Energy gel

Last week I decided to give energy gel a try. More accurately, I decided to try other kind of gel since I don't like GU. On the greylock century I started to cramp a little around mile 70, so I ate some gel. Not sure if it was GU or some other brand, but it tasted way too sweet.
Since I like Clif bar, I decided to give Clif shot a try. I also bought some Clif shot drink mix. On Sunday I tried the lemonade mix. It tastes similar to Gatorade, but different. I'm not sure if it's the green tea extract. At first my senses were expecting Gatorade, but after a couple of drinks I started to like the flavor. It definitely tastes less sweet than gatorade. All things considered, Gatorade isn't as sweet as other drinks. Clif shot drink mix uses rice syrup solids. I didn't know what it is, so I had to google it (http://www.agcommoditiesinc.com/articles/rice-syrup-solids.php). The odd/funny thing is that when you first mix it, there's solids floating around that look like brownish specs. I'm guessing that's the rice syrup. According to the article, rice syrup is a sweetener that doesn't affect blood sugar levels as much.

Yesterday I tried the clif shots gel. Although the mocha flavor tastes less sweet than GU, it is still sweet. So far I don't know if I like it or not. I generally don't like sweet things and prefer savory/salty flavors. In terms of boosting performance, I don't know that it made any difference with just 1 try. Generally, I try to eat a fruit like nectarine, plum or pear 30 minutes before a ride, so eating a clif shot doesn't make much difference. I'll have to do a longer ride to see if it makes a real difference.

http://www.clifbar.com/food/products_shot_gel_turbo/
http://www.clifbar.com/food/products_shot_electrolyte/

Riding around Hawley MA

On my ride Saturday morning, I saw a field of sun flowers in Hawley. Usually I'm not willing to stop to take pictures, but I decided to stop for once.

There was a little bit of fog in the morning, so Hawley hill looked quite nice.

Hilarious comment by Vens

I happen to come across this interview with Jens.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0zZ2jFf2-M&feature=g-vrec

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/R0zZ2jFf2-M" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

On greylock century, I joked with mike "what does jens say shut up legs".

Greylock century boost

Today I went on my regular lunch ride and felt great. I took it easy sunday and monday to make sure I recover fully. On my regular lunch ride, I managed to beat my previous best time by 30 seconds. At the turn around point, my average was 20.95mph. Previous best average at the turn around point was 20.35 mph.

here are some photos from greylock summit.

This year the rest stop had pumpkin bread, cookies and sausages at the end. Thanks to all the volunteers on greylock century.

I managed improve on last year's time. This year I managed to finish around 2:30 with a ride time of 6:48. Last year I finished around 4 with a ride time of 7:17.