Chocolate milk IS good for you!

Anyone with a sweet tooth knows our incescent need to all things sweet quite often leads to our failed attempts at reaching perfect race weight. Plus, late afternoon's sugar crashes are all too common too. However, when Twitter socialite (and follower) @ericoduarte from Brazil noted how low-fat chocolate milk drink has shown to increase post-exercise recovery over traditional recovery products, I thought yeah right?

However, true to his tweet he shared a recent article which offered information to support his claim.

Medical News Today's article 'Chocolate Milk's 'Natural' Muscle Recovery Benefits Match Or May Even Surpass A Specially Designed Carbohydrate Sports Drink', examines how consuming the humble ubiquitous low-fat chocolate milk drink can boast recovery. Guardian's article 'milk 'just as good as sports drinks' for athletes' confirms it.

Low-fat chocolate milk is just as good as sports drinks at helping athletes recover from exercise...

Wow, I hear you say? Yes, that's what I thought when I read it. Right, I'm off to Tescos to buy me some choco milk drinks.

[thanks Erico!]

Late edit: For a shoot out on the state of off-the-shelf milk drinks available for sportsman check out Bigfoot MBC's blog post.

Greeting: are you a nodder or a waver?

Ever since I heard a professional cyclist (wish I could remember his name now?) slag off a novice cyclist for nodding - claiming "they are the nodders" - at a passer-by cyclist, I consciously consider my greeting actions - nod or wave - when faced with that encounter?

To nod involves a short dipping of the head/helmet and to wave you raise your hand and often pointing finger upwards simultaneously, at a fellow cyclist while on the move. All in the name of saying hello and acknowledging for a common cause. Of course you can simply shout out "hello/hiya/howzit..etc", but then often cyclists have their ears plugged up with music, right?

So, out of curiosity I decided to run a quick Twitter poll to gauge how fellow (Twitter followers) cyclists greet each other (mostly strangers)? After a few minutes of sending the tweet it was clear that people usually signal using various gestures.

I mostly nod (safer in built up London traffic) and occassionally finger gesture too.

The Twitter poll results:

Nod = 7

Wave (finger gesture) = 7

Other gestures:

Shout: 4

Ding: 1 (@londoncyclist suggested that perhaps we should Ding them)

Here's what some of the respondants had to say/comment on Twitter:

@londoncyclist: I tend to nod when passing another cyclist. Maybe I should Ding them. Have you heard of Ding Day?- http://tr.im/xkjm

http://twitter.com/londoncyclist/status/3598857591

@Humphr: Both

http://twitter.com/Humphr/status/3598895059

@ishmaelb: Depends on what you mean by "cyclist", but normally I just wave.

http://twitter.com/ishmaelb/status/3598932671

@adrian_trenholm: nod, wave or shout "good morning" depending on circs, to cyclists, runners, walkers and horse riders.

http://twitter.com/adrian_trenholm/status/3598982624

@Yorkshire11: I just blurt a good 'Hello Mate' out, or something topical like 'Nice init'. THe best thing is saying hello to people

http://twitter.com/Yorkshire11/status/3599121396

@RyanV49er: Crazy flapping arms and shouting "watch out for the dogs!!!!". Always makes me laugh...

http://twitter.com/RyanV49er/status/3599214169

@felixhemsley: A sly nod of the head and a raise of the fingertips off the bar as a gesture...

http://twitter.com/felixhemsley/status/3599250883

@stevesaunders: I nod, and lift one finger from my bars or hoods as a wave

http://twitter.com/stevesaunders/status/3599637514

@TheOnlyMrW: nod or wave and a hello, unless they're mountain bikers as you never get a response!

http://twitter.com/TheOnlyMrW/status/3599904884

Annon: Nod

Surrey League Road Race (August 23, 2009 Goodwood)

[Rob Enslin and John Veness at Goodwood, Chichester]

Another wonderful post-summer Sunday at Goodwood saw me enter the Surrey League 5-Day support race. Both Sam (Allen) and I were supporting AW Cycles.

My plan today was to ride hard and use the race as training. The warm sunshine would see me enjoy a hard race. With itchy feet I showed signs of aggressive racing while Sam was looking good too. We took turns attacking and chasing potential moves down. The main activist was Paul (Pickup), who was seriously active attacking at every possible opportunity... he was certainly in line for a win?

At the three quarter mark Sam got away with Paul, Bryan (Taylor) and one other guy to form a promising break. They managed to open a gap very quickly and soon out of sight. With Sam in the group I resumed a defensive role, marking every move and conserving my legs in case we somehow caught the lead group later.

By the bell lap a small group, Jason and one other guy (and me tailing on) managed to close the gap to within 100m. I noticed Sam drop off the group (as he cramped I later heard) and was hanging on for dear life... as we came ever closer to the finish.

On the final straight the sprint for victory was over with Bryan taking the win (second to Paul Pickup). Sam somehow hung on to forth and I came in just behind the winner of our sprint group with Jason (Edwards) from Wild Side Road Team, winning it to claim 6th.

After last weeks result this is my best to date. Things are looking up. Until next time, adios.

Rapha Pro Socks - delivery experience

After much umming and ahring, I decided to splash out and buy some Rapha socks.

I'm a big fan of high-ankle cycling socks. It's so darn hard to get high-ankle socks so finally I decided to splash out and buy some from Rapha online.

One area I'm particularly interested in is the online customer delivery service (see Camelbak Daxio backpack). It starts at the first touch point - the website - then onto the email transaction notification until the item finally reaches me. My final judgement is that OOBE (Out Of Box Experience) I get when I open the package to reveal the contents of my purchase.

This OOBE was notable (albeit a pair of socks).

Rapha Pro Socks from Rob Enslin on Vimeo.

I'm a big fan of high-ankle cycling socks. It's so darn hard to get high-ankle socks so finally I decided to splash out and buy some from Rapha online.

One area I'm particularly interested in is the online customer delivery service. It starts at the first touch point, the website and then onto email transaction notification until the item finally reaches me. My final judgement is that OOBE (Out Of Box Experience) I get when I open the package to reveal the contents of my purchase.

SL Ewhurst Road Race (16th Aug)

[Photo: www.davehayward.com]

If you read my blog you'll have noticed that I haven't blogged for some time, and that's because I've not done much on the bike lately. So, now that my work commitments have somewhat relaxed I've decided to get going again, and so can officially announce the start of my race season. So a week ago - after my South African holiday - I finally decided to enter the Surrey League Ewhurst RR. I used the online rider registration (RiderHQ) service to enter.

With Ockley Village Hall so close to home (~5 miles) I decided to get race ready at home and ride to the start as a warm up. This would be the first time I'd used my new race bike (Giant TCR Advanced) and with my Fulcrums too. Needless to say it was great to see all the riders again - I sure miss the atmosphere. My mate Gilly (Andrew Gill) was there too so that was a bonus.

Other than the road surface this course is magical. It takes you around beautiful Surrey countryside along narrow lanes. The course itself winds its way through Ewhurst and then back on to the A29 before it heads back to the HQ, Ockley Village Hall. We had to complete six laps before branching onto the final section up Leith Hill (71 miles).

The race started in glorious sunshine after the obligatory race briefing. Immediately riders started attacking, trying to get away - a common pattern on the course. Two riders, Jodie Crawford and Sam Allen (AW Cycles) clipped off front and began to build a good lead. Soon afterwards I attacked and burried myself to bridge, which I finally did. Jody ran into some puncture trouble, but managed to get back to his car to replace it.

We got caught after a lap and soon afterwards a trio clipped off (and stayed away till the end). My team mates, Simon and Sam (AW Cycles), attacked and worked well together. Now patrolling the front of the peleton I managed to get a quick word in with John (Heaton-Armstrong, from Fit-For) where we agreed that the race was pretty much 'over'. The lack of spirit demonstrated by the groupies confirmed that there is a lot of negative riding in local Surrey League - riders seemed to rather sit in and follow wheels. A frustrated John continued near the front, secretly hoping some might be courageous enough to have a go. It was not to be.

In the closing stages of the race I came to the front main group to complete the second half of the last lap out front, holding a steady pace comfortable knowing my team mates where out of sight.

On the final turn headed towards the finish I pulled to the side and let the group fight for the minor placings. I was content with how my first ride had gone and

Results:

1. Guy Powdrill (London Dynamo/Cyclefit)

2. Steven Saunders (Kingston Whls CC)

3. Simon Ernest (AW Cycles)

28. Rob Enslin (AW Cycles)