Tuesday Rambling

I have a lot of little things on my mind, none that deserve a full post, so here goes:

1500
I crossed the 1500 mile mark for the year sometime last week.  I also crossed the 1500 mile mark on my Specialized Vita that I got in March of last year.  Cycling miles add up quickly.  Unfortunately, my running miles have been on the low side the past couple months.  I've had IT band issues that make anything over 3 miles really painful.  I miss being able to go out for a medium/long run but I really want this to go away, so I'm trying to be patient and smart.

McBRAAM
Les and Lance have now ridden over 1,000 on their cross-country cycling trip.  They are making their way to Texas today - state #4!  I am continually amazed at how well they are doing.  They are loosely following America By Bicycle's Fast America South route.  They have already made one change - Friday's ride was 144 miles, Saturday was to be a rest day, followed by about 135 miles on Sunday.  They chose to split Sunday's ride in half, making Saturday and Sunday "short" rides of just under 70 miles each.  Les said as long as their bodies and the weather holds they really don't want to spend a full day hanging out at a hotel.

I'm really enjoying their trip from afar!  It's been amazing to see their progress and I'm glad everyday when I hear from Les that another ride is complete.  He is super upbeat.  They will have stories to tell for the rest of their lives.  Les has been the primary writer of the blog so far and he really is that entertaining in real life. 

Coming up on October 21st is the annual University of Tennessee vs. Alabama college football game.  This year it takes place in Tuscaloosa.  Les and Lance are both Tennessee boys, their parents and sister still live there.  If they stay on schedule, they will be riding in to Tuscaloosa that weekend.  They won't be wearing their UT cycling jerseys!

Pumpkin Muffins
About a month ago I had to go to Fresno for the funeral of a former boss.  I was asked to speak and decided to go up the night before to see my sister and her family.  I baked a batch of pumpkin muffins, took half with me and left the other half at home.  When I came home, a mere 24 hours later, they were all gone!  While I was at the grocery store today, I decided to pick up the ingredients for another batch.  I spotted a Devil's Food cake mix and decided to make chocolate pumpkin muffins instead.  They definitely don't have as strong of a pumpkin flavor, but they are still good.

Pumpkin or Spice Muffins

Makes 18 muffins
1 Spice Cake Mix
1 15 oz. can Pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling) OR
1 15 oz. can Sweet potatoes in light syrup
1/2 cup Almond milk

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 325.
Grease cupcake pans.  Puree sweet potatoes in the blender for about 30 seconds.  Mix ingredients (no egg or oil, just the cake mix, milk, and pumpkin or sweet potatoes) and pour in prepared pans.  Bake according to mix instructions for cupcakes, using the full amount of time (approximately 25 minutes).

Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins

Makes 18 muffins
1 Devil's Food Cake Mix
1 15 oz. can Pumpkin
1/2 cup Almond milk

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 325.
Grease cupcake pans.  Mix ingredients (no egg or oil, just the cake mix, pumpkin and milk) and pour in prepared pans.  Bake according to mix instructions for cupcakes, using the full amount of time (approximately 25 minutes).

All of these are very dense muffins.  The spice cake mix is slightly higher in calories, each muffin is about 150 calories, while the chocolate are slightly under 100.  Not bad for a quick snack or addition to breakfast. If I was going for Wife of the Year, I'd Fed Ex some of these to Texas or Oklahoma...

Fall Running
This is the one time of year that I start getting a little run envy.  People across the country start talking about cooler temps, morning runs that are glorious, and needing an extra layer.  I know that I am spoiled because I can run outside all winter, but my least favorite is our current weather pattern.  Our temperatures are moderate, but Santa Ana winds are blowing and our current humidity is 10%.  We have a tree down in our front yard from yesterday's winds.  With my cranky IT band, I'd rather be on my bike, but when the wind is over 20 mph I'm a little afraid of being blown right off the bike!  If we didn't have weather, what would we complain about?

Summer Time Eats

When we were in Hawaii last month we had Acai Bowls for lunch several times.  The difference between an acai bowl and a smoothie is the thickness.  You can drink a smoothie, while you need a spoon to eat an acai bowl.  Acai bowls usually have some kind of a topping as well.  Packed with power foods these are very filling for a meal.  I have experimented quite a bit and the third time was a charm.

Acai Bowl (2 servings)
Ingredients:
1 cup Ocean Spray Lite Cran-Grape Juice (5 calories per cup)
1 medium banana
1 scoop protein powder
2- 4 oz packets frozen Acai Berry puree (these are from Target)
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1/2 cup frozen strawberries

Toppings:
1 medium banana, sliced
2 Tbsp. granola
2 Tbsp. Coconut flakes
1 Tbsp. honey

1.  Add ingredients to blender in order listed.  Blend, using "crush ice" first, then move on to mix and puree until all ingredients are blended.
2.  Pour into 2 bowls.  Place in freezer for 45-60 minutes until firm.
3.  Top with toppings and enjoy!

The acai bowl is only about 200 calories with the toppings adding about 100-150 calories.  Not bad for a meal.  We've had them for lunch quite a bit. I'm usually too hungry post-run to wait for them to firm up and have them for breakfast.   I'm sure you could use other ingredients to switch up the taste, but this one is perfect in our book.

Ever had an acai bowl?  Have you made them yourself?

Fall Favorite - Who Needs Pumpkin?

The first days of September in California are teasing us with beautiful weather.  My list for the grocery store last Thursday included ingredients for my favorite Fall muffins - Weight Watchers Pumpkin Muffins.  Unfortunately, the shelf space for canned pumpkin was empty.  This happened once before and I improvised by making Spice Muffins with canned sweet potatoes, and that's what I did again.  These are so good and easy, I knew I needed to share.  They also make the house smell amazing.

Pumpkin or Spice Muffins

Makes 18 muffins
1 Spice Cake Mix
1 15 oz. can Pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling) OR
1 15 oz. can Sweet potatoes in light syrup


Instructions:

Preheat oven to 325.

Grease cupcake pans.  Puree sweet potatoes in the blender for about 30 seconds.  Mix ingredients (no egg or oil, just the cake mix and pumpkin or sweet potatoes) and pour in prepared pans.  Bake according to mix instructions for cupcakes, using the full amount of time (approximately 25 minutes).

Remove from oven and enjoy while still warm!  Go all out with the fine china...


These are less than 150 calories each.  They are very dense and filling.  Make these, you won't regret it!

Any easy Fall favorite recipes you want to share?

Mountain Biking on Mt. Etna

We left the port of Civitavechia on very rough seas, but sometime during the night the sea calmed so we enjoyed our 11 a.m. arrival in the port of Messina, Sicily.

Our excursion for the first day of our cruise was Mountain Biking Mount Etna with Canoli Tasting.  This was the first excursion we chose and we were really looking forward to riding on an active volcano!  Not many brave souls joined us - a total of 13 cruisers were in our van with our guide, Sarah, and driver, Salvatore.  It was about an hour drive, and Sarah was a perfect mix of sharing information but not talking endlessly.  Salvatore was an excellent driver in spite of traffic and a very windy mountain road.  During our drive, we saw smoke on Mt. Etna and knew an eruption was taking place.

The top of Mt. Etna is an elevation of just over 10,000 feet.  We drove almost half way up and met our cycling tour at  Rifugio Ragabo at 4600 feet.

We were shown our bikes and told to give them a test ride in the parking lot.  Most of us needed a seat adjustment, but then we were ready to go.  As ready to go as we could be...

Our two guides, Una and Sergio, are mountain bike racers and they greatly overestimated our abilities.  We started riding and it was like watching a bunch of toddlers run around in a circle. As soon as the first one goes down, they all go down - like dominoes!  Nobody actually went down, but there were many false starts before we got spread out and into somewhat of a rhythm.

We quickly started climbing.  Up, up, up.  At one point everyone but our guides and Les were walking our bikes!  We regrouped and starting climbing again...

Hi Una!

When we took off again, Les made sure he was at the front to avoid the dominoes.  I tried to stay close to him and actually got in a good climbing mode.  At our next regroup, only Una, Les, and one other guy were there before me.

Unfortunately, several of the group were back to walking their bikes again so the decision was made to turn around and look for an "easier" route.  Riding downhill?  No problem, right?  Wrong!  Remember, we were on an active volcano.  While no lava was currently flowing our way, the terrain was very tough.  It started with small gravel, then we made a turn to our "easier" route and the trail was full of large rocks and roots.  I had to walk for about half a mile and could barely stay upright just walking my bike!

The remainder of the ride was full of starts and stops for me.  I am a cautious rider and try to keep space between me and the rider ahead of me.  Unfortunately, it became crystal clear that most of our group had never actually ridden a mountain bike before.  They had no awareness of those around them and would just stop in the middle of the trail, which meant whoever was behind them would have to stop because there was no way to safely ride around them.  Once again, the toddler domino effect!  We were very fortunate that no one was seriously hurt.  As far as I know, only one person actually went down but she was okay.  I will say, Una and Sergio were extremely patient with all of us. 

After 5.18 miles and a little over 800 feet of climbing, we were back to Rifugio Ragabo.   Una, Sergio, and the bike company owner, Daniello, were very open to our comments and helpful criticism.  I think the real problem was how the ride was described on the cruise website.  "Enjoy an exhilarating mountain bike ride on Mt. Etna, the highest active volcano in Europe."  Sounds fun, right?

Here's where the problem came from.  Every excursion that Les and I booked was labeled "strenuous," including this one.  All of our other tours were walking tours that included walking over "varying terrain."  One of the riders coined the phrase "cruise strenuous."  I think that's what we all were expecting, not real life strenuous!  We told Daniello they needed to look for a slightly easier route and the description needed to say something like "technical, rocky trail" so people would really know what they were getting into. This is the first time they have worked with a cruise line - most of their tours are people who are there on cycling trips.  I think most of the riders expected to be on paved roads.

Daniello, Una, and Sergio

We survived!  And we were rewarded with amazing canoli - chocolate and pistachio.

No regrets for me.  I didn't crash and it really was fun. Tough, but fun!  I hope they will be able to work the kinks out and make this a great adventure for future groups.

Do you mountain bike?  Are you a single track rider or do you prefer smoother trails?  The trail we have at home is not super technical but I would have been fine on this ride with a group of cyclists who had a little more experience.

Carbo Loading Our Way Through Italy, Greece and Turkey!

We are home from our anniversary trip.  It was amazing!  The food.  Oh, the food!  The homemade pasta, the pizza, the tomatoes and olives.  The gelato, pastries, cappuccinos and tiramisu.  And I'm still able to fit into my clothes!

The key to successful cruising is staying active!  I wore my Suunto on our excursions just out of curiosity and here's how it went:

Day 1 in Rome - walked 10.2 miles
Day 2 in Rome - walked 6.35 miles
Sicily - mountain biked 5.18 miles (this excursion will get its own post!)
Mykonos - walked 4.46 miles
Kuşadası - walked 2.73 miles
Santorini - walked 3.64 miles (we shared the footpath from the port to the town with donkeys)

700 feet of elevation gain in about a half a mile.

Athens - walked 3.91 miles
Capri - walked 3.8 miles
Final day in Rome - walked 7.39 miles - this included a stop at a local Italian bike shop!

Total 47.66 miles

This does not include any walking we did on the ship.  There were also times that I paused my watch and would forget to restart it for a few minutes.  I didn't do this to up my mileage for the year - it was more for curiosity's sake.  We always took the stairs - our stateroom was on deck 8, the Windjammer cafe was on deck 11, the Tides dining room was on deck 5, and the gangway to leave the ship was on deck 2.

Have you ever cruised?  Did you worry about weight gain?