Powder Keg

Today was the annual Power Keg, this year both starting and ending at Alta. No, I didn't do it. It is a little hard to think much about skiing when it is 70 F outside. OTOH, I bet it was fun conditions for it. I'm sure people were dressed very light and able to keep a nice sweat going.

Ever wonder what the most popular MTB trail in SLC is? Well, I think it must be the Bonneville Shoreline trail from Dry Creek to City Creek (pick your direction). Hit the trail Thursday night, riding from Work at Research Park down to the flats in Bountiful and back. This used to be my commute when I lived in Bountiful. It really hasn't changed, except it sure seemed crowded (and the end of the trail is covered with new houses). In the course of a few hours, I saw Orange Leader, Shawn C, another guy who's name I'm not sure of but I should know from racing him, Drew J (I think, but didn't get a good look), and Dan S. Apparently BZ was going to show as well, but didn't make it. It was a good time. Dan S is heading to the United Bicycle Institute in a couple months to build a single-speed. If I wasn't going to be racing in April, I'd jump in with them.

I did a lot of bike commuting this week -- Hooptedoodle would be proud, except all he's thinking about right now is surf and fruit. The ride from my house to work (or back) works out to be right about two hours if I do a little canyon climbing along the way. The canyons are also a good place to do some threshold work, but I haven't actually started doing that yet.

As I was riding up the canyon on Friday, I heard a story about some studies that have been done on obesity and its causes. A lot of people like to say, "simple thermodynamics...energy in+energy stored=energy out". While obviously true, I've also thought this over-stated the simplicity. Some of these studies back me up. One researcher has found that the strains of bacterial flora found in our digestive systems have a significant impact on how effectively we pull nutrients (energy) from our food. Turns out over-weight people tend to have a different balance of the various bacteria in their gut than slim ones. In mice, it was additionally shown that as weight changed, the flora did as well. Another researcher found that chickens who contract a particular virus put on weight. I don't know how the virus effect a weight gain, but anyway he also found that many humans have evidence of this same virus (I would also like to know how he tested for the virus, in humans or chickens). For some reason I didn't get from the story, he thinks the virus was introduced to humans in the late seventies, which is supposedly when the weight "epidemic" burst upon us. Anyway, another observation they made is that with air-conditioning and (relatively) cheap heating, people tend to leave their houses, workplaces, and cars set at about 72 F. When environmental conditions get less comfy, we expend more energy regulating our body temps. So...maybe it isn't just McDonalds, Doritos, and TV afterall. For the record, this was a normal week in that I watched 0 hrs of TV, ate 3 Doritos (people bring them to work), and never stopped at McD's (I did work there once upon a time), but I did eat a rather large steak Friday night when Kim and I went out...yummm. (I'm not saying I eat healthy all the time BTW. I ate 2 donuts and the better part of a box of Fig Newmans). I burned a little over 10,000 food calories on the bike this week (this is based on powermeter measurements, but makes some assumptions on metabolic and mechanical efficiency). If I were sedentary, the recommended calories/week would be about 13,000 for my height and weight, so I'm eating almost double what I would need if I didn't exercise (I have not particularly been loosing or gaining). The last couple years I've given into the temptation to try and loose some weight for climbing, and it always sets me back with less energy on the bike and generally unhappy feelings, so this year my goal is to not get too hungry too often. Think I'll leave that sort of thing to the pros. They're a lot faster anyway.