06.5.2018 | 7:32 am
Every Tuesday (through August) is Leadville Podcast day, though frankly this show is about a lot more than just the Leadville 100. If you ride a lot and are interested in being able to ride better, faster, or happier, this is the episode for you.
In this episode we go to the buffet — it’s almost all about food.
Dr Kevin Sprouse — Medical Director for the EF Education First / Drapac presented by Cannondale Pro Cycling Team — has a practical prescription for your race nutrition, including changes you need to start making right now. I have to say, it was a huge honor to talk with Dr. Sprouse. He brought an incredible amount of knowledge about what works and what doesn’t and made it incredibly accessible. Having a pro cycling doctor lay out — clearly and simply — do’s and don’ts for race-day nutrition gave me some ideas on how I’m going to refine my endurance food plans — and I’ve been doing this for decades!
Rebecca Rusch will reveal what’s in her feed bag in Our Questions for the Queen segment, then Fatty and Hottie talk about their respective Leadville menus (they’re miles apart).
We continue our mile-by-mile (or is that minute-by-minute?) analysis of the course, including pinpointing the first places you should get out something to eat.
Finally, Jonathan Lee’s training advice for this show is going to have you outside on a long ride, putting everything you learned about eating in this show into practice.
Since we talk about rice cakes very frequently during this episode, here’s a recipe for rice cakes from Dr. Allen Lim (of Feed Zone Cookbook fame), originally posted in FatCyclist.com:
Ingredients:
- 2 cups uncooked calrose or other medium-grain “sticky” or sushi rice (never use Basmati as it won’t stick.)
- 3 cups water (Fatty swaps chicken broth out for this)
- 8 ounces of bacon (prosciutto or sausage or even roasted chicken also works great)
- 4 eggs
- 4 tablespoons (or flavor to taste) of Braggs liquid Aminos (all natural soy sauce) or a low-sodium soy sauce
- 4 tablespoons (or flavor to taste) of brown sugar
- Ground sea salt and grated Parmesan (optional)
Directions:
- Combine rice and water in a rice cooker. Start rice cooker. If using a standard pot, combine rice and water, bring to a boil, then let simmer on low for about 20 minutes.
- While rice is cooking, chop up bacon before frying, then fry in a medium sauté pan. When crispy, drain off fat and soak up excess fat with paper towels.
- Beat the eggs in a small bowl and tehn scramble on high heat in the sauté pan. Don’t worry about overcooking the eggs as they’ll break up easily when mixed with the rice.
- In a large bowl or in the rice cooker bowl, combine the cooked rice, bacon, and scrambled eggs. Add liquid aminos or soy sauce and sugar to taste. After mixing, press into an 8- or 9-inch square baking pan to about 1 ½ inch thickness. Top with more sugar, salt, and grated Parmesan if desired.
- Cut and wrap individual cakes in a paper foil like Martha Wrap™. Makes about 10 cakes.
Thanks to Our Sponsors
We went out of our way, for this podcast, to reach out exclusively to companies we actually love and buy stuff from ourselves. Which is to say, you won’t find ads here for life insurance companies or mattresses or cooking kits that come to you in a box.
- Shimano: Shimano XT Di2 is glorious anywhere, but its magnificence really comes into play when you’re 78 miles into a high-altitude race and are now at a part of the race where it would be really nice to shift pretty much constantly, precisely, and perfectly, without much effort. That’s Shimano XT Di2.
- The Feed: The Leadville Trail 100 MTB Race is an eating contest disguised as a bike race, and you need to train for that eating contest. Get to know the good folks at The Feed and start using your race food plan now, before it’s too late. Get yourself a Leadville race pack or training pack, and use the code LEADVILLE15 for a 15% discount!
- Banjo Brothers: A simple, sturdy, well-designed, time-tested saddle bag is a must during this race. Fatty’s trusted Banjo Brothers bags on his LT100 bike race for more than a decade.
- ENVE: Whether you’re thinking about your cockpit or your wheels, the Leadville 100 is the very definition of an ENVE dream scenario. I’ve got an M5 bar and M525 wheels on his bike and rides without fear of broken components or pinch flats.
Comments (2)
06.4.2018 | 8:21 am
The Hammer and I have a few beloved rides. No, “beloved” isn’t quite the right word, because we invariably hate each and every one of these routes at some point during the day.
Still, we go back and do them again. Over and over.
The most important of these rides is what she and I call “The Guardsman Loop,” or — when I’m feeling clever — “The Snow Cone Loop” (because we usually stop and get a shaved ice at one of those corner shave ice places on the way back): 75+ miles, 10K+ feet of climbing, a mix of dirt and road.
It’s as perfect a training ride for the Crusher in the Tushar as there could be. You should come ride it with us; it’s super fun.
No, I’m just kidding. Don’t come ride it with us, because you’d hate us afterward and that would make me sad.
The thing about this ride is it’s absolutely 100% non-technical. There is no riding during the entire day that takes any skill whatsover. It’s just about turning the pedals over and over. And over.
Which gives you quite a bit of time to think, and to look around. And then think about the things you’re looking at while you’re looking around.
Like this.
The Turning of Tables
The Hammer’s daughter is named Melisa. I used to call her “The Swimmer,” but I don’t even know the last time she went swimming. Then I called her “The Monster,” but that had a (very intentional) double meaning, which was kind of mean of me. David Houston wanted to give her the nickname “Nails,” but a nail is a pretty passive thing — it’s acted upon, it doesn’t do anything itself — so I reject that nickname too.
Melisa herself would like to be called “Mel,” which would be a perfectly good nickname if she were a sixty-year-old man who owned a diner in a long-running sitcom in the seventies and eighties.
So let’s go with “Melisa.”
Anyway, Melisa is entered to do the LeadWoman this year, which is like doing the Leadville Trail 100 MTB race but you also have to do more riding and a little running too. It’s no big deal, really.
The important thing here is that she’s doing a bunch of running, which of course means she’s getting repetitive use injuries all the time and no longer has any fun doing anything that is actually fun (e.g., riding her bike).
She had — as part of her training for the LeadWoman — recently done a trail marathon and had clobbered both the course and her own self. One of her legs hurt so bad she could barely walk.
Still, she had chosen to come with us on a seven-hour ride, bringing her boyfriend — a super friendly and fast guy named Jeff — along.
Within fifteen minutes, it was clear to the Hammer and me that Melisa was not going to have a good day. Within half an hour, it was obvious to us that she wasn’t going to finish the ride. Within ninety minutes (only three times as long, which is progress), those things became clear to Melisa too and she pulled the plug. She came to a stop and said, “I’m calling it.”
It was the right thing to do. Luckily she could essentially coast back home.
We said our goodbyes and got ready to continue, when I realized: Jeff had a decision to make: keep going, or stay back with Melisa?
On one hand, he had planned a long day in the saddle. On the other hand, he had a girlfriend who was literally pouting (her bottom lip was sticking out probably half an inch) on the side of the road.
I made things easier for him: “She doesn’t need you; she needs to go home and put her leg up. Come ride with us,” I said.
Jeff looked at Melisa, hopefully. Melisa stuck her lip out a little further.
“OK, sounds good,” said Jeff, surprising at least three of us. “Let’s go.”
Then, doing some quick relationship math, he said, “I’ll catch you two in a minute.”
Knowing that Jeff could actually do this, The Hammer and I continued. And we had a discussion.
“Do you think Jeff will actually be rejoining us?” I asked.
“If he does, it will be to tell us to go on without him, that he’s going to go back with Mel,” The Hammer replied (The Hammer is going along with this “Mel” nonsense for some reason).
“So we agree there is no chance at all he’ll finish the ride with us,” I said.
“None whatsoever,” she agreed.
“What if it were the other way around?” I asked, because I’m interested in human nature and psychology and stuff, and also because I know that if I can get The Hammer engaged in conversation she’ll slow down a little. “What if it were Jeff who was hurt — would Melisa turn around for him?”
“No,” The Hammer replied. “If it were the other way around, Jeff would be urging her to go on and have fun, and she’d go on and have fun.”
“Is that right?” I asked, by which I did not mean “is that true,” but “is that ethically OK?”
“That’s just how it is,” The Hammer said. “That’s how it is for us, too.”
“It is?” I asked, astounded. Then I thought about it. If The Hammer called the day early and turned around, I wouldn’t even ask. I’d go back with her. When (not “if,” because this has happened) I were hurting and wanted to call the day early, The Hammer would definitely keep going.
“Why is it this way?”
“Because we’re the bosses of you.”
I thought about this some more (for hours actually), but that pretty much summed things up.
The Obvious Conclusion
A quarter mile before we reached the summit of Pole Line Pass, Jeff caught up to us, just flying. “I just came to let you know that I’m going to go back,” he said.
“Shocking,” I replied.
“You should keep going,” The Hammer said. “As fast as you got here, you might be on track for a KOM.”
“That’s OK,” Jeff said, and turned around.
“I’d have at least finished the climb to the top,” I told The Hammer.
“Sure you would’ve,” she said.
Comments (16)
05.31.2018 | 7:45 am
In my post at the end of last week, I was thinking about how to create a giveaway around my new Leadville Podcast (find it at “>Apple Podcasts and anywhere else you listen to podcasts. The problem I had was was complexity: I was asking people to jump through too many hoops, when really all I want is to support my sponsors (in this case, The Feed, and get people to give my new Leadville podcast — the best show I’ve ever made, by like, a lot — a shot.
I think I’ve got it figured out, and I’d like you to be my beta testers.
The contest idea is simple: listen to the podcast, then answer a question you’ll know the answer to if you listened to my sponsor spot for The Feed.
Before the next show, I’ll then pick a person from all the correct answers and email them the gift card to The Feed, which — I might add — has put together a “Fatty’s Leadville Box” that has all the products I use to have a fast day during a high-altitude race like Leadville.
So let’s do this.
First (if you haven’t already), listen (and subscribe and rate and review!) to the podcast:
Then, fill in the form (click here to go to it if you don’t see it below). And that’s it!
Let me know what you think of this contest in the comments, and thanks for participating as I experiment and explore, looking for fun and interesting ways to combine things I’m excited about (i.e., this blog and this podcast), while supporting a company that is taking a pretty fair-sized gamble on a 2-week-old podcast.
Comments (7)
05.30.2018 | 10:24 am
Every bike ride has a story in it, and a story worth telling. Further, every big bike ride has either a big story worth telling, or many smaller stories worth telling.
And one of the best things about those big rides is finding out what stories they’re going to tell you.
Last Saturday, The Hammer and I went on our weekly big ride — our “Crusher in the Tushar” simulator ride, because it has dirt, road, a similar distance as the Crusher, and similar elevation — you can see a little video showing the path here.
The only big story was that it was a really nice, long ride, and The Hammer and I both agree that thanks to our new full-suspension Specialized Epics, hardtails are pretty much ruined for us forever. (And since I persuaded The Hammer to ride her hardtail last Saturday while I rode my full-suspension bike, that’s probably a story I’ll need to tell at some point.)
There were, however, several small, interesting events worth telling. And one small event that pretty much freaked us out and ruined one of our favorite trails for us forever.
The De-Bonkification of The Hammer
First off, I should explain that this moment happened toward the very end of our long ride. We had ridden about 70 of the 76 miles and climbed about 9700 feet of the 10,000 feet we’d be climbing.
And the Hammer had bonked.
It was pretty spectacular, really, because no more than an hour ago she had been proposing an extension to our ride — an extra segment of climby singletrack that would mean at least an additional hour of riding.
She was no longer making such proposals, for which I was grateful.
Anyway, we were climbing — slowly and tiredly — the last couple miles of the Canyon Hollow trail in Corner Canyon. The Hammer was in front. I was a foot or two behind her. We were talking about sandwiches and ice cream, I’m pretty sure.
And that’s when the rattlesnake rattled its warning at us.
Yes. That’s not a clever metaphor. It was a rattlesnake. On one of our favorite trails. And it was not OK with the fact that The Hammer was at that moment riding six inches to its right.
The Hammer started pointing frantically to her left and yelling, “I hear a snake, I hear a rattlesnake!”
I didn’t exactly need the warning, because as soon as I heard the snake I looked to where the sound came from and, yep, there it was. About two feet long, in full view, on the left edge of the trail.
I stopped instantly. The Hammer stopped too, about five feet ahead of me.
The snake moved onto the trail.
“Hon, I’m just going to let this snake get off the trail in its own time, OK?” I said. “We’re not in any hurry.”
“That’s fine!” The Hammer said, an octave higher than usual.
The snake hung out in the middle of the trail for ten seconds or so, then went back off the left side of the trail and disappeared into the scrub oak.
The Hammer suddenly had all the energy she could ever want and virtually flew up to the top of the climb.
Yesterday, we went on a different mountain bike ride — a much shorter one — which took us up on the Canyon Hollow trail. The whole way up, I was scanning up ahead — left, right, left, right — looking for rattlers.
Every stick, every exposed root, was at least briefly a rattlesnake to my eyes.
“I don’t like this trail anymore,” I told The Hammer, feeling a little foolish since we have ridden this incredibly beautiful and benign trail hundreds of times and have never seen anything menacing or scary before.
“Me either,” she replied.
And that’s why I love her.
The Question
So I have a question. A simple, honest question that probably has a simple answer. Take a minute and answer in the comments if you would.
What would you have done in this circumstance if you had been bitten?
And that circumstance is: There are two of you, you’re on singletrack probably about three miles from a road. Your car is nowhere near. You do have a phone and service.
I’m of course interested in wisdom from people who know what they’re doing for this kind of thing. First responder types and survivalists who frequently walk about town with serrated blades clenched in their teeth and whatnot.
But I’m even more interested in the honest responses from people who — like me, like The Hammer — aren’t really sure how you would have dealt with it.
And also: would you be wigged out by that trail? For how long?
Comments (24)
05.29.2018 | 11:50 am
I am in love with my new “Leadville” podcast (find it on Apple Podcasts and everywhere else). The amount of actual useful information my co-host Michael Hotten and I are squeezing into every single episode is just nuts.
I mean, it’s like we’re actually planning and organizing a really useful program, talking with experts and leveraging our own experience, and then spending the time to make it all sound great.
And it’s definitely not just for people racing the Leadville Trail 100 MTB race (though it for sure has a lot of info specifically for LT100 racers).
This Episode
In this episode, we talk about the endurance racer’s worst enemy: cramps.
I interview Rebecca Rusch — The Queen of Pain — to get her tips on avoiding and surviving cramps, and Hottie and I talk about our own experience and expertise on dealing with cramps, too.
I detail the dash for the Leadville City limits in our “The Course” segment, digging into the seven most important things you can know about in the first six miles of this race. You’ll be astonished at how many of these tips are useful no matter what race you’re doing.
Finally, Coach Jonathan Lee of TrainerRoad talks about rest intervals, an often-neglected piece of getting real race fitness.
If you’ve ever cramped — or would like to avoid them in the future — you should listen to this episode. And you should subscribe, too, because that will make me happy.
Thanks to Our Sponsors
We went out of our way, for this podcast, to reach out exclusively to companies we actually love and buy stuff from ourselves. Which is to say, you won’t find ads here for life insurance companies or mattresses or cooking kits that come to you in a box.
- Shimano: Shimano XT Di2 is glorious anywhere, but its magnificence really comes into play when you’re 78 miles into a high-altitude race and are now at a part of the race where it would be really nice to shift pretty much constantly, precisely, and perfectly, without much effort. That’s Shimano XT Di2.
- The Feed: The Leadville Trail 100 MTB Race is an eating contest disguised as a bike race, and you need to train for that eating contest. Get to know the good folks at The Feed and start using your race food plan now, before it’s too late.
- Banjo Brothers: A simple, sturdy, well-designed, time-tested saddle bag is a must during this race. Fatty’s trusted Banjo Brothers bags on his LT100 bike race for more than a decade.
- ENVE: Whether you’re thinking about your cockpit or your wheels, the Leadville 100 is the very definition of an ENVE dream scenario. I’ve got an M5 bar and M525 wheels on his bike and rides without fear of broken components or pinch flats.
Comments (2)
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