NYT article on a study that monitors NYC cyclist's air quality — PM2.5s not so nutritious.

I've started using this free iOS app Airvisual to send air quality status updates pre morning rides, it's eye opening.

@JohnMalcolmson i signed up for this study haha

JohnOlsson said:

@JohnMalcolmson i signed up for this study haha

Very cool, are you in already? What's the deal?
AQ really is something we all should be actively measuring like UV exposure.
It was interesting to me that the post 4th of July fireworks in the city was Beijing level bad for several hours afterwards.

Haven't heard back from them yet, sounds like they need quite a few volunteers though. 
Its super sketch & i wouldn't be surprised if not all of the data got published, especially for certain crossings. Will be real interesting to see these types of considerations being made when planning/ designing infrastructure. (ie: the way up to the manhattan bridge on the Bk side is apparently a pollution funnel)

Columbia University Biking Study

Some of you may have noticed weird descriptions on my strava activities lately & others might have even ran into me like @Bruce van-Schalkwyk the other day on the Manhattan Bridge! But unlike my typical commute garb, I have also been wearing air monitoring equipment to monitor my exposure to pollutants and other particulate matter on my 15-mile commute to/from the UES to/from South Brooklyn.

It is a five-year study & they are about 3 years into collecting data. Hopefully one day the data will be available to policy makers and city planners when NYC is considering new and existing infrastructure improvements throughout NYC.

If anyone is interested let me know & i will reach out to the organizers. My involvement so far consists of six 24-hour non-consecutive monitoring sessions throughout a 3-week period.

The bike vest holsters two separate sensors, each of which measure different particles. One measures those particles that are 'un-burnt,' typically referred to as black carbon (diesel emission) & the other measures traces of nasty particulate matter that are so small they can deposit themselves in your lung tissue.

Here is an AQ action shot (while looking sharp). 

^ Thought you were rocking a Camelback for a sec. 

2.5μm particles spike at rush hour, do you know if wearing a mask protects against those?

I know, I know, total downer. 

fascinating. I had no idea human hair is made up of anthrax, bread mold spores, dust mite waste, salt, and neurons. 

GregStreiff said:

fascinating. I had no idea human hair is made up of anthrax, bread mold spores, dust mite waste, salt, and neurons. 

lol thats meant for scale @GregStreiff , although China Town...i dunno, maybe throw some black plague in there? 

@JohnMalcolmson i doubt it, you would have serious air restriction. you would need a darth-vader type of respirator to filter those out & maintain Kissena-like air volume intake

I can tell you firsthand it's going to be ugly. The white rubber arms of my riding glasses would turn black pretty much daily on my commute into Manhattan.

I'll give you one guess about the air quality up here...

https://epa.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=5f239fd3e72f424f98ef3d5def547eb5&extent=-146.2334,13.1913,-46.3896,56.5319

Eating a cliff bar in a road race...

https://dms.licdn.com/playback/C4D05AQHyrjAFG2m6MA/7d5301a3c14242eca9a24ffb9dc48c11/feedshare-mp4_500/1479932728445-v0ch3x?e=1521399600&v=alpha&t=etKqG_MexHHBK3_5BjbCjea4wo5m-UCcejhYUbHCaJs

Jules, you must be really snowed in to be that far down the rabbit hole.....

Two nuggets:

1) i've been under the assumption that a cliff bar per hour is a bit MORE than I needed on a long ride - it's actually only 42g of carb - at 1g/kg/hour that's not even close to enough
2) interesting article on food & athletes https://cyclingtips.com/2018/04/weighing-in-nutrition-body-image-and-finding-balance-as-a-female-athlete/

Jules said:

Two nuggets:

1) i've been under the assumption that a cliff bar per hour is a bit MORE than I needed on a long ride - it's actually only 42g of carb - at 1g/kg/hour that's not even close to enough

But can you take in more without limiting performance?  

Therein lies the rub.

I figure I'm usually a little behind in my intake of calories on long rides--a bar and a bottle of some energy drink is probably less than 400 calories per hour, more like 320-350, and I'm definitely burning more than that.  All the same, when I'm riding hard, I have trouble eating more.  

Have been contemplating this question on proper hydration recently.

Assuming you are properly hydrated before the start of a workout, would it be more beneficial to take electrolytes during the first or second half of your workout?

In other words, do you proactively take electrolytes in anticipation of you depleting them during the second half of the workout? Or is a more continuous electrolytes intake more beneficial? Is taking the full necessary amount during first or second half of your workout negligible?

Can anyone shed light?? @TimCusick, have you thought of this before??

If you have to choose, then you wanna use your nuun tablets on the FIRST half of the race or event.

The human body is an insanely efficient homeostasis machine. If you don't drink the electrolytes they will be pulled out of other places. If you drink too many, you'll piss them out.

TLDR: drink electrolytes throughout.

Curious as to what cold weather rule of thumb everyone is using for eating on the bike. Kilojoules seems to be a great way to determine when to eat. Do people assume a lower metabolic efficiency % (how much of what you eat is actually converted to energy) in colder weather rides and eat more often as a result??

JohnOlsson said:

Curious as to what cold weather rule of thumb everyone is using for eating on the bike. Kilojoules seems to be a great way to determine when to eat. Do people assume a lower metabolic efficiency % (how much of what you eat is actually converted to energy) in colder weather rides and eat more often as a result??

the  TL/DR is eat as normal.

The longer explanation is that since you're generally doing enough to generate heat, aka sweat, that whatever the cold might do in terms of shivering is offset by exercise.  

https://www.vox.com/2017/12/23/16774320/exercise-in-cold-burn-more-calories

However, make sure to have some kind of electrolyte drink in your bottles, if for no other reason than to avoid the bottles freezing.

Just to mix things up, I often choose different bars to eat in the cold.  Coated bars, like those from Clif's Luna line, melt in the summer, so I can only eat them on the bike in winter.  Or, you can do ok with things like Pop Tarts and cookies, as you're typically not riding as hard so digesting is a bit easier.

Fascinating

https://cyclingtips.com/2019/06/exactly-how-much-do-the-pros-eat-during-a-grand-tour/

Jules said:

Fascinating

https://cyclingtips.com/2019/06/exactly-how-much-do-the-pros-eat-during-a-grand-tour/

Takeaways seem to be that carbs are still king, we need (or can use) more protein than we think, there are days (most days) were you should watch how much you eat, so to not eat too much in preparation for the really hard days. And once on the very hard day, you should eat crazy town tons while on the bike

-- While it sounds like I'm half joking, a little discipline can allow us to do exactly the same. There are very few things we can do as well as grand tour contenders, this is one of them.

eloy said:

Jules said:

Fascinating

https://cyclingtips.com/2019/06/exactly-how-much-do-the-pros-eat-during-a-grand-tour/

Takeaways seem to be that carbs are still king, we need (or can use) more protein than we think, there are days (most days) were you should watch how much you eat, so to not eat too much in preparation for the really hard days. And once on the very hard day, you should eat crazy town tons while on the bike

-- While it sounds like I'm half joking, a little discipline can allow us to do exactly the same. There are very few things we can do as well as grand tour contenders, this is one of them.

this is so true. Also sleep.

While I've been uncomfortably hungry trying to run a caloric deficit for the past couple of months, when I'm on the bike I eat plenty.

Eggnog is the ultimate recovery drink. 
come at me

A whole turkey a day keeps the soreness at bay! 

Ah yes, menthol gels is what we all need 
https://www.google.com/amp/s/road.cc/content/tech-news/sis-turbo-claims-offer-5-boost-performance-275139?amp

Has anybody found a decent alternative to Skratch Labs? It galls me no end to be paying "doctor" Lim.

I've had some good luck with Nuun's drink mix. I think its called endurance? it has calories and carbs, unlike their lil tablets. It mixes well, can totally be adjusted for potency and I haven't had any stomach issues with it. 

For transparency, I need to say I applied on a whim to be a "Nuun Ambassador" at the end of 2019. I would recommend everyone applying for it when the time comes again next year because the digs are p good (40% off everything). They must not do too much vetting because they would have seen that I'm a mediocre bicycle racer with like 300 followers on an instagram set to private.

I would share the code, but they do a pretty good job kicking folks out who let their pals use the coupon code or use addresses that don't match with the "ambassador". 

Jules said:

Has anybody found a decent alternative to Skratch Labs? It galls me no end to be paying "doctor" Lim.

This is the very reason I have never use them.

Nuum tablets in my drinks. 

GU gels, and delicious Chia HUMA Gels (these are expensive, so use sparingly, but they are so good)

Chocolate milk for recovery. 

Most everything else is something I've learned from Namrita's challenges. 

Last year I started baking my own bars, using this recipe from sweet local Lottie -- The recipe is for muffins, I bake them in the shape of bars, and always add half a cup of blueberries, half a cup of chocolate chip, and a pinch of salt.

Hoping to start making my own gels next week. Will report back.