Monthly Archives: January 2016

One Advantage of Not Travelling

This entry was posted in Just Life on by .

I tend to think that I eat okay.  I don’t really have any specific diet, but try to eat healthy.  Eating healthy is a little trickier now because “they” can’t really tell us what it is best to eat to stay healthy.  This isn’t even addressing what we “need” to eat to be an athlete.  It is so all over the place that I’ve pretty much given up on it and just try not to eat too much at any one time.

Last night I made pizza.  It is so easy and doesn’t really take that long, other than having to make the dough for the crust an hour before.  After that it is just a bunch of vegetables and cheese on the dough, thus pizza.  It cooks about as fast as I can make the pizzas, so it is pretty time efficient.  I was a little slow yesterday because of my broken thumb.

The best thing about pizza at night is bread for french toast the next morning.  There is really about nothing better than french toast made with fresh bread.  Just about anything you can dump maple syrup on is pretty great, but french toast has to be at the top of the list.  Add some fresh fruit and it qualifies for healthy eating, in my book.  Seems decadent.

This is one advantage of being home.  Even when I’m at Dennis’ or somewhere else I’m super comfortable, I don’t eat as well as I do at home.  I’m staying pretty light this year.  I’m hoping it isn’t from losing muscle mass, which is a distinct possibility.   Whatever the reason, it isn’t going to be an effort to get to race weight.

I’m really not sure what my race weight is now.  It used to be around 158, but that is my heavy weight now.  I guess I’m going to try to stay around 5 pounds less than that this year, somewhere in the lower 150’s.  I think trying to stay in the 140’s is too hard, plus it seems like I’m always teetering on the edge of illness.

I made a pumpkin pie yesterday too.  I love pumpkin pie, really all pie.  And again, I like it better the next day. I have a couple pieces left over in the fridge and plan to eat it before riding today.

I am going to try to ride outside today.  First time in nearly 3 weeks.  I’m not really doing it for me, I’m doing it for the local guys that only have the weekends to ride outside.  It isn’t the perfect day.  It is going to be in the lower 30’s and cloudy.  The side streets are a little icy, but the main streets and county roads should be clear.

Vincent is racing in Arizona right now.  I’m interested in hearing about the race.  I talked to him yesterday and he said they rode about 10 miles of the 45 mile race and it was desert racing, plus rocks.  I would have loved to get my new dual suspension bike out there.  Pretty soon.

Okay, I pity you if you live in the Northeast.  2 + feet of snow doesn’t disappear that fast.  You will probably be inside for the foreseeable future.

Pie crust from yesterday.

Pie crust from yesterday.

Pie in the oven.

Pie in the oven.

Pizza dough that has risen.

Pizza dough that has risen.

I've been having a bunch of soup recently.  And avocados.  Check out the climb on my computer in Argentina.  It was crazy.

I’ve been having a bunch of soup recently. And avocados. Check out the climb on my computer in Argentina. It was crazy.

French toast this morning.

French toast this morning.

Zwift

This entry was posted in Comments about Cycling on by .

I went down to Lawrence with Bill and Trudi last night to eat with my team mates and have a couple beers.  We hadn’t gotten together this year and it was nice to catch up some. We were waiting at Freestate Brewery, but it was going to be over an hour so we ended up down the street eating Mexican food.

Anyway, after dinner we were all talking about how hard it was to train since there has been ice and snow on the roads for the last couple weeks.  Eventually, my two young team mates, Benn Stover and Garrick Valverde started talking about riding Zwift.  A couple days ago, a few guys left comments that I should try Zwift to help shorten the perceived trainer times.

Zwift is a 3D cycling app that allows a rider to participate with other riders on the internet.  It has different courses and you can race or just ride different places.

I’ve known about Zwift for quite a while.  My friend, Mike McCarthy sent me an email a couple years ago about trying it out  Mike was World Champions in pursuit and is in the Bicycling Hall of Fame.  It was in the prototype phase then and since I didn’t really think I’d ride a trainer that much, I just skipped it completely.

Now I’m sitting at a team dinner and listening to Garrick say that he was riding along the coast and a group of 60 guys blew by him and he had to chase them all day.  It was funnier than shit. Benn said the same thing, he was “riding” along with one other guy and the guy jumped him.  It is so weird listening to them talk like it was really happening when in reality, it is an interactive video game.

Anyway, I think I might have to try it out some, just to keep up to speed with current trends.  It would be like not knowing about Strava as a cyclist, so it is nearly mandatory to at least get up to speed with it.  It you go to the Zwift website, you can get a couple weeks free.  I think if you’re a Strava premium member, that expands to two months.  That would get you most of the way through the winter, unless you live on the Canadian border.

Anyway, I’ll let you know when, or if, I try it out.  I rode outside yesterday for a couple hours and have a scheduled ride again today at 12:30.  It is supposed to be nearly 40 today, but windy once again.

zwift copy