A few more k's & Huey named my recipe

Monday came and I didn't get on the bike. I was feeling fresh and could have gone for an easy spin but chose to keep recovering!

My recovery from a week of training started after the ride on Sunday. It was a hard ride, so I initiated the process with a protein drink, 15' of my arrival home. This time I used a whey protein concentrate with orange juice but it could have been Ultragen mixed in water.

I don't remember if I iced my legs this time (should I be confessing that, being so close to a birthday?) but that's a regular thing for me after a hard ride and before a hot shower. Then, I jumped into my compression pants. It doesn't matter what the temperature is, I will wear them. Even at work, under my long pants. A nice brunch at 11:00 (breakfast was at 5:30, snacks during the ride) with juice and coffee and off to work.

I am enjoying my Mondays off the bike, specially if I have to go to work in the afternoon. I have been pretty good with these planned recovery days, also, I haven't ridden my bike on a Monday in months. It is on those recovery days that all those damaged cells find time and energy to heal themselves and all those glycogen stores get refilled, they say. So, I have been serious about my Mondays.

The low temperature was back again on Tuesday morning. I decided to get in touch with my parents, using Live Messenger, instead of getting on the road. While I waited, coffee in hand, I remembered to do my Rest HR. Using the computer's clock, I counted the beats for a minute. Not once but three times and the counts were 41, 42 and 41. Shit, the lowest I have ever seen and 6 beats lower than yesterday...

Admittedly, I felt a bit guilty for not training so I jumped on the rollers for a short session with some fast cadence efforts before heading off to work. Wearing my compression pants, of course.

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I meant short session, didn't I!

Another long ride was organised for Wednesday. Same meeting place and time but a smaller number of subjects left Zupps for this ride. Same course, Dayboro Road, Mt Mee Road and D'Aguilar Hwy but this time, we turned right into the highway and stopped for a break after a few kilometers. It could have been at Wamuran, where I was surprised to have a good coffee, after a bit of guidance.

The plan was to do one short climb and take a flat way home, finishing with 170 km in the legs. We took the Old Northern Road and headed towards Burpengary and Deception Bay on a very twisty and undulating course. A couple of detours to get away from busy roads (and add a few k's, surely) and we reached the coast at Scarborough. Then, it was another Zupps ride until we arrived at Sandgate.

Now, I really enjoy riding in the country and going up some hills but riding along the coast, specially with the perfect weather we had yesterday, was amazing. The view from, what Brian calls his office, the Shornecliffe Parade itself was post card like. It was sunny, a mirror like sea, small boats floating about and Moreton Island clearly visible. It reminded me of the time when I had an office like that, with a 360 degree view...

Back to reality and a few more k's to get home and recover.

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One climb

Thursday, decided on another day off the bike. I did feel tired first thing in the morning and my Rest HR was up a bit - 47 bpm. I do take those signs a bit more seriously when getting so close to an important race. Chose to stay home and relax a bit, do some house work and get some shopping out of the way.

Yesterday, Sandra and I left early for a Riverloop with a couple of riders from work and Brett, from V Australia Cycling Team. I try to do those rides as often as possible in an attempt to promote cycling at work. The ride is a recovery ride and normally ends in Southbank where coffee drinking and a bit of socialising takes place.

Sandra had to do a few repeats at Mt Coot-tha as part of her strength training as well, a good excuse for me to get out there and do a short, high intensity effort myself and test the new crank set again.

Although I had a slow start (first 30 m) the result was excellent!! I did a best time, or close, at 7min57.8sec for the 2.3 km climb. It is a short climb compared to what I will have to ride in the Grafton to Inverell race but it does tell me that I do have some speed and very importantly, the new shorter cranks and bike set up are working just fine.

7min57.8sec

I followed Sandra on her second effort. All I wanted to do was work on gear ratios and position on the bike when on and off the saddle. I do believe we can gain a lot by just doing that instead of going flat out three or four times. And at this stage, the last thing I wanted is to fatigue myself.

Today, I will do a light session on the rollers and perhaps have the Sunday off... might have a few beers with friends!

Huey and my recipe

The TV at work is switched on all the time. Now and then, I get to watch a bit of the news and even a bike race if the footy or cricket aren't on. A couple of days ago, a mate and I started paying attention to a cooking show presented by a kind of Australian cooking celebrity.

The guy's style is interesting, to say the least, a little heavy handed (too much of everything) perhaps and very few of his dishes are what I would call healthy meals, which is a shame.

Anyway, on this last show, we became curious when we heard the word gianbotta. It was pretty much like: What the #&*@ is that? So, we got stuck in front of the TV set, waiting for the segment on "Gianbotta with a fried egg".

A couple of minutes into the preparation and I started finding similarities in between his dish and a dish that I have been cooking for years. Mine being a nameless one... Apart from a couple of ingredients (he uses sambal oelek and I use fresh chillies, I throw more veggies in as well) the dishes looked the same and I am sure they taste the same.

My nameless dish without the egg

I better go and get on the rollers...