Bikey Problems and Problem Solving

Well folks, the wet weather continues here in the Mile High city. Seriously, I think we've seen 2, count 'em TWO days in May without rain. Lordy! We are NOT used to this sort of thing here in arid Colorado.

I have to say the gray skies are a real bummer. But... we can't complain about the water - we need the moisture, so it's all good.

I have to admit though, that I'm starting to understand certain behaviors that previously baffled me like delaying spring plantings because the soil was muddy (I've never seen this level of mud in my yard before!) use of indoor lighting during the daytime, and frequent washing of bath towels - who knew that towels don't air dry completely in an hour or so when you have humidity near 90% all the time!

Anyhow, time on the bike has been limited. We've been able to get out and dodge the rain a few times, but portions of our beloved bike path are... well... let's just say not conducive to riding.

South Platte Bike path at Evans Avenue - taken May 17, 2015

This photo is from a ride last week - the river levels are actually higher now.

Here's the view of the swim beach at Chatfield reservoir taken on the same day... it's under there somewhere!

For perspective, this is what it's supposed to look like:

Soooo... when I haven't been riding, I've been working on solving a few bike related "issues."

First up, hydration. Those of you who read my A-Z posts in April might recall that I came up with a recipe for homemade electrolyte drink that is working pretty well. The only problem was that I still hadn't figured out a way to fit more than one bottle on my bicycle. For some reason, the little holes that you screw the bottle cage into on the diagonal "down tube" were just an inch or so too low for two bottle cages to fit - let along have room for a pump as well. Grrrrr...

How it's supposed to work

But, as I was trying to work the geometric puzzle to find a way, I realized that my beloved Klean Kanteen water bottle is actually slightly smaller around than the standard bottle. So... instead of trying to be frugal and use the plastic bottle that I already had as a second bottle, I went ahead and purchased an additional Klean Kanteen and voila! It all fits... just barely, but it fits! Woo Hoo!

Success!!! 

So now I can bring along two 27 ounce bottles of water/electrolyte drink on each ride. It's not really necessary now since we've barely had temps out of the 50's this month. But this summer when the temps climb above 90, it will be really nice not to have to go looking for a source of water on every ride.

And then, we have the old food issue. Long time readers may recall that I suffer from a peculiar and not well understood medical condition called food dependent exercise induced anaphylaxis. Basically it's a severe allergic reaction that is triggered by the combination of eating something I'm allergic to and exercising. The tricky part is that the food causing the reaction might cause no reaction at all if I eat it and don't exercise afterwards. Sooooo... finding foods that are safe for me to eat during and before a long bike ride has been tricky.

I had been trying to get by eating a big meal about an hour before a ride, but about 3 hours into a long ride, I would just start to feel absolutely famished!

Since potatoes and eggs were some of the few foods on my "safe list" I experimented with bringing a hard boiled egg and a baked potato along. It was messy, but functional.

But... I've been slowly working on adding foods to my safe list, and can now eat oatmeal, milk, raisins and cashews before a ride. Woo Hoo! So it occurred to me that I could actually use those ingredients to create some sort of an oatmeal bar that I could bring along on the ride which would be much easier than trying to pack a potato for each ride.

I did a bit of research and landed on this recipe. I made an ultra simplified version using only oatmeal, milk, eggs, raisins, cashews and salt and I have to say they turned out downright edible! I made a big batch and froze them so I can just grab one on my way out the door.

Frozen Oatmeal Bar

Being able to eat something when I'm out on long rides has made a HUGE difference in my stamina and I am totally thrilled!

Anyhow, cross two problems off of my bike list. Now if we can just get Mother Nature to cooperate!

So tell me, how's the weather in your neck of the woods? What have y'all been up to lately?