A cycle-tastic Weekend

This weekend I had the most awesome 4 day weekend!

Thursday was lazy, but Friday all the exercise started!  I took a nice 12 mile ride into the Vale of Glamorgan to meet a friend for lunch at the fancy Vale Hotel and Resort.

Then I cycled 12 miles home!  Then I got talked into doing a time trial, and so cycled 12 miles to the start of the time trial.

And then I did a time trial!  A time trial is a timed race where you can't draft and you cycle as fast as you can over a certain distance, in this case it's 7.5 miles.  I started 1st and the other 17 racers started after me, 1 minute apart.

I was overtaken by racer 2 and 3 at around the 3 mile mark, and racer 4 at 6 miles, but ended with a pretty good time of 23:50 (18.5mph)

Position number 1 makes me feel like I am awesome but actually it is reserved for the slowest rider....

On Saturday I did park run, and came in with an average 30minutes for the 5k.  Need to run more.

On Sunday I did an AJAX ride.  70 miles long with an average speed of 16mph, 3,000 feet of climbing all done in 4 hours and 20 minutes.  I'm finally moving up in the club rides and feel like a pretty confident "slower middle group" rider as opposed to a "steady" rider.

Here's the Strava:

In total I've cycled 120 miles this weekend, which is a really good result.  And now, I'm tired!  I've got a morning gym session tomorrow and track cycling in the evening so I'm really going for it with this fitness stuff at the moment!

Good start to June!

May Recap!

May was a pretty mental month.  I moved house in the middle, had no internet, got internet, finished moving house.  In one week I worked 63 hours, but at the end of the month I claimed some of that time back and had a few days off in the sun.  I went camping in Ludlow for  a weekend which was awesome, I drank a fair amount of good beer, and I did my longest run ever.

My numbers are respectable... better than April!

Total bike miles: 205!

Total running miles: 12.5

So I ran a lot less this month, but cycled a lot more.  I'm a much better cyclist than runner so it's understandable, but soon I'm going to start entering a few 10k runs because the half marathon is getting closer...

June should be a good month, Brewer half and I have our own flat now where we do dorky things like bake bread

And buy loads of vegetable from local veg shops

This month I'm looking forward to eating well, cycling lots, enjoying a Welsh summer (hoping for sun!) 

My favorite Canadian Amy is coming to visit from Bath!

The Great Welsh Beer and Cider Festival is this month!  

And at the end of the month Brewer Half and I are going to Scotland for a holiday!

Lots of excitement - here's to an awesome June!

Rachel Visits Oxford and Lunch at the Gardner's Arms Oxford

A few weeks ago I visited Oxford to see my little sister, who is much more fashionable and photogenic than me:

When I arrived in Oxford I was 100% starving.  We tried to go to a fancy county pub called The Perch, which looked good but through a bizaare interaction with the staff we found out it was booked full.

Instead, little sister took me to The Gardener's Arms, a fully vegetarian pub in the Jericho area of Oxford. Because I am sometimes fancy I love the Jericho neighborhood: tiny cute shops, tasty restaurants  and adorable houses!

The menu was a typical pub menu - burgers, flat breads, calzones, a few salads...

I ordered the (veggie) burger with mango chutney.  The good point was that this veggie burger tasted almost as good as a very average meat burger.  Nice chutney and good toppings, the burger did taste "meaty".  But this is where my philosophy on vegetarianism shows through: vegetables are delicious and shouldn't be made to taste like meat.  There are a million delicious vegetarian foods, and the idea of creating a meat-substitute instead of embracing what is good about non-meat is counterintuitive to  me.  

Once you get over the novelty of being in a pub eating what kind of tastes like a burger but actually isn't a burger there's not much to say for the meal - I was full, it was good, and instead of thinking "wow that was delicious" I thought "wow, that didn't really taste vegetarian"

 Little sister ordered a burger with garlic mayo:

I'll let little sister do her own review here!

Hi there! I'm little sister (and Rachel's editor). I like food.

Growing up, I ate meat fairly regularly. It was rarely the main component of a meal, but we often had spaghetti with ground beef (or turkey), hamburgers, hot dogs, and dishes with chicken. Two years ago (one year into my liberal arts education) I sat in bed on an evening in May and thought to myself "I should probably be a vegetarian." Since then, I've been a pretty strict vegetarian, and I've found that I haven't had to make too many adjustments to my lifestyle. [Side note - the morning after that fateful night in May, I remembered the existence of bacon, or as I like to call it, nature's candy. That was a difficult time for me.]

A good example of how my life hasn't really changed that much since I went veg is this lovely picture of me gorging myself:

Yes, that's me chowing down on one of the best veggie burgers I've ever had. The Gardener's Arms serves lots of fake meat that tastes like real meat, which is not everyone's cup of tea, but I assume that's why they have salads too. Fake meat is, however, my cup of tea. I love fake meat. I used to like real meat, but I think I've gotten to the point where I could eat nothing but MorningStar fake bacon for the rest of my life and be content:

Unfortunately I don't think they sell this stuff in the UK... Y'all are missing out!

Wait, this is a review of The Gardener's Arms, isn't it... So yes, I love The Gardner's Arms. I love their meaty veggie burgers, and their mango chutney, and garlic mayo, and they have a chili cheese dog on the menu too which I'm sure I'd love. Vegetarian things that are made to taste like non-vegetarian things are not for everyone, but luckily The Gardener's Arms does have something for everyone on their menu. And lastly, their sticky toffee pudding is amazing. It's sticky and gooey and sweet and I love dates and toffee and pudding... Can you tell Rachel and I are related?

That's little sister!  And that was the Gardener's arms.  And that was Oxford! Little sister has since moved back to America, but it was nice to have her over on this British island with me and I will hopefully soon go visit her in Chicago instead!

Gardners Arms
8 North Parade Ave
Oxford OX2 6LX
01865 554007

Ajax Sunday Ride - Up the Rhigos in the Sunshine!

On Sunday I went out with Ajax for another Sunday Social Ride.  The routes had been put out on Tuesday (they're always ranked 1-4, 1 being fastest and 4 being slowest) and group 4 was going to Chepstow and back - a flat ride I have done loads.  I was all excited for the flat ride but when I got to the start MTB Ben told me to go with the faster ride (group 3) which was going up a massive mountain.

I said no.

Then I joined the group

We made it up the Rhigos fine, I was the 2nd from slowest but mostly from fear of not knowing how long the mountain was going to be, by the top I was moving quick again.  Next time I will try harder and next time I will go faster!

At the top everyone was waiting for me and also enjoying the sun

I decided to practice posing like a poser!

So comfortable! so natural!

After the ascent was the decent - 3.5 miles down the other side of the mountain with and average speed of 29.4mph and a max speed of 37.5mph.  SWEET!

Then we stopped at a cafe to refuel, where I dined on the competitive snack of champions:

Dark chocolate kit kat and full fat coke - YUM!

Unfortunately I had a bit of a mechanical problem at the end of the ride - 12 miles outside of Cardiff my pedal fell off.  2 miles later it fell off for good.  Despite the best help of my group I had accidentally destroyed my crank, partially from the sheer power and strength of my legs and mostly from cross threading my pedal until it was destroyed

I tried to cycle 1 legged for a while (there was no pedal anymore for leftie!) but it was painful and uncomfortable and I got a lot of odd stares so eventually I waited for Brewer half to pick me up from a town about 6 miles outside of Cardiff.

Brewer half earned some major beer credit from me on that ride - a lift home from Tongwynlais (lol at welsh town names!) and this dinner when I got back!

Yes I ate the whole bowl, and then a bit more, and then some stir fry, and then some crackers and cheese.  55 mile cycles make Hungry Rachel hungry!

And in case you are interested... here is the Strava:

And the Strava of my 1 footed ride

I've got internet! and the South Wales Echo On Your Bike for Barnardo's

Did you miss me?  I missed me!  Not having internet is the worst! Luckily I now have the internet, and so i can write things and do things and do things then write about the things I do!

Its a sign of the times that a house is not a home until there is internet.  It's also a sign of the times that I complained about not having internet on twitter.  The irony was not lost on me...

So what have I been doing besides moving?

I did the Barnardos ride!!

37 Miles through the lovely Vale of Glamorgan - It was the first big group ride I've done (about 350 people) and it was just awesome... the sun was out and I got to play tail-hog on cyclists a lot faster than me.  In the end I finished in 2 hours 10 minutes, next year I will definitely do sub 2 hours!!

And they put me in the news paper!! (I'm on the right in the group of 3)

Other than that I've been mountain biking, and I tried track cycling (on fixed wheel bikes) and I remembered that cycling in the sunshine is completely awesome and it's the whole reason I started cycling in the first place.  Cycling fast in the sunshine is even better so I think it's time to get my training on... more.

Back to unpacking...

Moving House is the Worst for a Blogger (also for a person)

Dear internets,

I have been the worst blogger!  But I have an excuse.  Sort of.  Sure, I've been eating, but it's mostly bread and cheese.  Sure, I've been exercising, but it's mostly been lifting... boxes.

I'm moving house today, and the amount of stuff I own is ridiculous   Yes, everything I own helps contribute to my awesome life... bag of cycling clothes, bag of running clothes, bag of work clothes, bag of leisure clothes, bike bits, camping bits, adventure bits, cooking bits... ahh the list goes on!

So it's been busy. Too busy for me to write about my awesome weekend in Ludlow

Which was filled with awesome beers

Too busy to write about my amazing Meet The Brewer with Sue from Waen Brewery!

But not too busy to pack my life away.  Which is what is happening now.  Boo!

Oh and the worst news? worse than packing?  

Internet is not coming to the new house till Monday!

NOOOOO!

What is a blogger to do without internet?!

I guess I'll just have to drink some of these....

Well, maybe not the Siracha. Not until I get desperate at least.

Reader question:  Is moving the worst? 
Yes
No
Stop playing on the internet and start moving!

Snack-tastic Sweet Chili Tofu Squares

I used to hate tofu.  Then I learned that tofu is awesome because it is like a vessel for awesome things, like sweet chili sauce.  A vessel with 10 grams of protein per 1/2 cup.

One of my favourite tofu snacks is baked tofu.  It's so easy!  The hardest part is buying tofu, I get mine at the asian grocery.  be sure to get the firm/extra-firm type:

Chop the tofu into roughly equal squares and put them on a baking tray covered with baking paper (for ease of cleaning tray!)

Pour lots of sweet chili sauce all over the tofu, then rub sweet chili sauce all over the tofu, until they are completely sweet chili'd out

Put the tofu in the oven at around 350f/ gas mark 5 / 200c for about 25 minutes, then flip when the edges start to crisp.

Or forget they're in the oven and leave them there for 45 minutes and you end up with this tasty mess

The baking paper means that you don't spend 12 hours cleaning the tray!

These are awesome as a snack by themselves, or you can chuck them into a salad for extra protein and flavor  It's better if you let the sauce soak for a while, but if you're forgetful like me you can chuck the sauce on and put it all in the oven quickly.  Then you can snack away!