My Post-Ride Chocolate Smoothie

• 1/2 cup ice cubes
• 1 cup of low-fat milk
• 2 heaping tbsp of low-fat probiotic yogurt
• 6 almonds
• 1 small banana
• 2 heaping tbsp of powdered cocoa (20-24%)
• Optional: 2 pieces of 86% cocoa or higher chocolate (softened)

Just throw it all in a blender, blend it for 45 seconds or until smooth and enjoy!

Using a recipe calculator I found out that it should have about 318 calories, 10.2g of fat, 16mg of cholesterol, 164mg of sodium, 1153mg of potassium, 7g of dietary fibre, 31g of sugars, 17g of protein and a whole lot of Vitamin B-12, Vitamin B-6, Vitamin D, Calcium, Magnesium, Manganese, Phosphorous, Riboflavin and other trace elements. It seems like it would be a decent recovery drink, although I am not a nutritionist.

Originally posted on JeremyScofield.ca by jeremy under the title Post-Ride Chocolate Smoothie

While it is race shaped and has a similar weight to a regular off-season jersey, it uses Castelli’s Gabba and Nanoflex fabrics for better than normal weather resistance. I have found that it is pretty much wind proof and can comfortably withstand short rain showers or road spray (although the seems are not taped and do eventually let some water through). It does have a slightly high collar and seems pretty good at keeping wind out when zipped up. As I do not generally go out in the pouring rain for long rides on my road bike the moderate water resistance was fine for me, and when I did get rained on the wind resistance combined with an inner layer still kept me warm enough while moving. The jersey itself seems well made but is on the small side for fit as are most Castelli offerings. Both of the fabrics seem to breathe well.

What about my arms? Well, I already had Castelli Nanoflex Arm Warmers made of water-resistant material that seem to do enough to make inclement weather comfortable.

As for the temperature range, I have found that mixing up base layers and arm warmers can give this jersey a very large temperature range. Wearing a simple wicking inner I have found it comfortable from 15-20°C. Add a short sleeve warm inner and arm warmers and I have been comfortable at 8-15°C and with a long sleeve warm inner, wind-stopper SS inner and arm warmers I have been able to ride down to 0°C without discomfort. It is probably important to note that I tend to be bothered less by cool weather than most people, and these temperature ranges change a bit if there is significant rain involved.

Overall I am very happy with the jersey and I am happy to have it as part of my off-season arsenal. I would recommend it to anyone who does not really like wearing a jacket in changing weather or prefers a race cut jersey for those fast flat land winter rides.

There are two colour options (black or fluoro yellow) and there is also a long sleeve version available that is a bit better in cold weather.

Pros

• Good all-round weather resistance for a jersey
• Covers fall and spring conditions well
• Well made
• Race cut for reduced wind resistance

Cons

• Rather expensive
• Only two colour choices

*the image used in this post was taken from castelli-cycling.com

Originally posted on JeremyScofield.ca by jeremy under the title Castelli Gabba WS Jersey (2012)

Normally this is not a problem if you have a ‘normal’ sized bike, say, somewhere in the range to 48-56cm. There are many options for bags available at these frame sizes, some of them even being quite portable. When you get into larger bikes (like my 63cm Trek 2300) it gets quite hard to find bike bags, and even harder to find bags that fold up small enough to carry conveniently.

Enter the Fairmean 160g Air bag. It folds up into a stuff-sack that is 6x13cm, weighs under 160g and can cover frames up to 63cm. Made of a combination of SilNylon and Dyneema, these bags are light, flexible and very very packable. When folded they can easily fit in a jersey pocket or medium saddle bag, but when pulled out offer full coverage of your bike (except the seat, which is not generally an issue on Japanese trains). It only takes several minutes to prepare and bag your bike (under a minute with practice) and not much more to remove and stuff the bag. This can be important when you arrive at a station to catch a rare express train a bit late and don’t have time to spend 10 minutes getting your bike bagged. I personally find stuffing the bag back in the sack to take the longest as the extremely packable material seems to just keep on coming as you stuff it in the sack (it is quite a lot of fabric for such a tiny bag).

If you have an oversized bike or just want a really light and packable bike bag I would recommend you check Fairmean out. The 160g Air bag currently retails for ¥13,500~ and is available through Fairmean.com. There are a variety of colours to choose from so you should be able to find something that suits your preferences. You can follow Fairmean on Twitter @FAIRMEAN or on Facebook at Fairmean.

Originally posted on JeremyScofield.ca by jeremy under the title Fairmean 160g Air Bike Bag

I rather like my bike. It is a 2002 model Trek 2300 that has quite a few miles on it. It has travelled between countries several times and has never let me down. Over the years many parts have changed but it still retains the same spirit. Bikes do tend to evolve over time but we evolve with them and my bike is no exception. In its current incarnation it has Campy Zonda wheels, Shimano Ultegra 6700 groupo, Deda handle bars and stem, Fi’zi:k seat and post and FSA Carbon Team cranks. It flies over the pavement but is on the ground for breaking. What more could one ask for in a road bike?

Originally posted on JeremyScofield.ca by jeremy under the title My Bike

I have wanted to get a GoPro camera and shoot some footage of riding here in Tokyo and elsewhere so I finally just went ahead and got the camera. I got a GoPro HD Hero 2 Outdoor set but found the bracket a bit too light to be stable on my bike so I picked up a K-Edge Go Big Pro Handlebar Mount. After fixing the camera to my bike with the super-solid K-Edge bracket I headed out for my morning ride.

The ride itself was not a really fast one but the weather was nice and it was a good morning for shooting. I do plan to get out more in the near future, shoot a bunch of footage and make nice compilation videos, but this time I wanted to give people a sense of what it was like to do road cycling here in Tokyo.

Please enjoy the video!

Originally posted on JeremyScofield.ca by jeremy under the title August 21 Road Bike Ride Video (Tokyo, Japan)

Originally posted on JeremyScofield.ca by jeremy under the title First Road Ride of 2011

When I came to Japan at the end of last year my bike came with me but it has spent the winter lounging in the closet. Why would I do such a thing to my bike? Well, it is mostly a medical insurance issue. I still do not qualify for public medical here and even though it would have been possible to claim medical expenses in Canada it would have been a huge hassle even with travelers insurance. Luckily, I have found some medical coverage for people here who do not qualify for public medical. Since I am not doing any racing or commuting in the next few months the medical coverage should be fine for normal riding. It would probably be a bit irresponsible to ride in Tokyo without any coverage (not that it was not tempting whenever the sun came out and people were zipping by me on road bikes).

The other option would have been to ride on a training stand in my room for the winter, but not having a training stand hampered those plans pretty thoroughly. Today I should be getting my old training stand back from a friend so even if I had not had local insurance I would have been able to break out my bike. So, in a way, it is a doubly good day for my bike. Either way I will be able to ride in the very near future.

Now I just have to put my bike together, blow up the tires with a micro-pump(ack!) and decide where I will ride first!

Originally posted on JeremyScofield.ca by jeremy under the title My Bike: Free At Last

Originally posted on JeremyScofield.ca by jeremy under the title Bike Fashion