Post Punk Kitchen is the best vegan recipe website I have found. The cherry pie I posted was made with a good recipe for crust from that site. Being vegan in AK is easier than I thought. I just have to eat a lot of frozen vegetables. Can we get a vegan food thread going?

yeah max hr, i havent done any legit tests yet except climbing some 30% grades on the mtb and blowing my hr thru the roof and using that number (195), that stupid formula leads me to 191. i know @thewilson has gone over 200, and i think were pretty much the same human, so i know the formula is bull****

do plan on doing the LT test eventually but im just experimenting now, and i know its gonna be brutal. i also have to find a place i can do it not far from home that allows me to go that hard for that long

eta: thx @hockeyteeth! gonna combo thru that **** while i do nothingness today

lunch = soyrizo and black quinoa with black beans, carrots and green beans, shredded cheese on top (vegan-ish, remember?) with some cold brew coffee and italian cookies for dessert

Yeah having that much open road can be tough in many areas. I did mine on the trainer in college, which adds another element of suffering of course because it is so boring. Fortunately for me, I have Fiesta Island in San Diego now, which is an essentially infinite ~4mi loop with no intersections . I do much of my weekday riding (intervals) there as it is safe, open and only 20min of easy pedaling from home.

I don't mean to hate on your max HR methods, I think it's cool that you're interested in the first place, and it should get you in the ballpark. The LT method is just more functional and accurate as all, no biggie. It's also kind of cool that the disparity between the formula and what you obtain in field tests is fairly small - perhaps the formula is good for you.

Do you have a protocol for determining max HR? I would probably do something like ride pretty hard for a couple minutes, ride real hard for 60s, then sprint all out for another 15-20s. I've never tried to formally test max HR tho, so IDK. That also sounds like a good way to puke too, if you're trying to lose weight haha

A man of the finer things!

In other news, racing season is almost over... Time to dial back the time on the roadie a little bit, and do things like swim, hike, bodysurf, and ride mtb.

Oh, and ride my fixed gear too .

I'm leading a backpack trip into the high Sierra around labor day (Kearsarge Pass/lakes basin), so I should probably get my legs used to walkin'.

My elliptical, winter training, has a program for HIIT called Sprint 8. Through doing that and researching HIIT, I have seen that I, and a lot of folks, cannot get to max HR without going through some cycles. That is, it takes me, and many folks, 4-5 intervals (with the rest period) before my max HR shows up. The suffering prior to this is joyful compared to when I reach this painful level.

Interesting, and good to know. That kinds makes sense intuitively I guess - it takes a few efforts for your body to really "open up" and run full steam.

dont get me wrong, i know the numbers i have arent super accurate, but i also dont need them to be (at least at this point)

the way i got to the number i have now is basically climbing a tough ~14% technical climb (id say it felt like i was in zone 4, definitely very hard but not blowing up), then immediately following it with a climb that is around the 30% mark and half as long, as hard as i possibly could (basically blew up after that).

the last real road ride i did i was on a steep climb (peaks at 16%) again and was pretty close to maxed out, definitely anaerobic, and i topped off at 189, im sure im in the 190-200ish area so the "formula" isnt super far off

I agree that they don't need to be that accurate, just reproducible. That even extends to using a Power Meter as well.

What matters more is that it has a consistent response/sensitivity. If the watts from the PM are 5% or so off (which is a huge difference when you're already fit, 285 vs 300w FTP for me), it doesn't matter so much. As long as it is consistent, it is a useful training tool for targeting weaknesses, identifying strengths and seeing fitness trends over the long term.

I feel your pain, Abby, one of our JRTs died tuesday. It is always hard when they leave.

Sorry for your loss.

Holy crap. How did you get the poop outta your pants?

Anyone in here ever taken I-80 across the country, specifically from the midwest, heading west?

I took it all the way, East to West. I was twelve. Rad thunderstorms in the cornfields of Nebraska. One of thew thunder CRACKS was so loud and violent it cracked a window on my uncles RV. I thought the world was gunna explode. It was awesome. Even the biggest fireworks displays are a let down now.

I went on a beautiful hike with my beautiful wife. There were two dads that had 8 little girls on MTBs. But, they dropped them about a mile in. The trail is listed as an epic MTB ride, with a few spots that even a trials rider might not make it over (a pic of one of those spots). Great Day!!!

Cranked out a quick thirty on the cross bike before the rain started, always feels good when you beat nature.

Did the drive from Michigan to Colorado Springs several times. Boring as hell. What do you want to know?

I busted out a 64 mile ride with a buddy today both of us on fixed. One flat (me) and a hell of a workout.

this is an up?

****.

Yeah, I know 80 isn't the most scenic. At this point we just wanna get there quickly, as we will be driving two small SUV's and one of them towing a teardrop camper. Being the middle of Summer, I was wondering about the possibility of driving during the night on some of the drive, to avoid congestion etc. Or is it too damn desolate out that way, with regards to gas stations etc..

It isn't the worst drive in the world. West of Illinois, I'm not sure there's too much advantage in driving at night because it isn't that busy. There are reasonable places to stay in Council Bluffs and places like that and you don't really run into desolation until you leave Nebraska. It is way better than the 70.

Ok, cool. I was mainly concerned with the heat during the day, pulling a camper etc.

I did it both ways, and honestly, night time was way worse. Because it is so desolate, the ride becomes that much more boring. It is one thing to drive through cities at night, but once you are outside of the cities it becomes 10 times as bad at least it was for me. I remember sitting in a Perkins at 4 am in Nebraska having some breakfast and wondering if I would ever see the sun again. One of the longest nights of my life.

Did 4x laps around a dirt boulevard, a measly 12 miles. But epic because I awoke this morning with the sharp lower-back pain whenever I moved in just the right direction. Rode through it all with unpredictable zaps, and one that almost made me crash.

Once I finished, I had Queen's "We Are the Champions" playing in my head!

That was probably pretty stupid to do. ^

Yeah, That's a good point. maybe we will just hit the road at like 3 am, that way we get some driving into the morning, get to a stopping point, gas the vehicles, then get some rest. I'm not looking forward to Nebraska at all.