Food Glorious Food Part 2: What does it all mean!?

So, I've bonked on my ride, puked up the next day and nursed myself through a power-headache, all for the love of cycling. So why did it happen and how can I stop it happening again? Well, the Internet is a wonderful place, and there are plenty of resources for folks like me who have never real thought about this stuff before. Some are more authoritative and scientific; others are discussions on forums, where folks like me have asked these questions before. That's where I started. Here's what I learned.

Any physical activity burns calories. We all know that, right, but what exactly does it mean? Well, it means that if you burn more calories you need to eat more. Not rocket science, no, but what the heck should we eat and when? Is it okay to burn 1500 calories on Saturday then binge drink your way through the week to make up the loss? See, not so silly to ask these questions after all...

Now before I get all geeky about this I just want to say one more thing. The food/miles issue has never ever come up before on social rides. On a ride with friends I know there will be cafe stops (at least one) and then there are the rest stops en route -- the ones at the tops and bottoms of hills, where we all regroup, providing ample time for a refuel if needed. I have no problem feeding myself on rides like these; in fact the frequent snack stops are my favourite parts of the ride. No, the problem is when I'm on my own, because then I get it in my head there's no time to stop, no point in stopping. Maybe it's a security thing? I don't know. Whatever the reason, when I'm on my own I m on a mission and that's the end of it. So the other part of this lesson is educating myself about ways to eat that don't involved lengthy, social chat stops -- the lesson for those rides is learning about food as fuel.

So, what do we need when there's no time for a cake and butty stop but you still have many miles ahead of you?

Well, the first thing is you need to know how much fuel you need to keep going. To figure this out you need to find a way to log the mileage you're doing and perform the necessary calculations for your age, height, and weight. If you have a GPS and use this to track your rides, the chances are you have this information to hand already. Use it. Study it. Try and figure out a rough guestimate for the different types of rides you do, considering terrain, distance, speed, etc. All those things affect how much fuel you need. When you have this you should end up with a figure for the number of calories you need per hour of activity. So far so good. For me I'm looking at about 300 calories per hour on a "regular" ride. Anything above "normal" levels of activity (races, etc.) I will need more than this.

Second, figure out what you can actually manage to eat while riding. It's one thing sitting down for a butty and swilling it all down with a cup of tea, but if you're pushing yourself hard you need to embrace food as fuel and keep it simple. There are a tonne of products out there to help with this: gels, energy bars (usually dried fruit mixtures, some with oats, etc.) and also energy drinks. When you start looking at these the wide range and different definitions will blow your mind. I haven't figured out what I like yet, so have bought a stack of different products and will just try them out as a ride. Some I'll like, some I won't. I'm hoping that I end up finding one that I can make really cheaply for myself. The products don't need to be specialist sport bars either. Products like Nakd fruit bars and others are available from most whole food shops. Basically what you want are slow release carbs, from dried fruit, oats, etc., and it also helps to have a stash of simple sugars for a speedy fuel injection; jelly babies are as good as a fancy energy gel -- think of this as your get out of jail food.

Then you do need to actually keep track of what you eat, not just during the ride but before and after. I've started doing this because I was worried I wasn't eating enough. My weight was stable but my body fat % was increasing, which suggested that maybe I was in "starvation mode" and my body was storing fat to get me through periods of exertion because I couldn't be relied upon to feed myself properly. I've been using My Fitness Pal, on the recommendation of a Breeze participant, for a couple of weeks now, and it makes pretty interesting reading. Basically, I haven't been eating enough for the riding I'm doing, so now I have a chance to rectify that, which will make me a stronger, healthier, happier rider. Plus I to get to eat more -- marvellous! Saying that, *when* I eat more needs to change too. I still don't eat enough on ride days. Refuelling after is important, and one way to do this is to include a protein shake of some sort into your day. Again, there are a tonne of products out there, some of which are very much aimed at blokes, so lots of focus on muscle gain, others of which are for muscle repair. The products I'm trying (again, trial and error is the way forward) are to assist repair and contain a balance of carbs and protein plus some other vitamins and minerals. I've been trying a few products out after all my recent rides and they have really helped me up my calorie intake to a level that matches my activity level.

So is there any more to say on this? Well, yes, actually there is! But that's enough for now... More to follow.

Food Glorious Food Part 1: My First Bonk

So, every girl likes something to eat while out on a social ride with pals, and since most of my riding up to this point has been "social" and involved cafe stops, rest stops at the tops of hills, etc. I'd never really given food much thought. Then two things happened: first, my OH bought some scales with a body fat thing on it, and second, I had my first proper on-bike bonk.

First, let's talk about the bonk. Basically, rode over to join some Glow buddies for a gentle, social A-ride complete with cafe stop -- so far so good -- then headed off on a very long-winded route that involved a rather late lunch (check) over at Trafford topped off with the ride back home. That's when the trouble started. I had no proper food, just some jelly babies. There was a head wind. It had been a long day, I was tired, and there were hills ahead -- if I avoid hills, I can't get home. I knew what was coming, knew I had nothing left, and suspected that if I wasn't rescued I would spend the rest of my life cold and shivering in a bush beside the road being licked to death by stray, smelly cats. Ugh, I was miserable! My OH phones -- he might be coming home early. Elation! I can get to a nice, warm pub and he can pick me up (so I can miss out that last hill!). He phones again. Change of plan. But I'll be alright wont' I? Yes, I say wearily, I can get home. And I know I can if I have to. And it seems that I have to. Best crack on then... So I do. I shovel jelly babies into my mouth. I would inhale them, if I could. I have a few left in the bag, enough to get me close enough to home for the homing instinct to kick in. I just have to get passed a few more hills. I am almost out of water but I'm thirsty and I can feel my pulse racing faster than usual. I need to relax, stop rushing, relax, get home.

I get home. Thank you cycling Gods and Goddesses. I eat, guzzle herbal tea, take a shower, put on my snuggly fleece pants (more about them another day), and start to feel human again. All Good.

So Sunday comes around. It's a nice day and we're off for a walk in the Peaks. But wait, I feel like shit. We set off in the car, but half way to our start I feel so bad we turn round and come home. I feel like I have a hangover and am not too impressed to be curled up on the sofa in a ball, nursing a sore head, and wondering whether I can hold down solids. I know it's not a hangover, but if feels like one so I try and AlkaSeltzer (my secret weapon in the war against hangovers) and thankfully it works. I am back on my feet but still feeling a little run down, so out comes the laptop and the Googling begins.

headache nausea after a ride
ride nutrition
when to eat
etc.

I read a whole lot of stuff on a whole lot of websites.

While I'm mulling this over, reading up about ride nutrition, I also start pondering a few other things.
I used to use electrolytes in my water, but ran out a while back and hadn't ordered some more. Since AlkaSeltzer fixed me and hydration had definitely been an issue, maybe it was time to stock up and start using them again?

The other thing niggling at me is those damned scales. The OH is having his own personal fitness revival, so introduced these electronic blighters into our life, and they give me a body fat % reading that is not entirely pleasing. I'm small -- I know that, but while I'm thinking about nutrition the things I'm reading suggest maybe I'm not eating right now I'm riding more. I definitely eat, but not necessarily the right things at the right times. Maybe now I'm riding harder, further, I'm not eating enough?

So the result of all this is that I've decided I need to pay attention to this stuff, especially when I ride on my own because that tends to be when I don't stop, just put my head down and go. The journey into nutrition begins...

Racing is addictive

Don't ask me why, but after swearing never to ever ride Mayhem again, I've gone and got myself onto an all-women team of four through the mountain bike club I ride with, Manchester Mountain Bikers. We've had a big push in the club lately to try and encourage more women not only to join but to follow through on their guest membership and actually become full club members. Also, those of us involved in Breeze rides are aware that when those easy rides become too easy, women need places to ride that they can progress, so myself and others have persuaded MMB to have a regular women-only ride (after much discussion, I should add -- some of it heated!) so it was time for me to put my money where my big mouth was and step up and do something to represent women in the club. Encouraging women to race is only one step on from encouraging them to ride, and that really is how I've ended up on the Mayhem team. So what happens next?

Well, training isn't a word I'd use but the fact that the other three on my team are machines (one is riding Fred Whitton in a few weeks, the other rode past me on all the hills last week, and the third member is out four times a week, apparently) means I am probably the weakest link of the four. That's not good, so part of me feels like training of some sort might be in order. But where to start? Well, I'll be posting more on that in coming weeks. I don't really know where to begin so am going to have a broad putting in the miles approach that may or may not be the way to go. Time will tell.

Bib shorts -- crossing a line

So, if anyone had told me, when I first gave up my gym membership in favour of cycling that I would, a) be riding a bike with drop bars, b) be capable of riding 100K and thinking of more, and c) be riding every weekend, rain or shine, I'd have thought they were talking rubbish. But if anyone had said that I'd d) be looking forward to wearing my windproof bib shorts, I'd have laughed so hard at the idea. I mean, even if I ended up doing a, b, and c, d would still never happen, right? Er, well, the day has come and a line has been crossed. I've yet to wear them but I'm really looking forward to be it being cold enough to justify them. Why? Well, I want to ride all year, and remembering how cold I was on some of the MTB night rides I did last year, I was looking for ways to keep warm. When a pal pointed out that bibs mean no draughts, I was sold. What a brilliant idea, my cyclist's brain concluded. The next thing you know I've located a bargain (Gore Oxygen's in XS for £70!) and my credit card has been flexed. Whoop!!

Positively glowing (but not in *that* way)

Today was my first ride out with Team Glow, the all-women group set up by the inspiring Glynis Francis to get 100 women to ride the Manchester 100 in 2011. Well, Glynis achieved her aim. The event was a great success. Many women, some of whom hadn't ridden a bike in years, turned out on the day and notched up an achievement they will never forget. Having joined the team at the 11th hour (on the Thursday before the event!) I hadn't met any of the women before, so was keen to get out on one of their rides and also to have my first group riding experience, as previously my road rides have been either solitary or just with one other person, so no chance for the group riding experience. 100km later (the organised ride somewhat augmented by my ride to/from the start), I'm sitting here enjoying the post ride glow.

We set off from Chorlton, South Manchester at just after 9am, headed out towards the Man United training ground (which I didn't know existed), onto Warrington, Lymm, Knutsford, and then back. At least I think that was the route. The ride was also my first time using Endomondo, and it seemed unable to get a satellite fix for some of the route, so who know really where I was at any one time. For a change, the ride (at least, the organised part of it) wasn't hilly, and the only really tough physical challenge was a long stretch of road that felt like it was on an ever-so-slight incline into a head wind. Oh, and it was just before the cafe stop. Boy, that road felt like it went on forever! Our cafe stop was a very lovely High Legh Garden Centre. As we still had some riding to do a big feed wasn't an option. A shame, because the green Thai curry really caught my eye. The scone was pretty darned good though, and just what I needed in order to get me back to Chorlton. For the ride home, Glynis very kindly took Ang and I in and cooked some toast, made a lovely cup of tea, sold me some Team Glow kit (canny), and then I was on my way back home again.

Despite being absolutely done in, I headed up Matley Lane instead of staying on the main road. Having such a monster hill so late in my ride nearly finished me off completely, but I made it, and the payback was getting to whizz all the way down the hill to my house (instead of having another climb up from the bottom!) After a shower and change, we whizzed off to the pancake shop (next to Kimberley's Bakery) in Glossop. Maple and bacon - mmmmm. Perfect.

A great day out with some big hills and very tingly legs now!

From Blogger Pictures

No more bike bits

Something that's striking about cycling as a hobby is the extraordinary amount of gear that I seem to "need". Defining "need" in this context is complicated, because you could argue do I really need a road bike, do I really need a basket for shopping, a fork upgrade, different pedals, new lights, etc. etc. etc. Paraphanalia rules, and I seem to forever be grabbing a bargain here, sneaking some new shiny part in from the porch here... Considering you'd never usually catch me dead inside a shopping centre, cycling somehow seems to have awakened the latent consumer in me and then some. So, I am announcing here that from 15th month onwards I will be a shopping free zone. I hereby commit to buying absolutely nothing for the next 30 days. Weirdly, that thought brings me out in some form of mild panic. What if I miss out on a special offer for the new road tyres I secretly covet? And then there's the saddle bag I've had my eye on.

Because I'm such a soft touch for a "bargain" (a marketers dream is how one friend describes me) the only way I'm going to get through this (and it's cold turkey or nothing) is by canceling all the e-mail subscriptions for the gazillion bike shops that seem to have me on their mailing list, so they can't dangle some spectacularly good offer under my greedy nose. Those mailshots have uncanny ability to catch me in a weak moment, usually after midnight, with a 30% better discount offer on something that I probably don't need at full price but can probably find an argument for at 30% (or better) off. Grrr. It's so boring! Obviously I love this sport and want to do my bit to keep all the lovely bike shop retailers in business, but the time has come to just ride and stop with the shopping! Besides, I have to save for a new bike :-)

Mayhem here we come!

So having signed up for a Mayhem team in a fit of madness, there are now less than 5 days to go! Oh boy. Luckily there are only three other teams in our category, and we qualify as "oldies", so really there isn't any competition. If we really couldn't be bothered on the day, we could do our one lap each and then hit the bottle for the rest of the day. While that remains a distinct possibility (at least for one of our team, who apparently has a penchant for G&T), there's also the possibility that if we're just a little bit better than any of the other women in our category, we could get on the podium. How funny would that be!?

So that's the funny side of the story. The not so funny side is the question of women's involvement in mountain biking. It's something that's consumed rather a lot of my time this last couple of weeks, as there's been a fairly thorough discussion about it within one of the mountain bike clubs I belong too, which all came about because one my pals within the club suggested women-only rides. Personally I've been shocked by the heated debate it generated in comparison to, say, the introduction of a regular road ride. I'll come back to this another time (it's late now after all), but will just throw it in here as a taster of a discussion I plan to come back to. First I need to get my shit together for Mayhem. Eeekkk!