SpokEasy

Author name: CAL

Dill Pickle Juice

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Best Maid Dill Pickle Juice comes in handy during a long ride; or in fact any sports event. It\’s especially good on a hot day, when sodium replenishment is particularly important. This gallon jug should take care of an entire team\’s muscle cramps! I was first introduced to dill pickle juice shots during a Tour de Cure ride. It was quite warm that day; and when you\’ve been riding an hour or so in the heat, pickle juice tastes surprisingly good. If guzzling this juice isn\’t to your liking, another way to replace sodium is with salt tablets. They\’re easy to carry; and you won\’t have to worry about leakage!

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We Aren\’t All Dentists

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We aren\’t all dentists; so why do we read: \”use a dental pick to clean velcro\”? I certainly don\’t have any such tools lying around; and I had an idea that they\’re expensive. When I looked, I discovered that they\’re actually pretty cheap. But I don\’t think I\’ll buy any of them anytime soon. A pair of tweezers will probably work just as well for picking lint out of velcro; and I already have a pair of tweezers. I\’m wary of trying to use dental picks on my own mouth, anyway. I can easily see myself tearing up my gums; and that won\’t be fun. Far worse, I envisage myself prying off a dental crown! They really are expensive; and I\’d rather spare myself such cost. We aren\’t all dentists; I\’m certainly not, and I\’m not going to try to play dentist on my own teeth. That reminds me: would a dentist be interested bicycle gears? They have enough teeth! I don\’t \”brush\” my bicycles\’ gear teeth and chains, on account of I am lazy. I use a self-cleaning lube, because there isn\’t a toxic-waste drop-off anywhere near home; and I don\’t enjoy having jars full of oily, dirty water sitting around. Weather Breeder? I think we\’ve got a weather breeder. Here it is, the eleventh of December; and it\’s 77 degrees! That\’s much too warm for this time of year. I don\’t enjoy being cold; but after all, \’tis the season. T-storms are possible today; and by tomorrow morning the temperature is apt to fall to the low 50s. We already had a bit of rain; and more could be on the way. I\’m glad I got my errands done ahead of the potential bad weather. First, a trip to Whole Foods. We aren\’t all dentists; and as I said, nor am I; but I went prowling around the toothpaste, looking for SPF lip balm. The lip balm was by the toothpaste last time I bought it; but it was next to the sunblock this time. I\’ve found whey protein powder at the salvage store, but that\’s rare; so I got some at Whole Foods. It was on sale, too; so I saved a couple of bucks. Even so, I can\’t shop anywhere but the salvage store without suffering from sticker shock! After the trip to Whole Foods, I took the road bike to the shop. Fortunately I didn\’t need to leave my \”ride\” there; and now the left brifter works MUCH better!😊 After I got the road bike back home, it was time for yet another trip: I had to pick up a refill at the drug store. On the way there, it began to drizzle, even though the sky wasn\’t completely overcast. In fact, the sun came out! By the time I got back out of the store, the rain had stopped; but I sure was glad to get back home.

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We Aren\’t All Dentists

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We aren\’t all dentists; so why do we read: \”use a dental pick to clean velcro\”? I certainly don\’t have any such tools lying around; and I had an idea that they\’re expensive. When I looked, I discovered that they\’re actually pretty cheap. But I don\’t think I\’ll buy any of them anytime soon. A pair of tweezers will probably work just as well for picking lint out of velcro; and I already have a pair of tweezers. I\’m wary of trying to use dental picks on my own mouth, anyway. I can easily see myself tearing up my gums; and that won\’t be fun. Far worse, I envisage myself prying off a dental crown! They really are expensive; and I\’d rather spare myself such cost. We aren\’t all dentists; I\’m certainly not, and I\’m not going to try to play dentist on my own teeth. That reminds me: would a dentist be interested bicycle gears? They have enough teeth! I don\’t \”brush\” my bicycles\’ gear teeth and chains, on account of I am lazy. I use a self-cleaning lube, because there isn\’t a toxic-waste drop-off anywhere near home; and I don\’t enjoy having jars full of oily, dirty water sitting around. Weather Breeder? I think we\’ve got a weather breeder. Here it is, the eleventh of December; and it\’s 77 degrees! That\’s much too warm for this time of year. I don\’t enjoy being cold; but after all, \’tis the season. T-storms are possible today; and by tomorrow morning the temperature is apt to fall to the low 50s. We already had a bit of rain; and more could be on the way. I\’m glad I got my errands done ahead of the potential bad weather. First, a trip to Whole Foods. We aren\’t all dentists; and as I said, nor am I; but I went prowling around the toothpaste, looking for SPF lip balm. The lip balm was by the toothpaste last time I bought it; but it was next to the sunblock this time. I\’ve found whey protein powder at the salvage store, but that\’s rare; so I got some at Whole Foods. It was on sale, too; so I saved a couple of bucks. Even so, I can\’t shop anywhere but the salvage store without suffering from sticker shock! After the trip to Whole Foods, I took the road bike to the shop. Fortunately I didn\’t need to leave my \”ride\” there; and now the left brifter works MUCH better!😊 After I got the road bike back home, it was time for yet another trip: I had to pick up a refill at the drug store. On the way there, it began to drizzle, even though the sky wasn\’t completely overcast. In fact, the sun came out! By the time I got back out of the store, the rain had stopped; but I sure was glad to get back home.

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Yo Yo?

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Am I a yo yo dieter? It seems like it at times. Several times my weight has crept up to nearly 130 pounds; and considering my small frame and lack of height, that\’s way too much. Now that I\’m working to keep prediabetes at bay, weight control is even more important. I\’ve found that, when I put my mind to it, I lose weight fairly easily. Unfortunately I also seem to gain it back quite easily! Hence my asking whether I\’m a yo yo dieter. This past April, my weight had dropped to 102-103 pounds. By that point, meal-planning burnout had set it; and for a month or two I was too careless about my diet. I gained back several pounds; and saw that I needed to get back on track. Enter Hurricane Ida. That really threw things off; and when I got back home my weight had climbed back to 110.5. Not long afterwards, my A1c levels were checked; and they had skyrocketed to 6.6! I went back to work at my diet; and now my weight is hanging around 103-105 pounds. That\’s just about right; and I hope I can keep that yo yo from going back the other way! It\’s hard, though, as anyone knows who has worked at losing weight. By all accounts, keeping weight off is even harder than losing it; and that sure seems to be true. My sweet tooth is no help; and it was much easier to keep to a proper eating plan when I was doing work-from-home. I sure do miss that!

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Is This December?

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IS this December? So far, it hardly feels like it. The temperatures are more like October; and we\’ve had a lot of fog over the last few days. I suppose we\’ll get a blast of real cold at some point; but I hope it won\’t be a deep freeze like last Winter. It\’s rare for our weather to get as cold as that; and consequently, we aren\’t properly prepared for it. I\’m certainly not! That includes cycling clothing. I don\’t have any truly polar togs; and that can make riding on frigid days pretty miserable, even with layering. Warming packs help my hands; and I must try tucking them inside my socks, just above the shoes. It\’s most annoying to have my feet feeling like ice after only one mile, despite double socks. I don\’t think I\’m in real danger of frostbite; but why take chances? Last Sunday it got into the mid-70s by late morning; and that sure doesn\’t feel like December! Of course it makes riding easier, and more comfortable; but is it really almost Winter? I also ask my self, IS this December, because I have no Christmas decorations around. I\’m too busy with other things to decorate; and on top of that, I have nowhere to put the stuff. That\’s what comes of my repeated excursions to the salvage store! Early in the pandemic, I stocked up as much as I could, whenever I could. Who knew when strict stay-at-home orders might go into effect; and I wanted to be prepared. With the omicron wave now in progress, I can\’t be sure it won\’t happen!

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Riding Blind Again

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I was riding blind again this morning; but not because my bicycle computer ran out of charge. There was heavy fog; and I wound up riding less than six miles — and slowly — simply because of visibility problems. This was our third consecutive foggy morning; and each day it’s been worse than it was the day before. In fact, it was already getting foggy as I was riding home from work yesterday. When I went out to ride this morning, I saw that it was pretty thick as soon as I walked outside. I immediately took my glasses off, because I knew I\’d be able to see better without them! I intended to work on my pace today; but visibility was so poor that I decided against it. In fact, I made it a short, slow ride. I might have to repeat it tomorrow, because there’s yet more fog in the forecast.  It says, patchy fog; so I might have some clear stretches where I can push for speed. If I don\’t, I\’ll be riding blind again; and I don\’t enjoy that. It\’s lucky I just put fresh batteries in my white blinkie. I really needed the extra light power this morning, so I could be seen; but maybe it didn\’t matter too much. There wasn\’t anybody else out there! I don\’t blame people for not wanting to go out in such a fog; but there I was. Does that make me a fanatic? All this fog makes me think of Rudolph. I don\’t remember that we ever had a foggy Christmas Eve; but that doesn\’t mean that we didn\’t. I\’m glad I was only riding a bicycle; and not driving a team of reindeer.

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Relay

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Washing my cycling clothes became a relay Sunday. It began in mid-afternoon. First, I washed my cycling jacket, which needed it badly. In fact, I just ordered another, so I can use one while the other one is drying. I have to wash these things by hand; and in a humid climate they take several days to dry. After I washed the jacket, I watched a YouTube. Then came relay number two: washing the cycling shorts. After that, another YouTube. At 5:00 pm, I still had to wash my blouse; leg warmers; and gloves. So I got that done; and somewhere in between those relays I had to get in some food. It\’s funny, but after my Sunday long ride I usually don\’t feel particularly hungry. Of course I\’ll have my recovery drink; and something to eat here and there as I begin to feel hollow; but I don\’t actually get hungry until about 4:00 pm. Then I have to be careful: I don\’t want to overshoot my calorie/carb allowance; but I don\’t need to go to bed hungry, either. Kitchen Relay Sunday night I began a kitchen relay. Some things that I cook involve quite a lot of work; and it helps if I can bring them along in stages. I wanted to make a garbage soup; and that meant I needed to chop celery and onion. I had a piece of red bell pepper that I needed to use up, too. By the time I finished everything else Sunday evening, it was too late to cook the soup; but I did the chopping work, and stored the stuff in a plastic container. Stage two of this relay came when I got home from work yesterday. I took the containers of soup base stuff out of the freezer, and let them sit and thaw a bit while I ate some supper. Then I emptied them into the big pot, and turned on the heat. While the pot was heating up, I peeled and chopped a sweet potato and a red potato. Sweet potato in soup? Yes; I had it, and needed to use it; so I decided to have sweet potato instead of carrot. Besides, I need the carrots to take to work for snacks. There are still scads of salvage-store finds sitting around; and I used part of a can of corn, and some frozen green beans. I froze the rest of the corn for, you guessed it, the next garbage soup. Speaking of relays, I suppose there are relay races for cyclists. I\’ll bet such an event requires very deft handling skills; and nerves of steel. I think I\’ll stick to my little relays at home.

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Oddities

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Cycling has its oddities, that\’s for sure. Take my last two Sunday long rides. During yesterday\’s jaunt, I felt tired on the way home; the headwind (8 mph) was driving me crazy; and I seemed to be plodding along very slowly. Yet when I compared yesterday\’s notes with those from the previous Sunday, I saw that I did yesterday\’s ride slightly faster; and that, even though I added several extra miles. On top of that, the wind yesterday was stronger than it was a week earlier! It seemed weird; but perhaps I\’m finally getting a bit stronger!😊 Other oddities have to do with on-bike eating. During a long ride, appetite suppression is liable to set in; but for me, a rapid cadence in a low gear is more likely to do it than a slower cadence in a harder gear! What\’s going on there? Does the former increase my heart rate; and is that why I stop wanting to eat? I know that exercise, such as cycling, causes blood to be diverted from the stomach/digestion; and sends it to the legs, heart, and lungs instead. That\’s why gut-training is so important if you want to do long events. Yesterday I burned 900 calories, and took in just under 700; and that sounds about right to me. Yet again, I think I was overdressed. It was about 64 degrees at 7:00 am; but reached the mid-70s by the time I got home. My cycling jacket was wet with sweat; and so was the blouse that I wore. The leg warmers also got to be a bit much. I\’m still uneasy about not being warm enough during a ride; but I think I\’d better put the cold-weather gear in my Camel-Bak pockets; and put it on if I need it.

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Rolling Lab

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Do you ever feel like your bicycle is a rolling lab? My road bike sure is! For years, I\’ve experimented with different kinds of on-bike food during my long Sunday rides; and over time I\’ve come up with some favorites. I also have learned that some foods don\’t work so well. FitCrunch bars are one of those favorites. I got started on FitCrunch bars when I first found some in the grab-bag bins at the salvage store; and getting them at those bargain-basement prices sure spoiled me! Before FitCrunch bars came along, I often used Clif bars. I phased out regular Clif bars on the advice of a nutritionist, because they\’re high-carb; and low in protein. Clif Builder\’s bars are another story; and sometimes I use them instead of regular Clif bars. For today\’s ride I decided to take along pieces of an Epic venison strip, as well as pieces of Met-Rx, and a Special K Protein bar. I wanted to try something other than all those bars; and as long as I\’m still entertaining notions of doing a century, I\’ll need greater variety in my on-bike menu. The oft-repeated advice for all-day rides is, do not try any new food or drink during the event; so I\’m trying it now. Thus I need to make my bicycle a rolling lab! Results The results of today\’s food experiment: Epic venison tastes OK; but it has a bit of pepper. The pepper is liable to catch in my throat, and make me cough. I think I\’ll look for something else if I want savory on-bike food. Another rolling lab experiment of mine is to eat a bit less on the bike; and now I cut those FitCrunch and other bars into eight pieces, instead of six. So far it seems to work well. Things that don\’t work well for long rides include Combos. I like them, and their saltiness is good on a hot ride; but they have no sustenance. They also have the drawback of crumbliness; and those crumbs tend to stick in my throat. If I want a salty snack, olives are good; and if you want something salty, but don\’t want the fat content of Combos, this is a way around it. Today\’s ride felt harder than last Sunday\’s; and no wonder! The wind was stronger than it was last Sunday; and I also rode several miles farther. Oddly, I didn\’t burn quite as many calories today; and I\’m sure I was working just as hard. In fact, I became quite tired well before I finished the ride. But Winter Wheelers is in progress; and I wanted the miles!

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Somebody Moves the Ends

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\”Just when you think you can make ends meet, somebody moves the ends.\” I don\’t remember where I first saw that quote; but it seems to be quite accurate. Think about it. You start trying to work up to a century; and then something throws the proverbial monkey wrench into the machinery. The upshot of it is that you don\’t get to do that ride. I started trying to work up to a century in July; and was aiming for an October 9 ride day. My program included on-bike force-development exercises once a week; and I worked towards longer and longer bursts of pushing for 15 mph or more. Sounds like a sensible plan, doesn\’t it? Along came late August; and with it, Hurricane Ida. Then came several weeks of little or no true exercise; and when I returned home the third week in September, I was too out of shape to consider an October century. My weekday morning rides seem back to normal; but my weekly long ride is still only 42-44 miles. I\’m not sure I\’m ready to jump from forty-something miles to a full 100 miles. If I try it; and the day I choose presents me with a strong wind; I\’ll have a tough time. In other words, somebody moves the ends. Half of me thinks I need to work up to regular Sunday rides of 55-60 miles — maybe even 70 miles — before I\’m ready for a century. I probably need to work on increasing my pace during those long rides, too. The other half of me says, You want to ride a century? Go for it! So what should I do? I don\’t have to decide this minute, but I need a firm date in mind; and please don\’t move the ends.

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