Biking the Gats

The hot spot to bike in Ottawa is in Gatineau Park, but I've never biked there myself as the whole reason I switched to road biking was to avoid having to get in the car and drive somewhere in order to bike. I've wanted to try out the Gats for a while now though, and as I was on my own this weekend, I took the opportunity.

My power meter purchase is going to necessitate new chainrings, so I wanted to assess my gearing and see if I wanted to stick with the compact 50/34 chainrings I have now or go for something a little bigger. Riding in the flatlands as I do, I don't have a lot of opportunity to use the small ring, so it sometimes seems like that gearing is wasted space. I can max out my top end gear, but haven't yet come close to maxing out the low end. So Gatineau Park would let me test both - the climb to Champlain Lookout would let me see if I would actually get all the way up to the biggest cog in my cassette (25t), and I figured on the descent I would be hitting the speeds needed to see if I would spin out in the smallest cog (11t).

So far all the races I've done are pretty flat, but it's possible at some point down the line I try a race in Tremblant or Muskoka, which are pretty hilly courses. Besides assessing my gearing, I also wanted to assess myself. I never train for hills so wanted to see how my legs responded to the climbs.

Lots of people (roadies, mountain bikers, hikers, and drivers) out in the park on this beautiful fall day. Perfect weather and the leaves are just starting to change. It took me about 45 minutes to get up to Champlain lookout from P3. I didn't do a race effort but certainly wasn't doing a Zone 2 ride either.

In terms of gearing, I think my current setup is fine. For some reason I couldn't shift into my biggest cog, so rode the steepest grades at 34/23. I could have used the 25 a few times but don't think I'd need a 28. I got down to 50/11 a couple of times but never got the feeling of spinning out. I could have pushed it harder but descending over 50km/h on a twisty road got a little scary. This is actually where I really noticed my lack of experience with hills. The climb was fine, but I didn't have a lot of confidence going down. I ended up catching a pack of cyclists and stayed off the back of them for the descent, following their lead. I rode all the big descents out of the aero position.

I topped out just under 55km/h, which I've actually done before, but on a much smaller, straighter hill, and primarily under my own power. It's much scarier to coast at that speed than it is to pedal it - I felt less in control. So I don't really know if I'd need a bigger chainring. Based on some calculations I should be able to go over 65 km/h in 50/11 without spinning out (68.3 km/h @ 120rpm). Going to a 52t chainring would get me up over 70 km/h, but I don't know if I'd ever have the opportunity to go that fast (or want to).

In terms of climbing ability, I felt fine. I passed quite a few fit looking roadies and never felt really taxed. Seems like cycle fitness is cycle fitness and I think my tendency to ride at a high cadence and use my gears probably serves me well in hills. So unless I end up doing Muskoka or Tremblant I don't think I need to add hill training to my plan, and even then I don't think I'd need to be heading up to the Gats on a weekly basis.

It was a nice ride though - fun and beautiful. Not sure when I can get there again, but I will be back.

Healthy Eating Part 1: Breakfast

Last year I made a commitment to becoming healthier, resulting in my transformation into a triathlete. In addition to exercise and cutting out alcohol, I also made an effort to eat healthier. I had been cutting back on red meat for years, and cooking vegetarian meals a couple of nights a week. I'd also gradually phased out most dairy.

Over the winter I shifted from cereal (with milk) for breakfast to smoothies, initially using yogurt, then completely dairy-free. I felt better, and while the occasional bacon and egg breakfast was delicious, it made me feel gross afterwards, making it lose its appeal. As I trained for my race season, I learned what I could about the role that nutrition played in fueling exercise and aiding in recovery. In particular, my post-workout eating and pre-race meals became very deliberate.

Over the summer, after lots of reading and thinking about my diet, I've stepped up my nutrition game even more. Reading stuff from people like Rich Roll, Brendan Brazier, and Matt Frazier, the whole-foods vegan philosophy of eating made a lot of sense to me, and I realized I had already been heading in this direction. I'm not quite there in terms of a full-on vegan diet, but I've committed to it for the two meals a day where I'm on my own: breakfast and lunch.

I've been doing the smoothie thing all year, but have now put more effort into making nutrient-dense smoothies that include protein and omegas. Last year it was basically bananas and berries mixed in a blender - now I'm including dark leafy greens and grains/seeds.

NoMeatAthlete has a good smoothie formula. Mine's a little more simple, and rotates a few ingredients around the base of bananas. I include a lot of dark leafy greens (kale, chard or beet greens), another fruit (blueberries or mangos - I buy a bag of frozen organic stuff from Costco), water, and either chia seeds or a mix of hemp and ground flax. I've also been taking advantage of our rhubarb patch this summer but that won't last much longer.

To save time in the morning, eliminate the need to fire up the blender should the baby still be sleeping, and ensure that my greens are nice and fresh, I premake the week's smoothies on sunday. They go in single serving container and into the freezer. I take them out the night before and I'm good to go for breakfast.

I also eat a small bowl of oatmeal (actually more often I just eat right out of the pot) mixed with a tablespoon of almond butter. Then I'm off to work nice and full and with a solid start to the day. And ultimately that's not much different than what I'd been doing on race mornings, and it's always good to avoid giving your body any surprises on race day.

Next, I'll talk about what I'm doing for lunches.