Bikes are Cool

A Word on Oatmeal

For those of you who know Corey, then what follows may not come as any surprise to you. If you don’t know Corey, then all you really need to know is two things: (1) he loves road biking and (2) he’s the only other person I know personally that shares an obsession with oatmeal as equally unreasonable as my own. When we’re not talking bikes, we’re talking oatmeal preparations. Preparations can range from the truly delectable to the utterly bizarre. Some of the preparations are born of ravenous desperation, while others are the careful orchestration of flavors and textures plied together to beget a creation comparable to no other before it.

Like myself, Corey doesn’t bother to write down the details of even his most inspired oatey amalgamations, as a deliberate lack of precision in its recipes is one of the many qualities that defines oatmeal as the supreme grain. Despite this fact, we will, at times, become engrossed in a frenzied e-mail chain where we’ll swap ideas, criticisms, and heartfelt praise that can only be understood by a true fellow oatophile. Whether it be steel cut or rolled, raw or toasted, salted or sweetened, the common denominator is always that hint of sublime earthy oat flavor.

In these e-mails we’ve often discussed the reigning appeal of the oat in a world where the gourmand is otherwise overwhelmed with a multitude of other grains – each of which draws similar laudation from others as does the oat from us. We’ve decided that, among other things, the oat is the following:

(1) Easily prepared. In fact the oat doesn’t necessarily need to be prepared at all. Corey reports having simply rolled sliced banana in oats with a little cinnamon, salt, and honey. I’ve often times gnawed on raw oats while cooking something else, or have added them to trail mix like a lazy man’s granola. Even prepared, the oat simply needs only to be boiled or toasted – a triviality for someone even halfway competent in the kitchen.

(2) A blank palette. The oat, while possessing its own distinct and inherently appealing flavor, is rather muted in the expression of its essence, making it an excellent backdrop for so many other flavors.

(3) Versatile in texture and application. Going hand in hand with numbers one and two, the oat can be prepared to take on any number of textures – from the nutty crunch of an al dente steel cut to the creamy smoothness of a well boiled rolled varietal. As a result the oat is not only a readily accepting palette for flavor, but for texture as well. This allows the oat to play the role of bread, crust, crumble, nut, crunch, and a myriad of others. Oats (obviously) can serve as the basis of a dish itself, or can play a secondary role to whatever it is taking the spotlight.

(4) Cheap. C’mon, let’s not kid ourselves – oatmeal is crazy cheap while still providing a good balance of protein and complex carbohydrates. This also means you can buy it just about anywhere and, because it’s pretty shelf stable, take it just about anywhere as well. In fact (not surprisingly) instant oatmeal has been my go-to meal for every climbing trip I’ve ever been on, since food always seems to be the last consideration in the budget.

(5) Quick. Quick and cheap. Those two superlatives alone should render the oat the preferred grain of dirty old men everywhere. Seriously, though, oatmeal can take less than one minute to prepare depending on the species. As such, oats make an excellent recovery snack for us athlete types, or an excellent meal for those pressed for time in a more general sense. Again, ease of preparation is why oatmeal always is my staple calorie on any climbing trip.

With so many gleaming attributes, just how are Corey and I preparing our favorite dishes? Every way imaginable. I don’t run a recipe site, so you’ll have to deduce the details on your own, but here’s what we’ve been lucky enough to come up with so far: cookies n’ cream oatmeal, pumpkin pie oatmeal, oatmeal raisin cookie pudding, breakfast oatmeal with bacon (or sausage), potatoes, egg, and syrup, promeal (protein powder enhanced oatmeal – a trademark of ours), and baked oats with a caramelized streusel topping. Besides some of our more contrived concoctions, oatmeal is also great for just adding whatever the hell you want to. Some of my personal favorites are cottage cheese, apple sauce, berries, fruit of any kind, cream, honey, chocolate chips, and sunflower seeds.

But I’d be fooling myself it I thought the oat isn’t largely unappreciated today. Its neglect is readily evident by its relegation to grocery store shelves otherwise occupied by the sugary chemical laden mutations of the cereal world. It’s consumption is commonly uninspired, often consisting of nothing more than a few lumps of some pedestrian granulated sugar and a dash of sickly thin skim milk. Therefore is comes as no wonder to me that oatmeal has grown to be synonymous with insufferable diet plans characterized by monkish deprivation. But I say to you, oh reader, cast aside the fetters of self-imposed oat celibacy and rediscover the lusty side of a grain not always known for bland and prudish ways. Tear asunder the doors of your cabinets with unbridled fervor to rediscover the plentitude of additives which await forbidden union with your next bowl of oats. Then, as you recline lazily in your chair, smoldering cigarette resting between lips upturned in a mirthful grin while staring contentedly at the ravished bowl before you, you’ll be sure to thank me.

Guest Post: Tour of the Battenkill Race Report

Below is Corey's race report from last weekend's Tour of the Battenkill. 

The night before Charlie, Brian, Jeff, Jim and drove the beginning of the course (through Juniper Hill) and the end of the course (Stage rd). This was really helpful, especially for the juniper hill portion. It was as steep as everyone said, but very short.

Our race started at 10:30 on Saturday morning, so we roll up to the parking area shortly after 9. As I’m getting my bike out and doing some last minute checks, disaster strikes. My rear derailleur cable snaps off inside the shifter as im running through the gears. Note for the future: CHECK CABLES before a big race.

After a brief heart attack, I run my bike over to mavic support praying that they’ll be able to help me. The mechanic rummages through the truck, finds a rear derailleur cable and puts my bike on the stand. 10 minutes of fiddling later, he can not get the broken end out of the shifter and is hesitant to take the entire shifter off for fear of losing pieces. He tells me I’m just going to have to ride one of their bikes, and pulls a bright yellow 52cm Mavic logoed Caad9 out of the truck, complete with SRAM force and R-Sys wheels. A few quick fitting adjustments are made and I’m off and riding. By this point its around 10:20 and I head over to the line, no time for a warmup.

Jeff, Matt, Charlie, Conor and myself are all in this field. The race is pretty uneventful up until the first climb (except for the pro mountain biker soloing off the front at mile 2 and winning the race by 9 minutes), when the pace picks up. All the NYVC riders are in the top 20 as we go around the sweeping dirt corner that marks the approach to juniper hill. The climb was intense, once we got over the top someone shouted that we had separation, so we hastily got into a paceline and started working together. Pretty soon no other riders were in sight. There were probably 15-16 of us in the selection, including Matt and Jeff. I told myself that I only needed to drop 5 of these riders to get a top 10 finish, which would have thrilled me.

Things were pretty uneventful up until the Salem climb. I lost a full bottle right before the climb, but was able to get another at Feed zone 2. Everyone was out of the saddle pushing hard on this climb, Matt was right up at the front setting the pace. Jeff had mentioned he wasn’t feeling too great and dropped back. Despite all this, the majority of the selection made it over the climb so I knew we had a pretty strong group. Going into the flat stretch the wind picked up, no one was interested in lifting the pace or pulling too hard. Most riders were just pulling through and shifting to the back. One guy, Ned (cox communications jersey) tried to get the group more organized and raise the pace so we could try and catch the guy off the front, but no one was really having it.

Around Mountain rd the race got really tough. I was sitting about 10th wheel before the turn, then the 2 guys in front of me suddenly slowed and a gap grew between me and the 8 or so guys in front. Realizing I was in danger of getting dropped, I sprinted around the 2 guys in front of me and went all out for a minute or so. I managed to catch up right at the base of a steep dirt climb, so the pain didn’t end for a couple more minutes. The series of steep dirt climbs after this split apart our selection. I was really feeling the efforts on these climbs, but based on the gasping I heard around me everyone else was as well. When we got to the end of the dirt sections we had about 8 guys left. For the next 3 miles we lifted the pace, everyone was giving hard pulls to ensure we put the other guys out of sight. Then we all relaxed and recovered a bit for the last stretch before stage rd.

As soon as we hit stage road, Ned cramps up and nearly takes out another rider as he pulls over. At this point I start giving everything I have left. 2 guys are ahead of me with the remainder behind, Matt is right on my wheel up until halfway up the climb or so. I remember from the night before that there is a yield sign at the top of the climb, so I just keep pushing waiting for that sign to come into sight. Finally I see it, as I crest the hill I look behind me and see 2 guys gaining. Instead of trying to stay ahead, I tuck and coast down the descent and they catch up to me. At this point I organize us into a 3 man paceline. There is only 5k to go at this point. Our line catches one of the riders that was off the front and the 4 of us work together till the last turn into the finish. As soon as we make the turn, the guy we had just caught takes off. Im right after him but he gaps me by a couple bike lengths. I push it but the gap sticks, he crosses the line in 3rd with me in 4th, and the other 2 guys right after. I almost couldn’t believe the result, I was super pumped.

It was certainly interesting doing the race on a bike I had never ridden before, with no computer or stats, but I cant complain about the outcome.

Summer Hide

I smack at a fly on my calf and look down at the resulting smear of blood. An angry welt rises between two deep bloody scratches. One of them still cradles the stubborn tip of a thorn. I’m soon distracted by a burning tingle on my arm and seek relief in frenzied slaps and scratches. The back of my neck burns from sweat and sun; my face itches where it’s spotted with dried mud.

Harried by overwhelming corporal sensation, I remount my bike and strike forward with renewed purpose. The wind licks across my cheeks and arms. The spray of cold mud and water from occasional puddles and streams soothes my myriad ills. My muscles ache dully, but pleasantly. My breathe presses out, then in. The legions of gnats have fallen back and my body’s trifling complaints are replaced by the simplicity of labor. Any pause renews the onslaught of gnats and fiery flesh, a sure sign I still lack that toughened exterior so essential to the season. I look forward to growing my summer hide.

Pizza & Sullying Our Land

So Friday was Associate Appreciation day whereupon we were shown appreciation with greasy pizza and jugs of soda. Naturally, I declined the gratuity. However, pizza continued to loom large on my mind and when dinner time rolled around I was victim to a real hankering for a pie. As I typically don’t keep flour on hand I had to decide if I was going to scrap the idea, go out and obtain flour, or figure out something else. I was frankly too lazy to go out and get flour but not so lazy that I wanted to scrap the idea, so I started flipping through my cookbooks and recipes for inspiration.

I found a recipe for oat bread using flour milled from oatmeal and, along with a pizza crust recipe, was able to cobble something together to form an oat crust. Basically I milled the oatmeal in a blender and using some salt, yeast, and honey came up with a nice formula for a crust. I made a rich tomato sauce from scratch and topped the pizza with fresh mozzarella, uncured apple wood smoked bacon, asparagus, onion, green pepper, and broccoli. It ended up being quite delicious and, even in my own self-castigating sort of way, congratulated myself on the creation. I actually found the denser crust created by the oat flour to be far more tart-like than anything, but really enjoyed it that way. It still was very moist, chewy, and extremely resilient to the rigors of heavily topping laden pizza consumption.

Having had a pleasant sleep filled with visions of pizza and bacon, I woke to find the sun shining in, what was, apparently a beautiful day. Both my patio doors and window face the east side of my building, however, which sometimes can impart a false sense of warmth that is easily deceiving. That being said, I broke out my mountain bike and departed on what would become one of the worst rides of my mountain biking ‘career’. First, as I have already alluded to, I set the stage for my ride by being totally underdressed – a fact I realized immediately after stepping out of the car at the shaded trailhead.

My goal was to explore a matrix of fire roads that crisscross over this large plot of land in Southington – part of the Crescent Lake property for those of you who are familiar. Well, not too far in I began to realize that they had started logging the area and were using the other end of the property as their point of entry. Because they were using an alternative entrance their operation wasn’t immediately conspicuous to me, for if it had been I probably would have reconsidered my venture altogether.

Anyhow, the roads, I learned, had been torn up by large logging machinery and were a combination of deep icy muddy ruts overlaid with a bunch of dead fall. Only twenty minutes into the ride I was covered head to toe in freezing mud, trying with all my might to keep my momentum as I pedaled uphill, as the road revealed itself to be a gradual but unrelenting climb in hub-deep arctic mud. The rutting was so deep that the roads were essentially acting as small rivers and thick brush on either side made it impossible to skirt the horrendous mess. However, stubbornness prevailed and I sallied forth instead of turning back. I can’t imagine I actually covered any significant amount of terrain, and yet I was still out for a good two hours. By the time I got back to the car I was fuming, rightfully blaming the loggers for such careless use of the land and for everyone’s eagerness to make a quick buck at the expense of Connecticut’s limited woodlands.

Upon riding back home with a mud packed hubs and an equally filthy visage, I contemplated just how sad the treatment of Connecticut’s land is. Human powered recreation seems to be a rarity around here, often leading to the limited amount of woodland set aside for its practitioners to be summarily overrun by OHV’s and loggers. This is far more commonplace than I care to admit and I continue to find more and more acreage fall victim to this sort of shabby and lowly treatment. As one can imagine, this is an issue that has long plagued me and my outrage only continues to grow with time. As such I am sure that you can expect future posts on this subject in my effort to begin combating the whoring out of our precious few woodlands.

Haste Makes Waste

Dinner last night was a disaster but, frankly, one that didn’t bother me. I got in late from a post-work mountain bike session and found myself with a sink full of dirty breakfast dishes and a very, very ravenous appetite. Instead of washing the dishes and composing my workspace, I decided to jump right into dinner without getting myself relaxed and prepared. Big mistake.

Dinner was supposed to be stuffed peppers along with a cold cucumber soup. I was going to stuff the peppers with black beans and brown rice, amongst other things. When I arrived home I realized that my experiment of leaving the rice and beans in a crock pot over the course of the day was a failed one and found the end product to be a gluey mixture of seemingly dubious origins (I plan to try this next time). To my prehistoric slurry I added some sautéed garlic, shallots, and a few pinches of spices. I realized after stuffing my green peppers with the mixture and sticking them in the oven that I had neglected to add egg, which I had planned to employ as a “binder” of sorts. Although my desiccated rice and bean mixture really didn’t need a binder at this point, I decided to beat up an egg and drizzle it over the top of the pepper regardless. Naturally it coursed right off the top of the pepper and pooled up on the baking pan, and later found it firmed up into a sprawling baked egg (which, though not planned for, was tasty in and of itself).

In the meantime I had started a batch of sweet potato fries as, at this point, I realized how famished I really was and needed something to address my rapidly plummeting blood sugar. Ultimately, it would be only the fries that turned out the way I had expected.

I then moved onto the cucumber soup while everything else was in the oven. I had never made a cold soup before and frankly this probably wasn’t the best evening to start. But I did, and ultimately ended up blending together cucumber, spinach, cilantro, yogurt, a tad bit of roasted red pepper, lemon juice, and a drizzle of olive oil. This slurry (as you can see I had given birth to several slurries on this particular evening) was actually pretty tasty but was far more watery than I had hoped for. I ultimately determined that I should have used the thicker Greek yogurt I had on hand as opposed to the European yogurt that had ultimately found its way into the soup.

Anyhow, the peppers finally did come out of the oven and some sort of dinner began to coalesce out of the various constituents. In my ravenous state everything seemed to be acceptable, although reflecting on the experience casts some doubt on the soundness of my judgment at the time. Once I had finished plowing through the mish-mash on my plate I realized what a mess I had made of things and promised myself that next time I was in need of immediate calories I’d abandon more elaborate dinner plans in favor of something simpler. Experimenting with new ideas, dishes, or techniques is definitely something best approached with ample time, patience, and clean kitchen.

So What’s Up in Eats?

Well this week has been a bit busy with spring and daylight savings time tempting me to prolonged forays into the out-of-doors. However, I’ve still gotten a fair amount of cooking in despite my limited time at home. Breakfasts, to start, have been pretty typical. Some sort of egg dish, some steel cut oatmeal sweetened with mashed banana and vanilla, and some pan-fried sweet potatoes.

On Sunday I made a delicious vegetable soup from some of the chicken stock that has long been monopolizing my freezer. It was a hasty amalgamation of what I had as leftovers in my fridge at the time – celery, kale, brown rice, tomatoes, black beans, onion, shallot, carrots, and broccoli. Topped with a couple of bay leaves, oregano, basil, salt and pepper and I had a solid soup for a lunch and dinner accompaniment throughout the week.

As for dinner the only standouts (if you could call them that) were:

Monday – Southwest Casserole of sorts. Browned grass fed beef over riced cauliflower with a sauce of tomato, cumin, red pepper, and jalapeno. Baked in the oven and then topped with guacamole, Greek yogurt, green onion, and cilantro. On the side I had some sweet potato chips with a chipotle yogurt dip I had made the week before.

Tuesday – Roasted root vegetable salad (carrots, parsnips, sweet potato, with some cauliflower), vegetable soup, soft boiled eggs on a bed of spinach.

Wednesday – Mussels in tomato sauce (tomato, garlic, shallot, oregano, salt, pepper). Vegetable soup (what a surprise), and for dessert I had roasted pear (with cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg) topped with whipped Greek yogurt and toasted sunflower seeds. I put too much hot sauce in the soup and too much pepper in the tomato sauce. As a result dinner was too hot and spicy. Nothing plenty of Greek yogurt on top of the pear couldn’t fix.