Let's try some USN goodies! // Mega post on nutrition samples

I just got my hands on a nice selection of product samples from the well known company called USN. They have a massive range of nutritional suppliments and within this range there is a group of cycling specific stuff also. I'm kind of familiar with the USN products, I've used the Vooma gel and I have to say I'm impressed how good it is. So obviously I was happy when I was given a bag of goodies from their range through the shop 'cause I have the chance to try them out during training or racing. Great stuff! :)

I've got a little bit of everything from energy gels, through bars all the way to carbohydrate & recovery protein drinks with bottle and shaker. But let's see them in a little more details!

The first is the Cyto Power HP "which combines both high and intermediate carbohydrates which has been shown to promote exercise performance and tolerance, as well as muscle recovery, during physical exercise. This combination ensures rapid energy conversion, while still promoting stabile blood sugar levels throughout an event. It contains Caffeine and Taurine for that little bit of a mental boost as well. Cytopower HP is the ideal supplement for any athlete, whether the focus is on endurance activities, intermediate team sports or other energy consuming sports."

 The next one is the Recover Xcell which is a nice recovery drink with whey protein. "Recovery is very important after a hard training session or race, the 30 - 45 minute window after training or events is a crucial time during which the body races to a fast recovery." USN's Recover Xcell is precisely formulated as a post training recovery drink, so I'm pretty excited about this particular product since I never really used any recovery suppliment before.

The next one is the VO2 MAX and it is a little more specific I have to say. "This one has been developed to increase oxygen uptake and ventilary breakpoint, enabling the athlete to push harder for a longer period of time. Furthermore, it buffers lactic acid, which forms around the muscles following moderate to intense exercise. Lactic acid hampers performance and is responsible for the soreness and stiffness experienced after physical activity." Now, this is something that I think falls into the "goes a bit too far..." category but I'll give it a shot and see how it works.

The next product is possibly the best gel I ever encountered and it's called Vooma Gel. "It has a great mix of high quality fast and medium release carbs combined with a range of actives that ensure you keep your electrolyte balance, don't suffer from dry mouth. It absolutely works fantastic for me and besides the effectiveness and taste the other lovely idea is the package." Open & close it back any time I want! Isn't it handy?

And the last one to be tested would be the Protein Delite Bar. "It is a convenient meal replacement, nutrition snack. It is designed for active people who demand the benefits of high quality protein and complex carbohydrates for optimum health, muscle recuperation and physical performance. Protein is the structural core of the human body and is at work in every single cell." They do look yummy and I honestly can't wait to try these bad boys! :) 

And I have to admit that I never seen bigger bars in my life...

...I mean it is HUGE! With it's own 96 g of weight it is a Monster Bar! :)

So, this is it, I have a whole bunch of new stuff to try in the upcoming days and weeks. I'm looking forward to test them and see how they work. Based on my previous experience with the gels I'm expecting to have nice results though. I will start to use them tomorrow evening when I hit the Kilmashogue Lane climb to do some interval training. Bring it on! :)

Source of description and more details are on http://www.usnireland.ie/

Spring spin up on Threerock // 3 hours XC spin

I think the spring is definitely on the way and the perfect proof for that was the fantastic sunny morning on Saturday. I got all my stuff ready and I was on my way up to Threerock at 8 am sharp to meet up with the guys from ThinkBike.ie CC. I did catch up with the lads in the lower carpark and we started to climb up towards the top. The day way bright & warm enough but the trails were pretty muddy at places 'caused by the rain on the night before. We did the ususal route a couple of times and after about 1 hour and 30 minutes into the spin they went back home (there was a running event in the Marlay Park on the same morning) so I got left alone to do my own stuff. 

I had lot more planned for the day so I kept going and luckily met wit Joe McCall and another mountain biker called Mark so I joined and stayed with them for about an hour or so. The trails we took were amazing: technical steep climbs & descents. I loved it! :)

The map of the spin

Just before we reached the Metro trail again we split up and I hit the Boneshaker and the route back home afterwards. I've had a great time on the bike and I loved the way the second half of the spin was pretty techical and to be fair intense enough thanks to Joe. :) 

I spent 3 hours on the bike and ended up doing 42 km with 1100 m of total elevation gain along the way. After the tough interval session on Thursday I'm pretty tired and feel like I need a good rest after these two spins.

Tough interval session with the ThinkBike lads // Ticknock x 6

Another Thursday evening means nothing else but savage ThinkBike Interval Sufferfest on the local climbs. So as it happens every week lately, I got prepared for today's tough going straing after work. I got home and prepared my second lunch 'cause I knew I have to fill the energy levels for later on. 

Semolina porridge with kiwi, peach & some cocoa powder. A plate of this treat keeps me going for a whole day! :)

After a quick prep I was on my way to the Taylor's carpark where the start point was for tonight. I met the lads from the club there and after few minutes of chatting we started the fun. 

Today we climbed from the M50 bridge up to the Ticknock lower carpark 6 times in a row. This climb is 2.1 km long and has 145 m elevation gain. I like this road 'cause the surface is excellent and the view is nice as well on the way back down. 

The elevation graph of the climb that we've done 6 times tonight

Since this was the 4th week for me doing interval trainings I felt great on the bike. I kept the pace nice and steady for the first 3 and increased the rythm a bit during the last 3 times. I managed to get 8 minutes and 20 seconds as a best time during the 4th climb which I'm defo happy with 'cause my first race is coming up in 4 weeks time and I started to feel in good shape for it. Great! :)

It's all over: face is happy, legs are wrecked. Exactly the way it was planned! ;)

It was just so nice to be out: little bit wet but warm evening, in fact I couldn't believe that I was able to go for a spin wearing 3/4 lenght in February. I love you Ireland, I couldn't do the same thing in Hungary that's for sure! 

I cycled out as a warmup and cycled back home after all the climbing was done so I ended up doing 41 km and spent 2 hours on the bike. Was good and effective, I feel pretty tired now. My legs are wrecked and I'm super sleepy indeed...so I guess...it's bed time for me! :)  

Triple-X...x...x

So here I am, joined the famous club of 30 years old youngsters today. After a great day, a fantastic dinner with my wife Anett and a yummy birthday cake there is nothing that could make my day any better. What it is like to be 30 years old? This poster says it all! :)

ThinkBike.ie interval session - Kilmashogue Lane x 2

Wow, what an evening on the bike! I went out with the ThinkBike.ie CC lads this evening to get some hard interval training done on the road bike. The location was the Kilmashogue Lane , so we all expected some steep climbing as today's task. And we were right: it was steep but it was brilliant! 

All set, ready to go! :)

We started our training session at 6pm sharp just as we do on Thursday evenings. Obviously the place was pitch black so I had all the proper night lights fitted. Today's "dose" was to get the climb done twice in a row from the M50 bridge all the way up to the very top where the tarmac road ends. I haven't been on this climb for a couple months at this stage, so I was super curious to see how it'll go.

Luckily it went the kind of way I hoped for: felt good 'cause I have been doing lots of climbing lately but of the roughly 13 minutes time that took me to get up to the top is way behind my PB. But of course that is 100% OK at this time of the year though! :)

The double Kilmashogue Lane climb at night is done & dusted, it's time to head home

I started to really enjoy all these interval training sessions lately and even if they turn into a night ride road spin every time the whole thing is cool! I just simply like to get on the bike, get out there and get some sweet climbing done. Yep, sometimes it's wet and damp, some other times we are freezing to bits but that's all part of the game, isn't it? But in the end of the day I'm on the bike and that keeps me happy! :)

Glo & Ember - Cool lights from Bontrager

After years of hard use my Knog Bullfrog lights gave up so I had go get my hands on some new lights quickly. This time I had my eyes on these super sweet, compact set of lights from Bontrager, they are called Glo and Ember.

The compact size and stylish design made them very attractive to me, mainly 'cause I prefer something that can be taken off and fitted back on again fast without permanent brackets on the bike. The elastic rubber band is good choice on them! They can be run in flashing or steady mode and the regular enough CR 2032 batteries can be replaced any time.

I just tried them out this evening on my way home from the shop and they are surprisingly bright although they wouldn't be the best choice on some properly dark coutry roads of course. I really like the way they are nice and small and barely can be noticed on the bike. Also good thing is the way they are designed: there is no switch on the actual shell of them but once you press the light itself you activate the switch that is underneath. Cool! :)

...click here to read more. 

I'm looking forward to try these bad boys properly and see how they perform. I hope the spring is on the way though and we don't need to use lights any longer. But until then I happily use these cool little lights!

Started to feel the speed - morning road spin over the Sally Gap

Another morning means another road spin before I get to work. This time I had about 3 hours window I could work with so that left me with the obvious choice: yep, the Sally Gap, just as always! :)

This morning's ride

The plan was to have a nice and fast paced training spin on one of my favourite training loop, which would be the next: 

Milltown - Stepaside - Enniskerry - Powerscourt - Sally Gap - Lough Tay - Ballinastoe - Djouce - Enniskerry - Stepaside - Milltown

I was really lucky with the weather this morning, no rain, no crazy wind just dry roads and a bit of sunshine along the way. Just as we expect a nice February morning to be! :) Everything was just nice and calm out there with very little traffic and stunning view at some places. 

Who wouldn't live in a place like this, hah?! Absolutely fantastic!

But back to the spin! I started to push it hard straight from the beginning and I felt very good all the way so I decided to have the split times recorded, I thought they could be interesting. Here they are:

             CP1 - Enniskerry @ 32 minutes of riding time

             CP2 - Powerscourt Waterfall @ 46 minutes of riding time

             CP3 - Military Road junction @ 1 hour and 10 minutes of riding time

             CP4 - Sally Gap @ 1 hour and 30 minutes of riding time

             CP5 - Enniskerry @ 2 hours and 15 minutes of riding time

             CP6 - Milltown (home) @ 2 hours and 50 minutes of riding time

I'm happy to get this 73 km long spin done under 2 hours and 50 minutes time with all the climbs along the way.  It was tough enough morning spin with all the 1186 m elevation gain. 

And there is one more thing that I'm happy for: I managed to set a new PB speed record on the was down from the Sally Gap, just next to the Lough Tay. Happy days!

I had great time on the bike today and it was great to have a bit more intense training spin especially 'cause the racing season is coming soon. Legs were turning fine and I felt it for the first time this year that all the training I've done all started to build up. Feels greeeaaaat!

Old bikes = nice memories

I was going through some of my old photos a couple of days ago and I found some interesting stuff again. This time I got shots of nearly all of my XC race bikes from the last 10 years. There is a quiet bit of a change between each of them and they do mean a lot to me cause I had some really memorable racing in the saddle of these bikes. 

So here they are, the evolution of my bikes:

 Magellan Crux (2003) - My second alloy mountain bike, the first XC race specific frame

Magellan Pyxis Team (2004) - nice race geometry with nice parts & Rolf Satellite wheels

Specialized Stumpjumper (2006) - great XC bike with the best fork out there: Rock Shox SID World Cup BlackBox. My heart was broken when this beauty got stolen...

Specialized Epic M5 (2007) - my first and only full suspension XC bike, also first time to have disc brakes. Amazing bike but couldn't keep the weight and the maintenance low enough...

Tomac Taos (2007) - amazing and super stiff frame with some real sweet parts and Mavic CrossMax SL wheels

Giant XTC 1 (2009) - lovely alloy frame with my first Shimano groupset after nearly 10 years of SRAM! Milestone it was indeed! :) 

Look 986 (2010) - my current XC race bike with carbon frame, full Shimano groupset & double chain ring setup.

Will this list getting any longer in the future? Hard to tell...at this point I'm super happy with the bike I have at the moment, it's waaaaaay better than any of other ones. So, I guess the answer is no. 

But we are all cyclists and we all said this before. And all of a sudden there was a new plan for a new bike again! Isn't this true? :)

With or without earphones?! - Listening to music on the bike

The one question that causes "panic attack" in some people and does absolutely nothing to others: "Do you listen to music while riding your bike?" It seems to be a sensitive question lately so I thought it would be an interesting topic for this post. 

All my cyclist friends and team mates know about that I belong to the group that listening to music on the bike. The main reason is I'm on my own most of the time, doing about 95% of all my training alone. It is simply more entertaining to go out for a long spin with some of my favourite tunes in the earphones. It gives more motivation as well and keep me going better if I hear some real music that I love to listen. Well, of course I don't have the earphones with me every time but mainly I do. 

The main thing that freaks people out is the safety aspect of the whole "listening to music on the bike" question. I honestly think that if you are in control on the bike and you visually aware what's happening around you then there is nothing to worry about. 

Well, of course the commuter madness in the city centre is completely different story but if we are talking about a lovely XC spin in the middle of the nowhere, or the quiet country roads accross the Wicklow I do think there is nothing wrong to listen to music while we are out on our training spin. :)

Just couple of my favourite songs that are defo on my playlist when I'm out on the bike! Enjoy! :)

WW // Leadmines // Threerock - MTB spin

The temperature has been very friendly today so I decided to take advantage of it and hopped on the MTB to get a good XC training spin done. Wet and damp morning it was, but still very mild though. 

The plan was to have the first short segment of the Wicklow Way done, then hop over to Leadmines to do the Epic Club Course and do a little bit up on Threerock on the way home. So, there was no time to waste on this lovely Saturday morning!

My route this morning

I started to climb the Kilmashogue Lane as a good warmup. After the short tarmac bit and the longer fire road climb I got up to the top and started to descent towards Glencullen when I've seen something that I really liked!

The "brand new"...I should say repaired section of the WW

The downhill section of the WW between the junction of the WW / Dublin Mountain Way and the Ballybrack tarmac road was very critical for a good while. The erosion was huge and it just got worst every year. But this sector has been repaired now! The massive "V" shaped trail has been filled and they put many water drains into it as well. This way the previously tricky enough trail is nice and quick now. There are good few of these "steps" along the way also which, I have to say certenly fun to ride! :)

On the well maintained sector of the WW

When I hit the tarmac road I kept going towards Leadmines where I amied to have a lap on the Epic Club Course. It was muddy and wet but it was just perfect just the way it was. From Leadmines I started to head back towards Stepaside. I got up to Threerock on the way home to have a go on the Metro Trail before I finish my spin for the day. By the time I got to Threerock the place was pack of course so I didn't spend too much time there. From there nearly the whole way is downhill, so I got back home quickly just in time for lunch.

My training spin was 3 hours long and did get 50 km done with a little more than 1000m elevation gain. 'Cause the weather didn't make me suffer this time it was just pure fun! And the fact I visited 3 of my favourite MTB destinations around Dublin just made the ride even better. Loved it! :)

First interval session of the year + my frozen water bottle

Well, generally it is still too early to do interval training and I normally wouldn't start them until March but this season will be different for me. So here I am, doing interval trainings from the beginning of February. 

I certenly picked a cold day for it though but let's talk about that later. I finished work early and after my short prep I was ready to get out and get the training done in the cold and dark evening. I picked a climb that I know well and I like also. After a nice warmup I got to the starting point wich was the Taylor's Pub carpark near the M50 bridge. The plan was to do short intervals today so I marked the finishing point at the Ticknock Lower carpark.  

The lenght of this climb is 2.10 km and has 145 m of elevation gain. This time I got it done 4 times in a row. I didn't want to get too jumpy so I kept a nice and consistent pace through the whole thing, staying in the saddle for most of the time. It took a bit over 10 minutes each time to climb up to the carpark. The goal was to get it done nice and steady not to break PB on it, so it's all good as it is. :)

Regular dark and cold winter training, normal I can say but still...something happened that I haven't seen for a long time. The valve of my water bottle got frozen! Last time I seen stuff like this was in the proper Hungarian winter many years ago.

First interval training of the year and I think it went well. I felt good and even the freezing evening was lovely. I like to cycle in cold, it has it's own beauty though. I spent 1 hour and 45 minutes on the bike all in and I enjoyed every bit of it. :)