A while back I published some of my expanded thoughts on High Fructose Corn Syrup. I had done an absurd amount of research on the subject and how High Fructose Corn Syrup and Corn Syrup affected health. What I posted was a lot of left over thoughts that were either outside of the scope of the Dr. Will Bar article or were too much personal opinion.  One of the subjects I covered was the Sweet Surprise marketing campaign undertaken by the HFCS industry.  As a sub-subject to that campaign I mentioned the use of the term “moderation” and how it exempts their statement from any bearing in actual dietary trends and HFCS roll in it.  Well in doing some more research on the hot two weeks ago topic of Agave Nectar (you can look for this one on Dr. Will’s site soon) I came across a startling graphic.  This graphic is driven by data from the ERS/USDA Data – Food Availability (Per Capita) Data System. After review the data set, I’d have a really hard time thinking of any way to get a more accurate data set on a large scale consumption of a product.

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I was thinking about this subject for a bit now but this poll on Velonews pushed me over the tipping point and caused me to tap my words to 1s and 0s. Tom Boonen of course did not get robbed, nor did he do it to himself, he was simply out raced, in both events. Yet neither time did he get over emotional or state anything beyond what actually happened. No excuses were made and he even admits at the end of a Flanders interview that second to Cancellara in the form he was in is pretty good.  In the different case that was Roubaix he just simply stated that he was disappointed that none of the other riders would help chase.  But he wasn’t Italian about it.  He didn’t wave his arms and waste time, or take hard short pulls and then sit up challenging the other riders.  He sat down put his head down and got to business.  Lead through example.

Problem was he was racing for the win and the others for second.  So he got beat to second but earned more of my respect in the end.  Boonen has in this case proven to be a true champion and the type of racer who is going to stick around.  It’s easy to like him or Fabian Cancellara when they’re on top but the way Boonen has handled himself over this period made me like him a lot more than I had previously.  In fact it’s grown more than my opinion of Cancellara.  For a while I’ve been a little unsure of Boonen and wondered if he’d ever act the brat.  Now I’m pretty sure he won’t.  I can now like him more, when he wins and when he looses.  Which if his trouble really are behind him, we’ll start seeing a lot more of soon to come.

There’s my two cents in under 5 mintues.  Sorry this post is of such poor quality, and with no picture, AND more than likely riddled with errors AAAAND short to boot.  Horrible, I know.

Follow the Lion... Up and down

The Lion of Flanders.  For a lot of us the RondePDX (Official Site)  is as close to the real thing (Tour de Flanders) we will ever come.  A brutal combination of hills on Portland’s West side.  Being one of the first rides I had aver done in Portland I quickly realized that although the climbs in the area weren’t notably long they could be brutally steep.  My first RondePDX for 2010 took place this weekend, a dozen of us rolled out determined not to let the weather or the hills keep us down no matter what they tried.  Do they try, the creators of the route are sadistic, combining some of the steepest grades I’ve ever ridden.  In Tucson there were secret locations that we had to ride dirt roads to get to that had these types of gradients.  But here, they lie out in the open for all to ride with yellow little lions painted on them.  The ride totals 47 miles and features an astounding 7,800 feet of climbing [Route].  It’s entirely made up of leg torturing climbs ad hair raising descents.  Never for the faint hearted.  This year it sounds like the ride is “officially” not going to happen.  So try your fate with a group of friends, you are going to suffer! Read more…

As many of you know I’m currently working for Dr. Will Bar. So with that I’d like to say that some of this is my personal opinion and in no way is my opinion the opinion of Dr. Will Bar as a company.  Personally, while running their online marketing and sales campaign, using the website itself, Twitter and Facebook one thing that kept coming up over and over again on the ingredients list was Corn Syrup. As these questions arose I had a lingering feeling in the back of my mind that High Fructose Corn Syrup and Corn Syrup were both corn derived sweeteners but had vastly different health effects. I seem to remember in much of my reading/RSS feed wandering/NPR pod cast listening that there was something about the differences and that Corn Syrup was safe. So I decided as the first part of my research on the bar to tackle this. Mainly so I knew what I was eating but later, after being hired, as a blog post for the Dr. Will Bar site so I could try to clear up some confusion on the two. You can read the article (Corn Syrup vs. High Fructose Corn Syrup) but here I’d just like to say somethings that expand more on the actual debate and tactics used.

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The Bomb, Cherry Gatorade, Coca-Cola

Dr Will is going to hate this one.  We’ll talk, the merits of the high quality fats that the nuts in his energy bars provide will surely be mentioned, as will the proper sugars of fruits and the lasting power of peanut butter. All I have to say is “yeah, I know,” however it was more desperate than that, 4.5 hours in, 3 Dr Will bars, 4 gels and I was feeling a bonk coming on. It’s a hard feeling to describe, a lingering look at a doughnut sign, a craving for salts and Trans, High Fructose, Saturated something or other fats. A tingling and aching in my neck and an empty-ness in my legs. At this point all I can recommend is going big. I mean really big, The Bomb, big.

940 calories, 378 from fat. 397 grams of which 40% is fat, that’s right, 160 grams of the artery clogging stuff. But don’t stop there, if you’re going to go big make sure to properly wash it down. I had two bottles of coke waiting for my burrito to warm up. Then I filled one more with coke and one with Gatorade. The fact that the clerk adhered to the pro rule* is surprising. So I sat outside on the curb marveling in the bajillion calories my $2.89 just bought me. I ate the burrito and saved the drink for the ride home. It’s amazing what this kind of shock treatment will do to your body. I was able to go really hard broken up by intermittent feelings of “ohhh crap I am going to see the bomb again.” But for the most part I was able to get home really fast and 1.5 hours later I was showering. And by showering I mean curled up on the bathroom floor lamenting the bomb.

But this is the dichotomy of going big. You know what’s going to happen but you do it anyway. It’s like having that last round of shots as the bar is closing. You know more than likely it’s going to just contribute to the hangover and spins and not really to the fun, but hey, there is that small chance you’ll be stumbling home and something awesome will happen and that shot will go to good use. In this case you know you have another hour and half of training. And you can let it go to waste as your body fights off the bonk. Or you can give it The Bomb, and make that last bit of training the most productive of your week. Sure you could have brought enough food in the first place, but hey, we’re beyond that point. So go big, to get home. Just remember you won’t be able to look at fake cheese sauce or coke the same for a month, but that’s probably a good thing anyway.

* Pro Rule: There is a long list of pro pules this one is the more specific “soda refill pro rule” which goes as follows. If you go into a 7-eleven (actually on a national scale Cirlce K is the worst and Chevron gas stations more often than not follow the pro rule) with your own water bottles and look destroyed enough you usually get free refills. It’s equal parts pitty, confusion on what to charge you, I don’t care enough about my job and get the awkward kid in bright spandex out of here as quick as possible.

The contours of my foot in Dynamic Foot Systems' Orthotics

I’ve waited for a bit before writing this post so I could ride my new orthotics for a while to see how I felt about them.  I would have to say I think they’re great.  The last set of insoles I had worked perfectly and solved all of my issues.  But the new set seems just a little bit more refined.  Bill Peterson is the kind of guy that never leaves “great” alone.  He’s had more years, more experience, and worked with a larger variety of athletes than anyone in the industry I’ve ever come across.  Yet every time I talk to him he’s on the edge of what’s new, never resting, always learning, improving and working.

I last visited Bill in the winter of ’08 and a lot has changed.  He has put into practice and done extensive testing on a theory we had previously discussed about cleat position.  His foot scanning methods now include a 3d foam impression and a computer scan.  But is all this improvement good? Is it measurable steps forward and not sideways or even backwards?

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Riding my little ol' push bike in New Mexico

Getting Fit with Bill Peterson

I’m on the road again. This all started with two weeks in San Diego, then began moving further east.  First I stopped in Tucson to check in on Fairwheel Bikes, get new updates, grab some girlie calendars for their site and some more products to test for Oregon Cycling Action. Then I made my second stop in Tucson and checking in on Bill Peterson to get some new insoles and get the news on his many different projects.  Soon I’ll be writing about what I learned about him and his practices, including cleat positioning and a new range of custom, semi-custom and off the shelf insoles.  Now I’m in New Mexico at my mom’s house.  Ending up here has always sort of just happened and I end up riding my bike here for at least one month out of the year which is great because the riding around here is amazing.  The hills are steep the terain varied, sometimes the wind blows hard and sometimes it’s peaceful and all you can hear is your breath.  Especially as it gets cold, my body bundled in clothes, my fingers and toes a little a little cold. With my beanie on I can hear my heart in my ears and feel my breath as cold air is sucked down my throat.  It’s a good feeling, I haven’t been in the cold rain of Portland yet as I’ve ran to the southwest, but the cold, dry, air of the south west will always feel like home.

After Thanksgiving here with my Brother, Javi, and my mom I’ll be heading back to San Diego for a couple weeks.  And then off to Austin for Thanksgiving, which as my friend Mike says, will complete the triangle of Hipsterness which is Austin, Portland, and Tucson.

Dr. Will Bar: Locally (Portland) Made Energy Bars

It’s interesting how life works. It wasn’t until I moved to Portland that riders from Tucson started telling me about the Dr. Will Bar. Then it took a visiting friend from San Diego to actually get me to try one, which lead to a chat with Will about his new energy bar. The Dr. Will Bar definitely covers a few issues with energy bars, the biggest of which is taste. It’s good but not over powering, some of the problems with the tasty bars is that when you start eating three a ride they quickly become too much and go from delicious to gag. It’s a subtle natural tasting energy bar that really has the staying power to get you through 80 hours of riding and over 30 bars in a month.  Although I am going to save some details for a later post I’d like to mention that for an energy bar the Dr. Will Bar contains a proper amount of healthy fats (read more about that here) including coconut oil.

I look forward to riding and training using the Doctor Will Bar as my energy bar. I’ll be headed down to San Diego, Tucson, Albuquerque, and Austin over the winter to try and shake off the Portland cold and I’m going to be bringing these with me to fuel the rides.

Portland's Steel Bridge as the Sun Sets Behind Skyline

It’s been a busy week.  I feel like I’m torn in 1,000 different directions which in some regards is refreshing since I’m off the bike.  But even that’s getting better recently.  I’m able to very tentatively un-clip my foot to the outside.  The inside has been okay for weeks which is why I’ve been riding multi-directional release SPD cleats and my Cyclocross bike, but the “normal” un-clip has eluded me for a long time.  Although this is positive the fact is that I wasn’t able to get back on the bike before the feeling of muscle atrophy set in on my legs, so Cyclocross season can kiss itself goodbye. Read more…

Molly Cameron (Bicycle Studio) digs deep to open a gap for the lead.

Since I can’t really race too much anymore, I’ve resigned myself to being a fan.  I’d have to say that watching cyclocross is a great time.  More screaming and beer with much less suffering.  The best thing is that I can see straight when driving home.

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