HappyMartin

I don't drink instant coffee. My alternative is Rooibos tea, black no sugar. Hard to stuff that up.

No I met a bloke that distributes nuts from a place in Eloff street ext. must get over there. He says it is close to half retail price but bulk of course. Nothing under a kg

A odd question on fats. I don't really like fatty stuff and don't like coconut other than fresh. Bought coconut oil on advice on this forum. Now I find I eat a tablespoon in the morning out of the jar. To my amazement I love the stuff. Anyone else pick up this weird habit?

I keep my weight quite stable. At the moment I am losing weight. About 500g a week. I am 52, body fat is currently 12%. It went down to 9% at the beginning of the year and that's where I am going now.

Face Plant different people will have different ideas. Fortunately what you get here is not just theorizing but practical experience For racing I have a light pasta meal the night before. Unusual for me because I don't generally eat carbs in the evening. Then race morning I eat a protein breakfast. I'm vegetarian so it's usually an egg based affair. Once the race starts Ill pop a gel or whatever I have. I seem able to tolerate anything in terms of gels. Havnt tried it but I suspect I could get by on plain sugar. I eat and drink as much carbs as I find time for. I don't hold back at all. Once off the bike I'll drink sodas and stuff and eat whatever for about an hour. Then the insanity ends and it's back to normal. Training I use energy drinks. If I'm doing intensity training then back on whatever carbs I can carry and get down. Base training will be one bottle of water and one of an energy drink. If I'm doing hard consecutive days I will use a recovery drink mostly for the convenience and because I like it

Helpmytrap I believe you have nailed it. I love the oats idea. Going to borrow that. For those of us using carbs to race and immediately after as a recovery I was given the following idea by and motorbike enduro rider for a recovery drink He suggested mixing coke and milk. It gives sugars but not as much as coke which is good and the milk contains protein. He says it is very refreshing and goes down easily. We drank this mix as kids a and I always liked it. Called it a Brown Cow. I'm going to give it a go

Of course. How could I overlook potholes.

So we don't want tight bends, we don't want too many hills, we don't like cars, we not fond of big start groups. We want constant easy access to water. I think take a look at track cycling. Sounds perfect

I keep fats constant. When I want to drop weight I up protein a bit and cut carbs back sometimes heavily. Once at my target I bring the carbs back up. I try for quality carbs. Carbs is what I vary.

Was 8 weeks off with an injury and got sloppy with my eating. Kept up with the protein and fats but upped the carbs a bit too much. Picked up almost 4kg. Being trying to get it down but in a half hearted fashion. Body fat up at an alarming 14%. I don't adhere full time to LCHF but use a lot of the info so have been dropping the carbs. Slowly at first then more and more. Lost 2.5kg in the past 3 weeks. Now it is falling off me. Saturday I raced and bonked. First time in ages. Despite gels and stuff just fell apart after my group averaged almost 40 km h for the first 50 km. could not receiver and limped home. Yesterday ate very small portion of oats with coconut oil. Cheese and tomato for lunch with olive oil, no carbs. Supper was 2 soya sausages. Breakfast was 3 eggs scrambled with butter. Snacks today nuts and a protein bar. Lunch is cheese and a carrot. Afternoon snack is a protein shake. I sure do feel like hell at the moment. Woolie headed. Dull. Soon as I drop another 1.5kg I will ease up and slowly add some carbs back to stabilize my weight and energy. Another week I think.

I had no problems with the race other than I rode badly. Potholes were well marked, marshals were cool. Try doing a race in Italy. 10 000 entrants. 4 start groups. 6 water points in 209km and the one seemed to only have espresso. No road closures Guys need to chill. It's a cycling race. Not a nursery school. It's supposed to be hard and a bit dangerous. Perhaps try mountain biking or golf.

I use creatine. Us vegetarians are frequently if not inevitably short of creatine. I cramp if I overdo a ride in a big way with too little training. Havnt seen any change in the pattern if I use creatine or not. I use it quite conservatively though

I am not going to say anything about fatties at the moment. I am up 3kg. But once I lose that weight you fat buggers better watch out

Eat a sausage. Or buy the 85 % Lindt and have 2 squares with a cup of coffee. Proper coffee of course.

What about home roasters. I have seen a few around the 7 to 10k mark. Is it too tricky? Beyond an amateur? Needs a better machine? Would love to give it a go if its feasable.

I would go see a coach, get a good fit and a training program then ride like hell. I don't understand your confusion. You got what you want.

My carbs come from my morning breakfast. Various types of porridge. Modest serving. Mix it with a ground seed mix and coconut oil. Usually have one or two apples a day and sometimes a banana. My fruit consumption is way down. Yesterday and today I had a small amt of brown rice with a soya and veggie stew. Last night was a fairly typical salad with 2 boiled eggs. Had a cheat with a small slice of cake. Fair amount of carbs in that. More than I would usually eat I suppose. If I am racing or training on consecutive days I use a recovery drink. I alo eat a low carb protein bar a day and a protein shake in the afternoon. That is my fairly modest intake a day. Fair amount of carbs but I think not in junkie territory. Hope that helps Hellpmy trap

I will write am email this evening. Great ides

I have the opposite of carb flu today. Did a 107 km race on Sunday. Not fit so my time was a disapointing 03:10. One water bottle of energy drink and 2 gels got me through. HR as high as 194 on several occasions. Real desperate stuff. Once off the bike I nailed the sugars. Had about a liter of coke, another energy drink and a piece of cake. Today I feel hungover. The thought of sugars turns my stomach. I'm not low carb but cannot understand how people consume the sugars they do. I just feel grim after.

I sometimes skip reds. Sometimes I think it is safer. Like when I deed to cross lanes and exit right. I'm going to get in the way and be a target. I will quickly get across, over the lanes and be on my way and out of everyone's way. I don't think it irritates people other than those that are determined to be irritated. For me the problem is the big groups. One person goes through on orange and 50 sheep follow. Pisses everyone off. Sorry roadies but I think groups should be limited to 10 or 12 people. More than that and the group IQ plummets to moron levels. And while I'm picking on roadies, let's make this an equal opportunity rant. How about those MTB heroes flying off the pavement and across the road to get back on the spruit. Because you are chasing your mate and think he checked doesn't mean you don't have to look. My cruiser weighs several tons, has no abs and unless you want to pick yourself out of my bulbar please do us all a favour and look before you leap. Now I am also a moan gat.

It was long hot and windy with a 1400m of climbing. Cyclists spread out all over the route. Since it was a race lots of bunches formed with people drafting. Bikes all over the road. Frequently had cars come flying up behind the groups and have to slow to a crawl before overtaking. Never heard a single hooter, never saw and dangerous overtaking into oncoming traffic or any other acts of idiocy. Just patience and politeness. Thought I had gotten lost and found my way to Italy. It was a very pleasant experience for me.

Finally cracked, for me, a top cup of coffee. Molt taken about 3 weeks Thanks for all the help and guidence on this thread. V12, you rock Now the flavor is getting there I can start working on steaming, not bad but room for improvement for sure. Then It might be silly but I'm going to have a crack at the art. Want to put a big heart on my wife's morning cup of coffee.

Shot this morning. A friend

Good to see how much we actually have to remember. That's the main thing.

The purging thing you pointed me at made a big difference. I think I am going to do the best with what I have. My plan was always that this machine would do it for the next 3 or 4 years. The Breville lasted me 2. Before that was a plunger. I have no problem growing into this.