Home Brew

Why do cyclists like coffee so much? Is it the necessity to load up on a stimulant after crushing yourself on a long ride? Maybe it’s the necessity of firing up the engine before a hammerfest. According to Darrin Duhamel, owner of Revo Bicycles and Espresso bar, he estimates that 75% of cyclists drink coffee. I am sure that is far from scientific, but he goes on to say that “caffeine is one of those elements that cyclists want to put in their bodies.” I suppose for those in the pro peleton, over these last few years, caffeine is just one of MANY elements that riders put in their bodies.

But to stay on topic, I too enjoy coffee and while I have significantly tapered by intake, I have searched for how to make the best brew at home. I have the standard home drip coffee maker, which seems to taste way off from what you get at the café, while using the same beans. So here is what I have learned on how to score excellence in java at home

DITCH THE DRIP

Heave the drip coffee maker in the garbage or take it to the local goodwill. Drip makers do not approach the time and water temperature necessary to get the most from the beans. This is the biggest reason the home brew tastes like swill compared to the café.

FILTER

Unless you have a tap with an attached filter, you need to do what you can to zap that slightly off putting taste of Silicon Valley water.

PRESS IT

I do not care for the French…..therefore it’s a bit hard to go to the French Press, but that is just about the number one way to make the best cup of coffee.

THE TICK OF THE CLOCK

The freshness of beans matters. You have roughly two weeks from the time the beans are roasted to when they will be past due from a flavor standpoint. It helps if they are stored initially in one of those plastic aluminum type bags with the one way opening to release the gas that is emitted from the beans themselves. Also store them in the freezer as this will help delay the decay and it should not pick up any taste or smell from neighboring items.

So how is this all done (This is beyond anal for a guy who thinks cooking is comprised of three basic things….heating, boiling and spreading). First filter the water, then put it into a tee kettle and bring it to a boil. Meanwhile grind the beans into a medium fine grind. Put 1 tablespoon of coffee grind into the French press for every 4-6 ounces of water you plan on brewing. Once the water has boiled, turn it down and wait for 10 seconds then poor into the French press. Stir and put on the top of the press and wait for about 5 minutes. At that time lower the press evenly, poor and start pounding the java.

Why I am on the Left Coast

There are many reasons why I continue to reside in California. Sure it’s nuts here with a former steroid loving Austrian running the state that seems to be setting records for going broke every other day. I still love it nonetheless, partially for avoiding darwinesque moments such as this.

In the wonderful state of South Carolina, some residents like to load up on a couple of sixers of the High Life while mowing the lawn. And…if you the feeling hits you, and you need to get your grease binge from the local Jack in the Box, you just take your Deere down to the drive through and fix up some burgers. That is if Johnny Law does not get you

People complain about the war between the driver and cyclist here in the left coast, imaging dodging traffic and drunks on lawn mowers. Honestly I am surprised there is a law in the South prohibiting boozing and riding your Toro around town.

On the Shelf

I have been toiling around on a bike with some regularity for the better part of this decade. I have been pretty fortunate to avoid much in the way of any significant injuries and those that I have had, I pretty much ignored.

I kissed dirt big time at the Howell Mountain Challenge back in 2006. I was running in 2nd place, of all places, when I had my front wheel wash out on a high speed descent. It cost me some time and a significant chunk out of my right hip. I probably should have gotten stitches, but I cleaned it up and kept it so. I now have a distinguishing body mark, should I ever need to be identified after an untimely death. I did not see the point of wasting time at with hospital visit.

The next injury was brought about by the brilliant move of removing the pedal on the drive side of my road bike. Without considering the path that the allen wrench would have to take to dislodge the Look pedals, I strained away. When the pedal broke free of the chank arm, my hand thrust deep into the teeth of a rather brand new Dura Ace chain ring. That cuts deep by the way, more like a puncture actually. Blood was spurting like it shot through a hose, but with an afternoon ride in danger of being nixed I once again made sure to clean the punctures, bandage myself, repair the bike and get in a few hours. Stupid, but true. And thankfully today the Dura Ace pattern on my hand is fading away and full feeling has returned to the inside portion of my index finger.

This time my injury had a much less pointed moment of impact. Over the course of this season I had the development of hip flexor fatigue and subsequent lower back stiffness. Nothing that a little bit of stretching and a day or two off could not fix, I reckoned. That is until August, where the stiffness and discomfort was always lingering even with rest. After taking a week off the bike entirely to take a personal trip, I figured I was limbered up and ready to go. I started lifting some weights again, nothing serious and had a mostly okay 3 hour ride around Marin on Saturday. This seemed to earn me the opportunity to barely be able to get out of bed, walk or sit normal come Sunday morning. This time around I did not skip getting some help and saw a specialist on Tuesday, who politely told me that my hip flexors and the like were a gnarled mess.

For now I seem to be mending, and have been scared straight into figuring out how to avoid this situation again. Still it sucks to see my ride time or for the month approaching what I might do on an average week and the fitness level that had me cruising in August has probably now just whisked itself far far away.

Waiting

A few weeks ago I decided it was time to get a physical, seeing as how I can not recall the last time I went to have myself checked out for much of anything. This was spawned by a friend of mine who went on a mind bending; all night journey of being diagnosed with Leukemia, and actually being told around 3AM that death was probably in the vicinity. Alas, when the morning broke and apparently when a real oncologist took the helm, he received a more accurate picture of his situation, which was still Leukemia but of the very treatable variety. With my eyes a bulging from hearing this tale, I thought maybe I should just have a once over for myself.

This begs the question about the mysterious vortex of appointments at the any medical office. Why is it, if you show up 10 minutes early, 10 minutes late or whatever you have a mandatory wait time in the waiting room? Are they concerned that the magazine won’t get read, or that the chairs will go unused? Then you get pulled into the exam room and of course the room has to enter a transformation as a waiting room and then to an exam room. And all of this does not matter what time of day you have an appointment, first thing or the end of the day. I suppose it could be worse, such as overbooking by airlines and hotels, where sorry we just did not expect all of you to actually make it, your pain and suffering will just have to wait till the next opening, which is 2 weeks from now.

Anyway, it seems to me that the Doctor, Dentist whomever has a similar gig to the auto mechanic. “We have to find something wrong.” Can’t have you exit the building without a dose of worry, fear or a need to come back again. How can life have meaning if you did not have an uptick in your anxiety level everytime the hood of your car is opened, or the doctors says hmmmm….. cough for me just one more time. I mean, it may be nothing or well…..we just don’t want to even think about what could happen. So for me this means potentially seeing a sleep specialist and then seeing a cardiologist for some “noise” we hear in your heartbeat. Nice.

This means another waiting room extravaganza, followed by an echocardiogram, which does show a rather fantastic image of my now suspect heart. It must be quite the display of blurred images when my HR is at 190 like it was on Monday evening. Of course we can only raise eyebrows and make off hand comments such as “it's probably nothing” during the exam, offer no real info, just to build the anticipation, add to the waiting.

Next is the waiting and wondering of exactly WTF is going on in my chest. You get a VM from the Doc asking to call back….. Why did they not say what the deal is? You wonder. You call back…Did you get our e-mail, the Doc sent it late last night? Of course I did not get an e-mail. You finally get someone on the phone, Oh we wanted to know if you wanted the referral to the sleep specialist, did you get the e-mail? This was the urgency? What about the &#@!* test result? You know, my heart? Oh there is something here from the Cardiologist, but your primary Doc has not provided any notation, so it will be a bit.

But of course.

Meanwhile back at the crisis generation center known as my brain, I have become Fred Sanford of “Sanford and Sons”, yelling at Lemont that the big one is coming, it’s coming at any moment. But for now, I will wait and probably wait some more.

Winters Road Race...the end

This was the finale for me in 2009. It has been a good year and the finale would be a new beginning as well. Now upgrade to the 3’s it was time to get a taste. If only this taste could have been done at a palpable temperature and maybe not off the heals of some insane work week, but alas none of that mattered anyway.

With the temps marching their way towards the triple digits for the day, hydration was a major concern at the start line and a plan on how to make it through the 72 miles. The first lap was reasonable, nothing shocking. The climb was not easy but I was able to maintain myself and keep with the group. That effort made me feel lousy, and the heat was only cranking up. By the time we hit the feedzone and the climb for the 2nd time I was feeling much better. Then I promptly dropped my chain, which turned out to not be a standard slip. The chain was jammed big time between the frame and the small ring. That was that.

A guy, who I latter found out was named Joe, came over to help me. Amazing how unclear your thinking can be in these situations. Joe quickly figured out that we needed to break the chain to get it to dislodge. I use a Wipperman link, so this was easy. What is also easy is to drop the tiny link, which Joe did. We found that quickly, but then it was my turn. Dropping a link into a small pile of leaves, stones and twigs gives meaning to a needle in a haystack. 15 minutes later, and with some researching of alternatives we struck gold and found the connector. After a few attempts to get the chain back in order, I was off and back in the race…the race to get back to the car. Even if it’s piping hot, and your at least 30 minutes back from the field, it still seems odd to take a left when you should go right and shut it down for the day.

Not the way I wanted to end my season, but I was really impressed with how gracious people were to help me out when I was in a bind. Something I will very much remember, and to pay forward on my own some day to another rider. Maybe a little volunteer time in the feedzone would be in order.
I am looking forward to both the offseason and game planning on how to improve my form over this season; I believe I can do it.

A New Old Event

Finally an event I can get excited about. Never thought I would see something like this but after a long cycling season we are nearing the time to start considering the “other aspects of life”. While for some that may be hard to comprehend maybe this event might create a stir.

On August 28th in Palo Alto of all places there will be a party in the honor of Mrs. Robinson. Yes it’s the national Single Cougars Convention (I wonder if there is a married convention?) . People will be descending from every corner of the globe for this Friday night extravaganza, where rumor has it they will be crowning Ms. Cougar USA or something like that. I suppose the action here could rival or even exceed the excitement at the highly rated Hellyer Friday night track nights, maybe someone can give us a report?

Like an STD....

Yes, just like an STD (as I have been told by others, well no one that I actually know) Brett Farve is back again. I feel about as raped as a sports fan can be with this story. I don't really care what #4 does. But anytime I want to catch something that is going on in the wide world of sports, there is video of Brett playing catch with high schoolers in Mississippi or some ESPN ticker alert saying "BREAKING NEWS, Brett Farve stretched his arm today on a Missisppi high school field, or that Brett Farve surfed the net and looked at the Vikings roster" Enough already, are there not any other 40 year old athletes we can cover?