This is just an explanation post to the one that is going to be posted in 20 minutes. Since this really is void on content I’m going to drop one of the funnier things I’ve seen on the interwebs lately courtesy of  pro interweber @alexclemens2.

That's right this wins... Don't pun again... Useless.

High Fructose Corn Syrup Half Truths

We all use these and most of us started using them in Kindergarten. “Mom, I ate my broccoli.” Should have been “Mom I ate some of my broccoli, and Scooter ate most of it.” Well, I found a glaring, not so innocent, half truth in my research on High Fructose Corn Syrup. Industry groups stick to lines based on the idea that HFCS is made up of fructose and glucose, both naturally occurring sugars in fruit and other common dietary staples seen as healthy. This implies that high fructose corn syrup is as safe as cane sugar (mostly sucrose) and has the same metabolic effects on our body. There really are two problems with this line of thinking.

Glucose/Fructose Bonds

In naturally occurring sugars the fructose and glucose are two components of sucrose (cane sugar) making them two parts of a disaccharide not monosaccharides as they exist in HFCS. The difference here is in how your body uses them. In sucrose your body must first break the glycosidic bond to access the highly energetic fructose and glucose molecules. The breaking of this bond forces your body to expend energy in order to gain energy. Although the energy release is obviously much greater than the energy expenditure it’s still important to point out that this is something the pro High Fructose Corn Syrup industry lobbyists and ad campaigns chose to overlook.

Fructose and Your Blood Sugar

This is important and goes to the “this is natural” argument so often used. High Fructose Corn Syrup is rated by its fructose content, the more fructose the sweeter the overall taste experience. Common mixtures are HFCS 42, HFCS 55 and HFCS 90, Representing 42%, 55% and 90% fructose. The problem here is that since there is no bond between the glucose and fructose the mixture is much more bio-available. Combine this with the rate that HFCS is consumed and we reach sugar consumption rates our bodies are just unable to handle. The problem is highlighted with the fact the our bodies response to fructose is especially poor. As mentioned in the Will Bar post the American Diabetic Association has done studies which have found that our bodies are poor at regulating blood sugar with insulin when ingesting fructose.

High Fructose Corn Syrup Vs. Corn Syrup

So where does Corn Syrup lay in both of these arguments? Simple, Corn Syrup does not contain any fructose. It is the equivalent to HFCS 0 granting it a 100% glucose composition. Glucose is not as sweet as fructose but our bodies handle it much better. We can regulate our blood sugar and maintain a steady energy level without the especially high highs and low lows (we have all heard of sugar crashes).

The “Sweet Surprise” High Fructose Corn Syrup Advertisements

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl9vZYj-aJ4

“It’s made from…”

This is one argument I love. It rears it’s head in many different ways, “it’s close too…” “It’s like…” “it’s one ______ molecule from ____” etc. The counter example I like to use is monoxide, a very deadly gas is really close to or like or made from the same thing as, Oxygen (O2) one of the building blocks of life as we know it. Think of other examples, coal vs. diamonds, plastic vs. petroleum, Corn Syrup vs. High Fructose Corn Syrup.

“High Fructose Corn Syrup is bad for you…”

Obviously the anti-HFCS lady in this commercial did not do her research. She just gave a sound bite, a sound bite I’ve heard spoken with as little reasoning as provided in the commercial. The obvious reason its “bad for you” is stated in this blog post: the increased bio-availability of HFCS due to the lack of a molecular bond between the glucose and fructose and the body’s inability to regulate, with insulin, the additional fructose.

Moderation

Another point to look at here is the quick mention of “in moderation”, almost mumbled as the pro-HFCS line is finishing. Moderation to manufacturers of HFCS might mean an 8 oz. glass daily. I don’t know, as they don’t mention portions, but in that lays the point, “moderation” is a broad term with no legal definition. An evolutionary viewpoint on flavor points to the fact that our taste buds could have been programmed. Hard to find or difficult to obtain food sources that are vital to our survival could have been made to taste better in order to encourage us to forage and or hunt. Sugars, salts and fat all potentially fall into this category. It’s an interesting viewpoint and one that explains why common grains, starches and vegetables aren’t as tasty. Or even why we react to bitter and certain naturally occurring flavors by spitting them out. Certain flavors have a high probability of being from a poisonous or otherwise potentially harmful plant. Today with the more tasty products being as available as everything else our taste buds are capitalized on by the food industry. This is why much of the foods we crave end up being poor health choices in modern diets, they taste good due to their historic scarcity. All this to say that moderation in this case is probably fractions of what we actually consume even in a relatively conscious diet.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnsSUqgkDwU

Now that would be a true turning point for the brand -- a brand that, for nearly ten years, dismissed brand advertising as a waste of money (“The last bastion of unaccountable spending in corporate America,” in Eric Schmidt’s words back in 2006), and built its entire fortune on turning the advertising model upside down.

- JOHN BATTELLE

As John mentions Google has been adamantly against traditional advertising methods for at least a decade. Why the change of heart. Well it makes sense. What Google has been referring to is still true. If you are trying to reach the largest market with the least money the quickest, a super bowl ad is not the way you do it. But when you’ve spent a decade creating the largest web presence on the internet and you want to grow you have to start thinking of new, or in this case old, avenues. They may be targeting the crumbs here, but when you have the money and your competition is mobilizing, why not? Mine a little deeper, hit the market that is less profitable for your money, it’s the luxury of being on top.

In my personal opinion, I like the ad. That’s about it. Maybe they’ll advertise during the 2010 Tour de France about dating an American woman. Now that, I would be excited about.

Want to Use Images to their Full Extent?

(the quick and simple way):

1. Select an appropriate template for your WordPress Blog:  I prefer simpler templates for blog in which I’m going to use images as an attention grabber.  Templates, especially those in diffused shades, white, black and gray allow the images to stand out and speak for themselves.  This blog is actually a good example of that. For several reasons I prefer fixed width blogs.  Step #2 is a good example of why.
2. Bigger is better: Figure out the maximum width you are allowed to use for an image.  In this blog it’s 588px including the border for a caption.  Crop your images to this and use them proudly at the top of your blog posts.
3. Don’t go stock: With the methods mentioned below it is very very simple to use your own images.
4. Find a process and stick with it: I keep a point and shoot camera on me at all times.  I never know when a photo opportunity is going to sneak up.  With modern cameras it’s easy to keep them in your pocket and shoot away. Next I take a little bit of time to organize them in Picasa so when I’m writing a post I can grab one of my personal “stock” photos. I also use Picasa to quickly edit the photo, adjusting for light balance, sharpness and contrast before I upload.
5. Details!!! This is my philosophy. And it works, again and again and again… and again.  When uploading photos fill in all the fields.  Think them over, write a gripping caption.  Do not use the default for the Title Field.  This value is not visually apparent on the blog so people often times skip over it.  I send emails to my clients all the time reminding them to use it.  So don’t be like some of my problem children, take my advice and use it!  Small things like this will get you better search engine traffic especially from image indexers like images.google.com. If you want to take image indexing a step further you can use the Media Tag plug-in. It’s finicky and sometimes it takes a while for me to get it going but it’s well worth it if your blog is image heavy.

A note on details: They are not the kind of thing that get you a high spike in traffic, they are not the front page of digg.  But if you are careful and detail oriented all your blogging and photography efforts become that much more effective.  Good posts have a better chance of ranking, getting noticed, linked to, etc. If you rank in a relatively unpopular term can get you 5-10 hits a day.  20 of those articles and you have a good base of readers to build on.

With Picasa the sunset becomes just a touch more vibrant.

Before I get into this let me take a few sentences to tell you who I am.  I’m for lack of a better term, an “internet professional.”  I manage and consult for blogs, e-commerce sites and anyone else trying to build an internet presence or turn a profit.  I believe in standards, white hat practices and doing things the right way to see long term steady and profitable growth rather than short term irrelevant spikes in _____.  I’m proficient in PHP, CSS, HTML and a bit of JavaScript.  I design and implement fully custom sites or custom installations of Zen-Cart or WordPress. Both of which I develop plugins, modules and templates for.  This blog is not only a place for me to have some fun it’s also my public sand box and a way for me to thank my partners clients and friends.

Images, cheap fast and effective.  All the images on this site are shot with my little pocket camera and almost non of them have seen Photoshop.  That’s right there isn’t an expensive nor technical side to effectively using images, infact I use a $130ish camera (Nikon CoolPix S560) that I tend to keep in my pocket or jersey so it’s with me when I need it.  For light and image adjustment I just use Picasa to touch things up a bit.  Simple effect, my mom could use it, and above all else free! What do I get? Lets take a look at some images from my past posts:

Blog Photos Shot Edited and Uploaded in Under 10 Minutes!

5 minutes: Dr Will Bar Energy Bars

Dr. Will Bar has sponsored me for the 2010 season and they deserve credit as a great tasting nutritous bar. So when my first box arrived I went to go do a review and snap a few photos.  I quickly took out the hose and washed the side walk down. This was good for two reasons the twigs and leaves were now out of the shot and the wet concrete offered a better contrast allowing the bright colors of the box to “pop.” I also enjoy the industrial look of the concrete contrasting with the the colors and complimenting the simple lines on the box.  After a bit of adjusting in Picasa the photo took 5 minutes.

Sheets; A cheap white background! Bill Peterson's Cycling Orthotics

With a white sheet already draped off of a curtain rod for some E bay photos it was easy to throw my insole on the white and snap a shot.  With a simple macro setting on my camera I was able to get relatively good detail of the sole and highlight the curves for my foot. No Picasa needed, this took less than 1 minute, 10 including setting up and pulling the sheet down.

It's good to live across from a Rose garden: Kinlin Wheel Review

Be creative, use your surroundings. From the previously mentioned sidewalk to taking advantage of the City of Roses’ abundance of rose gardens I’ve tried to accentuate images by simply walking out the front door.  Again using the rain to highlight the colors of the garden I walked my bike outside and let the bike’s colors blend with the garden while the rims (the focal point of the article) “pop.” This took 15 minutes to set up, snap, adjust, and upload.

Not for the Vegetarians: Vodoo Donuts' Bacon Maple Bar.

Taking advantage of a recovery ride with some friends in Portland I snapped a few photos during a coffee shop stop. This is the first image I used Picasa on and found out I’d be using it more than Photoshop for quick touches.  Jokingly snapping a few shots, adjusting the photo, and uploading probably took all of 10 minutes.

Snapped during a bike ride: Sunset in Portland

I was riding my bike along PDX’s river path when I saw the sun set. I have hundreds of images similar to this I’ve tried to make work. This one for some reason just did. Fall leaves, sun flairs, and Portland’s Steel Bridge from an angle only a cyclist or pedestrian will ever see make this image complete for me. A touch of contrast and light adjustments in Picasa made this image come alive. Done in under 10 minutes.

A delicious snack looks warmer after Picasa

The power of Picasa

For 99% of the bloggers our there Photoshop is going to be over bloated, cumber-sum and hard to learn.  It’s array of features are great if you’re a professional but for the rest of us we could do more damage than good.  For a simple to use, free download Picasa will add, take away or adjust that last 10% needed to make your photo truly ready to represent you blog and interests.  The common mistake when referencing Picasa is the perception that it’s only the web based Flikr competitor.  Since Google took it over the desktop application has become a great stand alone feature.  Not to mention one touch synchronization with your web based profile. I now use Picasa to organize my photos, manage my screen saver, upload photos to the web, and of course perform minor on the fly photo adjustments.

The Rainbow of Kinlin Rims

Part of launching Oregon Cycling Action included me involving myself as more than just the web master but as the guy who does the cycling product reviews.  My first one is the wheel review I’ve been talking about on this blog for a while.  I got 5 people from the Oregon area to test a set of wheels.  The wheels are a stock set hand built in California.  The kinlin rims are laced to DT Swiss 240 hubs using DT Swiss Aerolite spokes. I learned a fair amount from this review.  Like if you get 5 people to test wheels you might only get 3 reviews back.  Which I don’t think is bad considering the riders weren’t getting paid anything or getting any kick backs.  All in all though it went extremely well and I look forward to testing more items.

You can read the review here:

kinlin rims / dt swiss 240 hubs

The Launch of Oregon Cycling Action's New WWW

Why am I having a beer at 7:30 am on a Friday?  You might be comforted by the fact that it’s at least a Friday, but the 7:30 AM?  Am I in Mexico? Nope… and it’s not even coffee beer.  I’m just celebrating, a little bit excited. After a long stretch, Oregon Cycling Action finally has a new home, a new look and a new set of features.  Now the real work is going to begin.  Keeping the bar high, and pushing it higher.  Finding advertisers, marketing, publishing, etc.  I’m excited and Pat is a great guy to work with. This site, despite the two goons running it, hopefully will be another contribution to the already great cycling related publishing community in Oregon. The new features are:

• Expanded photo galleries
• Fitness Q&A with Upper Echelon
• Tech reviews… with yours truly!
• and of course… Pat’s already great cycling coverage.

Well, that’s not it either.  We have cards down our sleeves yet. Nothing official and there’s no way I’m leaking any news yet but there’s always more to be done, and there’s always more to be imagined.  We’re working hard and I’m excited!

And with the CF rotor…..how does the braking compare to a regular SS rotor? Is there anyone making cast iron rotors? In racing I found that cast iron rotors increase braking mojo by a factor of at least one shitload. I would think a heavily drilled/machined iron rotor wouldn’t weigh too much. Also what’s the wear rate like on the CF?

Via @fairwheel "Into every life a little rain, or broken glass, must fall"

Also while I’m at it, sitting on my high horse, being pretentious and elitist because I’m too lazy to do any of the heavy lifting I’d like to pass along a “way to go boys” (see attached picture of broken display case) to those “peons” at the show.

AX-Lightness 161 Gram Rim; The lightest bike rims?

I’ve been working hard lately, mainly on projects that are for now best left until the beginning of Inter-bike on Wednesday.  But little bits and piece are starting to come to light.  This photo, of a new AX-Lightness Rim (161 grams!?!?!?!?) was “leaked” by my boss @fairwheel. It just got laced to a set of hubs that will make for a wheel set that… well, like I said, wait for Interbike.  But this picture, aside from the rim holds clue to one more project and another hint for this one.  Although the bike this rim is going on is going  to be light, very very light, it’s not the main focus of the bike.  If your interested in more, it seems as though @erichsanders has some information and posted it on his twitter account.

After the first coat

More on the personal front, I did take a break last night to go run and get some wood to start building a bike rack in the living room.  It’s going to be two rows of bike one higher than the other to fit more into the space.  Rubber coated hooks into two pieces hanging at the top.  And then in order to keep things cleaner there are going to be two 1 x 6s at the bottom for the rear wheel to rest on. All together, 10 bikes ten feet long taking up a good portion of one wall in the living room.  I’m pretty excited to get some bikes hanging.  Plans are also in the works for some hooks to hang shoes off of, a set per bike.  A fan might be in store for the winter when shoes start coming home wet.

Matt touching up the wheels after a long day on Saltzman

You know the second one is going to suck when the first one leaves you this sweaty.

It’s been a long day.  Lots going on in the part of my life that involves working on the interwebs…  I did manage to head over to Saltzman to do some intervals that I needed to do on Wednsday not Friday, but hey what’s a few days to a training program.  It’s not like this is scientific or anything, right?  So I brought the flashy new wheels with me while I rode Saltzman, twice, from 30 to Skyline.  I love that little stretch of road.  The main reason I like that road so much, is we have nothing like it in Tucson.  The sun down there is always shinning down on you… Always!  It’s nice to get in the shade on a hot day.  Plus it’s my kind of ride, hard packed gravel always breaks up the monotony of a road ride.

Afterward I went to Sellwood to see what happened to the wheels.  As I’m not being the good scientific reviewer that I should be I didn’t make sure they were straight before I rode, so they did need a few turns here and there but they’re new and that’s probably just initial spoke stretch and nipples settling in.  Another thing to note while I’m on the subject of Sellwood turning my nipples, see those little shiny tires in the picture? If you’re commuting, go down there and get those! I had a great experience with them. Flat resistant, safe, and well… Shiny.   Schwalbe, reflective sidewalls.

My BH with white wheels! Kinlin Rims, DT swiss 240 Hubs, DT Swiss Aerolite Spokes

As part of my work with Fairwheel Bikes, I’m going to be putting together a review of one of our newer wheel set offerings:  This hand built wheel set is eight hundred dollars, weighs in at 1423 grams, and is available in Black, Gold, Silver, Red, or White XR-270 Kinlin rims.  I currently have the wheels sitting at my house and need to put together a review for them.  Rather than ride them myself (which I have done) and then post a review, I’m going to take a different approach this time.  I’d like to find around five people in the Portland area that are willing to take the wheels out for a few rides and write a review of them.  I will then compile the reviews and rider experience into an article to be published.  I feel that this will give a more honest and rounded perception of the wheel set.

A few things to Note:

• Your name, and if applicable, team name will be published, you might get yourself and team a little exposure.
• You will not be held responsible for damage to the wheels, but please treat them with respect, to test wheels you don’t need to do anything different than you do with your own.
• If you’re interested please post a comment on this posting, or contact me.

KCNC Road Skewers; Red

DT Swiss 240 Rear Hub