Field Test: Homemade Clif Bars

Fueling up with one of my Clif Bars.

The overwhelming positive response to my Homemade Clif Bar post was a pleasant surprise! I had many people try the recipe for themselves over the weekend, several of whom added their own twists and variations, which is exactly what I wanted.

The feedback from those who tried the bars has been that they are very tasty, have a nice consistency, and are an all-around success. That's great, but it isn't enough. After all, these are supposed to be a homemade version of Clif Bars, not just a snack-time treat.

I therefore had to test the bars under the circumstances that I would use store-bought Clif Bars. What better way to do that than spending a little over 4 hours on the bike, covering about 83 miles?

When I ride at a pretty fast pace, I try to take in about 200 calories per hour. I like to get most of these calories from solid food, but I also use electrolyte and carbohydrate additives in my water which can add a fair amount of calories themselves.

In order to really get the full effect of these bars, I used very little water-additives in my bottles today. I calculated that this only added up to just shy of 100 calories. The rest of my fuel was to be had from my Clif Bars.

Because I did not want to overstuff my pockets, I took only 3 bars with me. I previously calculated the nutritional information of the bars and concluded that one bar is around 150 calories (A real Clif Bar has around 250 calories in it). In other words, I had 450 calories worth of homemade Clif Bars in my pockets. It's important when doing hard efforts to have very calorie-rich food sources so that you can fuel your workouts properly without having to feel gorged or feeling like your jersey pockets are so full that they are dragging you down. 2 store-bought Clif Bars would have given me 50 calories more than 3 of my homemade bars. The calorie to amount of food ratio is therefore much more favorable with real Clif Bars than mine, meaning that I need to make my next batch more caloric. 

I also feel like I can streamline the wrapping process to take up less space in my pockets. I didn't want to crush the bars and end up with crumbs, so I had to be fairly conservative. I wrapped each bar with a strip of parchment paper, stacked the 3 bars together and tried to flatten them a bit the way a butcher would do with burger patties. I then placed the stack in a ziplock bag. This took up most of the allotted space that I had for food on this particular ride. Winter rides always call for a bit more equipment in the pockets so space is fairly limited.

That aside, the bars were great! They delivered quick, but sustained energy, sat well in my stomach without slowing me down, and most importantly, they were downright delicious! What I liked about these bars over traditional Clif Bars is that they were a bit softer and easier to down. Traditional Clif Bars tend to be somewhat hard, especially when they are exposed to the cold Utah air. That's not much of a problem if you eat one while taking a gas-station break, but it is fairly annoying trying to chew and breathe when you're going 30mph. My homemade bars stayed soft enough to be edible, but hard enough to not fall apart.

What's my conclusion, then? There is no clear cut favorite when comparing this first batch of homemade bars to store-bought bars. With a few minor modifications in wrapping and calorie count, however, I think I can get my homemade bars to be better, in my eyes, better than store-bought Clif Bars.

In order to solve the wrapping issue, I may opt to wrap each bar in just enough parchment paper to not leave any parts exposed, and ditch the plastic bag idea altogether. I may sprinkle some powdered sugars on the bars as well to make sure that if my makeshift wrappers to open up while in my pockets, I will not end up with a sticky mess.

Now, that leaves the question of making these bars more caloric. This is hardly an issue! There are countless ways that I could do this. We're talking the addition of more nuts, chocolate, shredded coconut, etc. In other words, I get to add more delicious ingredients to my recipe. Cutting calories can be difficult, but I don't think anybody has ever had much trouble adding calories in their diet!

Lastly, I want to address the issue of cost. It's pretty difficult to assess the exact cost for making one homemade Clif Bar as I had a lot of ingredients on hand. If there is enough interest, I will go to my local grocery store with pen, paper and a calculator and figure out exactly how much it costs.

Valley of the Sun Stage Race Report

I haven't gotten a chance to post a race report from Valley of the Sun yet, so here goes:

I left on the Thursday morning before the race, carpooling with some ex-teammates to help keep the cost of gas down. Riding down in a lifted Toyota Tacoma with 32" off-roading wheels wasn't exactly the most efficient way to travel, but it did the job. One of the guys in our party split off to go stay with family, leaving myself and two others to split a hotel room. We got along great and each focused on our respective races. My races were all very early in the morning so I tried my best to have all my stuff packed and ready to go on the eve of the races so that I could wake up and get out of the door without waking my roommates up. Our hotel was right off a large freeway in Chandler, Arizona. This was helpful because each stage was 30-60 minutes away and it was nice to be able to jump right on the freeway and cruise there.

I was nervous about this being my first stage-race ever, but I also was confident in my abilities because of how hard I've been training and how well I've been taking care of my body by stretching, eating well, and getting plenty of sleep. "A winning effort begins with preparation."-Joe Gibbs

The first stage of the race was a 14.5 mile time trial. It was on a mostly flat, out and back course with gentle rollers. This was my first time trial ever. I don't have a time trial bike so I had to put a disc wheel and clip-on aero bars on my S-WORKS Tarmac SL4. I didn't get a chance to do a proper fit for the clip-on aero bars, but I still feel like it was better than using a standard road bike with no modifications. As I was warming up on my trainer, I calculated what pace I needed to ride at in order to match last year's best category 5 time of around 34:30. A few miles in, I realized that I was feeling strong enough to do better than that time, and upped my pace by a few miles per hour. I managed to pull off the 3rd best time of the day (in my category), coming in at 33:32. More than anything, this was a great learning experience.  I made several rookie mistakes that tacked on a few extra seconds here and there, and I felt like I could have gone a bit harder, but overall I was happy. Two really strong riders, James Walsh and Anthony Moye, put up really fast times, which really set the tone for the rest of the weekend.

The second day of racing was comprised of 2.8 laps around a pretty fun course, totaling 46 miles. This course was fairly straight forward, and had a medium hill on the final stretch that played into my favor. From the get-go, the pack stayed together pretty well. I felt like I had a firm grasp on how this race was playing out. Although this was my first road race, I had done dozens of tough group rides which gave me a lot of confidence. On the second lap, there was a King of the Mountain bonus. I broke off with a small group and managed to kick it on the last part of the hill to win the sprint and get the bonus. I was really happy about that as I really enjoy climbing and feel like it is one of my strong points in cycling. The race slowed down significantly after that, with one lap left until the finish. The group got to the final hill together, and no real attacks were made on the climb. This is where I went wrong. I was worried about attacking, being followed, and wasting all of my energy. In reality, I would have had better odds of winning had I kicked it on the hill, taking only the true climbers with me, rather than letting it come down to a short sprint on the line. The top guys rolled in together. I knew who I was marking, but with 200m or so left, a guy came up from behind us and sprinted hard (I had not been watching him). By the time I reacted to his sprint, I was a bike length or two behind him. I closed a part of the gap, but was not able to get the win. I was happy with 2nd place, but felt like I let an opportunity get away. The top 3 in the general classification stayed the same after the road race. A few small time changes were factored in, but it was not enough to do anything significant.

Day 3 held the final stage, a 25-minute criterium. It was fairly obvious going into this race that I was racing to keep my 3rd place general classification standing. The race was too short and the course too flat to hope to break away and get much more than a few seconds on the leaders. This was one race that I had some confidence in, not because I feel like I am necessarily skilled at criteriums, but because I at least had done 3 or 4 of these in the past and knew what to expect. The race played out fairly conservatively. Each of the leaders took a couple of pulls, but no true breakaway was formed. The last lap was super sketchy. I got elbowed a few times and my wheel was touched on a couple of the tighter corners where everybody was scrambling for the inside line. The race came down to a sprint. Anthony Moye, the 2nd place guy in the general classification, kicked it hard and won by a few bike lengths. I was able to sprint well enough to get 2nd place. Honestly, I was just happy to not have gone down on that last lap!

All in all, the time trial decided the general classification for the whole weekend. I pulled off a 3rd place general classification finish which I was very happy with.

I learned a lot this weekend. I got a taste of stage racing, feeling out my first time trial and road race. I also honed my travelling and adapting skills. It may sound silly, but the ability to travel and room with other people who don't have the same schedule as you is important. It's also good to learn how to pack minimalistically but without forgetting any of the essentials. Being able to roll with the punches and adapt to what comes your way without losing focus on your racing is a skill that I am working on perfecting, as it can take you a long way both in cycling and in "real life". I also made some really cool connections with some other cyclists from the Western US, which will make future races even more fun!

Photo credit to the two top pictures go to Zazoosh. Other photos are from my iPhone, and from a couple of other racers who tagged me on Facebook. I will post better podium shots as I get them.

Cherry Pie Criterium

What better motivation is there to do anything than the prospect of acquiring a delicious cherry pie? I raced in the Cherry Pie Criterium in Napa, California today. This race epitomizes my love for cycling and cooking by rewarding the winners with a cherry pie! 

This was my first race of the season. It consisted of 30 minutes around a track that was a little over a mile long. I raced pretty well and came away with a 3rd place finish. 

My reward? You guessed it! A cherry pie. And a delicious one at that. After posing on the podium with my pie, I rode back to the car with it only to realize that I had no eating utensils on me. I therefore had to improvise, and ate a good chunk of pie using the top of one of my bottles as a spoon. 

I had a great time racing and eating pie. I got a very accurate idea of where I am in my training and racing, and was rewarded for my efforts with some great food. I'm looking forward to some more great races and tantalizing food this season!

Whole-Wheat Fusilli with Chicken and Spinach Sauce

Lately, my focus has been on making very healthy dishes. Healthy food is tricky because it can include a very broad range of food. What I mean by this is that as a cyclist, I need to eat healthy but I also need to fuel my workouts. I went through a recent phase where I was so concerned about staying slim that I didn't eat enough and found myself in a constant state of fatigue. I've been forced to rethink my perception of healthy and have come to the conclusion that healthy eating does not mean starving oneself. Rather, healthy eating means choosing nutritious, pure ingredients and preparing them in ways that allow all of their flavor and nutrients to come together in a balanced dish.

I am in California this weekend for some training and racing. While training this morning, I started craving two things: spinach and pasta. I therefore rode my bike down to the nearest supermarket, which happened to be Whole Foods, and picked out ingredients that could make a good dish. I ended up with onions and garlic (those two are indispensable), whole-wheat Fusilli, fresh spinach, chicken breast, chicken stock, and condensed cream of chicken soup base. Most of these ingredients were organic. Although I am not an organic-freak, I like the thought of using ingredients that are as clean and natural as possible.

I biked back to the apartment where I am staying. The host graciously allowed me to use his kitchen, and I got started. I pulled out two pots and a pan.

The first pot was for the Fusilli. I like to use whole-wheat pasta because it is less processed and is supposed to be healthier and more nutritious. I specifically chose fusilli because I find that pasta with more surface area such as this retains gooey sauces better and allows you to get more of the sauce in each bite. I cooked the pasta until it was al dente, strained it, then set it aside.

In the second pot, I heated the chicken stock to a boil and cooked my spinach in it. Once the spinach was tender, I drained most of the stock out and added the condensed soup mix. This created a creamy spinach sauce.

In the pan, I heated some olive oil. I then added about half an onion which I cooked until it was soft and translucent, then added a few crushed cloves of garlic. I allowed this to cook for a few minutes while I cubed my chicken breast. I then added that to the pan and allowed it to cook through.

I then poured the contents of the spinach/stock/soup pot to the pan, mixed it all up, seasoned it with salt, pepper, cayenne, and basil, and allowed it to reduce so that the sauce would be nice and thick. Finally, I tossed the pasta into the sauce and enjoyed my lunch!

Intro

My name is Mael Glon. I grew up in France in a Franco-Italiano household. Fairly early on, I discovered a love for flavorful, unique, and exotic foods. This prompted me to start cooking. I got a job working as a sushi chef when I was 17. A few years later, I applied and was accepted to the Paul Bocuse Culinary Institute in Lyon, France. Because of personal reasons, I decided to turn down my acceptance and continue with traditional University studies. Since this, I have decided that I do indeed see myself working in the culinary industry and hope to re-pursue acceptance at Paul Bocuse or another similar cooking school in the near future, based on where my cycling career goes.

I was a very good track and field runner in high school and got recruited by several universities after my Junior year. Unfortunately, I got injured my senior year and was forced to stopped running. Despite exploring many different medicinal options and even having knee surgery, I was not able to return to track and field. That was very hard for me because most of my life was dictated by sports. Track was my religion. Last year, after a 2 year break from competitive sports, I started road biking and have loved it so far. My knee has held up very well. I train hard, live a healthy lifestyle, and am very excited to see what my future in cycling holds.

I started this blog because I want to have a place to record my cooking. Everything from failed experiments to gourmet masterpieces teaches me something and allows me to progress and become a better cook. I tend to go through phases where I cook food from certain cultures or using different techniques so there should be a fairly vast variety of food on here once I get going!

Thanks for reading!