Water Bottles

I often forget my water bottle on my bike after a ride. I was leaving for a ride last week and took the old bottle out of the rack and called for my wife. I threw it into the house and it landed at her feet on the kitchen floor. I put my fresh bottle in the rack and rode off.

When I arrived home I found the very same bottle in the yard. My wife blamed the dogs. It was far from my best bottle and if you participate in any riding event or race you probably have plenty of bottles yourself, often included in what is called a schwag bag. A bag of free promotional items often including a gel packet and sample size Cliff Bar.

Water bottles often fail around the base of the nozzle collar. The plunger nozzle usually doesn't open and close easily resulting in material fatigue due to undue force on the collar. Some styles are also hard to clean with a small opening at the top. Things can start to grow inside if you're not careful.

The WORS water bottle is a superior product. Available for purchase at any WORS event. It is easy to clean with a wide opening and the nozzle pops in and out very smoothly. It is somewhat larger than most nozzles. It is also part of the schwag for WORS' premier mega event, the 'Subaru Cup'. At least it was last year.

I most often ride with Gatorade in my bottle when I'm exercising. When there is a race or I'm going for a long hard ride I'll use the better stuff. I'm sure I'll go through several bottles when I try some three hour races this year. Not sure if I'll have the same thing in every bottle.

I tried the Blogger poll feature a while back. Results still at the bottom of the page. Happily there is no one who has 'never been here once'. Half said this is the 'best MTB blog ever' and only one claimed they are stalking me, but that was my wife so... ...?...!

I think the dogs were framed!

Gels and Powders and Bars. Oh My!

Race season is about to start and went out for 18 miles on this beautiful day that was supposed to be cold and rainy. Time to prepare for the best way to keep your body going strong for race day. Of course there is nothing like a spaghetti dinner the night before.

I find gels a bit awkward. Bought some Cliff Shot Bloks last year that I prefer and like to eat one after warming up before the race with something to drink. Of course while you're racing you don't want a chunk of gelatin or energy bar flying down the wrong tube. I see the wisdom of a gel and I'm sure I'll be using the gels frequently during any three hour races I can make it to this year.

I used to use 'Strive' in my water bottle; a Quixtar/Amway Global product that really boosted my energy and tasted very good. They don't carry it any more so I get an AIM product from a friend of mine, 'Peak Endurance', that contains Peak ATP along with a bunch of other good stuff, but it tastes bland. The results are equivalent.

The energy bar is often my breakfast before a race. I have a whole collection of bars and the free Cliff Bars from WORS are consumed eagerly before each race. Snickers had a limited edition CHARGED bar that contains caffeine, taurine and all your B-vitamins. I bought some up at 3 for $1. They'll make a good after race snack for my drive home since I seldom sleep much the night before a race. I also like to have a supply of various bars for hunting season. Something to put in the survival pack.

These drinks also from Quixtar have everything you need but the carbs including ginseng in its proprietary herbal blend. Goes well with my energy bars for breakfast or sometime before race prep. HIRO energy drinks with noni juice are good too, but you can always buy the noni juice and add it to any drink you like.
Now this stuff is liquid vitality, energy distilled, raise you from the dead make your wife scream kind of stuff. Blood soaked velvet antler with a slew of other good stuff. And like anything that is truly good for you it tastes like dirt. Each individual packet was well over $10 when we got these. Been sitting in the fridge awhile. Better use them up this year.

Run Fat Boy

This weather is torture. Just tired of bundling up to go for a ride. At least the Hoyt Park trail should be great riding after a dry day or two. Metro Mountain Bikers had a trail day Sunday there but I couldn't make it.

A good friend gave us some movie passes for this Saturday. My wife wanted to see "Shutter" because it had a Japanese director. Most likely a remake of another ghost in the machine Japanese horror flick. We settled on "Run Fat Boy Run" and we both enjoyed it immensely.
Now my wife keeps saying; 'Run Phillip run!' Surprisingly manly in a way for a love story.

I saw a lot of runners out in the parkway when we had that thaw in January. Two runners were making snowballs and tossing them at a post. One hit it dead on. He looked so proud of himself. I thought to myself; "Someday they may even learn to ride a bike."

I would need to lose at least 30lbs for me to try the trail run series. Just don't want to put my knees at risk. Would be a worthy challenge to do both the trail run and WORS race.

My wife started cooking up some bacon the other day and I came walking in the kitchen. My dog Tun-tun pushed open the door and walked in from the other side. We (the dog and I) looked at each other and then at my wife.

She laughed and said; "You're both the same. Every time I start cooking meat you both walk into the kitchen."

Grilling weather coming fast.

The Hidden Agenda

What I find people try to keep hidden, is gossip (lies), fear, bigotry and hate. 'Try' being the key word.
If people want to accuse me of a hidden agenda, I say; there is nothing hidden, just a time and a place for everything. Just me leading a full and meaningful life. This is supposed to be a free nation. Freedom of association, faith and speech.
If someone wants to spread a bunch of bilge about me or my faith, spreading it behind my back as if on some kind of crusade, maybe they should be man enough to talk to me directly. Who has the hidden agenda?
And yeah this has everything to do with the topic of my blog (MTB). Don't think me unaware.

"He that hideth hatred with lying lips and he that uttereth slander is a fool." Proverbs 10:18

Opening Day

OK. I didn't write the last post. Misao did when I was logged on. I'll have to have her repost. It's in Japanese by the way, if you don't have the language download. And yes Dinovite is just plain miraculous. Tun-tun had a noticeable turn around from his first helping. Thought we would be loosing him soon. Have to take him back in for blood work. He had an X-ray but couldn't afford the blood work then. He has been having breathing troubles. If they thought he was in any pain or unhappy they most likely would have wanted us to put him to sleep right then. He's over 13 years old.

Who knows maybe Alois will post in German if he finally finds the inspiration (and cats will live with dogs). I'm sorry. I'm being mean. Alois sent me a set of pictures from a trip he took through part of Bavaria I'll have to get them up as a slide show. First need to upgrade my Flick'r account so I can create more sets. Anyone want to pay that fee for me?

As long as I'm giving endorsements for free again... 'DISH sucks!' A customer for years they gave me a supposed upgrade from the 'Dish 500' (and they took the workings which I owned by the way) to the 'Super Dish' and I had nothing but problems. Every time it rained or got too cold no more picture. Just give you the run around and ask if you want to pay a technician to fix it. As you can see I don't think I should be paying for a defective product as the cables just slide out of their fittings.

We actually pay for most of our new TV with the money we save from canceling DISH. There are like over 20 digital channels and the reception is far better than analog. Why does anyone need cable or satellite anymore? I mean, 'Monk' is on network now, the history channel hasn't shown any history for ages and the sci-fi channel is having a monster identity crisis.

'Opening Day?' So Brewers season is here. Miller Park just a mile away. All that means is broken glass in the streets. Suffered the fate a couple times. Just gives you that sinking feeling.

Also Rode the Hoyt Park trail Friday and found a good portion impassible but had to try again today. A hand full of puddles that cause people to go around and widen the trail (I went through them) and a couple of ten yard stretches still unnavigable because of snow or mud. Some branches need to be cut back in a few places and one tree still needs to be removed. Without any major rainfall I expect it to be beautiful riding by next weekend.

'Less than five weeks away' for the first WORS race.

DINOVITE

　うちには,二匹の犬がいます。一匹は、雑種なのですが、スイスマウンテンDogのようないでたちです。
名前は、トゥントゥン。韓国語で、健康という意味だそうです。（もう一つ、太っている）という意味もあるそうですが...そのせいか、この犬は１３歳半になるけれども、とても健康です。
　もう一匹は、ラバドーリトリーバーで、名前は、犬夜叉の中のキャラクターからとって、シッポといいます。
この犬は、真っ黒くろすけなので、いつも写真写りがよくありません。また、名前のごとく尻尾の威力がものすごいのです。
シッポが、トゥントゥンのDog　Foodまで食べるために,片方はふとリ気味、片方は、栄養不足ぎみでした。
フィリップが、ラジオで聞いて好評だったという、このDINOVITEをさっそく購入して、試してみました。
トゥントゥンは、気に入ったようで、調子もいい感じです。
いつも思うけど、動物ってお金がかかるな～。