Category Archives: bike

by | July 8, 2010 · 10:07 am

Blog Name Redeemed!

     I am back on the exercise wagon!!! Today, I completely overdid my workout and loved every second of it! I hiked. I biked. I ate! Boo to the yah!

     First, we’ll start with first things first. Firstly…

I had breakfast before my monster! This was an omelette with 2 eggs, 1/2 a cup of spinach, 2 teaspoons of chopped sun-dried tomatoes (I use the ones that are soaked in oil, then drain them – the flavor is so much better than dry!), and 1 teaspoon of goat cheese.
     My roommate was up late last night, and me, being the wonderful person that I am, decided to wait until both my roommates were awake to share the awesomeness that is the Green Monster!
By the time they were both awake, I’d eaten my omelette and was pretty full, so I had a half of a Monsta. Mine had 1 cup of spinach, 1/3 a cup of unsweetened soymilk, 1/8 a cup of frozen cherries, 1/3 of a banana and lemon juice.
     We got on the trail very, very late. For a change, my roomie and I tried a different trail – this was decided halfway to the national park while we were in the car, and I had no camera to document. It was beautiful! There was a thick marine layer and we walked through mist for the entire hour. This trail was a steep downhill for 1.43 miles, but that meant that it was another 1.43 miles back up that steep hill. It hurt. I loved it!
     After we got back to the house, I decided that since I was all sweaty and gross anyway, I might as well get on my bike! I biked down to the local library to return some books, and pick up some more. It took me about 5 minutes to lock my bike because I wanted to lock my wheel and frame to the bike rack, but alas, it wouldn’t fit. 
I figured that since I’m not at UCSB anymore, no one will be out to steal my tire or bike seat.
It was still there when I came out! Yay!!!
     I biked around with a full backpack – about 6.75 miles of which only the last .2 miles KILLED me! I don’t think I can detail the hill I live on enough to make you understand the pain that is involved in the climb up. I’ll have to post a picture tomorrey.
     I finally removed the 40 pounds of books that I’d had strapped to my back, and collapsed onto the couch.
My interests of the week: Flexitarianism, Veganism and mountain biking!
     I read the flexitarian book and wasn’t very inspired. It’s not as much of a nutritional info book as it is a mixture of random recipes. Meh. Next! The Veganomicon book (included in my favorites –>) is pretty cool! I’ll probably be dabbling in that during the next week – I’m going to do a week of veganism, just to see if I can! If you haven’t noticed, I really enjoy ridiculous challenges that have no real purpose to them except to prove that I can do anything :). The other books I’ll get to tomorrow.
     After showering, I chugged about 48 ounces of water immediately, then had a mini-salad to calm my stomach while I sauteed some zucchini.
1 cup of chopped lettuce and 1/4 a cup of chopped bell pepper with 1 teaspoon of homemade balsamic dressing.
Lots of Herbes de Provence!
Lunch was 1/4 cup of Barilla Plus pasta with tomato-basil marinara, 1/8 a cup of my sauteed zucchini and a teaspoon of goat cheese.
     After fooding, I fell into the barcalounger and flipped through some of my books. Before I knew it, my alarm was going off to remind me that I had to go to work. I threw on some clothes and makeup (blah), grabbed some books and headed out.
     My first stop was to get a little more calories into my system. I worked hard today!
OOOOOH YEAAAAH! I had a small with amaretto chocolate chip, rocky road and Grandma’s Penuche from Paciugo. This totally made my day!
     I actually had work to do at work! I was slammed with unpacking and repacking of boxes, cleaning counters and all that fun stuff, so the time flew by. It’s such a nice change to not be staring at the minutes creeping by on the clock.
     When I got home, I was going to have a nice hot cup of tea, but instead I went for this:
Stockyard Oatmeal Stout! This had a wonderful mocha smell, and tasted like a rich coffee with some toffee/chocolate mixed in. It was very smooth and had a great amount of carbonation – some of you may know that I don’t like flat beers I.E. Guinness and the like. I’ll be back for this one, especially since it’s only a dollar down at my local Trader Joe’s!
     I now feel warm and sleepy – the perfect way to feel after a beer, so I’m off to read some of my mountain biking books and prepare for another day tomorrow full of exercise, FARMERS’ MARKET, cooking and another late shift at work.
Anyone up for a week-long vegan challenge? C’mon, give it a try!

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Filed under beer, bike, green monster, hike, library, marine layer, omelette, Paciugo, pasta, salad, vegan, zucchini

by | June 7, 2010 · 8:19 am

Lunch Date!

Today was a long day. I mean a really, really long day. I woke up to my phone serenading Owl City to me at 7am, rolled out of bed and threw about 6 cups of spinach into the blender along with 2 frozen bananas, the juice of half of a lemon, a cup of blueberries and a cup of soymilk and ice. I skipped on the Emergen-C again, but even without, this was the best GM to date! Must be all the extra blueberries. Yay antioxidants!
I finally hopped on my bike and spent about 50 minutes going 7.5 miles. Is that a good time? I have no concept as to what qualifies as good timing on a bike. This road route I took was uphill the first 5 miles, then downhill for the rest, excepting the insane hill I have to ride up to get back home. I didn’t stop once, so I’m happy for that! I love having my heart race so much that I can feel my pulse in my teeth, and flying through a cloud of misty marine layer that makes my hair damp. Love it!
After I got back I had a scrambled egg for protein, chugged a crapload of water and stretched my insanely tight quads. I had an hour of relaxing time in the backyard enjoying a hot cup of coffee and a view before I had to head to work.
I worked for a half hour before my stomach started rumbling. I swear, my metabolism is insane! Must. Eat. Constantly. I brought some freshly sliced bell peppers and the remains of my homemade hummus (picture omitted because I thought I’d look like a crazy person taking pictures of my food). Then I had to plow through work with visions of my potential lunch options dancing in my head.
For lunch I went to Lazy Dog Cafe. A wee bit extravagant, but sometimes a girl just needs a good gourmet burger. And maybe a shared beer 🙂
I split a guacamole and green chile burger, as well as the signature Lazy Dog Amber with my awesome lunch date ;). I’m always on the search for that new brew that makes the day seem bright and exciting – this Wednesday I’ll be heading up to the Islands Brewery in Carpinteria with some friends to have some tastings and take a tour. You don’t even need to ask: of course there will be pictures!
I got home after what seemed like the LONGEST day on the planet and was too tired and too out of ingredients to make the Channa Masala I wanted to, so I ordered pizza instead. Oops. I had three (oops again!) slices of thin-crust ham and pineapple, as well as a Fat Tire. I wasn’t even hungry, but three pieces of pizza went into my stomach! I’ll have to work on that… Eating when I’m not hungry is definitely an issue with me.
We just finished watching a family friend, Jenn Karlman, on the season premiere of “Grill It with Bobby Flay!” She and Bobby made different versions of grilled wild wahoo. Very cool to see her looking all pro with her amazing chef skills. You can check Jenn out here. She’s an amazing improvisational cook and makes delicious, healthy meals!
I’m so sorry for the lack of pictures, but I’ll charge the camera battery so I can keep up. I hope everyone had a great weekend! Keep your chins up for the week – just because we have to get back to the drone of work doesn’t mean we can’t have the best droned-out week ever!
Cheers!

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Filed under Amber, bike, Fat Tire, green monster, hills, Lazy Dog Cafe, mountain bike, pain, spinach, ugh, work

by | May 30, 2010 · 7:10 am

The Daily Grind

The bike trumped the quinoa! I took off for a nice half hour ride to get to know my new friend – I definitely need to think up a name for her. After the ridiculous struggle up the hill back home, I had a big bowl of make-your-nose-drip-it’s-so-freakin’-spicy vegan chili waiting for me, and just had to make some garlic toast to dip in it.
Garlic Toast:
Take 1 slice of seedy, nutty whole grain bread and drop it in the toaster.
Slice off the end of 1 garlic clove and rub it over both sides of the toast.
Devour.
This is a really simple and delicious way to get the amazing taste of garlic bread without getting the calories from the butter and parmesan cheese that many recipes include. Plus, chili just can’t be eaten without garlic bread. It’s comfort food at its best!
On Friday morning we went for a very short 40 minute hike. We were hoping for a longer one, but real life got in the way, as did a late waking. I headed off to rehearsal for the upcoming film in Burbank and met some costars, got the wardrobe fitting and spent about 2 and a half hours going over the script and figuring out blocking. I came back with the plans of exchanging my bike shorts (the Pearl Izumi Speed ones I got were just a little too short for me to be comfortable wearing them in public), and found a great pair I wanted (the Pearl Izumi Attack shorts are just a tad longer, and a bit more expensive, but the extra panels make them fit much better) but they didn’t have my size. Instead I returned them and ordered the Attack shorts so I can try them on when the cycle shop gets them in next week.
I meant to jump right on my bike when I got home, but I had had a really long day of driving and socializing and driving again, so I crashed on the couch with a Fat Tire (whoops!) and read my latest issue of Backpacker magazine – a favorite of mine 🙂 Then, the roommates came back after a Ventura jaunt with a huge bag of chocolates that they were more than happy to share (thanks a lot, guys :-/). So to sum it up, my day didn’t end up the way I was hoping, but who can be perfect when they’re surrounded by generous people who have free chocolate?
This morning meant an early start at my day job. I had an AMAZING breakfast scramble with a piece of whole grain toast and olive oil – gotta have the healthy fats!
I have been craving massively spicy foods lately, so this one was doused in Trader Joe’s jalapeno hot sauce. Have I mentioned a million times how amazing that stuff is? For a long day at work, I really need to stuff myself in the morning. I’m one who needs to eat every 2 hours, otherwise I get nauseated (weird, right?).
At work I staved off all the sugary coffee drinks I love to get, but accidentally found Paciugo, the gelato place I used to frequent on a daily (!) basis. The thing is, I’d heard that they recently came out with a new flavor called, get this, ORGANIC MAPLE CARAMELIZED BACON! I’ve been dying to try it since I read that it was upcoming on their menu, and MAN was that sample worth it! It’s an amazing creamy, sugary maple gelato with bacon that has been sprinkled with sugar, then baked until caramelized and crumbled on top. It’s the perfect combination of salty and sweet. Needless to say, I went back for another sample…
Lunch was a mini spicy tuna roll with brown rice and spicy Sriracha sauce. Almost any sushi place has brown rice available for a minimal fee, which I find strange… why does it cost MORE to get rice that still has the hull on? Wouldn’t it take MORE time and money to process the rice to get the white rice? Can anyone tell me why that is? I’m totally lost…
As the work day wound to a close, I found myself thinking about those gelato samples more and more and decided, why not? It’s only 100 calories for a child’s size cup, and if I completely deprive myself then I’ll end up gorging later. Plus, I had an awesome bike ride planned for after work. It was so worth it!
I arrived home completely exhausted, and threw myself onto my bike seat before I could even think about what I was doing. I headed down and spent about 50 minutes on a higher gear speeding around a local park. As I headed onto a side trail, my chain dropped (oh, joy…) and I spent 5 minutes covering my hands with grease trying to hook it back on, and even managed to get a big metal chunk of chain lodged in my thumb. I struggled back up my hill without stopping, and got all the way up in record time! Yay!
For dinner I sauteed some frozen butternut squash I chopped up last month and stirred it into the leftover chili with a little brown rice. A little Franziskaner (a really good German hefeweizen) topped me off, and now I’ll be all carb-ed up for another long day at work tomorrow. The next workout will have to wait until Monday :-/

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Filed under beer, bike, chain, chili, garlic bread, pain, Pearl Izumi, trail, vegan

by | May 27, 2010 · 12:30 am

New Beginnings

First post! After a few weeks of contemplation, I came up with a name that I hope suits my blog… What I’m aiming for is a fitness/nutrition blog as I go from soft around the edges to totally ripped – having to show my stomach in an upcoming film I’m shooting might be a big motivator, but in general I just love sweating like a pig and being completely exhausted from exertion.
Finally back after a long 8 days in Colorado for my brother’s wedding. Fort Collins, Colorado: an amazing place for biking outdoors, hiking through the mountains, jogging through the parks and drinking good beer from the New Belgium Brewery. Unfortunately, I only succeeded at the final task – the drinking of GOOD beer. My hopes of biking along the bike paths that are set next to roaring rivers were overtaken by drives up to Estes Park to check out the wedding location, picking up a freshly-pressed wedding dress, and meeting up with new members of the family. Oh, that and the three free mugs of Fat Tire that were provided each night by our amazing hotel. Whoops…
The wedding was absolutely beautiful. A nice brisk morning in an open field in the mountains with the sun shining and a gorgeous bride emerging from the limo to walk down the aisle and meet my beaming brother. I’ve never seen him look so happy in my entire life. Vows were said, tears were shed (a lot by me :-/) and they sped off in their little convertible. I can honestly say it was the PERFECT wedding, and seeing how in love they both are just made for a joyfully blessed day.
Overall, an amazing trip. I’m a little bummed I didn’t get (or didn’t make time) to go biking around Old Town Fort Collins or hike in the mountains, HENCE this blog! I’m finally back on track!
We got back last night, finished our week with sushi and more Fat Tire, and watched our Glee episodes that we missed. This morning I woke up headache-free and raring to go. Had my typical Emergen-C, mug of coffee with some Silk creamer and honey (it’s antibacterial and healthy! At least that’s what I’m telling myself) and a big-ass salad with a little olive oil, balsamic vinegar and whole grain mustard. Normally I wouldn’t have salad for breakfast, but I was kind of craving it, plus our refrigerator was completely empty after being cleaned out for the trip. Lettuce is all that survived.
Next came the hike in the national park that we live next to – just a quick 44 minute climb since we haven’t been moving in over a week. The temperature was absolutely perfect and the views are incredible! I’m enraptured every time we go there.
Lunch was a grilled salmon filet with a homemade honey-mustard crust and some pre-cooked frozen brown rice from Trader Joe’s. Up next is a bike ride on my new Specialized Hardrock mountain bike that looks totally kick-ass, PLUS has this awesome Fat Tire sticker I got for free at New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins.

I’m still waiting to hear about a job that starts tomorrow, so that’ll determine my workouts for the upcoming week. My goal for this week is to get on my bike as often as possible after early morning hikes, and focus on lots of push-ups and crunches. I’m the kind of person who, if she doesn’t see results after two days, throws her hands in the air and says, “why bother?” Hopefully writing all this down will be a memory-jogger for me.
Aaaaand first post done! Signing off for a bike ride, and I’ll meet you all back here later! 🙂

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Filed under beer, bike, brewery, eat, fitness, hike, New Belgium, nutrition, salmon