I headed out the door Sunday just before noon for Bella Bru. Being the last day of February I wanted to get some more miles in for the month. I had posted the ride with short notice, so wasn't too surprised no one showed up to ride, but I met a large group of riders who turned out to be part of the Sacramento Bike Hikers. They gave me a schedule, which I somehow managed to stuff in my jersey, and pushed off.
The ride was not slow, and maybe not even sluggish, but I just couldn't seem to get out of my own way. I got passed and decided to try to pace myself off the faster rider, who promptly tried to drop me. I stayed with him for ~ 5 minutes but just didn't have the top end I usually do.
My initial destination was Beal's Pt, but I decided to stop in Folsom, eat part of a Powerbar and get some water. The Gatorade I made up was from some old powder, and it was making me nauseated. I took 15 minutes and still didn't feel any better. Worse, my calf tear was really bothering me and I can't afford another tear, so I decided against climbing Beals, and headed home. It turned out to be about the same distance because of the detour down to Bella Bru and William Pond Pk, but a lot flatter.
When I got home, disgusted, I uploaded the Garmin 305's telemetry to my computer and it pretty much said the same thing. Of particular concern is my HR only got up to 165 when I was red-lining hanging onto the rabbit. I had plenty of time, was well recovered, and my calf was screaming. I scratched my head and stewed. WTF? Another bad ride?
On Monday, with rain forecast for the day after, I was reluctant to ride, but wanted to get March off to a good start, so found some clean riding clothes and got dressed. Steering clear of the bad Gatorade I instead mixed some PowerBar Electrolyte powder in my waterbottle and grabbed 3 Powerbars - resigned to eating solid ride fuels.
Almost as a fluke I decided to take a mega B vitamin, a multi vitamin, 500mg of C, and 1,000mg of calcium, magnesium and zink. I washed that down with a little OJ and headed out the door with just a bit of nausea.
I decided to just cruise and rest the calf while logging some miles. I started out slow, but stood and hammered a bit climbing a short hill at about the 3mi mark. I noticed my calf was behaving, and my breathing was relaxed and easy. Hummm.
I stopped to talk to a local news crew that was setting up to shoot a story for TV a couple of miles later at Sunrise, and again was surprised at how smooth and strong I was shifting through the gears. Determined to take it easy, I loafed along at 17-21 for the next 4 miles until some doofus refused to ride single-file when facing on-coming traffic.
For all of the complaints I hear about motorists being asses on the road, fellow bicyclists who won't read or follow the rules just really get my goad - especially since the #1 cause of accidents on the bike trail is head-ons caused by exactly that. Stupidly, he started talking trash and I gave him a good bracing up. Riders like that give us all a bad name, and tarnish our reputation as responsible users of this awesome resource. Having said my piece, I took off pretty agitated.
Nice thing about riding is you have a ready outlet for such angst, so I took full advantage when two riders I had passed earlier caught up and passed me - riding much faster than earlier. We played cat and mouse until the bridge at WBP where I red-lined it and passed both of them decisively.
When I got home and looked at the Garmin trace I again saw proof of my subjective impression, that I was riding much stronger. My HR had maxed out at 171, a full 6bpm faster than the day before. The whole ride had just been much easier - in spite of hammering it hard on the lap from CSUS back to WBP. Yea B vitamins!!!
Showing posts with label Power Bar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Power Bar. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Friday, April 17, 2009
Ride to Rescue - Redemption
Folsom To Rescue: Basic Route
Profile sans 29 "flatish" miles to and from Folsom from Carmichael Park
After limping home from this ride with great difficulty last month, I set out to have a strong ride to Rescue yesterday. I didn't have any Acai Berry to spike my Gatorade with, because all I could find at 3 different grocery stores was Acai mixed in a concoction with other fruit juices, all of which had too much sugar to keep osmotic pressures in check unless heavily diluted.
I decided to let this to be kind of a "control group" ride for my Acai spike experiment, so I carefully mixed up Gatorade, but added some Power Electrolyte foil sticks to the mix. The front bottle a full 24oz Polar bottle, I mixed as recommended, except for the added electrolyte spike. The back bottle, a short 20oz bottle, I mixed a 3X liquid mixture in and used a marked cap to clearly indicate the concentrated mix.
This is a nice hydration strategy, especially when doing an O&B where the return is into the wind. When at a watering stop squirt some concentrate into the main bottle and fill up with water. Err on the weak side, even if you have to drink some off the top and then drink from the drinking fountain to get both the bottle and what's in your stomach diluted to the correct amount.
The general idea is to avoid sugar concentrations higher than 8% as the osmotic pressure then causes your stomach to draw liquid out of surrounding tissues, making proper hydration impossible. On most bikes the downtube bottle actually creates more wind drag, so at the turn-around point you can empty all of the excess concentrate into the tall bottle, put it on the seat-tube, and then add water to the small bottle to create a 1X mix. Just remember to swap the bottle caps in case you bonk and lose your mind. It will remind you which is concentrate (about 2X by then), and which is 1X.
Clear cap for water or 1X hydration mix. Black ring with 3 stripes for 3X concentrate
The only hitch in this strategy arose because a key drinking fountain at Rodeo Pk in Folsom wasn't working and I had squirted a bunch of 3X concentrate in my 1X bottle to make more, and THEN discovered it didn't work. At that point I had no useful hydration at all. I first tried the sink in the men's room - ICK - and I couldn't fit my bottle under the faucet anyway. I turned around and slowly cruised around the ball diamond/soccer field to see if there was another. There was, but this was about 4 wasted minutes that all went on my Sigma computer. Aaarrrggghhhh!
The first part of the trip was pretty uneventful, with a moderate tailwind, although the 5:00 o'clock traffic was pretty heavy. Since the climbing is almost all in the first half of this route, I was annoyed that the tailwind was actually making the air more-or-less dead calm as I was climbing between 5 & 15mph. It made my long-sleeve jersey a little warmer than was comfortable, but once I remembered it zipped all the way open I was able to dump most of the heat I needed to.
Once I got through heavy traffic across Green Valley Rd, and onto Deer Valley Rd I stopped, hydrated and ate most of a Smoothie Powerbar. I folded the last 1/4 or so under the foil wrapper and tucked it under my right short leg. I have learned from experience that I can eat on the go with just my right hand and mouth if I tuck bars carefully under my R short leg. I put the wrapper back in the same spot when done. No littering, no sticky hands, no "look mom, no hands" riding. It's good "cockpit management". I started off after a few minutes and took it pretty easy for the first 5 minutes.
After a short uphill and a medium downhill I coasted down, I was into a solid hunk of steep. There are a few hundred yards that are around 18% grade, but mostly it's 8% or so. My legs were good, my cardio was good, and no complaints from my stomach. With my cardio now stronger than my legs, my nutrition/digestion is benefiting from the extra bloodflow. All good. Everything was working well. Nice and solid. I rode up to the Rescue Fire Station in great shape. No bonks, no strain. This was more like it!
I took a long draw from the drinking fountain while talking to the fire crew, and then cracked open another Powerbar. I used the spotless bathroom, took off my gloves and washed the salt off my face. It seemed like the extra electrolytes were just getting sweat right out again. Humm. OK. No harm, no foul, but worth monitoring. I came out of the men's room and the place was empty. The crews were all scrambled and out the door. A half-eaten meal was still sitting on the table with a fork stuck in it. I mixed up a little more Gatorade, and let myself out the front door.
There are some long climbs, some of them in the 8% range on the climb back to the top of Deer Valley, but once warmed up I had no trouble with them. I didn't feel quite as strong though as last time when I was chasing down Bruce. Was it the missing Acai berry? A few miles later after flying downhill towards Green Valley again, I felt very strong climbing that steep little departure kiss Deer Valley throws at you just when you think you're done climbing.
I went wide and turned hard onto Green Valley at close to 20 mph. The wind hit me like a wall, but I got down in the aerobars and started working the gears while headed downhill. The shoulder is pretty rough in spots along this section, so I took the road I needed to be safe and was adding power at 102 - 116 rpms - topping out at ~ 37mph. I'm not sure I would recommend wasting energy on this kind of speed, but with heavy traffic it was a safety issue. At that speed they would just stay behind me until I could find a nice patch of shoulder and they they'd pass en'masse. Besides, you pay for that speed climbing up those hills on this O&B, so it's really a blast to go blowing downhill that fast. OK, it's an indulgence, but I kept the exertion level in check.
I hit most of the lights favorably, and then had to "sneak" through the Salmon Falls light on a stale red, but mostly I was lucky and could carry my speed right through a half-dozen intersections. The downhill from Salmon Falls Rd to the bottom that forms Bass Lake was steep and protected from the wind. I pushed back until my thighs were hugging the very back of the seat, hands in the drops, feet level with each other, knees hugging the bar. I stole a glance at my computer at the bottom of the hill - 41mph! Not bad for zero pedal power! :D
I crossed the foot bridge at Folsom and headed down the west side of Lake Natoma. Just before the long lake-side stretch I started drafting a rider in his 40's who was obviously in shape and was riding a PowerTap rear hub. I tried to talk to him, but he had his earbuds in, so I just stayed on his wheel. He made a few weak attempts to break away but I stayed glued to him, trailing by 7-10 feet - as close as is safe with no brakes on the aerobars. He started fading and I backed off a bit, and then passed him in a straight, shallow climbing section of trail. I could feel the tug of his draft as the wind shifted back and forth, so knew he was still back there and close.
As expected he was playing for time, intending to make his move on a short 500 yard climb of about 5%. He went past me and stood. I stood when he came abreast and started to hammer. I immediately had to back off as my quads started twitching again, but at a slightly reduced power, they held up just fine and we came to the top together. He turned and offered some encouragement near the top - "that's the spirit!" he said, a bit too loud, so I assume over the music. We rode all the way to the Hazel Ave corkscrew where I decided I'd pushed my luck with my quads enough, and shifted into my granny. He stood and hammered up onto the bridge and went flying down the chainlink tunnel, veering right onto the bike trail.
I hate that route, because you have to kill all of your speed to make the turn at the bottom, because you have traffic coming from 3 directions, and because there is a much cleaner and faster way if you go one more block down Gold Country and then drop down onto the bike trail a half mile later. There's also a drinking fountain right at that 3-way intersection, so it's a horrible and dangerous choke point. I was riding above and parallel to him and could see he was tired and resting, so of course I went for the kill. We got to the merge point with me a little ahead so he was more than happy to let me lead.
He stayed on my wheel as I picked up speed - I didn't want to drop him so I pushed the power up slowly. I almost never get to ride in company anymore. Mostly I'm too fast, and the few who are faster are racers and bitch if I stay on their wheel. We got within a mile of Sunrise and he asked if he could offer me some criticism of my bio-mechanics. I thought I knew what he'd say, but wanted his opinion. He was dead on. I rock my hips too much and my knees come out too wide. The first a very old habit developed trying to ride a frame waaaay to large in my teens, and the 2nd I think is due to a 172.5 crank and a 29" inseam. I thought he'd stop at the Sunrise park, but we ended up peeling off in different directions so fast I didn't even get his name. It seemed like we were well matched, so I hope we can ride together again soon. It's lonely at the top! :D
I got home and subtracted 3 minutes for the Rodeo Pk water foraging and a minute or so in the parking lot at the Aquatic Center talking to a guy who I thought might want to ride along (the computer doesn't shut off for 30 seconds once it gets a speed reading, so circling in parking lots and foraging for water at 3mph are counted in the ride time and pace) and got 3:35 for a ride time. That's about what I expected after Party Pardee, because to me they are similar in difficulty. Next time I will bypass Old Folsom and it's many traffic and ped obstacles, and just take the new Johnny Cash bridge over to the Beal's Pt approach and then return straight down the bike trail. I like 3:35 a lot better than 4:12, and that confirms my suspicions about how much time my "broken" legs cost me limping home last time. All in all, a very solid performance. Now to break 3:30...
Profile sans 29 "flatish" miles to and from Folsom from Carmichael ParkAfter limping home from this ride with great difficulty last month, I set out to have a strong ride to Rescue yesterday. I didn't have any Acai Berry to spike my Gatorade with, because all I could find at 3 different grocery stores was Acai mixed in a concoction with other fruit juices, all of which had too much sugar to keep osmotic pressures in check unless heavily diluted.
I decided to let this to be kind of a "control group" ride for my Acai spike experiment, so I carefully mixed up Gatorade, but added some Power Electrolyte foil sticks to the mix. The front bottle a full 24oz Polar bottle, I mixed as recommended, except for the added electrolyte spike. The back bottle, a short 20oz bottle, I mixed a 3X liquid mixture in and used a marked cap to clearly indicate the concentrated mix.
This is a nice hydration strategy, especially when doing an O&B where the return is into the wind. When at a watering stop squirt some concentrate into the main bottle and fill up with water. Err on the weak side, even if you have to drink some off the top and then drink from the drinking fountain to get both the bottle and what's in your stomach diluted to the correct amount.
The general idea is to avoid sugar concentrations higher than 8% as the osmotic pressure then causes your stomach to draw liquid out of surrounding tissues, making proper hydration impossible. On most bikes the downtube bottle actually creates more wind drag, so at the turn-around point you can empty all of the excess concentrate into the tall bottle, put it on the seat-tube, and then add water to the small bottle to create a 1X mix. Just remember to swap the bottle caps in case you bonk and lose your mind. It will remind you which is concentrate (about 2X by then), and which is 1X.
Clear cap for water or 1X hydration mix. Black ring with 3 stripes for 3X concentrate
The only hitch in this strategy arose because a key drinking fountain at Rodeo Pk in Folsom wasn't working and I had squirted a bunch of 3X concentrate in my 1X bottle to make more, and THEN discovered it didn't work. At that point I had no useful hydration at all. I first tried the sink in the men's room - ICK - and I couldn't fit my bottle under the faucet anyway. I turned around and slowly cruised around the ball diamond/soccer field to see if there was another. There was, but this was about 4 wasted minutes that all went on my Sigma computer. Aaarrrggghhhh!
The first part of the trip was pretty uneventful, with a moderate tailwind, although the 5:00 o'clock traffic was pretty heavy. Since the climbing is almost all in the first half of this route, I was annoyed that the tailwind was actually making the air more-or-less dead calm as I was climbing between 5 & 15mph. It made my long-sleeve jersey a little warmer than was comfortable, but once I remembered it zipped all the way open I was able to dump most of the heat I needed to.
Once I got through heavy traffic across Green Valley Rd, and onto Deer Valley Rd I stopped, hydrated and ate most of a Smoothie Powerbar. I folded the last 1/4 or so under the foil wrapper and tucked it under my right short leg. I have learned from experience that I can eat on the go with just my right hand and mouth if I tuck bars carefully under my R short leg. I put the wrapper back in the same spot when done. No littering, no sticky hands, no "look mom, no hands" riding. It's good "cockpit management". I started off after a few minutes and took it pretty easy for the first 5 minutes.
After a short uphill and a medium downhill I coasted down, I was into a solid hunk of steep. There are a few hundred yards that are around 18% grade, but mostly it's 8% or so. My legs were good, my cardio was good, and no complaints from my stomach. With my cardio now stronger than my legs, my nutrition/digestion is benefiting from the extra bloodflow. All good. Everything was working well. Nice and solid. I rode up to the Rescue Fire Station in great shape. No bonks, no strain. This was more like it!
I took a long draw from the drinking fountain while talking to the fire crew, and then cracked open another Powerbar. I used the spotless bathroom, took off my gloves and washed the salt off my face. It seemed like the extra electrolytes were just getting sweat right out again. Humm. OK. No harm, no foul, but worth monitoring. I came out of the men's room and the place was empty. The crews were all scrambled and out the door. A half-eaten meal was still sitting on the table with a fork stuck in it. I mixed up a little more Gatorade, and let myself out the front door.
There are some long climbs, some of them in the 8% range on the climb back to the top of Deer Valley, but once warmed up I had no trouble with them. I didn't feel quite as strong though as last time when I was chasing down Bruce. Was it the missing Acai berry? A few miles later after flying downhill towards Green Valley again, I felt very strong climbing that steep little departure kiss Deer Valley throws at you just when you think you're done climbing.
I went wide and turned hard onto Green Valley at close to 20 mph. The wind hit me like a wall, but I got down in the aerobars and started working the gears while headed downhill. The shoulder is pretty rough in spots along this section, so I took the road I needed to be safe and was adding power at 102 - 116 rpms - topping out at ~ 37mph. I'm not sure I would recommend wasting energy on this kind of speed, but with heavy traffic it was a safety issue. At that speed they would just stay behind me until I could find a nice patch of shoulder and they they'd pass en'masse. Besides, you pay for that speed climbing up those hills on this O&B, so it's really a blast to go blowing downhill that fast. OK, it's an indulgence, but I kept the exertion level in check.
I hit most of the lights favorably, and then had to "sneak" through the Salmon Falls light on a stale red, but mostly I was lucky and could carry my speed right through a half-dozen intersections. The downhill from Salmon Falls Rd to the bottom that forms Bass Lake was steep and protected from the wind. I pushed back until my thighs were hugging the very back of the seat, hands in the drops, feet level with each other, knees hugging the bar. I stole a glance at my computer at the bottom of the hill - 41mph! Not bad for zero pedal power! :D
I crossed the foot bridge at Folsom and headed down the west side of Lake Natoma. Just before the long lake-side stretch I started drafting a rider in his 40's who was obviously in shape and was riding a PowerTap rear hub. I tried to talk to him, but he had his earbuds in, so I just stayed on his wheel. He made a few weak attempts to break away but I stayed glued to him, trailing by 7-10 feet - as close as is safe with no brakes on the aerobars. He started fading and I backed off a bit, and then passed him in a straight, shallow climbing section of trail. I could feel the tug of his draft as the wind shifted back and forth, so knew he was still back there and close.
As expected he was playing for time, intending to make his move on a short 500 yard climb of about 5%. He went past me and stood. I stood when he came abreast and started to hammer. I immediately had to back off as my quads started twitching again, but at a slightly reduced power, they held up just fine and we came to the top together. He turned and offered some encouragement near the top - "that's the spirit!" he said, a bit too loud, so I assume over the music. We rode all the way to the Hazel Ave corkscrew where I decided I'd pushed my luck with my quads enough, and shifted into my granny. He stood and hammered up onto the bridge and went flying down the chainlink tunnel, veering right onto the bike trail.
I hate that route, because you have to kill all of your speed to make the turn at the bottom, because you have traffic coming from 3 directions, and because there is a much cleaner and faster way if you go one more block down Gold Country and then drop down onto the bike trail a half mile later. There's also a drinking fountain right at that 3-way intersection, so it's a horrible and dangerous choke point. I was riding above and parallel to him and could see he was tired and resting, so of course I went for the kill. We got to the merge point with me a little ahead so he was more than happy to let me lead.
He stayed on my wheel as I picked up speed - I didn't want to drop him so I pushed the power up slowly. I almost never get to ride in company anymore. Mostly I'm too fast, and the few who are faster are racers and bitch if I stay on their wheel. We got within a mile of Sunrise and he asked if he could offer me some criticism of my bio-mechanics. I thought I knew what he'd say, but wanted his opinion. He was dead on. I rock my hips too much and my knees come out too wide. The first a very old habit developed trying to ride a frame waaaay to large in my teens, and the 2nd I think is due to a 172.5 crank and a 29" inseam. I thought he'd stop at the Sunrise park, but we ended up peeling off in different directions so fast I didn't even get his name. It seemed like we were well matched, so I hope we can ride together again soon. It's lonely at the top! :D
I got home and subtracted 3 minutes for the Rodeo Pk water foraging and a minute or so in the parking lot at the Aquatic Center talking to a guy who I thought might want to ride along (the computer doesn't shut off for 30 seconds once it gets a speed reading, so circling in parking lots and foraging for water at 3mph are counted in the ride time and pace) and got 3:35 for a ride time. That's about what I expected after Party Pardee, because to me they are similar in difficulty. Next time I will bypass Old Folsom and it's many traffic and ped obstacles, and just take the new Johnny Cash bridge over to the Beal's Pt approach and then return straight down the bike trail. I like 3:35 a lot better than 4:12, and that confirms my suspicions about how much time my "broken" legs cost me limping home last time. All in all, a very solid performance. Now to break 3:30...
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Fueling the Ride
Sac-A-tomatoes has been inundated with a very nasty flu bug the last 10 days, and I seem to have had a near-miss. Literally. I got hit. It's more like it's black, hooded, maliciousness slithered past me while I was hiding behind my shower curtain in the midnight hour, but shower curtains being porous and all, I still seemed to have gotten dosed a bit. Still hoping to get in a 75-miler this weekend, but DAMNED I hate being sick. Sensory deprivation with a twist of achy fever!
Hoping to ride today, and not knowing I would wake up in soaking wet sheets with a raging fever this AM, I went shopping last night and scored some of my favorite ride fuels. Some, like the Acai juice drinks, (recession-laced price cut in about half btw) are more for before and after the ride, and the chocolate is for anti-oxidants. (that's my story and I'm sticking to it!) From left to right in the picture...
- Zola Acai with Blueberry Juice. Something new for me, it was about the same price as the Bolthouse drinks and may or may not have more Acai content. It is all organic and has a little Guarana' kicker with 24mg of caffeine. Weirdly, it also has some oil in it with 1,200mg of omega 3,6,9 fatty acids. Zola is from San Francisco, so it's blessed by the liberal Gods of planetary salvation. I gotta try spiking my Gatorade with some of this stuff to get some anti-oxidants with my ride fuels.
- Bolthouse Do Brazil Bom Dia is a new division of the Bolthouse family from Bakersfield, Ca. I was half expecting a small matter ~ anti-matter explosion in political sub-space with them in such close proximity here - sort of like seating Bill Maher and Ann Coulter next to each other at a formal dinner! The Bolthouse family has been making juices for 3 generations from their home-grown veggies right there in beautiful downtown oil derreks-ville. I love all of their juices and find their carrot juice, in particular, to be earthy and flavorful, without the sticky sweetness of Odwalla's carrot juice.
- Bolthouse does Acai in 3 or 4 different ways, and the Pomegranate is very good and perhaps even a bit higher in anti-oxidants than the Blueberry mix. I chugged the Blueberry bottle right after I took this shot (can you see the shaking of my addict's hand as my throat went dry with anticipation? :D ) It sent the flu troll siren-screaming from my presence, or so I hope.
- Powerbar Energizer - Fruit Smoothie - is my favorite rocket fuel. It works before, during and after rides. It has actual fruit, including fig and strawberry, and contains fructose as well as maltodextrin. The strawberry at least has SOME anti-oxidants in it. For 100,000 years at least, man has eaten fruit for fast fuel carbs, and all bundled up with those carbs was nature's own gift of anti-oxidants. Perhaps Mother Nature has had a chat with the Power People. In any case, a step in the right direction in my opinion. It also has 100% of your RDA of B vitamins, so while that maltodextrin is sucking up vitamins when being digested, this bar keeps your boilers stoked and protected at the same time.
- Powerbar Step 1 - Oatmeal Raisin - which surprisingly, has oatmeal and raisins in it. One of the things I like about Powerbars is the content of the bars actually changes with each flavor, so you can tailor your fuel to your body's unique requirements. Oatmeal is so soothing on the gut it will get you through the worst of IBS, or in my case, the best of diverticulitis. Both Powerbars also have substantial amounts of protein in them.
- Gatorade - Frost - mixed from powder at half strength, it allows me to dilute the sugar, and thereby control the osmotic pressure of Powerbars not quite dilute enough in the stomach. Failing dilution, any sugars in the stomach will actually pull fluids out of the stomach lining and make digestion pretty much impossible. Worst case the dilution results in an extra "nature break" or two, but will not leave you in gastric hell. As temps rise, and blood flow is diverted to the surface of the skin to cool your core, this dilution becomes much more important, as digestion suffers greatly. (missed the class photo here due to scheduling conflicts with the football team)
- Hershey bittersweet chocolate bar. It's all about the anti-oxidants! That's still my story. Notice how tenaciously I'm sticking to it? :D It makes me thirsty for still more skim milk after rides, as long as I don't overdo it.
- Cliff Bars - the whole grains take far too long to digest and will eventually pass through the stomach and small intestine undigested and will putrefy. The disgusting sound of the word "putrefy" is a good cue as to the resulting gastronomical malestrome that will ensue. Even if eaten while waiting for the US debt to be paid off, it's use of inulin, a fiber attractive to food mfgs because of its creamy texture, which cannot be digested, but loves to ferment in your gut, puts it in the "don't even go there" category. If you find yourself reaching for this product, just lift your bike up, slam it down on your leg sharply, attempting to use your large chainring to flay all of the skin off your shin. Trust me, that would lead to less discomfort.
- Cliff ShotBloks - which are mostly brown rice syrup. They are fine, but brown rice syrup is just too slow to digest to make good ride fuel. They would be OK when on a long break, or just before a long downhill like Mt Palomar, but then so would a couple of slices of pizza and a Coke. They come in many flavors, and some contain extra salt and some caffeine, and some both. They are sticky, are a mess on warm hands, and tend to slip out of your hands if you're sweating.
- Anything coated in chocolate, because in warm weather the chocolate coating melts and is a mess. If you are on the go your hands are instantly slimed with chocolate, so even on a downhill they are off-limits unless you are fond of the "hey look mom, no hands" riding style when going downhill 55mph. I have worked out a system where my keys are tucked under the left leg of my shorts, and my Powerbars under my right leg. This is because I have found I can handle, open, eat and stuff the empty wrapper back under my right leg using my right hand - while switching hands to stuff the empty under my left short leg usually results in litter on the road. I have lost keys from every other thing/place/person I have ever used to hold them, EXCEPT my shorts. If I am found running around in public without my shorts on, my keys are going to be the least of my problems! The spandex and rubber thigh-grippers seal keys in place through climbs, teary-eyed descents, brutal cobblestone, and bone breaking falls. In 30+ years I have never lost a key tucked into my shorts. My keys are on a ring with a mini-Border's Books card. One swipe and the Emergency Responders will know who I am and that I have a 25% discount coupon waiting for me if I survive - always looking for motivation! :D (The reasoning behind the mini-swipe card from Borders is that it's ID that isn't obviously ID. God forbid, if you should fall prey to foul play, there's a good chance it will be left at the scene. Always carry a good form of photo ID on you with contact info)
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