Happy Birthday

I anxiously awaited my birthday present from my folks, Chris Carmichael’s latest book on fitness. This book is a companion to his previous book regarding periodization and diet. His last book could have been reduced to the following and saved a lot of trees.

Energy expenditure changes throughout the year due to changes in cycling intensity and duration, ergo diet should change as well.

There are 4 quantum time steps in the cycling calander. The following table is really what the first book expands upon.



So there you have it, yet another quick an easy formula to instant success.

The Cookbook is broken down into recipes for each Period and includes everything from Energy Bars to Oven-Seared Chicken Breast with Black Beans and Orange Sauce. NOTE: I have not cooked anything from the book as of this writing, but plan on trying both of these recipes in the coming days, and will let you know. All the recipes look easy and don’t have a lot of steps which makes it approachable for mortals with teenagers who have to eat the same meal as you and are not real concerned with exactly what training period they are in. All recipes contains basic nutritional information along with icons depicting is this dish a Fire Starter, Rapid Replenisher, Building Block…. There are a few nice photographs that make the otherwise boring text attractive.

Luckily Chris hooked up with a professional chef who created these recipes. You can criticize Chris for potentially many things, but he does know how to opportunistically use other's talents.

Blast From the Past

This photo is of the “cannibal” Eddy Merckx and my old cycling coach Nestor Gernay. Eddy is clearly not as fit as he was during his peak, but I guess when you have suffered as much as that man certainly did, you deserve to take it easy in your later years. The photo was given to me recently by an old cycling friend, and was taken during the Olympics when they were in Atlanta. Merckx is legendary and defines cycling’s best. Nestor is most likely unheard of in the cycling ranks outside of the South East. Merckx and Nestor are good friends and both are Flemish. I can recall many a ride in the bus listening to stories of famous Flemish cyclist and the cruel conditions which they seem to thrive. The Paris-Roubaix classic defines Belgian cycling. Bad roads and bad weather. Winners are legendary and hopefully Flemish.
Bars in Belgium have famous cyclist pictures on the wall, and you will most likely find professionals changing before the race in the bar, waiting to ride the pave.
Nestor is in his 60s now, but still rides competitively, and is always willing to share his passion of cycling with anyone who will listen. It was his ability to paint a seductive picture of cycling that got me going and to some degree keeps me riding today. Cycling as a kid kept me from being a delinquent, and today probably keeps me from being 200 lbs. Eddy is wearing a retro Savanah Wheelman jersey, which of course has the Belgium colors. The Savannah Wheelmen has been around a long time and they still have the equivalent of our Tuesday night series, albeit everyone is deadpan flat.

Foundation Gazpacho Valverde

This fresh, seasonal and potentially fiery cold soup is named after my favorite new Spanish Tdf rider. Gazpacho is a Spanish dish that can only really be prepared during the summer, when its hot and the tomatoes are ripened on the vine. Its imperative that fresh tasty tomatoes be used. Its important to finely dice the vegetables as well. I like spicy foods, so I add chopped jalapeño and some of the hot sauce used in this.

4 cups fresh tomato pulp chopped. (skins removed)
1 cup v8
½ cup chopped cucumber
1 cup chopped bell pepper (different colors are fun)
½ cup chopped sweet onion
½ tablespoon dried basil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
½ tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon PICAPEPPA sauce
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Chopped purple onion for garnish

Optional
1 Jalapeño finely minced and seeded
Tabasco or Hot Sauce to taste
Consommé


Spend some time chopping vegetables fairly finely or use a Cuisinart. Add all the ingredients. If the soup is a bit thick, add more V8 or Consomme. Serve very cold and top with a garnish of chopped purple onion.

Enjoy

Foundation Shrimp And Grits

A slightly revised rendition of a low country classic. The low country is the coastal areas of the South East, whose epicenter is Charleston, South Carolina or Savannah Georgia. Don't be scared off by the grits, there are plenty of tastes and textures going on, and this is a great dish to introduce your palette to ground corn. While shrimp is not unknown as a breakfast item, this is usually served as a dinner entrée. Lots of protein and carbs, and really very little fat. Pictures coming soon, or rather the next time I make this.

Per Serving
3/4 cup cooked grits (cook according to directions on box)
1/4 cup shredded cheese (sharp cheddar works well)
Hot Sauce (optional)

1 slice of deli ham
olive oil
(Traditionally bacon is used and the rendered fat of the bacon is used to sauté the vegetables)

1/4 cup diced red pepper
1/4 cup diced yellow pepper
2 cloves garlic

6 good size shrimp

Start grits boiling, near the end add the shredded cheese and keep stirring. Hot sauce may be added as well.
Slice the ham into bite slice pieces and cook in sauté pan until brown. Remove ham from pan and add a tbl of olive or canola oil. If bacon is being used, then cook bacon until crisp, remove from pan and use bacon grease instead of oil.

Sauté garlic and vegetables until soft.
Remove garlic and vegetables from pan

Cook shrimp until pink and just done. More oil may be required.

To plate, pour grits onto serving dish, top with shrimp and vegetables and then ham and crumbled bacon.

Enjoy

Culinary Report: Park City, Utah

The majority of my meals in the past week have been home cooked. Nothing new there, but many of them I did not prepare, which is totally foreign for me. I learned a few tricks (home made pasta while on the road…) was incredible, and just to see what everyone likes and dislikes is interesting.
Today I had the chance to venture out and try some of the local cuisine (besides Starbucks and Quizno’s subs)
All Park City Cuisine is divided into 3 parts. Main Street (DisneyLand), Red Rock (Disney World) and everything else. Everything else is not too interesting and the Main Street area while interesting is way overpriced. I went back for Southwestern food for lunch, and was disappointed at the value (Food Quality / Food Price). Late this afternoon I visited Red Stone Shopping Center and tried 2 different places.
The first Wild Oats Natural Eatery at first glance is an organic, Nazi Eco Friendly (California) style market place that has both a restaurant and selective grocery store. The salads and deli items did look good and fresh, and certainly they had a huge assortment of power bars the like. A definite stop for those who care about what they eat. Also for those who care an assortment of organic chap stick.
The second was the cornerstone restaurant called Red Rock. Just like any American Beer Centric restaurant, it was cold, sterile and loud. The food value though was much higher than that of Main Street. I had the local beer, steak and Jalapeño pizza with a house salad for about 12 dollars. They also had OLN on and where showing the tour (in case I missed something on the first two showings today I saw), and they had a display of the cycling kit which their bike team rides in. How cool is that?

Utah Masters Nationals

The race I was peaking for has come and gone. It has been the fastest 6 days I can recall. If I was Hemingway, I’m sure I would have no problem translating my feelings into a few sentences of crisp declarative thought. But it’s just me, an engineer who struggled with English and dreaded anything to do with writing in general.
I’ve learned that there is a long continuum of cycling talent. My exposure to team rides, Tuesday night training races, the USCF weekend races was put into a global perspective when I collected my thoughts on racing in the National scene. For sure I was not one of the stronger riders. I don’t come away with my head down, but a better understanding of what is possible. If I were not exposed to this level of talent, I would never know what is possible. I am blessed with the desire to keep trying harder. I look forward to the new levels of suffering I experience and dole out.
To be sure Utah has some great terrain that is challenging, but I wouldn’t trade my normal training rides for what I experienced this weekend. I will never forget the 5 mile climb from our Hotel to the top of a snow peaked ski resort with mansions dotting the hillside as you go through switchbacks and alpine vistas.
Cycling is a wonderful sport to not only keep you physically fit, but allows you to relax in some spectacular rides. For both of you that have read my blog, its a toss up between Maui and Park City Utah. I will continue to exlore new cycling routes.

A week of rest, then back to the grind of training and racing.