SpokEasy

January 2021

Icky Sticky Goo

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GU-Gels make me think of icky sticky goo. You can thank my mother for that. When I was little, she\’d sometimes sing, \”Molasses, molasses it\’s icky sticky goo; molasses, molasses it always sticks to you.\” GU-Gel is sticky stuff, all right; and very sweet. That\’s why I normally reserve it for long-ride day. After I\’ve pedaled about 15 miles, a \”goo\” is a nice pick-me-up. That\’s especially the case when I have to battle a headwind for mile upon mile. I keep a couple of the gels in my bike trunk pocket, too. Sometimes, when I get off work, I feel too hungry to ride home before I eat. It\’s not a long ride — about 2.5 miles — but why risk bonking? Determining GU-Gel intake must take some planning for riders who have diabetes. As The Athlete\’s Guide to Diabetes makes plain, the athlete who has diabetes has much more to consider than carbs per se. He or she has to think about: when did I last eat; and what did I eat? How long will I be exercising? How hard will I be going? Intense efforts can actually cause glycogen levels in the blood to rise; and that, for people who have diabetes, can be bad news. It sounds like a complicated jugging act; and one that I\’d rather not have to learn. It\’s one reason why I\’m working to keep my prediabetes from developing into full-blown Type II. Another reason is, I don\’t want (and my budget doesn\’t need) to have to pay for expensive diabetes medications; and I definitely don\’t want to wind up insulin dependent! So I\’ll keep watching the carbs; and watch what I keep in my pantry. I\’m getting better at minimizing the candy; and I don\’t eat GU-Gels just anytime!

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Panniers Next Time

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Maybe I\’ll use panniers next time I ride to the salvage store. My last two trips, I used the trailer; and then didn\’t get the load that I had anticipated. It was actually rather disappointed this morning not to find cans of refried beans; or tuna fish; or boxes of hummus. As it turned out, I didn\’t really need the trailer today! I did, however, find canned chicken; 4.5 oz cans for 99¢ apiece. That\’s a rather rare find; so I grabbed eight cans. My raid of the grab-bag bins unearthed a couple of Fit Crunch bars. That, too, is rare. Of course, and alas, I got some candy from those bins. I look for things that can be eaten one small piece at a time (such as M&Ms); or easily cut into small pieces. Some candy bars are already scored into sections, which makes it easier. Easier to cut them into uniform pieces, that is. It doesn\’t necessarily make it easier to resist eating them! I found hot chocolate mix again, and a few other things. I decided against buying anything frozen, because I forgot the cooler. Incidentally, the cooler is a good reason to use the trailer; that thing takes up most of the space in a pannier! When I arrived back home, I was hungry; and opened a can of the chicken. Pulling that trailer can really work up my appetite. After I ate, I began work on this blog; and got hungry again! I had to interrupt myself to get some hummus and carrots to munch on. Hauling a load using saddlebags is less work; so it\’s panniers next time. And just watch: it will be the day when I really could use the trailer!

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Member of the Club?

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We all want to be a member of the club at one time or another. It might be a casual cycling club; or a bicycle touring group; or even a racing team. I used to go on Saturday morning rides with a casual cycling club; but finally had to stop. Our meet-up spot was five or six miles from home; and our rides started at 10 am. That didn\’t give me much time to go grocery shopping; get the load home; and then ride over to meet the gang. Then, after the group ride, I\’d be heading home in the hottest part of the day. After I began going to the salvage store, making it to these rides was impossible. It was either go grocery shopping, or do the club rides; and I had to opt for getting my food. You could say that I\’m a member of the century club. If I may say so, I earned it when I put in a 100-miler on an adult tricycle. Will I ever get up the gumption to train up for another century? I also aspire to be a member of the club in another way: tightwaddery. I must admit that I\’m not doing very well at it! At the rate I\’m going, I\’ll never earn my membership card. So far I haven\’t managed to kick my expensive Diet Coke habit. That\’s bad for my wallet; and worse for my teeth. It probably isn\’t doing my innards any good, either. Lately I suspect that I spend a lot more on groceries than I thought. Since the pandemic began, I\’ve been bringing home bigger loads from the salvage store: \”just in case\”. Even at the salvage store, that adds up. A member of the club? Not yet.

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A Grain of Salt

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A grain of salt might not be a bad thing for us cyclists. Salt has gotten rather a bad name, thanks to its role in hypertension. Sometimes I think it\’s a wonder I don\’t have high blood pressure; I love salt. But I actually have the opposite problem; and I wonder whether it might be secondary to another condition. Athletes who work long and hard in heat and humidity are apt to lose a lot of salt through perspiration. Some, in fact, lose so much salt through their skin that their workout clothes become encrusted in salt. This is why electrolyte replacement during long and/or hard workouts is important. I\’ve noticed that, after an hour or so of riding, water doesn\’t quench my thirst very well; but downing more and more water isn\’t a good idea. Overdoing the water can result in hyponatremia. Hyponatremia is a serious condition, and potentially fatal; and of course we want to avoid that! There are many options out there for electrolyte replacement: Zym is just one of them (I like the berry flavor). Some people enjoy Gatorade. Pickle juice is another way to get a grain of salt (and then some!); and one of these days I hope to try frozen pickle juice. Salty foods are welcome during my long Sunday rides; especially in hot, humid weather. RXBar Sea Salt Chocolate does well. Combos are salty enough, but unfortunately they lack \”oomph\”. I\’ve been phasing out Combos, anyway. They\’re high-carb and low in protein; and not what I need on a prediabetes diet. Unfortunately I love sweets; but I also enjoy salty foods such as olives. My favorite way to eat broccoli is lightly steamed, with lemon juice and salt on it. So let\’s get creative! There are plenty of ways to get salt.

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In Memoriam

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In memoriam, to the victims of the Holocaust. Sometimes I get to thinking: of those millions of concentration camp victims, whose fate is the saddest? Those who were sent to the camps – assuming they survived the journey there to begin with – fall into three broad categories: those who were put to death immediately; those who died during imprisonment in the camps; and those who somehow survived. Whose fate is saddest? If anything, I say it\’s that of the survivors. Not that is isn’t sad to think of those many who were killed right away. They never had the chance to fight for their survival. Their suffering, on the other hand, was brief. Those who weren’t sent straight from the cattle cars to the gas chambers suffered horribly: starvation; overwork and exhaustion; dehydration; inadequate clothing; and generally brutal treatment. But why do I think that the survivors’ lot is the hardest? Weren’t they fortunate to live through the horror? It\’s easy to think that they were the lucky ones; but just think of the terrible memories they had to live with. I\’ve listened to a few videos of Holocaust survivors; they speak of still having nightmares about the camps. Some survivors learned that everyone else in their large, extended families had perished; and we hear of them suffering from survivor guilt. I\’m sure there\’s much, much more. The more I learn about concentration camps, in fact, the more amazed I am that there were any survivors at all. I hope that we can learn from those who are still with us. The Central Europe Route can let you combine a bicycle tour with a visit to the former Auschwitz concentration camp; and if you go there, keep In Memoriam in mind.

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Skin Deep?

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Beauty is only skin deep, so the saying goes. It\’s a bit more than an adage, though. As cyclists, we spend a lot of time outdoors; and in all weathers. Taking care of our skin is important. At the top of my skin-care list is sunblock. I use it for any ride that will have me outdoors for more than 15-20 minutes; and maybe I should use it if the ride will take more than a mere 10 minutes. That means using it for the ride home from work! I apply sunblock before starting my Sunday long ride; and I keep a tube of it in my under-saddle pack. On cold days, of course that sunblock is well chilled when the time comes to re-apply it. I don\’t enjoy the cold shock; but I\’d enjoy a sunburnt face even less! On hot days, sun sleeves and leg sleeves help keep you cooler; and protect from the sun. I don\’t have any leg sleeves as of this writing; but I like sun sleeves! Then there\’s the matter of shaved legs. Why do cyclists shave their legs? Some say that shaved legs are more aerodynamic. If you\’re into serious bicycle racing, that\’s important. If a cyclist crashes and gets nasty road rash, shaved legs heal more easily; and are less likely to become infected. Shaved legs can make massages more comfortable; and they simply look better. It\’s easy to forget about lip care. I keep a tube of SPF lip balm in my road bike\’s top-tube pouch. That way it\’s always handy. The scalp is skin, too. If you have a \”zip\” haircut, don\’t forget to rub sunblock on your head before a ride! Skin deep might be just a few millimeters; but it sure does matter.

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Carved in Stone?

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Few things are carved in stone. I\’m glad my weight isn\’t one of them. Before I go any farther, I\’ll say that I know that this is a sensitive topic. Some people who are frustrated with their poundage just can\’t seem to lose weight. I\’m luckier than some in that respect. Not quite a year ago, I weighed well into the 120s; and for my height (or rather, my lack thereof), I was borderline overweight. That was even before factoring in my small build. I made some visits to a nurse practitioner and a nutritionist; and I lost 20-22 pounds last year. The prediabetes is now a big motivator. I do not want to develop full-blown Type-II; and I do not want to end up on costly medications for a condition that, with some effort, I might be able to keep at bay. Call it morbid curiosity if you like; but in the last week I viewed some YouTubes on the subject of morbid obesity. A number of them were shot in Britain; and there, weight is often measured in \”stone\”. I wasn\’t even sure how much one stone is (14 pounds); much less why British people measure weight that way. I had to look that up, too. In fact, I had the idea that it might have to do with masonry! My own poundage in stone makes it look like I\’m vanishing into thin air. I don\’t want to do that; but I do want to keep the excess weight off this time. Luckily I\’m able to get the pounds off quite easily once I begin tracking what I eat; and, this go-round, tracking carbs. But weight is not carved in stone. Lost weight won\’t stay lost if I\’m not careful!

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Slow as Molasses

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Slow as molasses in January. That\’s how I often feel during my Sunday long rides, be it January or July. Today I averaged below 12 mph on a ride of 29.1 miles. My pace development seems to be going nowhere. Why? Maybe I\’m still not back in shape after nearly a month of no road bike? It\’s just over two weeks since I got the road bike back; and maybe I need more time to get back into condition. Perhaps I need to spend more time pushing the pace during my weekday morning rides. They do say, if you want to get faster, you have to ride fast. An early morning ride when it\’s foggy (as it was today), however, is a poor time for speed work. There are too many people out there, on bikes or not, who don\’t have lights; and who are wearing dark clothing, etc. Even when there\’s no fog, visibility in the dark can be a problem; and I have to be cautious. Today\’s poor pace wasn\’t due to under-fueling. My ride data shows that I burned 797 calories; and I took in 680 calories during the ride. That\’s a deficit of 117 calories, and I don\’t call that excessive! The wind was 8-9 mph; and a headwind on the way back home, as usual. When I\’ve got a headwind it helps to ride in the drops; and I think I need to practice it more. Riding \”dropped\” isn\’t difficult; but the position takes some getting used to. It wasn\’t cold today; in fact, it\’s warm for January. The temperature at 8 am was in the low 60s. Maybe that explains the fog! Maybe the biggest reason that I\’m staying slow as molasses is: I\’m too afraid of pushing too hard. In other words, I\’m lazy!

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Atonement?

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Is it atonement when I demolish a pint of frozen dessert in one evening; but that same evening I chop up broccoli to use the next day? Is it really possible make up for having eaten \”bad\” foods in such a way? Cyclists must be careful about \”atonement\” when it comes to training. In fact, it\’s better to avoid it, they say. If you miss a day\’s workout, don\’t try to make up for it with extra work the next day. Forget Day A\’s plan; and focus on Day B. That makes sense to me; and I think it\’s sensible for anybody for whom time is tight — which means most people. Few, if any, of us can cram 2x amount of training into 1x amount of time. I know I can\’t; and I\’m not going to half-kill myself trying. While we\’re talking about atonement, will cleaning up my diet make up for a year or more of a highly junk-food diet; and get my A1c level back below the prediabetes range? How far can dietary changes take me? I\’ve been working at it since last February. My intake of sweets is much less than it was (albeit still more than it should be). Last year I lost at least 20 pounds; but by Fall my A1c level hadn\’t budged. Sometimes I think I try too hard. Maybe that\’s why I\’ve been craving Chinese food for several days; and maybe that craving is why I keep feeling like I\’m hungry. Today I decided to go for that Chinese food — although getting it meant riding through a mucky mess! I can\’t wait for that street improvement work to be finished. I chose a luncheon combination plate, and ate about two-thirds of it. Shall I atone for it with a broccoli supper?

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Klutzy!

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I sure feel klutzy on the bicycle sometimes. It\’s really annoying, too. When I\’m getting the water bottle out/back in, I waver all over the place! I wasn\’t terrific at this bit of technique in the first place; and I guess I got out of practice while the road bike was in the shop. I get annoyed with myself for being so squirrely. What I need is a lot more practice with one-handed riding; and water bottle drills to learn better technique for handling said bottle! The trouble with me is that I don\’t think about that when I\’m out for a morning ride and a) want to get my miles in; or b) am working on force exercises. The Sunday long ride, come to think of it, is a good time. I\’m not riding in the dark; and I don\’t have to be too concerned about my pace. Not for the time being, anyhow; I\’m not preparing for an event. I don\’t want to try riding in a group until I\’m better at bike handling, anyway. Wavering isn\’t the only klutzy thing that happens. Of course I sometimes drop the bottle; and then I have to go back for it. What an annoyance that is! It\’s especially galling when my pace is going better than usual. I lose all my momentum, and have to find it again. During long rides, when I\’m using the Camel-Bak, I have the drinking tube. Getting water is much easier; but I still have a bottle in the down-tube cage with my electrolyte drink. I have the same old problem with wavering when I reach for it. I can\’t expect to have the bike-handling skills of a Pro Tour rider. But after nearly nine years on two wheels, you\’d expect that I could at least ride in a straight line while I get a drink. It gives another meaning to, Don\’t Drink and Drive.

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