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Zym

Segments

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Today I did my \”long\” ride in segments, you might say. I planned to do about 40 miles; but split it into segments. The first segment was a trip to the supermarket on the hybrid. I needed produce; and the salvage store, let it be admitted, isn\’t good for fresh fruits and vegetables. I didn\’t find hummus there yesterday, either. This trip gave me 5.74 miles; but it also put me way behind time for my jaunt on the road bike. I didn\’t get going until about 7:20 am; and it gets hot early! So I rode out about 18.5 miles; and then headed back home. Clouds were building up in the North and East; and now and then they covered the sun for a bit. That provided welcome relief from the relentless heat. Today I seemed unusually tired. I wasn\’t sure what was going on. Dehydration, perhaps? Wanting to coast is a sign of possible dehydration; but I had been drinking water and Zym all along. Did I need to eat more? I took a bite about every 15 minutes; and that\’s what I usually do. Maybe salt would have helped; but I forgot to bring along olives today. Especially on the way back home, I frequently felt out of breath. I had a bit of a headwind; but it wasn\’t any 20 mph. After I got home, I discovered what was probably a major factor: I forgot to take my low blood pressure medication this morning! Longer Rides For longer rides than today\’s, segments are even more important. Few of us can knock out 50 miles and more without breaks; and I, for one, don\’t really need to. Yes, I\’m striving to improve my endurance; but that requires time and patience. Take that century I\’m thinking of doing. A wise plan would be to break up the distance into segments 12-15 miles long; and not try to push the pace too hard. I wish I could do a 100-miler and average 15 mph or so; but at this point it doesn\’t look like happening. In fact, while trying to survive the slog back home today, I often thought: And I want to do a century?! As I\’ve said so many times, this heat is no help; and several times I had to make unplanned stops to catch my breath. My blood pressure was probably down; and that didn\’t help either. I think I need to play it by ear between now and the second half of September. If I can get a day of light (or no!) wind; and when it\’s not going to be 90 degrees by 9:00 am; I can go for it. Just remember: segments!

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Half Measures

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Sometimes I do things by half measures. Century rides, for example. Last time I rode 100 miles in one day was July 2013; a long time ago. Something in me seems to think that it\’s high time I did it again. So today, I decided to shoot for a half-century. Most Sundays I\’ve been riding up to 30 miles or so; and if I can do that, I figured I could manage 50 miles. If I have any notions of doing a century before this year is out, I have to start working up to the mileage right now! I\’m on vacation this week, and had thought of doing this ride about Tuesday or Wednesday; but the long-range forecast given last Friday night made me change my mind. Today was predicted to be clear; and not much wind. By the middle of the week, things were likely to turn stormy once more. The Ride Well, the wind was stronger than the 5-7 mph forecast of last night; I could tell that as soon as I went outdoors! But I reminded myself that today\’s ride wasn\’t about speed, or even about endurance-building; it was just about doing 50 miles. As a matter of fact, I seemed to do fairly well riding into that wind. Better than I could do a few years ago, anyhow. I tested a new ride food, the Met-Rx Super Cookie Crunch; and also took along an old favorite, the FitCrunch Birthday Cake bar. That particular item is becoming rather a problem, now that the weather is warmer. The coating gets half melted, and is very messy! And if I think it\’s bad now, just wait until the days when the temperature is already 80 degrees at 5:00 am! Next time, eat the FitCrunch first. A Quest S\’mores; a couple of GU-Gels; and Zym completed my ride menu. Today I didn\’t bother much with riding on the big ring; that probably would have tired me too much, too soon. I used it when the wind got behind me; and the rest of the time I rode on the small ring. I did, however, maintain a pretty high cadence: average 81 rpm for the entire ride. I didn\’t see much of special interest: no bluebird sightings; no alligators; and of course the moon wasn\’t out! I rode out as far as the spillway; and after a brief rest stop headed for home. Naturally that\’s when I got the headwind! I reminded myself again that I didn\’t have to hurry; and worked to keep a brisk cadence in an easy gear. A wind such as that used to push me back to 8 mph; or even a miserably slow 6 mph. Today, my overall average was 11.33 mph; so it looks like I\’ve gotten a little bit stronger!? So there\’s my first half-century in quite a while. That\’s certainly doing things by half measures! !

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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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Unexpected

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Something unexpected happened today. In fact, there were two unexpected things. As planned, I did a long ride today (32.10 miles; long for me at this point). When I first got up, my legs felt weird; sort of quivery. In fact, I felt a tad shaky in general. After I ate a banana, I felt somewhat better. I filled the Camel-Bak; cut up two Clif Bars; and got the Zym that I prepared last night out of the fridge. Then I checked NOAA. It was cool enough for leg warmers, vest, and a lightweight skull cap. Then off I went. NOAA said the wind was from the NW, or a headwind outward-bound. I worked at riding 15 mph or more for 5 minutes at a time. I was surprised that I felt stronger than usual! After a little over 16 miles, I stopped and turned around. Then I seemed to get a HEADwind! It was much harder to ride 15 mph, in part because my legs were getting a bit tired. Even so, I still felt somewhat stronger than usual. I checked NOAA again after I was home; the wind had switched around to the North. That explains a lot, doesn\’t it? Headwind on the way home, as happens all too often. With five miles still to go, I began to feel very tired. I didn\’t seem to bonking, but I decided it would be wise to eat another piece of Clif Bar. After about two miles of easy pedaling, I felt a lot better. My mileage today fell a few miles short of the 35 I had been thinking about doing, but 32.10 is quite respectable. So if your legs feel a bit \”off\”, try riding anyway. You might get a pleasant surprise. Oh, and the other unexpected thing: when I weighed myself this morning, I saw that I had lost some weight! Maybe that explains yesterday\’s craving for ice cream?

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It Can Be Rough

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It can be rough being a pro cyclist. For all I\’ve read about it, such a life is no walk in the park. Training, sometimes in the cold and the rain. Pushing hard, but keeping from burning out. Recovery. Keeping tabs on the diet. (It\’s about more than Clif Bars and Zym). Any career has its \”worst part\”. Certainly being a professional ballet dancer does (see at about 0:25 minutes). I suppose that being any sort of pro athlete is similar: your life has to revolve around it. An event such as the Tour de France makes it look like pro cycling is just riding around fast on cool-looking bicycles but, as we no doubt all know, it\’s about much more than that. We don\’t see what goes on behind the scenes: the core work; the stretching; rehab following injuries; and even, so I\’ve read, having to be where doping control personnel can find you at any time for random testing. That last one sounds rather creepy, like Big Brother Is Watching You. Oh, and the rules, Rules, RULES!! So yes, it can be rough. Very rough, indeed! Compared to the life of a pro cyclist, we ordinary riders have it easy, no matter how hard or long we\’re riding.          

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Un-Sunday Ride

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Un-Sunday Ride Today I did an UN-Sunday ride! Sunday is my usual long-ride day. As a rule, Saturday is for going to get groceries; and the time for other errands. It’s also the time to rest up for the Sunday long ride. This weekend I switched my schedule around, and did a longish, un-Sunday ride today. The forecast for tomorrow isn’t looking too good. Ergo I rode today. I decided not to try pushing myself. My legs still feel heavy and tired, possibly from day before yesterday’s hard efforts. Does this mean I made them too hard? I found Propel at the supermarket this morning, in pre-mixed in bottles. I thought it would be nice to have a break from Zym, and I got some Propel to take along on today’s ride. I prefer having the powder, though. It’s very easy to take along one or two of the packets. The grocery run was less than six miles; but all the same I wasn’t about to make a full-length “Sunday” ride. There was the leg fatigue. There was also the wind. You guessed it — it was a headwind on the way back home. I rode out to my usual pit-stop place; then came back. There were some pretty fierce gusts; and the wind seemed to be strengthening. I checked a weather site after I was home; and it showed the wind had been 13-15 mph. Half an hour later, the same site showed wind at 18 mph; and gusts up to 26 mph. I’m glad I got home when I did.

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Tending Bar?

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Sometimes preparing for a bicycle ride makes me feel that I\’m tending bar. I have to prepare take-along hydration. What to drink while cycling? For me, the shortest ride means bringing along a bottle of water; even two bottles if it\’s hot. For my weekly long ride, I use the Camel-Bak for my main water supply. Just in case the Camel-Bak runs too low, I bring an extra bottle of water in the seat tube\’s bottle cage. For long rides, water alone is unlikely to suffice; especially when the weather is hot. The array of drinks out there for hydration, energy, and so on, is bewildering. Maybe this will help with tending bar! My go-to product is Zym Berry. I like to start a ride of several hours with Zym because it contains caffeine. When the weather gets warm enough that I go through electrolyte drink faster, I pack along Nuun tablets. If the Zym runs out and I still have a ways to ride, I can drop a Nuun tablet into the spare water bottle. I\’m not sure I\’ve tried any carbohydrate sports drinks. I get the impression that they\’re best reserved for very long sessions in the saddle, when on-the-roll eating will be difficult. I may not need carb drinks unless I get into riding centuries or other long events on a regular basis; say, at least once a month. Anyway, I rather subscribe to the water-in-the-bottle, food-in-the-pocket philosophy.

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A Ride and After

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What happens during a ride and after? Today I set out around 7:30 am … no, make that 8:30 am. I forgot about setting the clocks forward; but whatever time it really was, I\’m glad I didn\’t have to go riding before sunup. There were some patches of terrible fog. If it had been dark, visibility would have been severely reduced. Some of the fog patches were much cooler than the surrounding area, making me glad I had worn leg warmers. Because I rode so little during the past week, I figured it would be unwise to try banging out 50 miles; and decided to leave today\’s distance at 29-30 miles. I did a little experiment: I tried having a bite to eat once every 20 minutes, instead of every 15 minutes; and brought SIS electrolyte drink instead of Zym. I like Zym better; but now and then I need to try new stuff. The usual Sunday ride plan is to go long and steady; but today I threw in two sets of three 20-second hard pushes to see how fast I could get. I touched 19.47! I really need a lot more of such work, or I\’ll be stuck at 13-14 mph forever =( After I got back home and had some lunch, I sat down to try some toe-spacers. It was hard getting them between my toes at all; and they fell out too easily. Maybe they\’re too thick. I bought them from the drug store, and chose them because they were the cheapest ones that the store had. Maybe I should have expected it. You know what they say: If you buy cheap, you get cheap. Remind me not to buy cheap if I need a new bicycle!  That was a ride and after!

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New Product Report

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Here it is, a new product report! Something new to me, at any rate. I\’d seen SIS products in bicycle shops and online, but hadn\’t tried any. Last week I ordered a tube of  SIS Go Hydro electrolyte tablets (berry flavor) along with GU-Gels and Zym tablets. My order arrived today. I couldn\’t find information regarding caffeine content on the SIS label, so I went into the company\’s web site. I found their Live Chat, and sent a message. Yes, SIS Berry has 75 mg caffeine per tablet. So, although I prepared the drink, I didn\’t dare take more than a taste of it. I don\’t need it to be keeping me awake all night! How would that look in a new product report? It\’s pretty good, and will probably taste better once it\’s been well chilled. The web site\’s info said, use within 24 hours of preparation, so I can drink it tomorrow morning. It also says, consume no more than 4 tablets within 24 hours. Getting back to the caffeine, I re-checked the Zym label. It says, 100 mg caffeine per tablet. No wonder I have trouble sleeping Sunday nights! For my long ride, I prep a quart of Zym. That\’s 200 mg of caffeine! Even though I\’ve drunk it all before noon, it doesn\’t seem to wear off by bedtime. My habit of having a Diet Coke when I get home from a Sunday long ride can\’t be helping in that respect. Next long ride I can try SIS instead of Zym. If I have concerns about the caffeine, I can take half the amount of caffeinated electrolyte drink as usual, and pack along some non-caffeinated electrolyte tablets. After all, if I don\’t try a new product now and then, I won\’t learn anything, right?

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Side Effects?

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Side Effects? ? You never know what side effects might be; whether it’s from riding when you’re older, or from having your mouth worked on. Day before yesterday I had some heavy-duty dental work done. I had lost a crown, and it couldn’t be reattached. That meant extracting the roots left from the original tooth. As a result, I have several stitches at the site; and the dentist told me to avoid drinking through straws for at least a few days. That’s not good news as far as the Sunday long ride goes. Drinking from a Camel-Bak is, in effect, using a glorified straw. Two 24-oz bottles aren’t enough water for a 40-mile ride; and using both of my bottles for water would mean no Zym. Out of the Box ? Oh, dear, what shall I do? It’s time to think out of the box, for sure. One possibility is running an errand by hybrid; that would give me 4-5 miles. Then I could take a short-ish ride with the road bike. I could probably do without any electrolyte drink if I don’t ride over 20 miles, especially as it won’t be very warm. I don’t want to skip the ride entirely, because I did that only a few weeks ago. There’s always “riding” in the trainer, but that is tedious as can be. It might make indoor pedaling less of a drag if I could rig things so that I could run my sewing machine by pedaling; and sew as I “rode”. That would, unfortunately, be tricky. I’d have to get the hang of not holding the handlebars; and using my hands to manage the machine. What weird ideas I do get. Who would have guessed that oral surgery had side effects like this?   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 I began this website primarily as a way to present the story of how I accomplished a century ride on an adult tricycle. Other riders of adult trikes might want to know whether it’s possible. It sure is; and I hope I can provide a bit of inspiration.   Along the way, I got into blogging; presenting my kitchen experiments; and even setting up a store. You can visit my Facebook page here; or check into my Twitter (aka X) page, Cyclo_Pathy. I live in New Orleans; and  retired in January 2023. More time for cycling! Website designed by Cecile Levert © 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 Persistence October 18, 2024 Wind Relief October 17, 2024 Take the Cake October 16, 2024 Easy 100? October 15, 2024 Load More TRANSLATOR

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