Alameda Runners – Get After It!

It’s common to see cyclists in the ProTour peloton use power meters to help monitor performance while out on the road, but regular athletes are still unsure if it’s worth the investment.

You can find power meters starting at $200, but it’s not uncommon to see some models top $4,000 — and the power meters used by the pros are obviously top notch.

If you’ve been thinking about investing in a power meter but don’t know the basics, I’d recommend reading this article written by the fine folks at Fit Werx (article originally posted at BeginnerTriathlete).

The power meter doesn’t care about hills, wind, temperature, indoors, outdoors, or any environment you’re riding in. It will always measure the actual power you’re producing on the bike regardless of the conditions. Most power meters will include heart rate straps so you can watch your heart rate response compared to power. Go out and ride at a constant power level for 20 minutes and heart rate can climb nearly the entire time. Harder intervals such as three minute intervals at VO2max power will see heart rate climbing quickly the entire interval and never leveling off.

I find myself dragging people through the wind quite a bit, and I’ve always been curious about wattage and overall power, so a power meter is the ideal tool.  I’m still unsure if I’m willing to spend a few hundred dollars just to see how much harder I’m pedaling than Ted when we’re riding in Coyote Hills — but it could be very interesting to use one of these gadgets some day.

If I could ever learn how to avoid sinking like a rock in the pool, I’d probably be more willing to one day get a time trial bike and attach a power meter.  Until then, I’ll just have to keep dreaming…

Editors note:  That is an engineering marvel!

Most of us use GU, Clif Shots, and similar energy gels when we’re exercising — but what about when we just need a quick burst of energy?  I recently was asked about the nutritional benefits of eating one of these gels even when not exercising.

I don’t eat these products when I’m not working out, but reached out to a few different companies to try and learn if this is something that would actually provide a boost.

“Of course it is fine,” I was told by a GU R&D person.  “It is 100 calories of carbohydrates, there are vitamins in there, amino acids.  In any case it’s going to increase blood sugar and those with caffeine may give you a little perk.”

Good.  We know it won’t cause any weird issues.  The GU employee also added:

“Sometimes when I don’t have time for lunch…I’ll eat a Vanilla Bean…or two….or…..    Anyway, the moral of the story is that if you’re hungry and you like GU…eat it.“

Optimum Nutrition (ON) Very Vanilla is my favorite recovery drink of them all.  I like to mix two scoops with 16 ounces of whole milk and a heaping teaspoon of chocolate milk mix.  This is less of a review of the ON 2:1:1, but is more of why I choose to drink it.

It is a calorie bomb loaded with 35 grams of protein, 79 grams of carbs, 23 grams of amino acids and 36 grams of sugar plus the chocolate milk.  I only use it on very hard days.  I use it after a cardio workout of at least two hours, a second workout of the day, or a hard session in the weight room.

It is so rich, it covers the taste of the whey.  I usually recover well after the ON 2:1:1.  I drink it after hard workouts so I still get sore but it is not as badly as if I were to drink water.  I sometimes drink the chocolate flavored mix with water on lighter workout days.  It does not taste as good with water but I can keep it at work.  I don’t like the vanilla in water at all.

I first stumbled upon Detour Runner after suffering through the Tilden Ten a few weeks ago.  I never had the company’s products, nor have I even heard of the company before the race.  I snagged a couple of bars from the table to snack on during the ride home — which I didn’t do, as I was unsure if I’d be able to keep it down — but promised to eat and write a review later.

I decided to go for a six-mile run and trip to the gym before I reviewed the Detour Runner bar.

The first review is for the Detour Chocolate Peanut Butter energy bar, which has 210 calories, 60 calories from fat, 8g sugar, and 12g of protein.  It has the right amount of calories and protein to be healthy and useful while remaining beneficial to the body.

Taste is normally the biggest problem with energy and protein bars, as most of them taste rather disgusting.  The Detour Runner bar tastes extremely tasty — in fact, it is one of the tastiest recovery bars I’ve ever eaten.

It doesn’t exactly taste like a chocolate peanut butter candy bar, but it’s still tasty considering it has 12 grams of protein (which seemingly destroys the taste of a lot of recovery bars).  It also has just 8 grams of sugar, but it’s still sweet enough to enjoy.

Individual bars can be purchased for $1.89 each, or a box of 12 is available for $17.88.

In addition to Detour Runner, Detour also offers the Detour Biker, Detour Yoga, Original Detour, Lower Sugar Detour, Oatmeal Detour, and Lean Muscle Detour.  I hope to try some other varieties in the future, but have not seen the Detour bars in any of our local stores.

Editors note:  This is by far the best tasting protein product tested yet!

I don’t like Sun Chips, but my girlfriend enjoys devouring the tasty chips.  I recently noticed a change in my local Safeway in which the traditional Sun Chips bag has been replaced with the “world’s first 100% compostable chip package.”

Interesting….

I’m all for companies becoming eco-friendly, and a 100% compostable chip bag is excellent, but these bags seem to be much louder than regular bags.  I truly applaud Frito-Lay for making steps to go green, but my girlfriend actually woke me up from an afternoon nap while opening a new bag.

Has anyone else noticed this, or am I just imagining things?  Kudos to Frito-Lay for offering a bag that doesn’t need to end up in a landfill, but it’s time to find a way to dampen all of this noise.

Sun Chips – Original (Frito Lay)
Serving Size: 1 oz package, Calories: 140, Fat: 6g, Carbs: 19g, Protein: 2g

Classic Potato Chips (Lay’s)
Serving Size: 1 oz (28g / 15 chips), Calories: 150, Fat: 10g, Carbs: 15g, Protein: 2g

Editors note:The Sun chips are not a big calorie saver but if you are going to chow down on a bag of chips, every junk calorie saved is good. Mike should stop his whining about the noise and appreciate the environmental impact of the new bags.

It’s a shame such a strong cyclist has been banned — but if he was doping, which is certainly plausible, then this is a good step in the right direction.

Per VeloNews:

The International Cycling Union (UCI) is satisfied by the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on the Alejandro Valverde case. Mr Valverde has been suspended from all competition for two years commencing 1 January 2010.

By deciding to suspend the Spanish rider, the CAS agreed with the UCI, which had appealed in 2007 together with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) against the refusal of the Spanish Cycling Federation to open disciplinary proceedings against Mr Valverde for his involvement in Operation Puerto.

The UCI and cycling as a whole have certainly suffered greatly from this affair. The damage caused by Mr Valverde’s behaviour since the UCI became convinced of his guilt cannot be fully compensated for by this regulatory sanction. Nevertheless, the UCI is now relieved and contented with CAS’s decision as it resolves a situation that had become untenable.

Following the CAS’s decision, Mr Valverde will not be allowed to participate in any cycling events before 31 December 2011. Furthermore, he has been disqualified from all competitions in which he has competed since the beginning of the year and all points allocated to him have been removed. Mr Valverde must also return all prizes received.

The UCI World Ranking has been modified accordingly.

During the Tour de France and Vuelta this year, the ban could make things extremely interesting.  Caisse d’epargne is built specifically around Valverde, which could open up the team to hunt for breakways and stage wins this July and August.

Luckily, the ban isn’t a full two-year ban, which means he’ll be able to compete in the 2012 Giro d’Italia, along with the major spring classics.