Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Gluten Free Energy Bar - Recipe

For athletes and hungry people alike, I present to you a completely modifiable energy bar recipe:

Ingredients:

-3/4c. Nut butter of your choice (tahini might be a new favorite for me)
-3/4c. Sweetener syrup (local honey, agave, brown rice syrup, etc)
-2 1/2c. Trail mix (should include an assortment of seeds, nuts, and lots of dried fruit... This is where you get to modify your proportions and have a little fun - I just added 1c. chopped dates to 1 1/2c. of trail mix that had raisins in it, ya dig?)
-4c. GLUTEN FREE brown rice crispie cereal (I used Kellog's GF Rice Crispies)
-1tsp. Kosher salt
-1tsp. Vanilla extract

Method:


1. Prepare a large baking pan (around 9" x 13") by coating with Earth Balance or some other cooking oil, to prevent your bars from sticking.

2. In a pretty large mixing bowl combine your nut/seed/dried fruit mix with the crispies. Mix well.

3. In a sauce pan, on low heat combine nut butter, sweetener syrup, salt and vanilla extract. Stir constantly and get it hot enough that you get some bubbles. Be very careful though, that much sugar on heat will scald pretty easily.

4. After your nutty syrup is warm and well combined, use a spatula and pour it into your mixing bowl - making sure to get everything coated.

5. Use the spatula to transfer and pack your energy bar mixture down into the baking pan. Get it nice and level and cool in the refrigerator for atleast 1 hour.

After it's completely cool and hardened use a butter knife to portion to your liking. Wrap in parchment paper, then in a sando baggy, place in your jersey pocket and go ride.


Monday, March 26, 2012

Tour de Dung Road Race Series #2 - Race Report

3/17/2012 9:50am
Cat 4 Men, 48 miles, 4 laps of wide open farmland roads
Avg Speed 24.6 mph
Max Speed 38.9 mph
7th place of 58

This race was much more exciting than the week prior at Sequim #1 because of its sheer speed and aggression from the other racers. Personally I prefer a fast pace and aggressive type of race, to me it's just safer. If you don't have the legs, you won't be in my (our) way, and it forces everyone to work together instead of mindlessly riding 3 abreast in the wind.

Much to my surprise, the attacks started immediately following neutral roll-out, and like the week before they were immediately covered and countered. Finally some consistency with the amateur racers that parallels the way professionals ride (sort of). My plan for today was to sit in, not attack, not do any work and wait it out for the field sprint. Boring but it works for everyone else, why not?

Less than halfway into the 2nd lap I look around and notice HALF THE FIELD HAS BEEN DROPPED! What the fuck? Naturally the attacks keep on coming, as does the surging. Garrett Charlson (Audi), whom is in great form for the start of the season I might add, decides to attack right after someone is reeled in and solos into the distance. I believe everyone was thinking what I was thinking, "What a wasted effort, he's not going to solo away from all of us..." Well, this may have been true but he put such an impressive gap on the final stretch that a grip of us got antsy and decided to chase. This chase lasted atleast 3 miles and avg'd about 29mph. It hurt. I was gapped by 3 different small chase groups and wasn't about to be left behind. I put my head down and TT'd my way up the road, unknowingly dragging 6 or 7 others with me. I caught the first group ahead of me and was closing on the second at the start of the third lap. I started to get really nervous when I saw Garrett had been joined by PJ (Hagens Berman) and Francis (SCAA/ Starbucks) both whom have built in motors in their legs. The final group ahead of me was falling apart so as I approached I let out one final effort to try and drop as many guys behind me as I could. It worked out pretty well and next thing I knew we had a 10-man breakaway. I reminded our group there was absolutely no reason we couldn't ride away from the field with this much horsepower - we put our heads down and rotated beautifully, each of us taking short pulls... well, all of us but one, some guy on Bikesale.com was just sitting in.





Final Lap
This is my favorite part of any breakaway - where friends become enemies. We collectively decided to pick the pace up on the rollers to drop said Bikesale.com rider and anyone else who couldn't hang. I thought for sure these efforts would cut our group in half, but alas, only our lazy bumblebee friend. Coming into the final kilometers Garrett does something I would have done and attacks the group. I bridge up and REALLY REALLY contemplated counter attacking but sat in instead. Bad call on my part. There was enough of a gap and we were closing in on the finish line quick enough that this could have been a 1-2 victory. Sitting in allowed eveyone to catch up and resume resting for the finish line. As 200m approached, I found myself sitting 2nd wheel ready to jump. In fact just before I dropped some gears for my sprint Todd (Cycle U) and PJ (Hagens Berman) take off from behind me - FUCK. I underestimated my cadence and failed to close the gap they set.  Granted I was tired, caught off guard, and sprinting isn't my strength (yet). I laid out every ounce of energy I had left and snagged a 7th place! Woohoo, 1 placing better than last week.



I was very impressed with our effort and definitely learned a few more lessons for the road ahead.

Photo credit: ReedKJ I'd like to give her a shout out for being such a trooper and strong supporter of NW bicycle racing. She's out there in the pissing rain or shine, making all of us look so cool and fast. If you see a picture(s) you like, give back and make a purchase, I know I will.

Recipe: Vegan Sloppy Joes

I like to think my best recipes come to me while working the line at around 5:00pm just before the Happy Hour rush comes. I'll be sitting there firing up some chorizo and quail eggs for someone sipping on a delicious red sangria when I think to myself, "Hmm, what should I make for family (staff) meal tonight?"

This is usually dictated by what we have lying around in the kitchen that needs to be eaten, who's working (we have a lot of vegetarians in Front of the House), and my overall level of creativity. Since we had a couple cups of dried green lentils hanging out, I decided to feed my coworkers a play on an American classic: Sloppy Joes.

 This recipe makes a lot, and like most anything you try and cook don't get bent on proportions, just look for desired texture/taste.

- 2c. dried lentils
- 1c. toasted almonds
- 2 pablano or other green peppers, large dice
- 1 large yellow onion, large dice
- 12oz. canned tomatoes (muir glen or something decent)
- 3 cloves of garlic,  minced or thinly sliced
- 1/4c. nutritional yeast
- 1/2c. tomato paste
- salt, pepper to taste
- 1T. cumin and crushed red chili flakes (each)
- parsley, oregano, and other chopped up tasty herbs

First things first, get your food processor out. If you don't have one, no biggy, you just get to sculpt your guns a little more.

1. In a large pot with boiling water and a pinch of salt, add your lentils. Cover and kill the heat. Set a timer for 45 minutes.

2. In hot pan with olive oil and a pinch of salt throw in your onions and peppers. Saute until you see some carmelization, this is when you want to toss in the garlic, mmmmm. Once the garlic is toasty, toss it all in a large mixing bowl. Deglaze your pan.

3. In your hot pan with olive oil and a pinch of salt add your tomato paste and cook until darker in color, then add to your mixing bowl.

4. Place your toasted almonds in the food processor with a splash of olive oil and a pinch of salt (see the pattern here? "Seasoning as you go") Pulse until course, or chunks start to stick together. Add this to your mixing bowl.

5. Strain your canned tomatoes and dice them before adding to your precious bowl of goodies, making sure to reserve the liquid.

6. Add the remainder ingredients (except the tomato juices) and mix thoroughly. You'll notice it's pretty dry, so a little bit at a time mix in your tomato juice from the canned stuff until sloppy. If it's still not sloppy enough, mix in water, stock or ketchup until sloppy enough.

There's your mix, when ready to eat heat in a covered pan with a splash of water to get it going. After it's warm enough, I think you know how to put it on a bun and cover it with lettuce and queso.

BOOOM. Enjoy your fiber and protein laden meal :)





Stairmaster 6000 Alleycat - Seattle

(via ZLOG)
The Stairmaster 6000 race is quickly approaching this Saturday the 31st. It will be a grueling challenge of man and bike versus stairs. This is another race to benefit the 2013 NACCC in Seattle, so be there and show your suppoort. Check out the Facebook page for this race and also the 2013 NACCCs.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Tour de Dung Road Race Series #1 - Race Report

3/10/2012 9:50am
Cat 4 Men, 48 miles, 4 laps of wide open farmland roads
Avg Speed 23.8mph
Max Speed 35.2mph
8th place of 64


The Tour de Dung road race series in Sequim, Wa is part of the official kickstart in Northwest bicycle racing. It's staggered with the Mason Lake road races so we can all size eachother up and see who upgraded at the end of last season and who's slacking. I'm bitter can you tell? Bitter or not, I am making progress - third race of my season and I seem to be placing higher each time (Eatonville: 22nd, Mason Lake #1: 11th, and Sequim #1: 8th). Back to the report you were so kind to check in on... Sequim, pronounced "squim," is located a couple hours North of Seattle in the 'rain shadow' of the Olympic mountain range. I'm telling you about this because a rain shadow determines whether or not we race in pleasant conditions or shitty ones. Fortunately, it was typical stormy weather on our drive out there and clear as soon as we descended from the pass into Sequim. Awesome, a dry-ish race.

Our minivan stuffed with bikes and racers missed the 7:10am ferry to Kingston which would have given us about an hour to warm up before roll out. We took the 7:50 ferry and made it to the race in enough time to register, kit up and spin the pedals down the road for 10 minutes or so. Typical. I was surprised to see my teammate Thorsten there, since he was having trouble getting a ride. But he made it and was pretty chipper and chatty, not really like him. As we "warmed up" I discovered he only needed 1 more point to upgrade into the Cat 3's, I'd be stoked on life too. According to USA Cycling, this means he only needs to finish in 8th place if there are more than 50 people racing in our field. We discussed tactics and headed to the start line.

Ready-Set-Race
Turns out we had 4 HSP guys in our race: Chris Carter, Jim Peterson, Thor and I so we lined up and rolled out together. Our said "tactics" were to stay in the front of the race, and likely sprint it out at the end. The roads were wet and if the right bunch made a move today, it could stick... painful, but it could stick. Immediately following neutral roll out the attacks started, which is impressive for a Cat 4 race. However, because this is a Cat 4 race, all moves were automatically covered. Most of this first lap averaged 23mph so when it jumped to 26 you knew someone was trying to get up the road. If it kept up like this, I knew everyone would be cashed out by the last lap. I crossed my fingers.

Typical Me
As we made our way onto the backstretch I positioned myself 10 wheels back for optimal pouncing leverage. I almost jumped six or seven times before I actually did, mostly because I wanted to try out some advice I read on Bicyling.com. Just after a Starbucks rider was pulled back I attacked with just about everything I had. This didn't work out like I had hoped. Honestly, I don't know really know what I had hoped. I looked over my shoulder and the field was atleast 300m away from me. I opened a bigger gap than I intended and I couldn't even tell if they were chasing or letting me go. I figured I would just put my head down and see what happened. Maybe 3 minutes later I looked back and noticed they were, indeed chasing and I was going to be caught quite soon. I didn't get a chance to warm up before the race so instead of sitting up I took my ass out of the saddle and gassed it a bit longer. I figured that I'm in better form than most of them so I could recover pretty easily. After they caught me a couple guys cracked some jokes about how predictable I am.

Public Service Announcement: Joking with me like that only gives me a big head, so don't say anything if you don't want me to do it again.

To my surprise, the attacks didn't stop after the first lap, or the second. This kind of racing (covering any and all moves) takes a toll on the field as you could imagine. It became the most apparent when a guy on the Audi team just kept rolling straight on through as the rest of the pack was trying to do a bike race and turn right to stay on the course. He was 15 or 20 wheels back so he almost took everyone out. That was interesting to watch, AND nobody crashed. Woohoo. After that Thor and I made sure to stay in the front to avoid any other shenanigans that may follow. Alas, on our way up to the front an Apex Racing guy almost took his teammate out RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. I would have been pissed to be taken down for some dumb shit like that. Fortunately this was a sign that everyone was getting restless, because Thor and I felt great.

FINAL LAP
I did some work at the start of the last lap to drive the pace up a bit. I knew it was going to be a field sprint, and I needed better odds than last week. Good thing Thor was looking out for me because I was probably on the front for a little too long. Gotta save the legs. Position position. Once we made it to the backstretch Fare Start Racing and Cycle U started launching attacks to string the field out. It worked to my advantage and I landed myself a sweet spot 3 wheels back right behind Dean Jasper from Fare Start Racing. I know he's a strong sprinter so I stayed put. Thor on the other hand decided to lead out the last 4 miles? What the fuck? Apparently I thought they'd let him into a good spot in the final kilometers if he drove the train for a bit. And they did. Around the last corner safe and sound, 1.5k to go, and the pace gets roaring. 30mph to be exact. The problem I had with the final 1k is that not one team had the legs to lead out. It just turned into us riding 4 and 5 abreast with people squeezing into smaller spaces than they should at high speed.

Approaching 200m
The sign is in view and everyone is bumping shoulders, it's getting really sketchy. I don't like it. Suddenly there's a slight surge so everyone freaks out and speeds up too quickly. This now presents me with the following situation: a) Crash because I'm getting pinched pretty badly or b) cross a wheel and possibly take someone behind me out so I can take the spot that opened up in front of me. I decided to go with b) and not crash. Seconds after I took this new comfy spot prepared for me, I heard that horrible chain of sounds nobody should have to hear - squealing, snapping carbon fiber, screams and the sound of a dry chip-seal road tearing at the flesh of the innocent (or not so innocent).



This is bike racing. 200m is here and Dean jumps on the outside and I follow, then he goes back. Big Todd from Cycle U is huge and throwing his bike so I just go all the way around him and sprint it out with my nose in the wind. I pretty much lead Thor out. Final meters, Thor comes around me for 3rd and I try to give it every lest pedal stroke I have. We cross the line and realize that I have no excuses for why I didn't win. I simply went too early. If I had stayed behind Dean the whole time I could have snuck out later with more juice. 8th place, but it was a good race and I earned 1 upgrade point so I'm happy.

Redemption this Saturday for #2 in the series.

More pictures found HERE from ReedKJ

Thanks for reading.

Monday, March 12, 2012

Pizza Dough Recipe

After much trial and error, I present to you my prized possession - PIZZA DOUGH
Hey, it's vegan too :)
Makes 1 Large Pizza
Ingredients:

-1 c. Warm water or Veg stock
-2 tsp. Active Dry Yeast or 1 pkg
-1 T Sugar
-2 tsp. Kosher salt
-1 T extra virgin olive oil
-2.5 c. All purpose flour
-.5 c. cornmeal
(optional)
-herbs & spices: ie parsley, rosemary, thyme, sage, peppercorn

Method:
Pre-heat oven to 425*F. In a stand up mixer (kitchen aid) or large mixing bowl (if you're a hardman) combine the warm water, yeast and sugar. Stir gently until incorporated. Let stand for 10 minutes (so the yeast can feast on the sugar). You may notice lots of bubbles, that's good. Now add the extra virgin olive oil, salt, herbs and spices. Mix until well incorporated. Add flour and cornmeal 1 cup at a time, making sure to stir in before mixing. You are done mixing when the dough is no longer sticky. Remove from bowl, and roll into a big ball. Coat mixing bowl with oil (to prevent sticking) then throw your dough in. Cover with plastic wrap (or a clean towel if you're a dirty hippie). Let rest in a warm place (probably on top of your warm oven) for 1 hour.

If you want to save dough for a future meal, cover with plastic wrap or sandwich bag and place in freezer instead of "let rest in warm place for 1 hour."

After the hour has passed, roll out to desired size. Personally, I prefer about 1/4" in thickness for a thinner crust. If you want doughy shoot for 1/2".

This is where you get to experiment: I like lots of sauce on my pizza so its nice to bake just the crust with a little cornmeal and olive oil to firm it up a bit. This just keeps it from gettin a little soggy. If you like the doughy type with little sauce go ahead and load up the toppings, and bake for about 20 minutes or until desired crispness.

Devour. Repeat.

Mason Lake Road Race Series #1 - Race Report

3/4/2012 9:30am
Cat 4 Men, 48 miles, 4 laps of rolling and narrow country roads
Avg Speed 23.7mph
Max Speed 38.9mph
11th* of 68


Just to get this out of the way, the *asterisk above is because the WSBA Racing results say that I got 12th, but after our race was over I took a picture of the results and tweeted a congrats to Thorsten for his 2nd place, as I had 11th. This is a short and boring Cat 4 race, and points only go 9 deep so it truly doesn't matter.

Roll Out
Anyways, to the report. After my pack finish at the Eatonville RR last month, I was eager to recover from being sick and get to crushing dreams again... which translates directly to "upgrade asap." The plan was to sit near the front the entire race and jump into a promising break (real original, right?) Because the wind is stupid crazy out on Mason Lake, you aren't going anywhere outside the pack if you have less than 5 strong dudes with you. I learned the hard way. After sitting in for the first 6 miles I got bored and feisty as usual and wanted to test the waters. The pace was only 20mph at this point so why not?

Dishing It Out
I moved up to about 6th wheel after Cycle U covered the first move of the morning made by someone on Starbucks (they're starting the season off right, btw) , then gassed it with just about everything I had. Of course nobody bridges, they all just freak out, yell at each other and start chasing me. I continue to TT it up the road but the wind is devastating. I really didn't want to burn all my matches on my first move that obviously wasn't going to end in a solo victory 40 miles later. My legs just weren't warm enough. I was caught about 3 minutes later and took a wheel in the front. The pace picks up and stays about 25mph for a few more miles. After a small roller climb I hear everyone wheezing (a bunch of pussies, I swear) so I follow up with another move. I get even further but the wind gets worse and I start to lose morale. To my surprise, 2 minutes later just before I decide to sit up, a UW kid rolls up next to me and yells "Lets go dude, c'mon". He pulls my tired ass very shortly before giving me a flick (not ideal, but whatever) so I pull through and realize I cant possibly keep this up in this kind of wind so I sit up. His teammate bridges and they both ride off into the wind, literally. After I'm caught I find a wheel next to Bryan Urakawa (Fischer Plumber Cycling Team) and joked around about when my next counter attack was. We've raced a lot together, he's a really strong sprinter and I'm a stupidly aggressive racer, so we always have something to chat about. UW was caught almost immediately after me.



The Boring Part
I sat mid pack with my HSP teammate, Jim Peterson, and collectively decided that sitting in until the last lap was our best bet. So we did just that. The unfortunate part about sitting in on a course like this with Cat 4's is the endless amounts of surging and braking. I think everyone behind the first 10 wheels went through most of their brake pads in this race alone. Lame, but luckily no crashes :)

LAST LAP
Jim and I begin moving up on the short back stretch because that's probably the "saftest" area to do such things before we turn onto twisty chip-seal road. We get into the front 3rd before entering said road where the pace ups to 26mph and continues to steadily climb. Luckily there was less stop and go this time around and our team Junior racer, Thorsten (15yrs old) positioned himself like a lead out right infront of me. Since he's a Cat 2 on the track I figured he would know how to position himself for the sprint. I, on the other hand, am a poor sprinter and prefer to take my chances in breakaways. 2k to go! I refuse to let go of Thor's wheel as we dangerously squeeze into what little spots open up infront of us. Everyone is getting giddy and we are now cruising at 28mph with riders taking their chances in the tiny dirt shoulder just to get into position. At 1k a couple guys thought it would be cool to ignore the double yellow line and cut infront of everyone. That didn't go over well as everyone was telling them to get the fuck of the road and out of the race, then again at 400m! WTF?!

*For the uninitiated, at 200m from the finish line on the last lap of a road or circuit race, the entire road is open for everyone to sprint it out. Before 200m YOU WILL BE DISQUALIFIED for riding on the wrong side of the road, no exceptions.

Anyhow, at 400m Sam Park (Hagens Berman Cycling Team) jumped over the yellow line and laid down the hammer. Lead outs immediately popped and next thing I know Thor and I are literally zig zagging from 20 wheels back through gassed out riders. It got really sketchy but I was set up for 4th place behind him! 10m before we get to the line, a gap of tired sprinters closed and Thor was the only one able to squeeze through. This was a disappointment since I had to brake and find a way to the finish that costed me 7 places. But that's bike racing. It could have been worse.

Lesson of the day: If you want to place well in the field sprint, you have to be willing to sacrifice your body at high speeds to attain the right position.

Bike racing truly is a hardman sport, I don't care what other stupid Americans say. Thanks for reading.

Pictures found HERE, complements of ReedKJ Photography.