Rocket Fuel in training – Make it count

This Nike campaign just makes me want to get out there!

Team Sky make their own Christmas cards!

So simple and so wonderfully awesome and why didn’t I think of that?

D.I.Y Tuesday – bicycle parking

Found via Bianchista the best bicycle parking ever and so easy to make too!

Shop visit: Northside Wheelers

On Easter long weekend we popped to Melbourne for a lightning fast visit to see some amazing racing at the World Track Champs. But before we got to the action of the Velodrome we headed out to take a look at Northside Wheelers.

Sadly it was closed when we were there but these photos of the exterior of the store make it number one for places to visit on our next trip.

Bikes + Fabric = AWESOME

Being the big fabric nerd that I am I was so excited by this article that not only explained why Garmin riders during the Tour de France were sporting what appeared to be skin tight wet weather jerseys but also all the properties of the fabric!

Article from the Castelli blog here and thanks to The Englishman for the find.

The Daily Tweed – Special Cadel edition

We couldn’t let Cadel Evans historic win go past without a salute. It has been a great tour of highs and lows and champions of all nations battling it out for the win, truly inspiring.

This stunning painting from Rob Ibjema captures his winning time trial in style.

More of Rob’s cycling paintings can be found here thanks to The Englishman for the tip.

Rocket Fuel in training – the food of a Tour de France rider

I’m so fascinated by what a tour rider eats each day. How do they get the energy to race and recover day after day and is it really exciting to get your lunch handed to you each day in a musette?

These are the things I think about while watching the tour. So I was super excited to find this article which is what Thor ate one day during the tour.

A Day in the Stomach of Thor Hushovd

Breakfast:

Oatmeal

Toast with ham

2-egg omelet

Cereal

Rice

On the bike:

4-6 CLIF bars

2 packs CLIF shot blocks

2-3 CLIF gels

6-8 bottles of team race drink

Rice cake

Small panini sandwich

On the bus after the stage:

Rice

Curry chicken or tortilla la patata

2 bottles of team recovery protein drink

Dinner:

Stuffed tomatoes and zucchini with curry rice

Beet salad

Avocados

Spaghetti

Stewed turkey with prunes

Dessert:

Sorbet

It sounds pretty good really (except for the gels am not a fan of them, they are a weird texture for me).

Then I found this article on what his almost vegan team mate Dave Zabriskie is eating in a day

Breakfast:

Oatmeal with black strap molasses; whole food optimizer; cacao nibs; nuts; cinnamon; two tablespoons of coconut butter; an apple; hemp seeds and flax seeds

On-the-Bike Snacks:

Six Clif Bar Z bars (vegan); two Clif Bar shot blocks (vegan); two Clif Bar gels (vegan); dates; six to eight bottles of special team race drink

On the Bus, Post-Race:

White rice with maple syrup and cinnamon; vegan protein shake;

two bottles of special team recovery protein drink; goji berries

Before Dinner:

Vegan protein shake

Dinner:

White rice or pasta; salad with leafy greens; vegetables —including broccoli, spinach, carrots and beets.

Dessert:

Fresh fruit and a vegan protein shake before bed

Some of that sounds really yummy and certainly gives me ideas of what to take on my future long rides.

Tour de France – Tour de Food day 1

It’s tour time! Am so excited for the start of the tour am hoping it’s going to be an exciting race filled with champions racing to win.

It also means it’s the start of the tour de food, where every day we give you food and recipes of the region that the tour will be going through that night. So get ready for some great food and hopefully some even better racing!

Day 1

Today the tour takes in the Passage du Gois and one of the speciality foods of the Vendee region is the Mojette bean. A smooth almost rectangular bean.

I’ve found a super simple recipe that combines these beans with gruyere cheese to make a salad. Recipe can be found here.

Maps of the Tour de France

It’s almost Le Tour time and I’m already so excited! In celebrating all things Le Tour I’ve found these gorgeous posters of the maps of past tours. Just fantastic.

Posters available from here

Designs for GEAR shop in Brisbane

Recently GEAR in Brisbane asked for people to submit designs for their new store kit. Design brief stated that it must be influenced by old school BMX. Here is what I designed for them

You can see some of the other designs submitted here. Thanks to Eric at GEAR for letting us submit some designs was really fun.

If anyone else wants some kits designed just get in touch.