sugar alcohols

not actual alcohol...  no those stupid sweeteners that are supposed to replace calories but not the sweet taste people think they can't live with out.

Stevia, Sorbitol...

The list isn't short and the market is huge.  Lets replace "sugar" with something either cheaper (HFCS) 'better' agave/rice syrup/____ or lower calorie, saccharine, nutra-sweet, stevia, truvia, moronia, _____

Sugar.

Sugar.

What to do with you sugar.

Recently i've been kind of tossed into the mix of these replacements when i tried the Hammer Fizz stuff on the RdR 3.0  It 'worked' in that I dropped a tab in my water bottle at the pit stop and then didn't cramp.  BUT that shit fizzed and pressurized the bottles.  Shooting 'electrolyte' and sugar alcohol loaded water all over the place. Kind of messy.  Why the fuck would you make something fizzy that goes into a container that normally gets sealed, or at least closed?  WHAT IS THE POINT?  Marketing genius I tell you.  Disconnect between the idea people and the end users?  Sure leave the top open till it is dissolved.  Yeah that works when you have time to prep it all.

No problems with that stuff except the after taste and the 'mouth feel'  I didn't like it.

Then a team mate gave me a NUUN tablet.  This guy is addicted to this stuff.  He gave me a grape one.  It was pretty horridly flavored and then it messed with my saliva and never really went down right and just was nasty at effort.  Yuck.  That weird aftertaste was there too.  Consistent reports suggest that the sugar alcohols are what cause that feeling of yuckiness.

Some people like it.  I think it is dumb.

Then the Atlantic popped out a tweet with this link: http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/05/how-natural-is-stevia/257882/

Dig through there.  Crazy stuff.  Sure most of it can be extracted with Ethanol.  But unlike Olive Oil from Italy you don't know how it is extracted from the packaging.

Then old Plummer made a comment that nailed it.  Succinct to the point of inspiration (aka writing something down here).

 The money invested in this bullshit is mind blowing. For what - so fatasses can maintain their shitty eating habits.

The truth.  Not just eating habits but drinking habits.

I know that if I just kept using these sugar alcohol containing products I would get used to it.  Just like drinking diet soda, after a while you get used to it and it seems normal.  We humans have amazing tolerance for weird unnatural shit.  Adaptable.

Rather than adapting to being an unheathly pile of cancer prone human, fix your shit and get used to doing it the right way.  Get used to eating foods without adding sugar.  Don't like coffee w/o sugar? Well if you have to have coffee, keep drinking it w/o sugar and cream and after a week, maybe two if you're wicked stubborn, you'll never miss the sugar.  A couple weeks of work for a life time of gain.

Break the habit cycle.  Which is all it is.  A habit.  Smokers don't notice the negative effects.  Give a cigarette to a non-smoker and ask them to describe the negatives.  They'll give you a long list.  None of which a habitual smoker will even recognize anymore.

Food.  Habits.  Soda.  The same as smoking.  Just as deadly.  Just as cumulative.  No, by eating like a carefree dumbass, you aren't going to die right away, and no smoking a pack a day or a pack a week won't make you keel over w/in a month or two, but is the price down the road worth it?  Most people have accepted that the long term impact of smoking on your health and survivability isn't worth smoking.

Soon, maybe people will come to realize that eating shitty processed foods is absolutely and unequivocally equal in every way to smoking.

Now here's the really baffling thing.  Smoking problems aren't really all that visible from the outside.  Yet it is societally accepted as bad.  Food problems? how are they manifested?  IN GETTING FAT!  Um.  Yeah. So.  Confounding.

Bluntly all this work in 'substitutes' 'fake stuff' is just so lazyasses can maintain their shitty eating habits.  Vegans with textured soy protein chicken nuggets ain't get no free pass.  Still fake.  Skip that shit.  Same mentality.  Same behavior.

Eat real food.  Seriously.  It isn't that complicated.  If you want desert, have desert, just not every night, and NO FUCKING FAKE STUFF.

Double churned Vanilla Ice Cream? Oh it has half the fat? Great.  What does it have in it?  Milk? Cream? Sugar? Vanilla?  IT SHOULD HAVE NOTHING ELSE IN IT. Oh wait.  It has other stuff? Oh.

good.

Ice cream so simple.  $60 gets you how much ice cream lately?  10 quart tubs of crap? 10 Pints of high end stuff? Or you get one of these.  Grab and extra freezer bowl if you want to make lots at once.

Then what?  BUY GOOD STUFF.
Milk 2 cups
Sugar yeah the good white stuff - or the raw stuff or something: 3/4 cup
Cream 1 cup of that organic valley heavy cream
2 teaspoons of real vanilla (no HFCS mckormics crap)

I use organic whole milk and dissolve the 365 vegan cane sugar in there in a jar in the fridge. When sugar is dissolved mix the cream and vanilla together, I use the Madagascar stuff from Trade Joes.

Put it in the maker, turn it on.  25 minutes later you have a bit more than a quart of the best Vanilla Ice cream you will ever have.

MADE OUT OF GOOD SHIT THAT WON'T BREAK THE BANK.  Cheap Good.

All you have to do is invest a few minutes of time and effort.  Or in my families case, take advantage of MY willingness to do it for them.  Given the choice I think my wife would probably  just by the ice cream from the store vs going through the effort to make it.  Oh well.  As demonstrated by my family, you only need one person in the house to give enough of a shit.

Fucking language in this post.

horrible.

Accepted sweeteners to have in a pantry to add to your food.
SUGAR
MAPLE SYRUP
HONEY

hmmm

yeah that's about it.  I'm okay with the brown rice syrup that Cliff uses, at least more so as a convenient energy source compared to the alternatives out there.

Enough ranting for the day.

Do the right thing,  but if you don't and I find out, I'm gonna get in your face, or at least get in your brain and make you think about how wrong it is what you're doing...

Heddwch
G

more on fixing the bike "industry"

It is pretty screwed up, but I like 'Bike Shop Girl's' take on it:

http://bikeshopgirl.com/2012/05/war-with-the-industry-starting-with-the-bike-shops/ (don't miss reading her link to yesterday's comment "at war")

Some good solid concrete ways to make it work, or work better.  I saw a bit somewhere else earlier on G+ (actually also from Arleigh)

Growth doesn't require effort; it requires focus. Focus only requires effort when you don't understand this and have your focus elsewhere.-Ariella Baston

Rings true.  Apply it everywhere, and from a bystander behind the great curtain of Oz, it often seems that great amounts of effort are wasted, or resources thrown in directions that aren't positive/growth oriented.  And that's hard to take sometimes...

I believe in bicycles and here I stand to fight the good fight of putting more butts on bikes. Carbon fiber doesn’t do that, fancy new bottom bracket standards or fighting over wheel sizes..sure some good marketing can help, but empowering the industry will. Empowering your local cycling community, finding a new word for advocate and allowing other people to drink from your passion.

That's from yesterday's post.  Today's concrete suggestions are awesome.  Very insightful and exactly what seems to be needed...

Bikes.

I would love an autobahn lane on my bike path.  Geo had a good comment/suggestion over on G+

 Ideally we'd have more rail-to-trail routes - i.e. direct and thus of use to commuters - with a dedicated, unlimited speed, cycling "autobahn" lane where if you come up behind someone ringing your bell it's not your problem, it's theirs :-)

GET OUT OF MY WAY.  That said, as much as I begrudge those slower, more oblivious users on the path, it does give me hope seeing as many of them out there as there are.  Sure they all might be scared shitless to ride on the road and might in fact be some of the same people asking in unfriendly tones if I have a deathwish riding on the road and all that.

More bike paths.  Make them a serious hub, a network, maybe it easy and safe and people will realize slowly that they can transition to the street occasionally.  And if they don't at least they would be on their bike more than they are now.

Building paths takes a ton of cash, lack of NIMBYs, and land to run the lane.  Which is why the work Bikes Belong and other access and advocacy organizations are so critically needed.  Work with what we have to make it safer and accessible to more.

Back to Arleigh's points though.  It doesn't address the problem of the bike shops having a niche that they can exploit but no bike to put in the shop to exploit it.  Esp when the shops hands are tied to a big brand with a high % floor space stocking agreement.  Shops are often stuck with what they can get, but it doesn't mean you can't make it work for you with some focus.  Not effort, but with proper focus.

Focus.  I teach people how to focus as a profession.  The transition from focusing with a microscope to focusing your efforts isn't absolutely parallel but man is it close.  like turning in a station with an analog knob. Move it back and forth until you get the strongest signal.

That is focusing.  make a guess as for your market and tweak the knob until you hit on the perfect mix...  In this digital world we are losing so many good and profound analogies w/o suitable replacements.

heddwch
G

3 hrs in the bag

a bit of a mental health reset, that or i've just totally fried my legs.  Time to recover by standing up for a while.

Long ride with Dr Greve, hard core body blow kind of ride that you can only do when you're evenly matched and can draft.  He's a big tall guy, was fun. Even tagged in on Hillside on the way home.  So much pain.  But absolutely no metrics.  Battery is dead on the sigma HR thing, so other than knowing we left at about 12:10-12:15 and  got back by 2:50 or just before...  and roughly that the route is about 50-60 miles and that my legs are spent, maybe the ride didn't happen.  It isn't on Strava, or garmin or mapmywhateverit or loggable in any form.  Actually kind of nice in a why.  Freed from the data.  Not to mention a fucking KICK ASS ride.

So good.

I got thinking a bit on this 'industry' thing.  It reminds me maybe of 1999/2000 with the gas/electric hybrids and the TDI owners.  A small passionate minority unable to get what they wanted.  Long waits for delivery, no deals, nothing on sale, everything sold out of the lot fast.  Now?  Demand is still high but the companies are making more and more.  It has only taken 10 years or so.  We can't expect the bike industry to exploit the niche w/in a year, or grow a market instantly, but I think people need to take a good hard look at growth, what sells out and not only because they didn't have enough made in China.  So maybe a $470 hybrid is the money maker, high volume, low margin, lots of line items.  Maybe the next market is $600-1000 commuter/city/urban/lifestyle bikes with fenders, racks, coffee cup holders and big soft rubber pedals and comfortable seats with belt drive and disc or roller brakes.

or maybe someone has a better idea.  cross bikes for all....  29er wheels with disc brakes on everything

I dunno...  I'm just thankful there are people who still give a shit to balance out the old pissed off grumpy jackasses who are so frustrated that they have decided to say fuckitall and just enjoy riding their own bike.

heddwch
G

what do do about it

There are good points to the article but as the comments suggest maybe the author is a bit too self serving in suggesting that market opportunities exist but you have to pay her to hear about them.  Sounds like one of those job services,
"We have jobs in your field of interest but you need to pay us."
"Wait, I already know about that one, where are the other jobs?" 
"We don't have any but as soon as we do we will get in touch with you."

Is it an elephant in the room?  Is the problem that the saddles are too uncomfortable?  Is the answer really that you just have to ride and get used to it?

Lets start with that one.  Freddie has taken to comparing riding your bike with playing any sport.  If you don't ever play tennis and you spend two hours with a racket on the court, chances are you're going to be wicked f'n sore the next day.  Or maybe not tennis, maybe something like Basketball, football, canoeing... something athletic, that uses muscles other than walking and sitting on your ass in an ergonomic chair in the car or at home or at work.

Riding a bike, even if you don't make your legs sore, will probably elicit a slightly painful inflammation response from the contact points on the saddle.  Those big fat squishy saddles generally just make a bigger wider sore spot.  And the rest of the 'innovative' saddle options have a draw back in other areas (lack of control, sliding off, what not).  Leave the recumbent side of the story out, yes riding around on a lawn chair is a solution for many, but not all.

There are plenty of people working to make a difference.  To change it up.  Look at Portland, Boston is getting there, plenty of places have made the transition to acceptance of human power as a viable and accepted 'lifestyle.'

Yes.  Europe.  Look over there.  Look at them.  Well just don't look everywhere.  It isn't all Holland, bikes don't belong everywhere.  But this is the United States, not so much Europe and I think the author was more or less talking about problems here in this country, not so much globally.  But certainly global is a challenge, but if you look at the bikes and the options say in bicycle-centric Euro land, they make sense for expanding into a new market around here.  Are those hybrid buyers so critical to Specialized and Trek's success going to go for one? Maybe.  Maybe not.  Hybrids are dumb.  They are the cash cow at the moment for most (at least they have more utility than the MTB cash cow of the '90s or the crappy road bike in the '80s).  But they kind of do everything badly except collect dust in the garage, basement or shed.  The ones that get used routinely are great.  But they also, when used routinely, fall apart.

No good all the way around.

I could go on for hours probably.  Maybe I should.

We'll see.

One thing shop owners have been known to kvetch about is that bike racers always want stuff for free.  And they do.  Most of them anyway.  Shit's expensive honestly, esp paying full ride.  Who does? Not many people really.  Some do, some are fast enough to merit a discount or a full ride, most of those are called Pro's some are just wicked fast Amateurs, and everyone knows their name.

But it isn't just the racers who want free stuff.  Plenty of regular cheap ass consumers want free stuff.  Paul has a great line in response to people balking at labor costs.  "Hey if you work for free, we're always hiring."

Gotta keep the lights on.

When Trek and Specialized are advertising on National TV along with the automotive and drug companies during the nightly news, well then we'll know things are good.

I honestly don't really have an answer, other than I would like to see bikes that people would use more frequently stocked.  The article isn't perfect, but it is a starting point.  If enough people collectively make an effort to solve the problem and expand the industry, maybe we can progress.

The problem is, most shops are stuck only being able to sell what the big manufactures are producing.  If you can only get Trek 7.1s and 7200s in a size range right now, but no PDX or Soho or Alante bikes, well you can't sell what you can't get.  And if you're locked into Trek, well you're pretty much not helping the industry fix itself.

Catch 22.  A shop is stuck with the brands it sells, but if the brand makes a poor forecast on the build schedule everyone is screwed and no one grows and we're stuck in the same old loop, just eeking by.

Rambling over.  For now.  Maybe.

What to do.  What to do...  something needs to be fixed.  Getting kids to ride to school?  Working on that? So many questions, where to find the answers.  People are smart, the answers are out there, I believe there is enough passion in the bike "industry" to make a positive change...  it just needs to be supported, vocalized and acted upon.

heddwch
G

boring bike commuting

Crazy day on the bike... So this bike path being opened means lots of traffic. Lots of it. Not car traffic anymore. I've gotta put a bigger bell on the bike. Was ringing constantly.

A fellow regular was following me and on the downhill stretch as I went out of view he heard the bell start ringing and knew to slow down. He came down the hill to find the pregnant lady walking with two of her kids on bikes with training wheels, one kid on a razor scooter, all weaving across the path on the downhill blind section. 

Oh the joys of summer on the bike path.

Got down to the water section... chased down a guy, (I used him as an unwitting training partner). Into the wind that is being sucked up into a massive line of thunderstorms headed this way. Winds were up around the 20+ range. With the trailer it was fun. Caught the guy passed him and held him off for a bit. The cool down section always does me in. I usually get passed back. Discipline is tough. Gotta get the cool down in.

But at least there are all these people out riding their bikes when they might not have been if it was closed.

I will admit though, as a daily bike commuter on the path: I am looking to the rainy days.


Yes, there were rocks in the trailer.  Two days off and with all the culmination rehearsals and practices and everything else, after a light week I added extra work.  The ride in was pretty much all big ring small cog, low cadence high torque.  The trailer with the extra weight make that possible with CX gearing.  I had actually contemplated taking the rain cover off to make the trailer a bit less aero and to work like a 'chute, but man walking out of the building I nearly got blown over.  Good choice to leave the cover on.


We'll see If i can make tomorrow happen, the wed night right that is.  last week it worked with the threat of rain, we even picked up a handful of riders who decided to bail on committing to ninigret and joined our ride.


Man it is warm though - hoping the thunderstorms blow through tonight and leave tomorrow wide open and clear for the riding of bikes harder than you can on a bike path full of casual users.


One women of note on a bike had a kick ass tattoo, a dandelion gone to see with the seeds blowing off and turning into birds...  flower on the left hip and the seeds and birds moving up to her shoulder on the right side.


Was pretty cool.  A bit too entrancing though.  I think I passed her a bit too close, it could be that she was in the middle of the path, or that there was an on coming cyclist or the wind or...  it was still closer than I normally try to pass people, but man.  There are a lot of people out on bike when it is nice out.  Trying to keep telling myself that it is a bad thing.  Still leaves me wishing for the cold and the rain and winter.


heddwch
G

Wed Night Recap

So much going on it seems. Feeling very lucky to have gotten out for the Wed ride.

With the way the schedules sorted out and a 'oh hey surprise ballet rehearsal' for my oldest last night I did a hybrid commute and revisited my the bike commute of the first year here.  So short.  But it meant a double meeting point for the ride.  4:50 at the shop, 5pm at the Waterman Grill circle.

We rolled out of the shop with Syl, Kirk, Sandy and this big strong kid Terry.  We hooked up with Peng, Fox, Saucier and Mike Brier down at the grill.  

A good group.  Getting through the traffic is always fun but we managed a bit, headed out where they were grinding up 152 and did a modified first version where we headed down Arcade and over Ledgewherever to Jacob.  Pretty spirited and we were rolling along and moving pretty well.  

Weeks and weeks, I keep saying, the town lines are not sprint lines on the race.  Yes. They are town lines but no, just because they are doesn't mean we have to sprint for them.  There are better sprint lines that make the ride harder than those things.  

If you missed the news

in one of the various media streams...

http://dntimmerman.blogspot.com/

Timmerman is officially back.  The skinny bearded one.  Awesome.

just.

awesome

OMB preserver

new slang for the Trailer.

I don't like the backpack when it is loaded down with computers and lunch and stuff.

I don't like racks and panniers.

Messenger bag is better with tons of weight than the backpack but still, not great for the back.

Sticking with the trailer I guess.

At least today.

Added side benefit is that my stuff stays drier in the trailer than on my back.  And I can ride in a manner that mimics training/racing position w/o something on my back.

The trailer is getting kind of beat up.  I don't think they were designed for being used more than occasionally.  Not every day for months and years on end.  Both side zippers have blown out.  there are a few holes in the rain cover...  it needs an overhaul and some time with a sewing machine I think.

Maybe a summer project.

Had an awesome ride in yesterday.  Really pretty awesome.  Legs felt pretty solid.  Was able to crank out a decent pace and push it pretty hard.  Totally didn't put the sigma computer back on this bike because, well I just didn't.  It has been on the Klein since the Thursday ride to Blue Hill/Firefly.

Hoping the rain holds off for tomorrow.  Although if it is warm enough I could be convinced to drag a few folks around in the spray zone.  Black kits FTW!

Felt like I was racing my shadow for a bit on the way in...

One really nice thing other than just feeling good hauling ass and breathing hard was the bike path was nearly deserted.  So nice.  All mine.  MINE.  Head down and go hard.  No brakes needed.

Unlike Sat and Sun.  Still there were four doofus dumbass idiots giving the appearance of training on their road bikes with aero bars.  The path was busy. Lots of people.  And these tools were bent over in the aero bars, tongue out, racing on a multi-use path.  Awesome dudes.  Nice.

They were a contrast to the swollen tomato heads on most of the other bikes though.

Had an idea spurred by the rain, and how most of us who identify with cyclocross have a strange affinity for weather that others would call shitty.  Kind of had an idea to expand on it, but i think i set it back a bit with this morning's work.  Popping the idea back on the percolator.  

Heddwch

G

A few shots from yesterday's ride

I could write more about it in prose but yesterday's write up will suffice. creative license with the words and form and flow.

93 miles

There abouts.  Maybe it was an even 150km.

Maybe not.

It was windy.

Headwind all day.

It was just me.

Me. Alone. No draft.

No worrying about riding someone into a pot hole, or a crack.

No music, no iPod, no phone with music playing.

The wind, a headwind.  All the way there, except when it was a cross wind.

The sun. Brilliant blue sky.

Wind.

Climbed Blue Hill. Slowly. Very. Slowly.

Shifted, after the turn around. The wind. As it does.

Instead of a tailwind in place of the headwind, I had a cross wind.

In place of the crosswind.
It
Was
A
Headwind.

Alone.
Me.
Tires.
Road.

Cars.
Mostly accommodating.

Sunny.
Not insanely windy, just not favorably windy.

Slow.
i
am

Feeling let down at missing the century mark. honestly.
And something else.

Excited with set of 'samples' from Firefly.
grateful for their bathroom.

Tired.

Short day.
but
Felt long.

Alone.
just
me
and
a
bike
A jade chameleon painted aluminum bike
93
miles

and the sun
and wind

today





good night
and
heddwch
G

It is open

The number of motor vehicles encountered on a daily basis has dramatically changed...  for the better.

So stoked.

stumbling and tumbling

When I'm trying to come up with text for a blog post....

Actually not true.  Usually it is more like this:

probably because I don't force it... I just write.

Leg Waster tonight.  Waterman Grille traffic Circle, West side of Red Bridge.  5pm.  I'm feeling pokey so it may just be a hang out/hang on to wheels for dear life kind of ride.

We'll see...

And remember

don't let the bastards grind you down

Last day maybe

To ride up on the road.  With the asshats and entitled space cadets piloting their big metal and plastic boxes powered by gasoline (and some diesel).

Last night was fun. One incident that classifies as a reflection moment of "hey that was actually pretty close."

Had the camera on the bars and everything, should have snapped a picture of the SUV in question, but it sped off in an incredibly douchy fashion, so it wasn't just me he was bullying.  It was every car anywhere close to him impeding his way.

I get a chuckle when people suggest that I'm holding up traffic, then only to find Public Buses stopped picking up riders, or school buses picking up kids, or a slow backhoe going 15mph in a lane.  But  bike? doing 20mph? taking enough of the lane as to make a statement that there is no way you can pass me safely if I move over to the right.  It might look like you can, but trust me, you can't, so relax, I'll be gone in a few minutes, but really if you want to get frustrated with being held up, look around you.  If it wasn't for all those cars you wouldn't have traffic.

Bikes don't create traffic.  Cars create traffic.

Reduce the number of cars and you reduce traffic.

I can't wait for the path to open.

Someone suggested that no, they weren't going to open the path on the 16th, no, it was going to be closed THROUGH the 16th.  But all the press reports yesterday said open tomorrow.

I'd love not to have to ride past this place every day.  This road kind of sucks.  I put up a pile of images on G+, commented and don't feel like transferring it over here.  Just commuter pictures.  If you want to check them out, I'll add you to a circle and you can read my snarky ass comments from my ride in.

Follow up to the SDM stuff

So there was a kerfuffle and someone went and deleted posts.  And since I've been around for a while with this stuff, I may not have emails for people who post...  I do have all the comments.

But before getting to that, a team mate took the link and tossed it up on a Hammer fan's facebook page, tagged me, and now I'm looking at that and feeling strongly compelled to post a few issues I have with the Hammer fan's "science."
I broke down my reaction in an email (does anyone use email anymore with Twitter, FB messages, G+, SMS?).

To a suggestion that eating food (ala Lim's suggestion) takes blood flow away from the muscles:

#1 there is no extra blood used to digest food in your stomach.  But that's okay, keep believing that.

A scoffing at only 80 calories in a bottle? No way is that enough.
#2 there is no way you can replenish everything you need by eating/drinking during competition.  You actually have to stuff yourself the day before to top glycogen up if you need to race for more than an hour.
Again, race specificity plays into it. A cyclocross race is much like a Crit, and bother are different than a 3 hr mt bike race, a stage of the tour or a long race like Battenkill.

Pulling in the Hammer rationalization for using #2 Corn (maltodextrin) as a supply to get around the osmolarity challenge
#3 maltodextrin (hammer) or whatever - anywhere it goes there is a limited uptake supply. You can only absorb a very defined amount of glucose and fructose in your GI.  It is rate limted. no matter how much maltodextrin you pour in there, it can only be absorbed at a very slow rate.
What happens when your SI is loaded with Malto and it all breaks down at once? Or if it doesn't break down where does it go? to the fermentation tank... aka Large intestine. What happens there? it ferments and the bugs eat it and make gas and you are farting all the excessive calories you couldn't absorb because you drank more calories than you can absorb.

Following up on the above - your small intestine is rate limited to how much sugar can be absorbed.  There are two pathways, one for glucose and one for fructose.  They are separate, and distinct and non-competitive.  Fructose goes right to the liver (hence too much fructose=fat, easier to convert this stuff to ultimate storage aka fat).
But this is ancient and old science, and nothing new and just because you have 1,000 calories of maltodextrin in your gut doesn't mean it will be absorbed out of the unbroken flow from your mouth to your asshole. The funny thing is, the rate of sugar uptake is somewhere in the 60-90 grams per hour. Talking simple basic units of glucose and fructose.  One liter of SDM mixed to specifications is only 40 grams. Not quite max capacity.  But something that can be augmented with the food, aka lim's rice cakes.

Yes. There is competing "science" and most of that is the interpretation of the experiments.  Another huge variable is the human bodies ability to adapt and run on what it can get.  People's tolerance for variation is as great as the diversity of the human race.

There isn't one perfect thing for everyone.  Never has been, never will be.

A side note - using rice syrup does not make a suitable replacement for the sugar in SDM.  It is only glucose.  To get max uptake you need to look at getting both glucose and fructose (aka sucrose), but there is some suggestion that you can absorb about 2x as much glucose as fructose.  Powerbar folks (maybe gatorade too) did some decently (biased of course) validated experiments showing that, at least from what I remember.  Besides, some recent studies are showing you can get high levels of arsenic from rice! (THE SKY IS FALLING - fuck).  tossing that out there fwiw.

-Use what works.  But don't dismiss stuff without trying it.  Also what works for you in one race might not work for you in another.  Bring the critique, tell me where I'm a fucking idiot and I'll listen (usually).  i might fire back but hey, don't pack up the toys before we're done playing, you might have the winning hand.  I'm really good at losing, just ask Solobreak.  He's the expert on my total lack of success.

Looking back at my different "trial" home made mixes they worked, to varying degrees.  #1 not so much, but #4 I used for a while, it worked.  Will I make more homemade drink stuffs? I dunno.  Reading through a few old posts here on Sodium, salts, sugar uptake, shit this place has a fuck load of information laced with attitude too bad the goal has never been to keep it all together to make sense, I was already deeply rooted in my blogging habits when tags came out. Just never managed to get the hang of loading up with tags after writing shit like this.  There is a shit ton written about it all out there.  Way more than I've even tried to contribute to.

What the Skratch Lab folks are saying jives very well what my experience and research.  No. It isn't new.  No, it isn't something you couldn't do yourself.

Just remember, when mixing your electrolytes, always go to moles.

heddwch
G

(yeah i'm making a mess of it right now, fuck it - don't care, felt like pounding words out)

Boom SCIENCE

So glad I kept that one post in Draft status.

'cause those guys who do it for a living (selling shit that makes sense) wrote up essentially what I was going to say.  They probably used a few more words, definitely spent more time crafting it, compared to my shooting from the hip on Full Automatic...

http://www.skratchlabs.com/blogs/news/6018756-hydration-science-and-practice

Read it.  Shit is spot. on.

Yes individual tolerance varies, you can do things differently and still be effective.  I'm waiting for the time when i can find something wrong with their products - philosophy or science...  don't want to be wrong but it will probably  happen.  Maybe.

conflicted morning

As usual for a brief period, before I was ready to leave, it stopped raining.  By the time I got my shit together it was f'n DUMPING, over flowing gutters pouring rain.  I don't mind getting caught in it but starting off in the rain when there are valid reasons for being a wuss and driving...  i drove.

Time becomes a limiter more lately than anything else.  With the pouring rain I was more inclined to take the shuttle to the remote facility vs riding down there.

But it was a genuine mental over-thinking conflict deciding if I would just succomb to the internal pressure and ride in the deluge, or drive.

The current commute played into the ultimate choice and was reinforced as I drove along the same route.  Water puddles inches to feet deep along the auto-road that I travel.  With the bike path open it would be more or less a no-brainer.  Ride the damn bike.  They've sorted out the construction a bit so there weren't any extra delays other than the school bus stopping EVERY BLOCK TO PICK UP KIDS!  Seriously?  EVERY BLOCK?  Fuuuug.  Insane.

Oh and hauling an extra couple rocks yesterday and pushing it over the hills in the big ring was a calculated effort on the chance today would be a rest day, that or having done that I feel okay about not pedaling today.

Canceled the wed ride too.  Going for a ride in the rain is great, commuting on the 'race' bike w/o fenders sucks, and riding the fendered Croll on the leg wasting wed ride is a bit too masochistic even for me, esp given the condition of the rear rim.  Blowing it apart between here and home is one thing.  Out there on the ride is a different ball of wax entirely.

Very humorous read over at Mad Dog Media.  So perfectly captured with words.

Lucy has decided that lately 5:30am is a good time to get up.  Usually I can con her into letting me sleep for a few more minutes, but she's pretty insistent that it really is time to get up after about 15min of waiting for me to haul my tired ass out of bed.

heddwch
G

The Elements

Lots of chemistry thinking and microscopy stuff lately... science f'yeah.

No secret that years ago my step father and I performed The Elements at talent night at the family reunion on Cape Cod (years ago - before moving to RI), and to no surprise an uncle and a few others actually were so excited that we were singing it that they had to join us.  Nothing like being in a room with others who have memorized the song.  Knowledge FTW!

So for some reason I dug up the song tonight.  Okay, the reason would be the whole XKCD cartoon with the majors.

Pulled this one up on YouTube:

And well oddly this one popped up after it was over...  kid does it well

A bit of vid from the commute

Road construction zone two.  Right up to the end where the nice EP officer held up traffic behind me for a second so I could dash across back onto the bike path.

Yeah it is only 15 fps, oh well.  And it is just 2 minutes of me passing cars, going up the hill, towing the trailer with the extra rocks in it.  I love how the construction signs are sitting totally in the shoulder, making it more fun to get through on the bike.

The path had fresh asphalt up here at this end last night on the way home.  They are still doing work on it, not open yet BUT!  There is progress.  Soon, soon my battle with the single occupant vehicles in a hurry will be greatly reduced.

heddwch

G

in lieu of

link bombing other social networks...  I'm dumpin the stuff here.  I've made a conscious effort to pull back on where I'm "participating" on line.  I find a link and normally i'd blast it to twitter first, and then maybe include it here.

Not so much lately.  Trying not to be less of the noise.  I've let my skin get a bit too thin lately, maybe because I'm spread out.  That or it is just thinner in some places than others.  So I've dropped off of some of those places for now.

Wrestling with the whole mental issue of the push back. Confidence maybe you might call it.  My motivation for sharing is nearly always altruistic.  Sometimes it comes off as judgmental but that's more in the reader's interpretation.  Talking about food, fuel, chain lube, coffee, whatever it might be, my experience is often just a sample size of 1.  But that sample size of 1 is built on years of observing.  I notice stuff that others miss, or dismiss.  I remember stuff, small stuff, like the matrix, the borg, highlander...  taking it all in, incorporating it.  But also experimenting and trying stuff.  Not being afraid to test.  Not being content to not ask why.  Why?

Why.

Not looking good

So I washed the bike.  And totally nailed cleaning the chain, but since no one listens to anyone else about chain lube and maintenance I won't bother going through the process that worked well enough that I was actually surprised.

Washing the bike I noticed the rear wheel was pretty far out of true.  This is the wheel I rebuilt years ago, and tied and soldered the spokes.  It has been pretty solid.  But it has also seen the vast bulk of commuting on really crappy roads in Providence, towing the trailer with rocks and everything.  High torque, heavy load, rough roads.

It is pretty close to wearing through the rim just from braking.  This Mavic replacement rim came with a wear track indicator and well there is no indicator anymore, worn down to be flush with it.

I honestly was hoping the rim would wear through first.  But it seems upon investigation and cleaning yesterday that the spokes will pull through first.  And yes, when the rim was ordered it was pictured and assumed to come with eyelets.  Not so.

We'll see how long it lasts.

heddwch
G

Not original

my idea...  of using a child transport device attached to a bicycle to attempt to gain an extra measure of space from passing motorists.

Oh well.

It works though, most of the time.

I didn't count the energy gel waste items along the marathon route today...  but there were tons of them.  I only rode about a mile of the Marathon route on the bike path though.  Couldn't jump over to the stretch along the Parkway due to heavy construction, so I stuck to the shoulder and headed down Burgess to the bridge.

Nice day out there.  Totally calm.  Would have been a good day for a long ride.

heddwch
G

driving...

spinning wheels...

four of them, and no the bike plus trailer four, no the biodiesel zero carbon cycle car wheels.

got about half way to woods hole yesterday morning before realizing I'd left a 10-15% economy sucker on the roof.  i've been taking it off lately for longer road trips but needing it for hauling kids and the bike so it's been on and off.  left it on.

doh.

but still it gets decent enough economy w/ the rack on.  It was probably at 40mpg burning solar energy yesterday.  Biodiesel = chemical solar battery.  Plants turn the sun into oil, some one else uses the oil in their restaurant, Newport Biodiesel goes and picks it up, chops the glycerine backbone off and makes methyl esters, I buy it and put it in my tank.  So not only is it stored solar energy, but it already has been used once.

With the rain I'd turned the lights on for the drive down.  Parked and left the lights on for the whole day.  oops.

Got back to the car and crossed my fingers and turned the key, slow cranking speed, but, just, fast, enough, to, fire, it, up and get running. Phew.  That was a close one.

Was awesome to meet up with Chad D down there, quick visit and even passing on the coffee at 3:30 i was still wide away until midnight last night.  Nothing like being tired but unable to fall asleep.  love that feeling.

Tomorrow is the big Cox Marathon day, we'll probably use the bio burner for spectator shuttling...

This whole ride Mon-Tues-Wed only deal is getting old.  But I was just too flipping tired to leave the house to get to Freddie's Dawn Patrol ride, and there's no riding into the shop today because i've got to haul the big kid home and run a pile of errands.  Yes. If the car wasn't an option I could probably figure out a solution that involved the bike.  It would probably mean riding the borrowed tandem with the trailer, alone.  Into the city and then hoping for dry weather on the way home with the kid.  Possible, but it isn't going to happen.

Time for some more coffee.

Need to make some prints of the images, there's another employee show coming up, I had a moment of inspiration for a big image set on the drive, using some of the MIT collaboration samples and doing two big landscape shots at very disparate mags...  i might even have the images I need. Have to hit the printers. I owe someone else a print too.  Would be nice to monetize the process, get a return on the creativity and time spent.

A talk yesterday mentioned a pivotal lecture.  It drew parallels, in my mind, to The Rider.  A book every cyclist should read at the start of the season, or at least every couple of years.

The lecture is titled: There is Plenty of Room at the Bottom.

I'm not in the physical sciences world as much as biology but the biologists and the physicists are intertwined in the history of the microscope.  A good lecture.  A good thought provoking read.

I did say I was going to get more coffee. I guess I'll close, move on and get some more.

heddwch
G

truth rings clear

Paul does some crazy sweet stuff.  I've been aware of his bikes for a very long time...  well before I ever saw one in person.

Plenty of internet references are out there supporting and talking about his work.  His blog is pretty fucking awesome.

Reading the post up there now got me thinking.  Most all of those points work for the whole bike industry, and to an extension, ANY craft industry.  Where you make something.  Where you are exploiting yourself, taking raw materials and adding value purely with your own time and knowledge and skills.

The most noble of professions, no?  One where you take the raw materials and create value that didn't exist before without exploitation.  Value comes from how well you do it, and if you keep doing it right for a while, it creates interest on itself.

Wed Night Recap

Last night, a bit different circumstances.  We started off the ride up at the shop.  Greve had left the new kits at the shop so I was able to ride in the new duds.  XL vermarc bibs are tighter than large hincapie bibs fwiw. Made me think I should have gone to XXL, but they stretch a bit over time and hell the extra compression holds stuff in place and in theory helps blood flow in the quads.  right?  And they were just tight worn over tights, so on bare skin they're probably fine.

We rolled out with a bit larger group than normal, 7 rolled from the shop and we picked up Andrew and Mike Brier down at Waterman Circle when we actually finally made it there.

Greve's gotten skinny, and his regular regime of fancy compu-trainer riding hasn't slowed him down a bit.  Paul's on a tear, looking for a W before cashing in his upgrade points.  Derdowski has been riding much better since he stopped that running thing, and fresh off his weekend riding with his brother's he has been killing it.  Andrew is just a fucking lung, strong and steady and weighs NOTHING - BMI has to be in the teens, he's got some serious promise.  Brier is consistently strong, still has his odd distinctive pedaling style and decides which sprints he's going for independently of the goals of the ride, but when he shows up the pace is boosted a bit.

Wind Map

http://hint.fm/wind/index.html

Click and zoom...  crazy cool.

Still.

After weeks of seeing it pop up.

Still don't get tired of it.
...

one thing i do get tired of...  people getting pissed at me for talking/writing too much about "elitist" food "snobbery" and all that.

sorry - getting tired of friends getting the big C, or dealing with health issues as they get old...  certainly some people did everything they could and still got nailed.

But sort of like walking across the tracks with headphones on and reading a book.  99/100 you can do it and not get hit by the train.

Up to you, put the effort in, in the off chance that today is the day when you might not get run over if you go the extra step.

Sigh

i give too many shits about other people...

it is a problem...

need to be more selfish i suppose...

heddwch
G

Missed most of the rain

But man alive, the [under the] road construction was brutal.  And then there was this little encounter


At a red light a woman flags me down as I'm riding past in the open right lane (after the stop light the parkway is only one lane, this lane is open except for when you have race cars wanting to pass people, or folks turning left into the hospital).

It is drizzling, and she rolls her window down and asks:

"Is 'that' legal?" (gesturing to the bike and trailer). I kind of look dumbfounded at her and reply, "Yes," with a bit of confusion in the tone.

She says, "I mean taking up the whole lane? Is that legal?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

"Yes."

Light turns green, she drives off. Meanwhile a lane jumper, someone who's been held up by traffic (the left lane was stopped for a long ways - people like to get a few cars ahead, you know, because they are RACING!).

Mid-conversation this car flies up, I'm mid-conversation and I holdout an official, don't think about proceeding, universal palm facing them gesture. But as soon as I get on the bike, ZOOOOM little crappy corrola sedan (light in one corner was held on with duct-tape, rusty and sounded funky) with a pile of people in it buzzed by w/in a foot.

I'm the MOST popular person for everyone's commute I guess. First there was one lane for construction closed, held up a half dozen cars riding through there. THEN that incident.

Finally up by the old Chevron Terminal the shoulder was completely closed and the road narrowed (high speed now, 40mph speed limit for the cars), heavy traffic and well, no choice, with on-coming traffic, here I am, taking up the lane again.

At least today I have my fancy shiny reflective 'slow vehicle sign' on the back of the bike trailer.

I need a few of these in my pocket to hand out next time.
http://www.dot.state.ri.us/documents/bikeri/DMWbrochure2g.pdf

Adventures in bike commuting.  Bike path can't open soon enough for all those special snowflake drivers.  Can't hold them up for 100-200 yards at a time going 15-25 mph, oh no, they need those precious seconds.

heddwch
G