Bethel Criterium

Earlier this month I was in the Yale area looking for housing, and made time to race a local criterium; the Bethel crit.

One of the highlights of this (unusually for a crit) hilly, short circuit race was getting to meet another competitive cyclist with an ostomy! We went for a short ride after the race, talked about cycling in the area, and about how we'd like to see more encouragement of serious athletics for those with an ostomy.

There are plenty of folks out there (many of whom show up on my links page section) who do rad, active stuff - including hockey, rock climbing, running, etc. Now, if only we could get both the healthcare provider community and the general public to recognize that there are no limitations on what you can do after surgery!

Thanks, Alan, for the photos! Here's one of the starting lineup. Check out those wheels on the Tarmac guys! And, also, the yellow crocs on the race official. Wow.

Bannana rice muffins

This recipe is the perfect overlap between the cycling diet and the gentle, easily digestible diets that many people with IBD or other GI issues stick to.

I found it in The Feedzone, a cycling specific cookbook under the "portables" section. They are not quite muffins, but very tasty, dense little snacks. And, as the section of the cookbook would imply, they are easy to carry with you - in a jersey pocket or in a lunch bag.

All you need is a blender and a muffin tin. I found that this made about 10.

Blend the following together:

1 bannana
2 cups cooked rice
2 eggs
2 tbsp of brown sugar
1 pinch of salt
1 tbsp flour (rice, wheat, whatever)
1/4 to 1/2 c milk/rice milk depending on how big your bannana or eggs are.
cinnomon or vanilla to taste


The batter should be thick, smooth and slightly frothy looking.

Pour it into a greased muffin tin, or use tin liners so ease cleanup.
Bake in a preheated oven at 325 for ~20mns.


As the weather has gotten hotter, I've been enjoying these chilled in the morning. Bonus: The potassium content is also useful for those of us with electrolyte issues.

Biomechanics, and the problem with ab muscles lost

Having just finished a fantasticly productive and learning-filled cycling team practice, I am feeling very ready for bed! It's only 10pm! But, I'm pretty much toast, in the best kind of way.

Today we did a lot of pedal biomechanics work - this is the physically and mentally painful stuff. We have been working on perfecting smooth, even, one-legged pedaling in proper form and at a relatively high cadence... and up small hills! The good news, it's getting better. The bad news, my right side is still about twice as strong and fast as my left.

The next thing we've been focusing on for a few team training sessions now is sprinting, specifically with getting forward and low over the handlebars while leveraging the bike side to side underneith you. This takes a lot of control and core strenght! And, I do confess that I don't have a lot of it. I haven't been very good at doing any active abdominal excercises. In fact, I avoid them because they hurt and send my ab muscles around my ileostomy into little spasms! Distressing...

So, now it has become clear that without doing some core strength work, my sprinting will never be as good as it could be.

For those of you with an ostomy out there, if you are reading, perhaps you have input on the ab workout quandry? Have you had similar muscle spasm issues? How have you overcome your own hurdles around building/rebuilding lost core strength?

Also, in preparation for my departure for Yale in August, I had a final fit of rebellion last week! Whoa! Next month, I intend to dye it cotton-candy blue to match my new Yale cycling kit.