amiller7x7 Member

Beyond the direct caloric effects described by others, I find that having alcohol (wine, gin, etc) can be a gateway to other less desirable eating effects - so in my case, I try to manage the alcohol intake and expectations carefully to avoid finding myself faced with something I really like and lacking the internal focus…

Fabulous achievement! Glad it worked out so well!

LBS vary in quality of service but once you find a good one - love them and keep them in business!! They really can help keep your steed tuned up for great riding!

Re: "That chamois butter...How would you ever get the chamois clean after using that? " Just wash the shorts as usual (I use a washing machine and air dry) - it washes clean fine - have used it for years without problem for both indoor and outdoor rides.

We were very lucky as we usually lose power and have heavier snow/ice hits - we did get a fair amount of snow but most of the big stuff was south this time. Power outages seemed to be north and south of us so we considered ourselves fortunate. Actually we passed several days at home w/o going out and, because we had power,…

I also like the Garmin 500 - use it for metrics during the ride and during indoor trainer rides (big this time of year) - I don't need the map access during the ride since I typically use ridewithgps.com to map the rides ahead of time and then update the file after the ride based on what I saw - I usually provide and use…

Let us know what seems to be good in the cookbook The Feed Zone Cookbook - might get some good ideas! Also I haven't tried the Bonk Breaker Bars - any particular source or just your LBS?

The story line for long rides is "Drink before you're thirsty and eat before you're hungry" - once you get behind the power curve it is very hard to recover. For me, I don't worry too much about food for rides much under 50 but as you go out to much higher mileages then nutrition and hydration management become paramount.…

Concur with the well thought advice from Broadsword7 - getting faster is an outcome of working on the mechanics of cycling and the training that goes with it. Getting a coach (or a skilled cyclist with good communication skills) would be really helpful I would guess. Equipment, eg a new bike, (while a factor at some levels…

Well here goes my attempt to post a picture - this is the touring bike, a Rodriguez steel bike - made in Seattle by R&E Cycles - great touring bike.

FYI Just saw this reference on the issues of daily weighing - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17663619 - J Consult Clin Psychol. 2007 Aug;75(4):652-6. "STOP regain: are there negative effects of daily weighing?" - The abstract says: "The intervention groups reported increases in daily self-weighing, which were…

For me, the alcohol is less about the calories but it's effect on my focus and willpower. I find that now even one drink or so will reduce my judgment as to the necessary wisdom of controlling my "weaknesses" - ie chips, nuts, etc all of which are very calorie-dense and very easy to munch down hundreds (if not a thousand!)…

I used to hear that once a week was considered a kind of "standard" with more frequent re-weighing being distracting due to normal body mass variations (eg water content, etc.). The value of weight monitoring as one of the major behavior modification strategies was reported by the National Weight Control Registry folks -…

These are all really great! I need to start keeping records in 2012! I can only roughly estimate from several training regimens and a longish tour but it should have been around 2500-3000 miles (and I can calculate over 100k feet climbing - lots of hills in 2011). I really like the record keeping some of you have been…

Diet tonic, lime, and ice for new year's eve ---- but tonight we'll add the gin!

I saw the newspaper article yesterday - I agree that it can be too easy to blame something for a condition (like being overweight) rather than take personal responsibility for managing it; that would be taking the article out of context - however, it seems that most third-party studies (ie not a proponent of one approach…

I am not sure where it would fit but I have steel cut oats for breakfast almost everyday - really good stuff which ought to be on my favorites list - I guess maybe there is another category for "grains" or something? - clearly I didn't initially mentally map "oats" to any of the categories of meat, vegies, or fruit.....

Meat - chicken breast meat Fruit - Banana (great snack and pre or post workout pick-me-up) Vegie - Broccoli (with asparagus a close second) - keep wanting to like brussels sprouts but.....not yet....

My bride cooks up a portion (eg 1/2 cup) of steel cut oats (Bob's Red Mill since we are gluten-free) the night before. In the morning, I add some craisens and microwave it for 2 1/2 min - ready to eat! Couldn't be much faster! The steel cut oats really don't mush up from the re-heating unlike rolled oats tend to do.

I haven't seen my gifts yet today but I gave my bride an early set of Christmas presents over the last month to include the Garmin 610 GPS/HRM deluxe system (she calls it "wonder watch" as it is worn on her wrist) - she has mapped her local walks in the US as well as some she does when she visits family in the UK - all…

Despite the fashion photo faux pas, it is a nice looking bike! Like the B&W contrasts - makes it look faster! (although I suspect the white paint sections will show the badge of earned mud splotches quicker!)

It still seems that the best advice I have heard (and which I can still recall...which is another problem) is Michael Pollan's guidance on modern nutrition theory which he says (perhaps a little tongue in cheek) is: Eat Food Not too much Mostly Plants His review article from 2007 New York Times Magazine…

If you were in Seattle, then for a first time rider I would suggest you consider investing in the Cascade Training Series (CTS) (http://shop.cascade.org/content/events/cascade-training-series-schedule) where they do a series of progressive rides leading to the STP and include training on riding with large groups of people…

Will look forward to hearing the first bike/ride reports on your new steed!

Will look forward to hearing the first bike/ride reports on your new steed!

a) Great results due to your efforts to lose the weight! b) I agree that the message conveyed has to be honest & comprehensive but if the doctor is really interested in the patient, then the message also needs to be delivered in a manner in which that patient can internalize it and make informed decisions. Being "blunt"…

The emerging ride mapping site most used by myself and some friends is ridewithgps.com - it is also being used increasingly by our local bicycle club (Cascade Bicycle Club (http://www.cascade.org/Home/ ) and an asserted 14k members!) for its "Daily Rides Program" - which sponsors rides most days of the year in the Pacific…

BTW, the website http://www.topendsports.com/testing/vo2norms.htm looks pretty good! Thanks to tapp52000 for the link.

There are probably a fair number of places that do the VO2-max test (and other related tests at the same time) - the one in Seattle that I am aware of is Seattle Performance Medicine but I suspect there are others near most urban centers. The write-up for what they do from their website is as follows…

Home is the USA - Pacific Northwest - weather is similar (on average) to England - London weather this weekend is pretty much the same as what it will be here!