chefisaac

Today was great. Met up with Paisan, Will, and Ibohunt for a wonderful 80 mile ride. This ride was a bench mark, really, for me to see if I would be able to handle it and handle the 100 miler. I must say, it went VERY well.

We have been doing metric centuries the last three weekends and they have gotten easier with each one and I have learned a lot.

The last metric century, I walked away knowing that I needed to tweak a few things:

1) on the ride nutrition. I tried the store bought stuff and it was OK but wanted to try something home made with less ingredients, thinking that it might be better for my stomach

2) I needed a reminder to eat and drink. Time can slip away from you when riding.

3) My upper back and shoulders killed me on longer rides.

So last week, I tweaked stuff. I made a homemade simple (three ingredients really) energy bar. I also picked up my Edge 800 and learned (a little) how to use it. I mainly used it for the time alert so every 15 minutes, the alarm would beep and I knew to eat a little and drink a little. I also went in early last week and got another fitting, order some stuff, got new bar tape with gel and also new summer gloves.

Everything went great. Eating the bars and drinking every 15 minutes went awesome and I was never hungry nor thirsty. It is hard not to pound down the water because I love water so it was a challenge. The Garmin kicked @ss. I love that thing. Do not know how to use it but I love it. I also hooked up my HRM. I really do not know how to use it effectively but I am learning. And the changes I made on the bike were solid and helped out a lot too.

All in all, it was a great ride. 83.75 miles at a 15.9 mph average. Felt great.

I know my nutrition and hydration was solid on the bike because I used to feel soooooo tired on the drive home and for the rest of the night but not today!

Ibohunt: Great to meet you and thank you for making the long drive out and back. Thank you Chris for teaching me so much and thank you Will for being my "suffer" body.

I am now ready for the century!

chasm54

Good. Sixteen mph for 80 miles is very respectable. And there's no doubt that if you can ride 80 miles, you can ride 100.

You don't mention your neck and shoulders. Better? If so, make a note of how you've set the bike up so you can estimate the effect of future tweaking. When I first started experimenting with my set-up, I made the mistake of changing several things at a time so I didn't know which specific changes had made the difference.

lenny866

How about the recipe for your homemade energy bar? I would love to try it.

chefisaac

Thanks Chas.

Yes, upper back and shoulders rode well. I raised everything up, stem, etc. I was able to actually use the drops more too which was nice.

Neil_B

Congratulations!

chefisaac

No prob. I will shoot it to you this week when I am at work. If you do not hear back from me, PM me. I do forget.

chefisaac

Thank you Neil!

IBOHUNT

Thanks for letting me drag along Chef. Had a good time.

He could have done 100 today easy and then some. Strong rider.

Chefbars kick Cliff bars butt....

so good I think I ate all mine within 15 miles and then all I had was Cliff bars.

goldfinch

I want the bar recipe too!

And congratulations on the great ride.

paisan

It was a great ride, the bars were rocking..The company was good and "I Bow Hunt" is a friggin machine. Just a warning to any clydes thinking of riding with him, be prepared, very prepared...hahahahah

lenny866

Cheffbars!!!???!!! MMMMMM..you may be on to something!

CraigB

I think that recipe needs to be posted here. There certainly seems to be enough interest.

jethro56 

You guys are machines! I couldn't average that for 20 miles let alone 80. Was this on packed limestone?

paisan

What hasn't been posted is that we shot out of the gate and averaged 17.9 for the first hour and we covered from miles 5 to 24 in an hour for a 19mph avg.

The guys were killing it today... by guys I mean IBOHUNT

TrojanHorse

Chefbars! Chefbars! Chefbars!

I do confess that I like clifbars. They taste more like food than some energy bars. I'm always willing to upgrade though.

chefisaac

They can be too dry. The ones I made give you the opportunity to use wholesome nutrition as the base and can add on to that. I just hate looking at the ingredients statement and trying to figure out what each thing does. I often wonder if thats why upset stomachs happen on long rides.

chefisaac

Roads were pretty nice, at least for South Jersey. The only roads that sucked where the chipped ones. Too much vibration.

chefisaac

Yeah, with IBOHUNTS computer going slower and Will's computer saying we were doing 6 mph when we were doing 17 plus was funnier as heck. And there is no drafting off ibohunt. He is too small.

chasm54

Sixty-Fiver has a good recipe for home made bars. As far as I can remember it goes one cup honey, three cups oatmeal, a handful of dried fruit - raisins or chopped apricots or whatever - mixed together over heat then pressed out in a shallow dish, refrigerated and cut into bars. I thought they were pretty palatable. A tad sticky, though, so wrap them well...

Neil_B

Maltodextrin. Its a sugar that can have a laxative effect if consumed in large amounts. Like, say, a couple or three energy bars.

Catlikeone

Railing on the little guy again I see

CraigB

I'll echo that sentiment. When I saw that stat, I couldn't believe it. That was one impressive ride.

chefisaac

Hard to draft off ya when u can't keep a line and/or when u keep crashing.

=)

chefisaac

This is a true testiment of what teamwork can do.

Catlikeone

Oh I got a taste of that the other day on a shop ride with 8 total newbs and saw my life flash before my eyes. Was completely horrified, mea maxima culpa.