Poor Man's Wind Tunnel

I ordered a wind tunnel from ACME Wind Tunnels, but due to Katrina it has not yet arrived. In the mean time I thought I would read a bit about wind resistance. One of the major factors a cyclist must overcome is wind resistance. Other factors include rolling resistance, and of course gravity. One of the major factors affecting wind resistance is frontal area. Yes, I know the shape and slickness of the frontal area has a lot to do with it as well, but reducing the frontal area is key to reducing wind resistance. Anyway without my ACME wind tunnel I decided to take another tact. I thought I would photograph my subject (daughter Liz in this case) from the front, then magically (through some home made software) remove everything from the picture except the bike and person. Voila, the number of pixels left would be a rough gauge of frontal area. For sure I could compare one position on the bike versus another and then determine which position had the smallest number of pixels and therefore frontal area. Given the resolution of modern digital cameras, I was able to "see" the difference when she had exhaled vs. inhaled. That was proof enough for me that I am on to something. I have not run through all the math as of yet, and only consider this to be in the beginning stages but so far I know that Liz takes up 52 % of the frontal area when she rides on top of the bars, 46 % when she is on the hoods, and an amazing 40 % when she is in a somewhat sloppy Time Trial position. Here are all the pictures, including a screen shot of the software that calculated the non background data.

Thanks to the good folks at Electric Pi (www.electricpi.com) for providing me with Electric Pixer, an image annotation piece of software which I was able to add a background removal function.

Celebration Beer Battered Onion Rings

Oh yea, I got my veggies today, onions and ketchup. Nothing better than hot out of the fryer Vidalia Onions with a beer batter. Nothing wrong with this, as long as you don't make a habit out fried foods. The 2006 season starts in two weeks. Party now!

1 cup flour
1 cup beer
1 1/2 tbl salt
1 1/2 tbl oil
2 egg
Frying Oil

Mix flour, beer, salt, oil and egg yolks together, store in fridge a couple of hours. When ready, whip egg whites till stiff and fold into batter. Coat rings and fry at 375 for a few minutes. Other vegetables work well too. Add less flour for a lighter batter and more flour for somewhat thicker batter. I like the lighter variety. For more pictures of the process click Here. Thanks to my daughter Liz for pictures.

Recovery Bars

I'm not sure why I did this, other than powerbars have the mystique of being the endurance athlete's icon for food. I am not a fan of powerbars while riding, because they are just too hard to eat, and well actually most my races are too short for substantial food. I do enjoy them prior and after long hard rides though. I knew from the start that homemade power bars would fall into the category of home made French bread. Its better and cheaper to get it from the store. I have yet to have home made French bread that is better than what I can buy at the store. The same goes for ketchup and pickles. Anyway I did a bit of research on the web and here is what I came up with.

The results were unspectacular. They were edible, but lacked taste. Malto Dextrin is something that is really a sugar substitute, something that is slower burning, but I'm not so sure I buy all that. It is readily available at Beer Making stores. Next time I add more salt and more sweetener, like some honey, or just plain white sugar. Read the label of a power bar. Its got plenty of that high fructose corn syrup.

1 cup Grape Nuts
1 cup Oats
1/2 cup raisons
1/3 cup Whey Protein Powder
1/3 cup Malto Dextrin

1 cup Almonds
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vegetable oil
1 tbl brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground clove

3/4 cup apple juice

cooking spray

First toast almonds
Preheat oven to 250.
Add 1 cup of whole almonds to a baking tray. Work in 1 tbl vegetable oil and sprinkle with 1 tsp salt. Bake for 20 minutes. I find this enhances the flavor of any nut.
While that is cooking...

Add grape nuts and oats to a food processor. Process for about 30 seconds or so until the mixture still has some texture, and not quite a flour. Add this a mixing bowl. Add remaining ingredients to bowl except the fruit juice. Once nuts are done, then process 1/2 cup of them in the food processor for about 1 minute. Any more and it will turn into Almond butter which is good too. The other 1/2 cup is a good snack to eat while cooking.

Add nuts to mixing bowl. Mix all ingredients. Add 1/2 cup of apple juice. Stir until all the juice is absorbed and the dry ingredients, well are not dry anymore. This might take a bit less or a bit more, but its not critical. Keep adding more juice until the dough is about the consistency of wet concrete, sorry that's what it reminded me of.
Spread with your hands in an oiled 8x8 baking dish. Bake 25 to 30 minutes in a 350 oven until edges turn dark brown. Remove from oven, slice into bars.

Oh yeah, click the picture to see the real product.

Swimming

In a moment of insanity I thought that this winter I would start swimming in a local indoor pool for aerobic fitness.

My reasons were clear.

1) I have always enjoyed swimming, as I thought I was better than average

2) Little chance of injury, as so well pointed out by Fatty and his article about the perils of running. Every runner and lifter I know has suffered from some strain.

I had two fears

1) In the olden days...swimming was thought of as a sport no cyclist should ever do. Something about building up muscles not necessary for cycling

2) I could hear my old Belgian Coach "If you feel good enough to (swim,run,lift...) you feel good enough to ride. Of course that tends to burn you out a bit maybe.

I decided to look the other way and try swimming.

I did my research and decided to try THIS plan

My feelings so far

1) Swimming sets the low bar for exercise excitement. Basically its the same view, music is not possible (uh without spending mucho $ on THIS )

2) I had swimmer's ear within a week. Ok its not as dehabilitating as a bummed knee, but nevertheless it was worrisome. I've fixed this with ear plugs, and actually wear them all the time now, especially around the kids.

3) The local pool has convenient hours for laps 5:30AM to 7:30 AM. Wow two hours available, and what a nice time....Arghhh

4) With the cost of building heat going up, I think they have decided to turn off the pool heater.

5) My arms give out before I give out of breath. In other words I have to build up muscles in useless areas before this become anaerobic.

6) Turns are still a problem for me and I am sure my style has a lot to be desired.

7) I feel like I could eat a buffet of Denny's Grand Slams after 45 minutes. From a staying lean perspective, I'm not sure I am going the right way.

8) The process of driving to the pool changing, showering is no more efficient than riding.

9) I do like the idea that I can't flat or have a mechanical, and I guess not having to put on 14 layers of clothes is nice.

From Here
1) I will finish out the routine, which will take me a couple more months.

2) I am just as confused as ever about what to do in the off season. Part of me says, hell just ride the bike. Part of me says no, too much riding when I am not trying to build up to something is just a recipe for burnout.

3) This whole guilt thing caused by am I riding too much or too little is anything but peaceful.

Foundation Sauces

In my humble opinion sauces transform an ordinary dish and take it to memorable levels. They are an important part of why restaurant food sometimes tastes better than what can be prepared at home, and are a study all their own. Sure many sauces are a bit heavy on the butter (hollandaise) but there are many that are wonderful and add flavor and fun without tons of fat. Here are two of my favorites, both traditionally used on beef. Many sauces can be made in large batches, then frozen in small containers for later use. Both these are of that type.



Peppercorn Steak Sauce

1/2 cup white wine
1 shallot finely chopped
2 TBL coarsely crushed peppercorns
1 can consommé
1 can chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy cream

Bring white wine, shallots, and crushed peppercorns to a boil in a heavy saucepan; simmer until mixture is reduced by 1/2, about 5 minutes. Add consommé and chicken broth, boil until reduced by 1/2 again, about 25 minutes. Add heavy cream and cook until sauce coats spoon. The resulting sauce will be thin and could be thickened with corn starch if desired. This has quite a peppery taste, it might be best to try 1/2 the amount of cracked peppercorn on your first try just to make sure.


Brown Sauce
A great sauce invented by my dad. Its got lots of tastes and sure cuts the time required to cook a traditional brown sauce

1 onion chopped
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 carrot grated
3 TBL flour
1 can consommé
1/2 cup red wine
1 can water
1 TBL Kitchen Bouquet
1 tsp parsley

Sauté onion in vegetable oil until they just begin to brown. Add carrot , stir for a minute. Add flour and stir for another minute. Add remaining ingredients. Simmer for an hour until reduced by 1/2.

A Few Of My Favorite Things

There is a direct correlation between the local weather and the motivation I have to do anything other than exist. Ergo no imaginative blog reports. Although I did happen upon THIS site, and found it reassuring that my Krispy Kremes are not on the wanted poster.