JeremyScofield.ca

Post-Ride Chocolate Smoothie

jeremy — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 08:53:23 +0000

Today was a fairly hard riding day on the road (wind, rain and a flat tire during the rain) so I decided to cheer myself up and help my recovery with a post-ride chocolate smoothie. Not really feeling like searching for a recipe online and then going out to try to find the ingredients (a lot of which are often hard to find in Japan) I decided to concoct a smoothie with the ingredients I already had at home. It actually turned out really tasty so I thought that I would post it up here so you can give it a try if you feel so inclined.

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

Shinjuku Gyoen Hanami 2013

jeremy — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 07:42:28 +0000

Today Yoko and I decided to go and check out the flowers at Shinjuku Gyoen (新宿御苑). Hanami has come a bit early in 2013, and it looked like it has already passed its peak in the park. Although it was not too crowded, it was not really the best day for wandering around and taking photos as the weather was both overcast and bright. I did get a few nice shots of some of the flowers in the park. I hope that you can enjoy them!

Originally posted on JeremyScofield.ca by jeremy under the title Shinjuku Gyoen Hanami 2013

Some Desktop Wallpaper I Use

jeremy — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 08:22:04 +0000

I often prepare my own desktop wallpaper for use on my Retina MacBook Pro as I love the way my photos look on the high-res display. Some of the images I often use are family related and are not really for distribution, but I do have a lot of neutral ones that are fine for the public.

If you have a few moments, please feel free to browse the images below and use any of them for your desktop wallpaper!

If you click on an image it will open the gallery in your browser. You can select “View full size” below the photo you would like to use as wallpaper to open it at full size in a new window. After the image loads, right-click and download the wallpaper. As they are quite large (3200×2000 pixels) they might take a few seconds to load on slower connections.

Originally posted on JeremyScofield.ca by jeremy under the title Some Desktop Wallpaper I Use

My Custom Coffee Tumbler – Spring 2013

jeremy — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 01:26:32 +0000

Spring is almost upon us here in Tokyo so I thought that it was time to move on from winter and embrace spring. To reflect this I have designed a new grande cup liner for my custom coffee tumbler to add a bit more of a spring feel. I have also designed a tall size version for those with tall size cups. Although I am not super fond of pink it really did work best as the background for the most popular spring flower here: 桜 (Japanese cherry). To tell the truth, I think we have more cherry blossoms in my hometown in Canada than one would typically see in Tokyo, but people in Japan tend to associate cherry blossoms with being a very Japanese thing and the strongest association with the coming of spring. As they tend to bloom here for not much more than a week in each area it can be a bit of a briefly dramatic spectacle. It is a nice time to go to Shinjuku Gyouen (新宿御苑) on a weekday and have a picnic, shoot some photos and relax. Go to a local park on the weekend and you will be lucky if you can sit down never mind picnic.

I think that by the time cherry blossoms have come and gone I will be happy to do another cup design that is not quite so pink

Update: By printing it on 和紙 (Japanese traditional paper) that is slightly off-white I have managed to make it look a bit more classic and a lot less pink!

Originally posted on JeremyScofield.ca by jeremy under the title My Custom Coffee Tumbler – Spring 2013

Castelli Gabba WS Jersey (2012)

jeremy — Sun, 23 Dec 2012 08:41:54 +0000

I have always liked to ride my bike all-year-round and have tried many different ways of dealing with transitional weather. Dressing for summer and mid-winter are generally pretty straightforward, but it gets a lot harder in the spring and fall. Both in my hometown on the west coast of North America and here in Japan the weather can be very unstable during the off-season. The mornings can be cold with rain showers and yet be warm and sunny before lunch. It has always been a bit tricky to dress for the changing conditions and everyone seems to have their own strategy. Always preferring to wear the minimum possible when riding I decided to try the Castelli Gabba WS Jersey.

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)

My Custom Coffee Tumbler – Winter 2012

jeremy — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 04:32:14 +0000

When I go to Starbucks (one of the few consistently non-smoking coffee establishments in Japan that serves decent straight iced tea) I tend to prefer to use my own tumbler, both for the discount and for its ability to hold liquid at temperature a bit longer than thin PET. Over the years I have had a few of these cups but as they were all plastic they tended not to be as effective at holding temperature as the stainless tumbler I had and I was always a bit torn which to use. Enter the stainless-core design-my-own-tumbler. This summer Starbucks in Japan started to sell my dream custom tumbler.

I picked one up and have been using it since fall. As the weather has moved into winter it was time to replace the falling leaves motif I went with for the fall months with something more season appropriate. Yesterday I designed, printed and prepared my winter tumbler (Shiro Snowflake version 2012). The dog (Shiro) design is one I did a number of years ago and still use on occasion in a variety of applications. Pretty nice, eh?

Originally posted on JeremyScofield.ca by jeremy under the title My Custom Coffee Tumbler – Winter 2012

Fairmean 160g Air Bike Bag

jeremy — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 01:39:01 +0000

Riding in Japan can be a bit difficult at times, and if you live in the central parts of the big cities it can be even harder to get out for rides in the mountains or the scenic countryside. Riding out of the city, especially in the summer, can be very punishing as there are many, many light controlled intersections on the main direct routes and quieter back streets can often be very circuitous. Generally the nicest option for spending the bulk of your Sunday ride time moving along nicely is to catch a train out to the starting point of your actual ride. By regulation on train lines in Japan this requires you to bag your bike.

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

My Bike

jeremy — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 00:35:52 +0000

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

Animals! (2012 Edition)

jeremy — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 00:46:45 +0000

I have always loved animals of all kinds, and have also felt a bit saddened by seeing animals caged, regardless of how well treated and how important it can be to raise support for animal awareness. Conversely, I am always happy to see creatures that I would otherwise have little or no opportunity to see with my own eyes. Please enjoy some of the photos I took at the Ueno Zoo, the Sunshine Aquarium and the Natural History Museum in Tokyo.

Originally posted on JeremyScofield.ca by jeremy under the title Animals! (2012 Edition)

Shinjuku Gyoen Fall Leaves (2012)

jeremy — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 00:32:37 +0000

Although the leaves are not necessarily as dramatic this year as usual due to the strange weather, there were still some nice fall scenes at Shinjuku Gyoen this year.

Originally posted on JeremyScofield.ca by jeremy under the title Shinjuku Gyoen Fall Leaves (2012)