 cup heavy cream
Cut tomatoes in half and place cut side up in a roasting pan. Place unpeeled garlic cloves along side. Drizzle with olive oil, and salt/pepper. Roast for 20-30 minutes@ 425, until soft. Add stock to pot, heat till boiling squeeze garlic gloves and peeled tomatoes to stock. Use food processor or better yet blend with hand blender while in pot until smooth. Add herbs and continue simmering. Just before serving add heavy cream. The color of final product is subtle orange.

Saturday Ride

A nice zone 2 ride on Saturday



Even though it was below freezing and blowing, It was a beautiful day out. I can't think of a better way to burn 1200 calories. Note to self When temperatures get this cold, Power Bars freeze are very difficult to eat. This was another fixed gear Ontario County exploration.

Maui Cycling

Earlier this year, I tried out http://www.gocyclingmaui.com/ and it was great, but I only got to ride twice. I was introduced to the climb of my life Mt. Haleakala. 10,000 feet of pure joy, and one other near the coast. This time, I thought I would either take my bike or rent something while there, looks like renting is the way to go. Here is the map of some nice routes on the island of Maui

Transport or Rent

Looks like it will cost me about $200 to take my bike. That includes $160 for Delta, $40 for box, not to mention all the hassle. So I can rent a LeMond Tourmolet for $160 a week!

Note to self, this is a good business renting bikes, yikes how about the insurance though.

Island Blog

I thought I would try out blogging and publish my quest to become a better cyclist, and well write about what ever suits my fancy.
I'll start out by talking about cycling and immediately trying to stay cycling fit while on a vacation to the Islands.