Mike's Bike Blog

Here's some links I found interesting this week. The majority of them deal with sports nutrition and gluten free. About 2 months ago I started changing my diet, I started to cut out gluten, I wasn't planning on going 100% gluten free. This meant no bread or cereal. The bread part wouldn't be that big of deal as I had maybe a sandwich once or twice a week for lunch. Cereal on the other hand would be harder as that's what I typically ate for breakfast. I found great alternatives with grits and quinoa, in fact I created a creamy quinoa pudding recipe that has become a hit at our house. I make a batch of it the night before and it lasts for a couple breakfasts.

Going gluten free wasn't a big jump for us, although Jennifer might have a different opinion on that. It has meant added work for her as she has to make bread and tortillas on a daily basis. Since we typically ate healthy anyway it was easier on us to make the switch. I was discussing gluten free at Ethan's Cub Scout party as they were partaking in a pizza party, Ethan ate beforehand and we brought an apple/walnut salad and gluten free brownies. They were quizzing me on how hard it was and kept asking me what I eat when I go out to eat, to restaurants and fast food. They couldn't grasp the concept that we rarely eat out and do NOT eat at fast food establishments. If/when we do eat out it's typically a sit down restaurant and it's usually mexican, so when we cross that bridge we'll have to see.

I'll be covering this a bit more so if anybody has any specific questions on a gluten free sports nutrition angle post away or if you have good gluten free links I should know about send them as well.

Eat Like a Pro With a Low Gluten Diet
Protein Carbs and Endurance Performance Finding the Right Balance
gluten free whey protein miracle
science of bike fitting
core training for cyclists

The Dillo has a special place in my heart, it was my first century ride and each year the family gets out for the Kids & Family ride (2009 report). It's a great value for $15 the entire family rides and gets the t-shirts and goodie bags. The only downside is that it's in Bertram, which is a little further than the regular start of Liberty Hill. This year it was going to be only Jack & Ethan accompanying me, Zeb had a soccer game so Jennifer would take him to his game while we rode.

Jack & Ethan at the start

We got to Bertram a little early, which was good as last year we were late because of Ethan's soccer game and rode alone. Getting out and getting the bikes ready the boys quickly realized it was much colder an windier than they were expecting and wanted to get back in the car. I told them once we got going we'd quickly warm up.

After some brief bike safety tips from the Austin Cycling Association we had a full sheriff escort out of town. We were positioned at the front and were directly behind the Sheriff. As we got out of town Ethan started slowing down. He was quickly falling behind I dropped back to him to see what was going on. We started to get passed and the next thing I realize when I looked up Jack and the Sheriff were out of sight. I finally coaxed Ethan to pick up the pace and on the first hill he finally did, catching at least a few of the people that passed us. When we came to the first turn I saw the Sheriff's car and thought he was directing traffic as we had to make a left turn, then I saw a group of riders and a rider down and it was none other than Jack.

Apparently he took the turn too fast and too wide and crashed into the ditch. He was holding his leg. He had some scratches on the outside of his leg from where he went down, a bruise on his inside right leg where he probably hit the top tube and his shorts were littered with stickers and cactus. He didn't go down on the road surface he found a nice cactus patch to cushion his fall.

He has a high Jens factor as he stood up and we picked the cactus and stickers off his butt and he got back on the bike to finish off the Dillo. We kept it at a reasonable pace and told him to wait for us if he gets too far ahead.  After a mile or so he said he was 100% and I asked him and Ethan if we should kick it up a little and try to catch some of the riders that passed us that we could see in the distance. They responded with a resounding yes. We formed a paceline and brought our speed up. We caught a group of riders as they were pulling into a rest stop. After catching our breath and a shot of water we pushed on.

Ethan was riding Jack's mountain bike as it has a triple and figured he would be able to tackle any of the hills we would encounter better with it than his 1x6. I think he was thankful on the last hill to have the granny gear. He was pleased with himself when he got to the top that he made it.

We made it back without incident and the boys said they had a good time, even Jack. In fact Jack was quite happy and was proud to have his first crash. If you're going to ride and race bikes crashing is part of it. I was proud of his attitude about it, instead of giving up and not wanting to ride anymore he came to the realization that crashing can happen and not to fear it. We talked about it on the way home and came up with a plan that we'd work on his cornering more on his road bike.

The Armadillo was great again this year and can't wait to do it again next year, although the boys are starting to outgrow the 6 mile distance. I know Jack has and by next year Ethan will have as well. With the amount of riding Zeb has been doing lately he will be ready for tackling the longer distances as well. After dinner Zeb and I go out for a 3-4 mile ride so the 6 miles is well within his reach.

The course on tap for the Thursday Driveway Race Series was the notorious City Loop. You may recall from last year this was the course for my only forray into the Driveway last year and I got pulled at the end. I was going for a little redemption this time.

It just wasn't meant to be. I got clipped in quickly from the start line and was ready to go but after the first turns I found myself engulfed by the surge of riders and on the only straightaway I could see the main group slowly starting to pull away.  Small pockets were forming of riders as the field was getting strung out and there I was way in the back. For the next few laps I made my way around guys but with the number of turns that was proving difficult as they would slow so much around the corners. I finally cleared the last of the pack filler that had been shot off the back only to realize I wasn't closing the gap to the lead group. So I rode solo averaging 24.3 mph which was no picnic do to the wind. One nice thing at least with riding solo I didn't have to hit the breaks at all through the corners I could hold a smooth line and a consistent speed.

Towards the end I started to lap riders but still not making any progress on closing the gap. As I was passing a group of 4 or 5 riders at the start/finish the officials told us we were done. To say I was disappointed is an understatement, I was still maintaining 24 mph at that point and the likelihood that I was going to get caught by the field was very low. I could still see the back of them, granted I wasn't going to catch them but I wasn't going to be in the way.