Mercer Island Hot Laps

There's a free training (race) ride on Tuesday nights in Seattle- Mercer Island Hot Laps. Bike riders of all levels are welcome! We start on the West side of the island at the I-90 trail and ride to the next stop sign on the East side where we regroup, turn around and smack it again. If you think you're fast and/or want to get faster, this is the ride for you. Don't care about getting fast and just want to blow off some steam? Perhaps, you want to see how badly you can suffer? Come test your limits with some of the Herriott Sports Performance Hit Squad (Cat 1/2's).

Here's some footage I shot of our ride last week on 5/19/2014:

http://youtu.be/b-H8jhf-274

Views from the Road

Here's what it looks like when you ride along the cliff side of the Magnolia neighborhood on a nice day. At 35mph.

GoPro Testing

I'm so behind on how the 2014 race season has been unfolding and especially all the delicious food I've been eating. I'll be back soon to feed you baby birds. For now here's a teaser for the Pro/1/2 twilight crit I did in Wenatchee at the Tour de Bloom earlier this month. It was dark, not twilight.

Blueberry Banana Flax Pancakes

This is my favorite pre-race/competition breakfast. It's been tried and tested this winter before the Rocket Ride. I recently shared this recipe with a friend, so I guess it's only fair that I share it with you.

Blueberry Banana Flax Pancakes (makes 9x 4" pancakesish)

Dry mix-
1.5c flour
1tsp salt
1tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2Tb flax seed

[NOTES: Use Kosher or sea salt, iodized is inferior for cooking. Add more or different kinds of spices to your dry mix to your preference, personally TJ's pumpkin pie spice is my favorite. Gold or brown flax, doesn't matter. Raw is best, but needs to be kept in the refrigerator.]

Wet mix-
1 banana
2.25c milk
1Tb raw apple cider vinegar or fresh lemon juice
1Tb safflower or olive oil

[NOTES: 1/3c applesauce works instead of banana if you're in a pinch. Choose a non-diary milk like rice or oat that has lots of carbohydrates in it to pump up the energy value and since it's hypoallergenic so it wont mess with your tummy. Raw apple cider vinegar or another acid like fresh lemon juice is used to activate the baking soda so shit rises. Typically, it's always 1 part b. soda: 3 parts acid. Safflower and olive oil have lots of good Omegas and Vitamin E, cyclists need it.]

Method-
In an electric mixer, if you have one, with the paddle attachment, or bowl with a wooden spoon otherwise, make sure your dry mix is well combined, then add your wet mix a little at a time so it doesn't clump too much. Stir until loose and goopy. Depending on multiple factors, you may need to add more milk to get that familiar batter texture. Now add close to 1c fresh blueberries in there just to get them mixed in. Drop batter on your cast-iron or griddle and fry those puppies up. This usually makes enough to make me full and have a few left over for pre/post competition for fuel/recovery. Or you could share, I guess.

[via my Instagram: http://instagram.com/p/lVFtQUCHI6/]