Yet Another Energy Bar Recipe

1 tbsp peanut butter
1 tbsp powdered cocoa
1 tbsp molasses
3 tbsp honey
1/2 cup oatmeal
1/3 cup chopped trail mix

If you have a gel flask, then just mix the first four ingredients. It makes a nice tasty gel. The nutritional content is as follows:

(first 4 ingredients only)
Carb: 72.5g (290 cal. = 75.5%)
Fat: 8g (72 cal. = 18.8%)
Protein: 5.5g (22 cal. = 5.7%)
Total cal.: 384

With oatmeal:
Carb: 98.5g (394 cal. = 74.3%)
Fat: 10.5g (94.5 cal. = 17.8%)
Protein: 10.5g (42 cal. = 7.9%)
Total cal.: 530.5

Disclaimer: I made this recipe up after looking on line at several other recipes. If this recipe happens to appear anywhere else on the internet, I don't know about it and don't mean to be thieving.

Music for the Masses (of riding I do)

I keep meaning to write more often, about all the interesting training and riding and other such stuff I do. But then I get busy or forget or want to sleep instead. Sleep is very important. If I get enough sleep then I can ride more, which I like! I try to get at least seven hours of sleep every night. This week that did not go so well since I had an all night experiment to attend one night. It was rather amusing though. I arrived home about seven AM Thursday morning. After eating and checking email I couldn't keep my eyes open any more so I went and laid down and fell asleep almost instantly. It was about eight AM at that point. Exactly at ten AM I sat upright in bed and proceeded to get up and wander aimlessly around the house. I later realized that I had not been really awake when I got up. After doing mostly nothing for an hour I went back to sleep for another two or so hours. I was still tired, but I managed to enjoy the rest of the day and get to bed early.

Saturday I needed to be at work all day again, so I took my long ride Friday morning. I went out to Uinta National Forest and climbed up to Tibble Reservoir. From the base of the climb to the reservoir is about six miles. This took me an entire hour to climb. It doesn't seem all that steep, but it is steep enough. I also didn't really want to go anaerobic during the climb so I kept to an easy pace.

I did not have my usual fuel to drink while I rode. This is not a problem for rides under two or so hours, but after two hours of just water I start to bonk even if I have eaten a large breakfast. I did not eat a large breakfast Friday but I did stop at the Bagelry to nab a bagel that fit nicely in my jersey pocket. Along with the bagel I took a baggie of trail mix and a plastic wrapped energy bar concoction I had made. The three of these enabled me to finish my ride although I was still fairly hungry by the end since I only finished off the bagel, and I didn't touch the trail mix. The energy bar was tasty but since I had to squeeze it from the plastic wrap it was not so easy to eat as quickly as I needed the calories. I ended up eating about half.

And my new MP3 player arrived today. It is great!

Stress (in very large doses) Can Kill

Did you know that too much stress can kill you? Of course, too much of anything can kill you. Mind you, it has to be a lot of stress for a very long time. And stress is cumulative. So, if you are stressed about your job and whatever relationship you are in and finances and then you physically stress you body, your body can react badly. This falls into the category of overtraining.

Overtraining is when you do not give your stressed body time to return to its normal baseline between sessions of stress. This is why when you are training hard you should check your heart rate and your weight every morning. An increase in heart rate of 10% above normal means your body has not recovered from the previous day's workout. Furthermore, a decrease in body weight of 10% or more means you failed to adequately hydrate yourself the previous day. Another thing to check for during heavy training is how long and how well you slept. If you slept 10% less than normal, that is also a bad sign, but not in and of itself indicative of overtraining.

I mention all of this merely because this last week I worked out at the gym hard Thursday night then I rode hard on Friday and Saturday my HR was up by more than 10% and my weight was down from the previous day a few pounds. So I skipped riding, but I did go do an outdoor labor service project and helped clean a camp ground. I was quite tired and very, very thirsty for the rest of the day. Abnormally thirsty, I would get up in the middle of the night to chug 20 oz of water. That night, I woke up around 3 AM and was just awake. For an hour or so. Insomnia is another sign of overtraining. Sunday morning my HR was still extra high and I was still very tired and thirsty. So I spent most of the day laying down and reading or sleeping. By that evening my HR was back to normal, for which I was very glad.

This morning I spent some time adjusting my training schedule to give me more days off but longer rides on the days I do ride. I believe this will help my body better be able to accommodate the stresses I will be inflicting upon it.

New Tires Good, Flats Bad

So I was pelting down a hill yesterday when I hit a hard bump and noticed that my bike was riding unusually stiff all of a sudden. I looked down and sure enough, going 35 mph I had blown a flat. I carefully slowed down and hauled my bike onto the side of the road. A quick inspection of the tube showed the malefactor - the valve was almost ripped out. I am not sure how such a thing could happen, but I suppose that a weak spot had developed there and so when the pressure peaked by hitting a bump, it just blew out. Fortunately I always care and extra tube and a bike pump. Unfortunately, the pump no longer will get my tire pressure above 60psi. But that is usually enough to limp to the nearest bike shop.

I hope I don't get a flat today since now I have used up all my tubes and have no extra to carry with me. Riding off!