Winter Wonderland and the Paleo Diet's Effect

Brendan and I have been talking about riding mountain bikes on dirt roads for half a year now. It seemed the cool thing to talk about back in the spring when people started bragging about their training methods and all of the other talk we cyclists often submit ourselves to. I had never done it, but I wanted to try. I wanted to feel epic. Getting away from the trainer and rollers was my goal for the coming season as soon as I heard of this so-called snow riding.

I woke up at 10am to whiteness. At first it was a bit of a shock. I started to doubt the logic in riding outdoors, but I quickly brushed those more reserved thoughts away when I though about how fun it would be to slide around in the snow for an afternoon. I was going to give it a try.

We ended up meeting up with Alan Antonuk, on the outskirts of Ann Arbor, before heading to the dirt roads. Convincing him to come along was easy. I don't know him all that well, but he seems to be down for crazy stuff. He even brought along some wisdom in the form of concern for cars sliding into us. It seemed like a valid concern, but if you are safe and aware, why worry about those things we can not control? We started the ride with safety and good faith in mind.

As we pedaled down Wagner, the three of us weaved in and out of tire tracks on the pavement, trying not to slip on the deeper, more ominous sections of snow. Using good mountain bike skills, we rode under control. As a truck began to pass us, Alan slowed and veered off towards the shoulder. He found more of a rutted out dirt shoulder than expected and steered away from it. The snowy incline with the wrong shift of weight threw him from his bike as he tried to get back up onto the pavement. He slid across the snow glazed pavement as Brendan and I began to skid from our coasting speed. We slid across the road to a stop almost hitting Alan just as the truck actually passed us. What a start to the ride.

We ended up getting the hang of it. Brendan was the only one to actually keep his bike up. As we attacked the first hill, in a route similar to the "dirt hammer", I took a drink thinking how easy it was to keep my bike upright. My tire caught some deep snow on the right of the road, and I leaned left to steer. My bike followed nature's physics and shot out from underneath me just as Alan's did. It slid about 5 feet into the snow pile lining the shoulder as I slid a bit further. I got up, smacked the snow off of my legs and grabbed my bike. I realized the importance of slow adjustments in steering. I unfortunately did the same thing about five minutes later before learning the lesson, the hards way, for the second time.

Our ride was beautiful despite the falls and wetness from the paved roads that penetrated our gloves and booties. I was amazed that the many layers of clothing provided warmth for the close-to three hours that we were out in the harsh conditions. The ice crusties on my eyebrows made the ride feel even more epic. There's nothing like riding through the desolate, white cornfields on the mostly car-less roads, with snow flurries cutting across the sky in the cross-winds. Ahh, a new way of training.

As a sub note on nutrition, my breakfast consisted of five eggs (mostly egg whites) and a baked potato. To top this off two hours later, I ate a banana as we left for the ride. During the ride, I drank a bottle of Gatorade with a little protein powder. This combination of food worked perfectly. I felt strong the whole time. The paleo diet has been working well for me now that I'm tailoring it to my needs and tastes; we'll see as the training load increases in the base period.