Here’s a copy of the Bike Diva’s article on bike nutrition, which originally appeared on the Associated Content website on 1/03/08.
Instant Bike Nutrition
My husband was looking for a new, healthier addiction a few years back and took up mountain biking. Soon after he started, I rarely saw him on the weekends anymore. That’s when I decided to give it a try. Now, my 40-plus-year-old body and I are always looking for ways to make our biking experience more enjoyable. Here are my personal favorite energy supplements that I use whenever I’m out riding my bike, whether on road or off.
Nutritional Bars
I never eat nutritional bars during a ride. I find they aren’t that easy to eat while riding a bike and they end up feeling like a lump of lead in my stomach. My husband and I use nutritional bars as an instant breakfast solution while we are driving out to the trails. We like to eat one or two bars around a half hour before we plan on arriving at the trailhead.
My husband likes PowerBars but I can’t stand them. I’ve tried them chilled, right out of the refrigerator but they are still horrid. However, there are many other nutritional bars on the market that I actually enjoy.
Clif Bars by Clif Bar & Co. come in a variety of flavors. A couple of my favorites are crunchy peanut butter and carrot cake. Luna bars, also by Clif Bar & Co., come in delicious flavors such as nuts over chocolate, lemon zest and chocolate pecan pie. Although I don’t like the regular PowerBars, I do like PowerBars Pria nutrition bars, especially the chocolate mint crisp flavor. I had one the other day on my way to a long bike ride and thought I was eating a candy bar because it tasted so good.
Nutritional Gels
I always thought those gooey gel packs were for macho men. I tried choking down a few gel packs once or twice but just couldn’t get past the “I’m eating baby doo-doo” stage. But my husband and I started doing some longer bike rides while training for a century ride for a local charity. I was experiencing major bonking half way into the rides so my husband kept bugging me to try the gels again.
He said they have a much better consistency when cold. So now we bring a small cooler filled with ice in our vehicle on our longer rides. I can manage to choke down the double latte, chocolate and vanilla flavors of the PowerBar gel packs. It’s almost like eating raw cake batter and doesn’t remind me so much of baby poo anymore. I also really like the vanilla bean flavor of Gu Energy Gel packs by GuSports.
Nutritional Blocks
I discovered the Clif Shot Bloks about a year ago. These large, square-shaped blocks remind me of petrified Jello and have the consistency of a soft gummy bear. Shot Bloks are not too sweet so I can manage to eat these even when they are really warm from being in my Camelbak too long. The black cherry and cranberry flavors are pretty good. The strawberry flavor is okay but it wouldn’t be my first choice. Some of the ingredients included in Shot Bloks are organic brown rice syrup, organic cane juice and green tea extract.
Another of my favorite block type supplements is Jelly Belly Sport Beans. They are little pieces of energy that are shaped like jelly beans. I like all flavors of Sports Beans - berry blue, fruit punch, lemon-lime and orange. A few of my friends find them to be a bit too sweet for their taste; it is kind of like eating candy. Sport Beans are also available in cherry and watermelon, but I haven’t been able to find these flavors at my local bike shops.
I found Sharkies on sale online just a few months ago. They are my new favorite nutritional supplement. Sharkies are organic energy sports chews that are gluten free, wheat free, dairy free and vegetarian. I bought a box of their fruit splash and berry blast flavors from one of my favorite online bike accessory vendors. Sharkies, which are unsurprisingly shaped like a shark, remind me of gummy bears. The fruit splash package contains a mixture of cherry, blackberry, tangerine and lemon sharkies while the berry blast package contains cherry and blackberry sharkies.
Energy supplements, like those mentioned in the article, are now available at most sporting good stores. I have even seen a good selection at our Super Target. Online vendors, such as Bike Nashbar and Performance Bike, also offer a terrific selection of energy supplements.
How would you like to link to the Bike Diva site? If you have a bike related website we would be interested in trading links with you. Mountain biking, road biking, biking organizations, bike stores, bike manufacturers, biking magazines, vendors selling biking gear and equipment are all examples of sites we would like to trade links with.
There are two ways to link to our site. You can either place a text link to our site or a graphic logo to our site on your page. Once the Bike Diva link has been added to your site, send an email to thebikediva@yahoo.com letting us know. Once we verify the Bike Diva link is on your site we will ad a reciprocal link to your site.
Here is the code to add a Bike Diva widget to your site. You need to remove the first [ bracket and the last ] bracket to get the properly formatted code.
[<p style=”text-align: center”><a href=”http://www.bikediva.net”></a></p>
<p style=”text-align: center”><a href=”http://www.bikediva.net”><img border=”0″ width=”160″ src=”http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e20/lynnsmythe/Biking/bikedivalogosmall.jpg” alt=”bike diva widget logo” height=”34″ /></a></p>]
Any questions? Send an email to the Bike Diva.
The Bike Diva and her husband at Tsali Recreation Area
Tsali Recreation Area is located in Bryson City, North Carolina. My husband and I had a chance to ride our mountain bikes there two years ago while we were on vacation. We easily could have spent a couple of days exploring the trails at Tsali, however, our son and daughter don’t share our love of biking. They decided to hang out with my mom back at the cabin we had rented in Maggie Valley.
Tsali was a 45 minute drive from our cabin in Maggie Valley. We only had time to ride one trail at Tsali while we were there. We went on the Mouse Branch Trail and added on the Mouse Branch Trail Loop which took us up to around 3500 feet. We had an incredible view of the house boats that were moored in Lake Fontana.
House boats in Lake Fontana, view from top of Mouse Branch trail
But we did have a bit of a problem breathing. Part of the problem is that we are old, and a bit over weight. But we’ve been living in Florida for over 16 years so have become used to being flat landers. There are some fantastic mountain bike trails down in Florida, however, they are flatter and more technical (tree roots, rocks, log overs, boulders) than the trails at Tsali.
Bike Diva at the top of the Mouse Branch Trail
Tsali Recreation Area has 4 mountain biking trails covering approximately 40 miles. The trails, which are also open to hikers, are also available for horse back riding on a rotating basis. Two trails are always avaiable for mountain biking - there is a sign at the trailhead that details which ones are open on any particular day. There is a $2.00 trail use fee for one day.
Here’s a brief description of the 4 trails at Tsali:
Right Branch - 11 miles with creek crossing with options to do a shorter 4 or 8 mile loop.
Left Branch - 11.9 miles with creek crossings.
Mouse Branch - 9 miles.
Thompson Loop - 7.7 miles with stream crossings.
Bike Diva’s husband hiking up the trail while looking for his lungs
You can also go camping, boating and fishing at the Tsali Recreation Area. There are a number of white water rafting outfitters nearby if you would like to turn your Tsali adventure into a multi sport opportunity.
To see a detailed map of the mountain biking trails view the Tsali Recreation Area Brochure.
More climbing on the Mouse Branch trail
Yay!!!! It’s official, as you can see at the top of the page the Bike Diva banner logo has finally been added. It looks fantastic and much more professional than the one I designed.
YIPPIE!
I went for a quick road ride this morning with a friend of mine. We only did 25 miles - we had a nasty headwind while traveling north, at some points we were only doing around 13-14 MPH. The wind must have been blowing around 20-25 MPH. I had no legs or lungs, felt like I was biking in frozen molasses. But turning around to head back south was cool - got up to 24 MPH - weeeeeeeeee 
Getting up at 6 AM tomorrow to ride with a few friends. Waiting to see how windy it is before deciding how far to ride. A popular biking joke for people that live near the coast is that the winter winds and draw bridges we encounter in SE Florida are our version of mountains.
Just for giggles - here’s a picture of my daughter and I that was taken this summer in Maggie Valley, North Carolina. We were at the Wheel’s Through Time motorcycle museum. The giant bike we are standing in front is an actual motorcycle - the owner took it out for a test run while we were there. Talk about big wheels!
The very first post I added to the Bike Diva site told you a little about myself. I just updated the About Me page on the site. Here is a copy of that information just in case you haven’t had a chance to visit the About Me page.
The Bike Diva
The Bike Diva site was started on January 14th, 2008 by Lynn Smythe, a girl that is really into all sorts of biking. Bike Diva is a blog for all cycling enthusiasts to enjoy. Mountain biking, road biking, freak bikes, charity bike rides, bike gear and more are all subjects that are covered on the Bike Diva site.
Although the Bike Diva owns three different types of bikes, a beach cruiser, a mountain bike and a road bike, she is mostly a roadie. No one will ever mistake her for a hammerhead. Her preferred speed of travel while riding her road bike is in the 18-21 MPH range, with occasional bursts up to 26-30 MPH.
The Bike Diva and her husband participate in various charity road bike events including the MS150, Frank Stark Celebration Ride and century rides with the Leukemia Societies Team In Training program.
Her day job entails writing freelance copy for different print publications and online content providers. In her free time she likes to play with beads, art clay silver and fused glass.
Questions, comments, suggestions for topics you would like to see covered on the Bike Diva site? Send an E-mail to: thebikediva@yahoo.com
FOR SALE - Cannondale Synapse 2 carbon frame Feminine specific road bike
The Bike Diva is getting a new road bike. Last night our urban night ride got cancelled due to thunder storms, so we drove over to Bike America and put down the deposit for my new bike.
So that means that my just over a year old road bike is for sale. We bought it new September, 2006. It’s a Cannondale Synapse 2 carbon frame Feminine specific road bike - MONDO COOL!!! List price for a new one: $2,999.99. We are looking to get $2,000 OBO.
Here’s a picture, isn’t she pretty!?! And it comes with Shimano pedals. I’m getting white Look pedals to match my new bike.
We’re waiting to hear back from the Trek rep to see how long it’s gonna take to get my new bike. The bike shop was originally saying 2 1/2 months, every body and her sister wants one, but his Trek rep is checking around for us and there is a chance she can get it for us in a week or two.
So I can’t actually let you have my Cannondale until my new one gets here. Currently training for the MS150 so I need roadie wheels. I’m getting a 2008 Trek Madone 6.5 WSD - OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! :
Here’s a review of my bike that is for sale from the bicycling.com website:
Best Women-Specific Road Bike: Cannondale Synapse Feminine Carbon 2
History may remember 2006 as the year female bike riders were, finally, given the gift of choice for performance-oriented bikes. We chose finalists for their combination of quality carbon frames and up-level componentry, and found excellence across the board, but with subtle variations. The Synapse Carbon Feminine gets our nod because of its balanced ride quality, the result of a stiff, efficient and lightweight carbon-fiber frame shaped into a geometry suited for both fast-paced rides and more-casual events.
One tester noted that the Synapse felt the most responsive of the three, while another said the bike’s proportions and stable ride made her feel especially confident and aggressive (Mavic’s stiff Ksyrium Elite wheels enhanced the performance). Cannondale offers this bike, available June 1, in a double or triple chainring-we’re hoping for a compact option, currently available on the men’s Synapse and the R1000 Feminine, sometime in the future.
©Mitch Mandel
I’m not sure of the exact specs of my bike, if you live in SE Florida you could come see it in person!!
I think this is pretty close:
Weight: 17.1 lb. Size: 49 or 50. I’m 5′ 5 1/2″. Trek dealer said that was kind of a weird size for me but comparing Cannondale to Trek is like comparing apples to oranges. I think my new bike frame is going to be a 52.
Component Highlights (I’m not sure of the exact details, I pulled this off a website): Shimano Ultegra crankset (53/39/30 or 50/39), cassette (12-25), brakes, reach-adjust 10-speed shifters and levers; Mavic Ksyrium Elite rims; ITM Elle Elite handlebar; FSA SL-K carbon seatpost.
Here I am riding it in the Intracoastal Century Ride in Cocoa Beach, FL - October 2006:
If you’re interested in the bike send an email to thebikediva@yahoo.com.
My husband and I will be riding in the SE Florida MS150 which takes place on May 3rd & 4th, 2008. This is a 2 day, 150 mile bike ride that benefits the Multiple Sclerosis Society. Each biker makes a pledge to raise a minimum of $300 for the society. There will be approximately 3,000 bikers taking place in this ride.
2007 Office Depot Team
We are riding with the Office Depot Foundation team - cool!!! The husband of one of my bike chick friends is a corporate lawyer for Office Depot. Although he owns a road bike, he only rides occasionally and doesn’t participate in these long charity bike rides like his wife does. My friend said that anyone can ride for the Office Depot team so my husband and I signed up. A couple of weeks ago we started going on weekly training rides with members of the team. So far there are 65 people signed up to ride with the Office Depot Foundation. I can’t wait until the team jersey’s come in so I’ll have bragging rights in front of real riders. “Yup, I ride for the Office Depot Foundation Team.”
Click on the link above to be taken to the Bike Diva’s MS150 fundraising page
From the Multiple Sclerosis website:
What’s New? Drum Roll Please…
MS Bike, formerly known as the MS 150 Bike Tour, is proud to introduce our new title sponsor Zimmerman Advertising and the Zimmerman MS Bike Ride Presented by Wachovia!!! The Ride kicks off on Saturday, May 3, 2008 from the UM BankUnited Center in Miami, stops overnight at Metro PCS Village in John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park in Key Largo, then heads back to Miami on Sunday, May 4, 2008.
We are introducing an amazing lineup of changes for the 2008 Bike Season: New Title Sponsor, New Bike Route, New Dates, New Logo, New Branding!!! It’s the same event you’ve grown to love and live for with added flavor.
Just wondering if anyone else is using any of these social networking sites to link with their high school, college, work and personal contacts? Here’s links to a few of my sites:
Here are a few of the online sites I write for in addition to the Bike Diva:
Take care,
Lynn AKA the Bike Diva
Well, I’m patiently waiting for the graphic designer at WebbleYou to upload the banner logo for the top page of this site. Here’s an idea I came up with for the banner logo, which I think looks pretty good. This is not actual size, the real logo will stretch across the entire width of the page.
This logo features 4 pictures of me, the Bike Diva, riding my various bikes. The picture on the far left was taken 104 miles in to the 109 mile El Tour de Tucson, which I rode in on November 17th, 2007.
The next picture shows me on top of the Mouse Branch Trail Overlook - part of the Tsali mountain biking trails in Bryson City, North Carolina.
The 3rd picture is me with some of the 2007 Team In Training cycle members training for the El Tour de Tucson in Clermont, Florida. We just finished biking, crawling, clawing our way up Sugar Loaf Mountain and were taking a much needed break.
The 4th picture is of my daughter and I and a friend, at the Catholic School Girl Freak Bike Militia ride which took place in West Palm Beach, Florida. That’s my husband’s chopper bike in the photo which the text partially covers.
Hopefully the official logo will get uploaded sometime next week.
WSD Demo @ Oleta River State Park
North Miami, FL
Sun. Jan 20th, 2008 @ 9:00 am—1:00 pm
The Women’s Specific Design bikes from Trek, Fisher, and Lemond are totally rad, but don’t take my word for it. Come dressed to ride and find out just how sweet these bikes really are. Come feel how a bike designed just for women fits better.
- Location:
- Oleta River State Park
- 3400 NE 163rd Street
- North Miami, FL
- View Map
- Directions:
- Oleta River State Park is located at 3400 N.E. 163rd St, off I-95 in Miami
Bike Diva’s Note: They’ll have tons of mens bikes at the demo too. But I’m the Bike CHICK!!!! My husband and I are going down to Oleta tomorrow with 3 of our friends. Oleta is an awesome place to ride mountain bikes. There are also paved roads going into the park so I plan on taking a Trek road bike for a demo ride after we hit the trails on our mountain bikes.
2008 Trek Madone 6.5 WSD
See the photo above? That’s the new road bike I want to get. It’s a 2008 Trek Madone 6.5 women specific design, full carbon road bike. Manufactures suggested retail price = $5,829.99!!!! I’ve already checked with one of the Trek dealers near our house. They can sell the bike for around $1,000 less than the suggested retail price and I can sell my current road bike for between $1,500 and $2,000 to use towards the down payment. But that’s still a lot of money. But this is such a high end bike, that most bike shops won’t even carry it in stock. It will take approximately 3 months to get it in as a special order.
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