Will Climb for Chocolate

After yesterday's post about attacking hills, I thought it was funny that I received an email from Terry Bicycles with the subject "Will Climb for Chocolate."  If you're not a cyclist (or married to a cyclist) you may not be aware that the Tour de France is going on right now.  They are in the middle of week 2, of a 3 week bicycle race that covers over 2,000 miles.

Most people know that the winner of the Tour de France gets the Yellow Jersey.  What you may not know is there are three other jersey classifications - the Green Jersey, the Polka Dot Jersey, and the White Jersey.  I won't bore you with all the details, but you can read all about it here.

So, back to that email from Terry.  It said this:

The red polka dot jersey.
Most people know that the polka dot jersey is awarded to the best climber in the mountain stages of the Tour de France. The King of the Mountains title was first awarded in 1933, but it wasn't until 1975 that the white jersey with red dots was officially designated as the KOM jersey. What isn't very well known is where that came from: the polka dot wrapper of a chocolate bar company sponsor!!

Now that's what I'm talking about ~ chocolate!  Isn't it a little ironic that my blog background is currently red with white polka dots?  In my opinion, if you're gonna climb hard, you need to be rewarded with chocolate.

Wonder how many calories a pro cyclist burns and consumes in a day?  Pro, Ted King, blogged about it recently.  Every.Single.Bite.  Including some chocolate.  The entire post is quite entertaining, but if you don't have time to read it, here is his simple conclusion:

– By my calculation, I consumed 5,082 calories. All of which were delicious, especially the risotto and the honey waffles
– Calories expended on the ride: 5,067.69
– Ride time: 5:23 and change (approx. 107 miles)

I, on the other hand, rode 10.52 miles in 1:14:07 this morning, burning 608 calories.  My ride had one continuous climb, then a wonderful downhill.  I earned a little bit of chocolate

The moral of this story:  If you really want to enjoy chocolate, become a pro cyclist!