When the weather gets cold, we like to turn on the oven! Call 503-654-3215 x 208 today to sign up for one of these great classes held at the Bob’s Red Mill Whole Grain Store.

Hands-on Bread Baking with Tim Healea!
Thursday, December 2, 2010 4:00-6:30 p.m.

There’s no better way to create an atmosphere of love and comfort than with the wonderful aroma of freshly baked bread. Tim Healea, owner of the acclaimed Little “T” Bakery is back to teach us a few of his fabulous breads using alternative fl ours and
grains. His featured breads include: Deli Rye Bread with Caraway, Multigrain Carrot Bread, Green Pea and Bacon Bread and Pear Buckwheat Bread.

Supplies to bring: a large mixing bowl, 8X4 loaf pan, cookie sheet, kitchen towel, a wooden spoon or spatula, bench scraper and apron.

Class Fee: $50.00

Cooking with Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef!
Tuesday, December 7, 2010 3:00-5:00 p.m.

After working for three years on their cookbook, Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef: A Love Story with 100 Tempting Recipes, Shauna James Ahern and Chef Danny Ahern can’t wait to share it with you. In their second class, they’ll cook some of the seasonal recipes from their cookbook that are sure to please. With Gluten Free Pasta, Seared Shrimp with Garlic, Warm Rice Salad, Warm Polenta with Goat Cheese, Lamb Chops with Breadcrumbs and Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies, this class will fill you up and send you home with new food ideas. This will be a demonstration class, with plenty of cooking tips, ideas for how to live gluten-free joyfully, and food for you to enjoy!

Supplies to bring: enjoy the sampling! Class Fee $45.00

Shouldering the bike: I promise that your pedals will jab you in the sacrum at some point in time, but it’s good to practice lifting the bike from the down tube onto your shoulder, placing your right arm around the front of the head tube and your hand gripping the left drop of the handle bars. This keeps the bike stable and allows you to use the momentum of the left arm to propel you. As a runner I learned that the momentum of your arms will actually match the momentum of your legs and vise versa.

Traction and handling: I haven’t seen a drop of mud yet this season as I’ve traveled everywhere except Portland, OR but I’m hopeful!  Practice in as many varied places as you can even when it’s rainy outside. You will begin to get a feel for proper tire pressure, tire choice if you have the luxury and at what speeds you can take corners or technical terrain. Find your limits-crash a little and have fun, it will pay off in the races if you can relax your upper body and just follow the bike.

Again, the article above explains planning your food intake up to 24 hrs before a race from the voice of a professional dietician/nutritionist and includes what types of food to eat and the timing of eating before racing and training for optimal digestion and performance.

From my personal experience, my overall diet varies very little whether I am racing, training or in an “off” season.  The variable that changes the most is portion size/caloric intake. (If I am training a lot or in cold weather, I will likely need to consume more overall calories) This will vary person to person depending on size, gender and activity level.

For me, the average 24 hours before a race begins with morning breakfast of Bob’s Red Mill Steel Cut Oats with fruit and maple syrup and 1 cup of decaf coffee with soy milk and agave. Most days of the week I train on the bike within 2-3 hours of eating my breakfast.  After training I will often have leftovers from the night before as lunch and a recovery meal.  Some athletes prefer to make a shake in the blender with fruits and protein powder or chocolate milk with banana with peanut butter.  I will often make a shake in the summer when it’s hot and easier to get in some quick calories, but during cross season I tend to prefer warm foods.  Later that day I will have a snack of a Clif Bar energy bar or homemade energy bars.

For dinners, I try to keep meals balanced with a plant-based protein such as tofu, tempeh, beans or seitan and 2-3 vegetables such as leafy greens, potatoes, broccoli or squash.  Meals will often combine a combination of these ingredients with whole grains such as brown rice, barley, polenta or quinoa.

Eating consistently tends to keep my overall energy and blood sugar more level for training throughout the week and then racing on the weekends.

On race day, I start with my usual steel cut oats and decaf about 4 hours before my race.  Then, 2 hours before start time, I usually have an English muffin with light peanut butter and a bottle of electrolyte sports drink.  While warming up in the hour before the race starts, I will continue to drink water and sports drink.  About 15 minutes before race start I will have a gel and then off I go for 40 minutes of all out racing!

Some ways to improve skills and fitness include talking with other local riders to see if there is an organized weekly skills practice or practice race.  Coaching is also a great way to get more one on one experience. Ask around for a coaching referral to find someone qualified that seems like a good personality fit. A coach will be able to give you specific drills to practice barrier mounts and dismounts, transitions, technique and improving overall fitness.

 

I’m likely to be the “doing it wrong but getting away with it” kind of racer, so I’m not sure that my technical advice is spot on but here are a few tips for some of the most common cyclocross skills:

Running barriers: Practice with low barriers at first and slowly build up to the race height of 40cm. Try various ways to lift your bike-often you will need to angle the bike out rather than straight up if you are not tall. Practice putting the bike back on the ground gently to avoid dropping the chain.

Dismounts/mounts: Great to practice with the barriers or without. I do not put my right leg between the bike and my left leg-sounds like a recipe for disaster for me, but each person had their own preference. Make sure your cleats are not too tight or too loose so that you can free your feet easily bit not accidentally. When remounting-practice in slow motion several times. Try placing your inner right leg/thigh on the saddle first and slide onto the seat rather than leaping onto your pubic bone.

Check back for more tips from Maureen tomorrow!

I personally had a coach 5 years ago for one season and although I was not ready to continue with a structured coaching plan in the years that followed, I took the knowledge and experience from that time and was able to guide myself for the next several seasons.  I often ask other elite riders about their training plans and for helpful hints and suggested workouts to improve any areas I may struggle with. This past Spring I started working with a new coach, finally feeling ready for some new guidance with my training.

When I first started racing cross, I found a nearby playground to practice in.  I live in the Metro Boston area, which is about 6 miles from the city and about another 6 miles in the other direction to the real suburbs.  There are limited parks that will allow cross practice and lots of dogs to be careful of.  The best thing to do is go on “exploring rides” on your easy days and scope out local grassy areas, wooded trails and alternatives like corporate parks. You may need to try various times of the day if your schedule is flexible and see when the areas are mostly empty for your use.

A big thank you to everyone who has served our country and all of the men and women currently serving in the Armed Forces from all of us at Bob’s Red Mill.

As a way to show our appreciation, we’re offering a 25% off discount at our Whole Grain Store in Milwaukie, Oregon to all vets who print off this coupon and visit the store today.

Enjoy!

I believe that the more you practice anything, the easier it will become.  That goes for nutrition as well.  My diet of plant-based foods, whole grains, fresh veggies, no preservatives, minimally processed foods and little sugars isn’t a diet in the way we have some to think of “diets”.  We tend to think of nutritional change in a more healthful direction as something so difficult that it’s hard to get started.  I get that eating well is also really expensive and because of the way our food industry is set up, not affordable for a lot of people.  It’s cheap to eat less healthy.  I hope someday soon that changes. In the meantime, I suggest starting with one meal a week.  Take the time to get a recipe, go to the market and get ingredients and make a fresh, home cooked meal, preferably vegetarian while you’re at it.

I’m lucky that I love to cook and play in the kitchen, so it’s easy for me to stay on a healthy eating routine.  Last night’s dinner is almost always tomorrow’s lunch, be sure to make extra but be mindful of your portions.  I have been posting a recipe of the week in my weekly race reports.  Each recipe highlights a Bob’s Red Mill product.  For some midweek meal options here are some of my favorites:

Roasted Delicata Squash with Pearl Barley: http://thevegandelicious.wordpress.com/2010/09/29/roasted-delicata-squash-with-seasoned-pearl-barley/

Easy Pasta Alfredo: http://thevegandelicious.wordpress.com/2010/09/29/easy-alfredo/

Chickpea Cutlets: http://thevegandelicious.wordpress.com/2009/05/07/chickpea-cutlets-or-bites/

And lastly, the best way to avoid eating non-nutritious items is to not buy them. Yes, sounds simple but most of us fall out of sync with healthy eating by purchasing unhealthy midday snacks or drinks loaded with sugar and empty calories.

We landed home on Monday from the weekend in Louisville and managed to collapse into a two-hour nap before Matt headed to the lab and I made my way to yoga class. As Tuesday and Wednesday rolled around I still hadn’t unpacked and done the laundry but I was already thinking about re-packing to head to Colorado on Friday.

We booked a late flight Friday afternoon out of Boston and arrived in Denver and drove the rental car up to Boulder where we spent the weekend with my old housemate Steve and his two rotund cats. Steve had dinner waiting for us when we arrived.  We unwound from our travels and headed off to sleep to be ready for the Colorado Cross Classic on Saturday afternoon.

COLORADO CROSS CLASSIC: DAY 1

Although I was ready from some cool crisp Colorado fall air, I somehow managed to bring the warm weather with me to Colorado even though I had no interest in it.  Earlier in the week it was a seasonal 40-50 degrees but the Saturday forecast at the Boulder Reservoir was upper 70’s.  I headed out in the morning for a spin on the road to stretch my legs and could already feel every ounce of moisture being sucked from my body. It is really dry in Boulder!

I arrived at the race venue with time to spare.  I had plenty of time to check out the course and acclimate a bit to the altitude and the dry hot air. I even managed to get a little face-time with coach Ben who lives in Boulder.  At times I feel a little bit like Charlie’s Angels, following instructions from the voice in the box.  It was good to chat face-to-face.  Matt was already at the Cannondale truck when I arrived.  He had my bikes ready with just about every tire combination I could imagine available. The course was dry, rocky and sandy so I tried out a few different Challenge tire combinations before settling on a mismatched pair that would give me traction on the front in the corners and speed in the back.

The race was straight forward and fast with long straight-aways, a few technical loose turns and some sand to contend with. Off the start, the pace was high and I was pleased to not be suffering too badly from the altitude or heat and was able to have a solid race and finish 8th.

Race reports and photos from Cyclingnews as well as Velonews can be found here and here. Also, catch Matt in action at the Cannondale/CyclocrossWorld team truck early in this video on Cyclingdirt.

BOULDER CUP CYCLO-CROSS- DAY 2

The Boulder Cup Cross race was at a new venue for 2010 and it was at the Flatirons Crossing Mall.  Yep, a mall parking lot and the adjacent park. Nobody knew what to expect and we all feared the worst.  However, the promoters did an impressive job of using the green space around the mall parking lot to create a challenging course with lots of off camber turns, steep descending hills and one long climb. Finally, a real ‘crosser’s course! I could only imagine what this course would be like with a little bit of rain, or even better, some snow!

Carnage!  About one minute into the race on the first tricky off camber turn, two riders in front of me slipped and crashed causing a chain reaction.  I crashed, my bike flying overhead.  I found myself with my foot stuck in another rider’s bike while I was in a pig-pile of bodies and bikes trying to break free from one another. It took a good 30-40 seconds to untangle ourselves before I was back on my bike.  And just like that, I was at the back of the race.  A Boulder local was on the course with video camera in hand… he captured the crash and posted it here.

My initial plan was to settle into the race and not burn too many matches in the first lap.  Thanks to the crash I was resigned to moving through the field of riders and I had to light it up every chance I could.  Slowly I made my way from the mid-20s to 14th and then 10th and with one lap to go I was able to catch onto to 7th and 8th place but ran out of time before the sprint to the finish and took 9th for the day.

Race reports and photos from Cyclingnews as well as Velonews can be found here and here.

Here is a great article by Monique Ryan who writes for Velonews. She is a registered dietician and nutritionist. http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/09/coaches-panel/the-feedzone-with-monique-ryan-eat-right-for-cross_13709

I am not trained in the science of recovery or nutrition, so I highly recommend following the advice of a licensed professional if you are seeking a scientific approach to nutrition and performance.

Pie Crusts are one of the easiest recipes to make vegan. Often times the recipe is naturally vegan when it calls for vegetable oil rather than butter, shortening or margarine. A basic pie crust usually calls for flour(s), ice water or milk, a little salt and a fat. Cold water or milk is usually used since it helps the crust have a flaky texture.

Here are a few pie crust recipes and how you would veganize them.

Flaky Whole Wheat Pie Crust
Instead of butter, use vegetable shortening or non-dairy margarine. Earth balance makes a great non-hydrogenated margarine that is even available soy-free. Spectrum makes a non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening that would be good to use as well.

Wheat Pie Crust with Egg
There are a few options to replace the egg in this recipe which is mostly used as a binder. You could use our Vegetarian Egg Replacer, Flaxseed Meal or even just cornstarch. For any of these options, to make one egg just combine 1 Tb of the product with 3 Tb of water and mix. Add this to the recipe as you would the egg.

Buttermilk Pie Crust
This recipe calls for both butter and shortening. You can use the vegan options I mentioned before. Using just one form of solid fat will work, but the results will not be quite as light and fluffy. For the buttermilk, measure out soymilk instead (or another milk alternative) and mix in 1 tsp of lemon juice and let stand a few minutes.

Easy as Pie Crust (Gluten Free)
Anytime a recipe calls for milk, a milk alternative can be used. Soymilk tends to perform the best, but almond milk, rice milk, oat milk, hazelnut milk, coconut milk and hemp milk are all available as well. Make sure to use a non-dairy margarine for making this recipe as well.

Almond Oat Pie Crust
This gluten free recipe is naturally vegan, so just make as directed and enjoy!

If you have any further questions about veganizing a pie crust, please let us know. Happy baking!

Writing By Chelsea Lincoln