Sometimes we need to rethink things; and I believe I need to rethink my long-ride eating strategy.

A couple of months ago, I began to experiment with decreasing the amount of on-bike eating a little: I’d cut my energy bars into eight pieces, instead of six.

I thought it seemed to work OK; but now I’m not so sure. I haven’t been bonking, but my pace seems to be suffering; and maybe I’m actually under-fueling. My Garmin‘s ride data includes Calories Burned; and on my last few long rides, I’ve come up with a calorie deficit as much as 300.

There’s only one way to find out about the fueling; and that’s to go back to eating slightly more on the bike. As long as I don’t eat more calories than I burn, I should be all right.

I’ve got to keep that prediabetes in mind, though. After nearly two years, it’s still very hard for me to resist candy and other sweets; and constant meal-planning and food journaling take their toll.

More Rethinking

I had to rethink my ride plans this morning, too. When I got up it was overcast, but not raining; and I got ready to roll. Just as I was walking out the front door, the sky lit up. I hesitated; counted 15-20 seconds; and no thunder. I decided to go out; and that’s when I heard thunder.

I changed my mind and went back indoors; set up the trainer; and pedaled for 15 minutes. I didn’t want to go for longer because I needed the time to fix a lunch. While on the trainer, I had shifted several cogs smaller; and forgot to shift back to the big cog before stopping.

When I noticed that, I held up the rear wheel and turned the pedals by hand, so I could make the adjustment. Then I saw that the wheel was out of the drop-out; and wouldn’t turn! I had to wrestle with it for a good 10 minutes before I managed to get things back to normal. I suppose the bike hadn’t been properly secured into the trainer; and it’s lucky I didn’t pedal for long, let along hard. I might have destroyed the entire rear wheel assembly.

As it turned out, my “ride” took place during a weather window. About 6:30, it began to rain; and the wind got quite strong. I checked the weather site; and there was a Special Weather Statement about a strong T-storm in the area. It was moving fast, though; and at about 7:10 am I left for work; and got there without getting rained on.

It looks like we’ll have tomorrow and Thursday rain-free; but Thursday night the rain will start again. I hope I won’t have to rethink my weekend cycling plans!