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Pure Inspiration?

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Pure inspiration is something I could use; and I thought, maybe this protein powder will help! Purely Inspired Organic Protein is vegan-friendly; free of cholesterol; and has no added sugar. Each two-scoop serving (scoop included) packs in 20 g of protein! I found this product at the salvage store this morning, and decided to try it. The main reason was that it cost several dollars less than at a regular store; and that\’s one of the things I love about the salvage store. I can try out new things for less money! After lunch I got out the almond milk, and mixed up a serving of \”pure inspiration\”. I tasted it; and I think it\’s better than chocolate Vega. Most of the mixed drink is for after tomorrow\’s ride; it will keep for 24 hours, I\’m sure. Here\’s my problem with this: the canister is quite large in diameter; and smooth in texture. The lid is also smooth, and it\’s the twist-on type. It\’s a bit difficult for my hands to manage; and it probably doesn\’t help that my hands are cold! Incidentally, the ride to the store meant using another product: Hotnwarmer Packs. It was only a few degrees above freezing when I set out; and I knew my hands would get too cold without the warming packs (this danged Raynaud\’s!) Luckily there wasn\’t much wind, and it\’s now in the mid-40s. Of course I hit the grab-bag bins. I found a Fit Crunch bar; and got some carb-y snacks that will have to be worked into my day-to-day carb count, including some BelVita Sandwiches. Tonight the low will be around 43 degrees; but tomorrow the wind will be stronger. Going for a ride will mean being purely inspired, I guess!

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Jamaica

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Jamaica Jamaica sure sounds attractive when we’ve had a few days of frigid weather. The island’s climate is tropical: hot all year round!  Jamaica has bicycle tours to offer. Maybe you’d like to undertake one uning a Sixthreezero EVERYjourney beach cruiser! There’s the popular Reggae Ride, based out of Montego Bay. This escorted group ride has something to offer cyclists of all ability levels. You can visit farmers’ markets; chat with school kids; or even climb a waterfall! Is downhill MTB your thing? The Blue Mountain Bike Tour might be right up your alley. This all-day tour is easy and fun; but do be prepared for wet weather. Part of the route takes you through a rain forest. The Fat Tire Festival is held annually, in the third week of February; and it sells out fast! Register early if you want to join this week-long celebration of MTB trail riding. Train up, too — some tough climbs are involved. If you’re looking for family fun, try the Braco Bike Trail. This one combines biking and hiking; and includes (of course) a visit to the beach. Relax and enjoy the sounds and sights of rural Jamaica; and learn about the island’s wildlife.  As of July 9, 2026, Jamaica is under a Level 2 travel advisory; and I don’t think I’d want to go there alone. But you might still want to dust off your passport; pack up your bicycle and bathing suit; and head for the Caribbean. This blog/page may contain affiliate links. “We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.” ABOUT ME © This website is the property of its author. DISCLAIMER I am not a cycling coach; nor a health professional. This site is based on my own experiences, opinions, etc. If you need help, please consult the appropriate professional. FRESH FROM MY JOURNAL ✍🏻 Facebook Twitter Youtube INTERPRETER

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Come on Summer

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Come on Summer, we\’re ready for you! I\’m sure much of the USA is only too eager for the weather to warm up. I know I\’m ready for a real ride without miserably cold fingers. Thanks to my problems with Raynaud\’s, I\’m reluctant to ride outdoors while this cold snap lasts; and I\’m getting tired of it. New Orleans usually doesn\’t get this cold; and even more rarely does it stay so cold for so long. Some areas are even worse off than New Orleans, such as Texas. Those poor folks are really suffering; and my own problems seem trivial by comparison. At about 6:30 yesterday evening, I stepped outside to put a bag of trash in the bin. The wind was already cutting; and I was glad I didn\’t have to stay out there more than a minute. I knew it would feel even colder this morning. In fact, last night there was another freeze warning; and at 6 am this morning, the wind chill was 25 degrees. I want to go to the supermarket; but I can\’t face going out in that! On an unrelated topic, last night I thought of a new exercise. The hybrid has been set up in the trainer most of the week; so all was ready. I took a pair of two-pound weights; climbed aboard; and lifted the weights around as I pedaled. I tried to coordinate left hand forward/right knee up and vice versa; but wasn\’t doing very well at it. Tonight will get even colder than last night; and in the next few days it will finally warm up a little. But I sure feel like saying, Come on Summer! Maybe thinking of the Hotter N Hell 100 would help?

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Maintenance

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Maintenance isn\’t only about keeping that bike in good working condition. It\’s also about diet and weight. Over the last year, I lost some 26 pounds. Last February I was uneasily aware that my weight had climbed to 128; and considering how short I am, that was way too much. But getting myself to do something about it was another story. The catalyst was bloodwork that showed my A1c levels were in the prediabetes range. I definitely did not want to progress to full-blown diabetes; and I went to work right away. The first step was to cut way back on the candy bars and junky non-sweet snacks. I began replacing them with apple wedges and raw carrot sticks. I\’ve always had a humongous sweet tooth; and at first that seemed hard. But after a month or so I had lost 5-6 pounds; and it was easier to get into my cycling shorts! That provided the motivation to keep going. I kept at it; but by November my A1c levels hadn\’t budged. I started working with a nurse practitioner and a nutritionist; and they helped me to determine my daily calorie and carb needs. Day after day, I recorded my meals and snacks. Now my weight is back down where I want it; and here comes the hardest part: maintenance! This relentless meal tracking is a drag sometimes; but if I stop doing it, those pounds will pile right back on. Additional motivation is the desire to avoid actually developing diabetes. I suspect that I won\’t be able to go back to my pre-prediabetes eating habits even if my A1c levels return to normal; and I don\’t want to wind up having to take insulin! I\’ll take meal tracking, thank you very much.

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Extremes

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Don\’t take it to extremes! Extreme training isn\’t for everyone. Certainly it isn\’t for me! However, there are other extremes going on around here. Namely, the weather. Monday night it dropped to about 26 degrees; and that\’s phenomenally cold for us. Happily, I was able to keep my water pipes in action. Yesterday, it barely got above freezing. It didn\’t help that the sun didn\’t start breaking through the clouds until about 2 pm. Last night wasn\’t quite as cold; but a brief power outage prompted me to go to bed by 8:15 pm. For me, no electricity means no heat. I also decided that it would be wise to run a trickle of water overnight, just in case. This morning it was still barely above freezing; and I had a cold walk to work. I had to help my hands with warming packs. Then, during the day, the temperature rose to about 54 degrees. What a change! It\’s nice to have it feel warmer in here; but severe weather is possible in the Southeast region tonight and into tomorrow morning. We could get heavy rain; and that puts a damper (no pun intended) on my desire to make a pre-work run to the supermarket. Forty degrees and wind 10-15 mph isn\’t fun, especially when you\’re on a bicycle; and if it\’s raining as well, it\’s a recipe for misery. Besides, there\’s nothing that I absolutely must have right away. Tomorrow night and the next, it\’s back down to freezing. If I find this cold spell so hard to deal with, I\’d have a terrible time trying to live in the Northern latitudes.

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It\’s Running!

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It\’s running! No, I don\’t mean a foot race; I mean my water. We had a hard freeze last night. Such weather is unusual for us; and it often means a lot of burst pipes all over the city. My pipes froze during the 2018 cold snap. Naturally I wasn\’t eager for a repeat performance; so I did what I could to prevent it. I had saved several of those insulated bubble-wrap envelopes that Whole Foods uses to ship cold/frozen items. They\’re handy when I go grocery shopping by bicycle, and want to get frozen stuff! But if those envelopes can keep cold stuff cold, why can\’t the material keep cold out? Day before yesterday I cut pieces out of one of those envelopes; and I duct-taped the pieces around what exposed outdoor pipes I could reach. I had no idea whether that would provide adequate insulation, but I figured it was worth trying. It was certainly better than nothing. When a freeze is expected, the usual advice is to run a spaghetti-thin trickle of water overnight. Of course I did that, too. I wanted to have a water supply if possible. And today it\’s running! I think I\’ll leave that insulation on the pipes. Maybe, when hot weather returns, it will mean that my cold water faucet will produce cold water; not water that\’s lukewarm. And who knows; we could still get more freezing weather. It\’s only mid-February; and a cold snap in March isn\’t impossible. I suppose that this day will go down in local history as the Mardi Gras Deep Freeze. The hard freeze warning remains in effect until noon, and tonight it will be barely above freezing. Don\’t put away the heavy jackets just yet!

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WATER!!!

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A blog about water?! This seems like an appropriate time for it. We\’ve got a deep freeze coming! With such weather comes the risk of frozen pipes; and I\’ll bet drinking water is flying off the shelves in any store that carries it. I\’m glad I keep several gallon jugs of Trinkwasser on hand. I did what I could to protect my pipes; but if it isn\’t adequate, and my pipes freeze anyhow, I won\’t have to worry about dehydration. I also did my laundry yesterday evening; and as always, I saved the water for \”flushing\”. If the pipes freeze, I\’ll still be able to, well, flush. Parts of the state might get sleet; and they say that power outages are possible. As things stand now, I\’d prefer frozen pipes to a power outage! I have to rely on electricity for heating; and without my electric heater, I\’ll be miserably cold in here. After all, I can drink only so much hot chocolate. I must keep mindful of the carbs; and I went over my count yesterday. Plain, hot H₂O doesn\’t appeal to me much; and more than small amounts of it make my stomach feel bloated. Green tea? Maybe. I\’m trying to ease more of it into my diet, to replace sodas; but I\’m not doing as well as I could wish ? At 8 am, it was a relatively balmy 40 degrees. I decided to hike to the drug store to get a few things. It\’s a good thing I went when I did. Before 10 am, the temperature had dropped to 33 degrees; the rain was getting heavier; and the wind was 24 mph. If I tried to go for a ride, my water bottles might freeze!

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Wild Ride

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It was a wild ride to the salvage store yesterday. The wind chill was in the mid-30s; and there were gusts up to 22 mph. I\’m glad I decided not to use the trailer. As it was, it felt like I\’d never get to the store! Of course I looked through the grab-bag bins — and found an RXBar! There were some packs of BelVita, too; and I got a few candy items for portioning out. Then I took a leisurely stroll through the store. I found corn tortillas; mild green taco sauce; canned chicken; and more. Thanks to the weather, I decided I could leave the cooler at home. That left more space in my panniers; and sure enough, the large bag of frozen peas I bought stayed cool. Then came the wild ride home. The wind direction meant that I got a lot of headwind, both going to the store and riding back home. At least I wasn\’t in a hurry on the way home; and thank goodness it wasn\’t raining! It was a good thing I fueled up a bit before I began that ride. If I hadn\’t, I would have gotten too hungry! My foraging in the grab-bag bins unearthed a 4-piece package of SnackWell\’s; and I ate two of the cookies. Even so, my stomach was growling when I got home. And Today And today — well, I tried. I knew that the weather would be cold; and I knew it would be cloudy. At about 8:30 am checked the NOAA site. Temperature, 39 degrees (or 4 degrees, if you prefer Celcius). Wind, 10 mph, from the North. There\’s a hard freeze watch in effect, starting tomorrow evening; and a wind chill watch, too. I had already prepared my ride food; and last night I fixed a recovery drink: cashew milk with Vega. So I decided to be brave and go out on the road bike. Muy plan was to ride out 15-16 miles before turning back for home, but I ran into several problems. One, last Friday I forgot to recharge my Garmin. It almost certainly would have given me the Low Battery signal halfway through my ride; and it\’s aggravating when that happens. Two, I put warmers in my gloves; but my fingers were freezing before I had gone one mile. Another problem is that getting a bite to eat is awkward when I\’m wearing those heavy gloves; and today I ran into mist about half a mile from home. Over many miles, that means getting quite damp; and with a headwind on the way home, I would have gotten miserably chilled. So I decided to turn around before I had gone even two miles. On the one hand, that makes me feel like a cowardly wimp. On the other, however, wisdom is the better part of valor.

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Chill Out!

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Let\’s chill out with this delicious frozen dessert! Maybe I\’m crazy for wanting ice cream on a day like today. In fact, at 8 am, the chill factor was down to the mid-30s. It was a cold ride to the salvage store; and with wind gusts up to 22 mph, it almost seemed that I\’d never get there! And it\’s cold in my apartment. I get tired of sitting in front of the electric heater. If only I could have central heating! But sometimes the ambient temperature has nothing to do with my desire for ice cream. It\’s all about sweetness. Enlightened Mint Chocolate Chunk® combines the coolness of mint with the richness of chocolate; great when you want to chill out on a hot day. It\’s great on a cold day, too — as long as you\’re parked in front of the heater! This dessert is keto-friendly. I\’m not on a ketogenic diet; but I do need to watch the carbs. Enlightened contains no high-fructose corn syrup; and no hydrogenated fats. I was very tempted to ride over to the store before work yesterday to buy some of this stuff. I finally decided to skip it. The very cold temperatures hadn\’t arrived yet, but it was drizzling; and starting to thunder. Maybe some other time!

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Wet Journal

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It\’s a wet journal today! At 5 am, it was raining. Not very hard; but raining nonetheless. I debated whether to try a short ride while I had a bite to eat. Here and there I heard a grumble of thunder. It seemed to be moving this way; and there\’s no telling when distant lightning might suddenly move a lot closer. I was of half a mind to poncho up and ride around the park a few times; then head for Whole Foods and get ice cream. But I spent a lot at a different grocery store yesterday; and it seemed a bit crazy to make a trip to the store for one item. It was also a cool 50 degrees; and wet hands and feet are cold hands and feet! This would have been a great chance to test hand warmers in wet conditions; but I just didn\’t feel like it (read: I was LAZY!) By 7:20 am, the temperature had dropped a few degrees; and the wind had become stronger. Gusts up to 22 mph! Staying in gave me time to wash yesterday\’s cycling shorts; and I hauled out the trainer for an indoor \”ride\” later. This is a work-from-home day, so the pedaling had to wait. To continue the wet journal, when I clocked out for lunch break it wasn\’t raining; although it was still overcast. The wind was picking up too; but I decided to ride over to the drug store. All week long, no matter what I did, I couldn\’t shake the desire for ice cream! Since I was going to be bad anyhow, I decided to go for broke; and bought a pint of Talenti. Salted Caramel Truffle. YUMMY! Tomorrow, 50% chance of rain; and mid-40s in the morning. Going to be a cold ride to the salvage store!

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