Hamster

[lulubel]

Aye.
Butter gives me heartburn...........

Then you definitely have my sympathy. I can't imagine life without butter.

 

[rollinstok]

Saturdays are bliss.
Load my rack pack with butties/pop/crisps/chocolate/little dab radio.
Cycle into the country and find a nice spot, have my scoff and listen to the footy on the radio. Cycle home grumpy or ecstatic depending on the results.
I always take a bottle or two of water on the cages too. You really must take water at the very least KateK.

 

[Nosaj]

I carry two yes two 750ml bottles. One with one or two tabs of Hi 5 (zero calorie and replacement electrolytes salts etc). If you are a DIY er bit of Orange juice pinch of salt and the rest water. The other bottle is plain water. During the winter months I come back with maybe one of them half full (the plain water usually). During the summer they are always bone dry prior to the end of the ride and my last few miles I am definately dehydrating. My riding is mainly group cycle to somewhere, stop, eat then return home 40-55 miles. Food wise I make sure I have carbs the night before (eg something with wholewheat pasta), I have a breakfast of porridge or oatmeal, scoop of whey protein and maybe some dried fruit (in the porridge) for most rides this is enough to get me to the food stop. I then have something like scrambled eggs on toast and that gets me back home. I do carry an energy bar as well, just in case but Flapjack/cereal bar / fig rolls/jam sandwich - equally serve the purpose. For sub 40-50 miles on a social/easy ride you really don't need to worry too much but longer riding and upping the pace You really do need to eat something that slowly releases energy (complex carbohydrates) and combine that with the bursts of sugar (Gels/jelly babies) to get you through. Each of us is different and it takes a bit of experimentation over a period of time to work it all out.

Very simple to follow is carbs = energy the more complex the carb (porridge) the slower the energy releases the more processed or refined the carb (extreme example jelly baby) short burst of energy, protein = recovery.

 

[Cubist]

Then you definitely have my sympathy. I can't imagine life without butter.

I eat it, but have to mind what I have in baked things. Shortbread is a killer.

 

[KateK]

I went into LBS yesterday. Looked at bottle racks. Looked at scary bike woman behind counter. Looked at bottle racks...hundreds of them for every bicycle up to intergalactic MTBs, with doors, hinges and go-faster stripes (can water bottles go faster?). Picked up basic one and went and asked how I attached it to bike. "By the lugs" Where are the lugs? Vague irritable wave at ceiling mounted bicycle. "Do you have lugs?" well I don't know "Well do you want it or not?" what if I don't have lugs? "Then we sell you something else" Apologised and left.
I'm really not trying to be dense here, its just my natural state.
Anyway. Today. I took a waterbottle in my pannier and I stopped and had a drink. So. Progress. Drink tasted horrible as it was diluted left over from school packed lunch. Reckoned if it didn't actually have mould growing it would be all right.
Now if I have lugs i'll be well away.

 

[KateK]

Don't buy the packet stuff that is simply dried reformed hamster bedding

Yum...does it taste of hamster too ? - love hamster.
and yes I know I looked a prat in woolly tights ...but it was either that or stay at home. and at least I got out on my bike.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

I went into LBS yesterday. Looked at bottle racks. Looked at scary bike woman behind counter.

Hey Kate! Next time ask her so many questions that she will become scared of you
It certainly worked with my bike man: now he asks: "are you gonna shout at me???"
Wait until I get him for not fixing my gears right!

 

[KateK]

Yeh Pat! Just you wait. Once I know my lugs from my bottom I'll be back in there claws flying. Might take a bit of time though......so don't hold your breath. Anyway there is one LBS (yes we have lots here, very flat area!) that does seem to treat me OK and lets me ask questions...they're the ones servicing my new old bike. so we will see how it goes with them.

 

[pepecat]

Have a look on your down tube on your bike - the diagonal one that goes from the handlebars to the pedals. If you've got lugs for a waterbottle, they'll probably be here cos the downtube is the easiest place to access a water bottle. If you've got what looks like two screws sticking out of the tube for no (apparent) reason, they're your water bottle lugs! They might also be on the seattube (from seat to pedal) as some bikes have both - mine does, for example.

You can also get waterbottle cages for tubes with no lugs - some go on the seatpost (under the saddle) and kinda grip round the post. Or there are also other clamping methods that can fix a bottle cage mount to your frame with no screws into the frame.

 

[DCLane]

A drink is sensible at all times - I always carry a drinks bottle, even on my 30-45 minute commutes. On long rides I carry two drinks bottles and swap them over when the first is half-empty. Why? Because before I've hit a pothole and the full one's fallen out, spilling everything and leaving me only with the empty one.

I carry; Jelly Babies and/or raisins for energy snacks. Also there's a mini malt loaf, fig rolls or a cereal bar for when I'm hungry.

Oh, and Kate - you can stop. I did 3 times today just for a bite. Except I lost the Jelly Babies whilst going over a pothole. Kirklees has lots of them and doesn't seem to be bothered about fixing any.

 

[al-fresco]

I usually take a bottle with me. It's usually don't need to fill it because it's still full from the last time. In the winter I don't normally stop for a drink or a snack on a ride of less than 50 miles but it's nice to have the option. I think the only time I've ever drank a whole 700ml bottle was on last year's Dunwich Dynamo.

An M&S yoghurt and cranberry bar is my favourite roadside snack. For serious distances home made Bara Brith is hard to beat.

 

[KateK]

Thanks pepecat, I'll have a look tomorrow as I am going to pick up my new old bike from servicing, it has a mixte frame but I don't know about lugs.

 

[KateK]

Thanks DCLane, pot holes huh. they are just growing at the moment and they are not mending them here either. There seem to be so many at the edges of roads at major junctions, just when the last thing you need is to have to be staring at the road. I'm learning where they are and I keep meaning to report them online...each time I have to go round or, worse, over I think I really must report this one its getting really damgerous, but then I get home and forget.