Karl, Jim and I went for a quick spin. Pretty muggy out there, but the temps were nice. We started early, and rolled about 7:05am from the AMC pond, and about 6:50 from my back gate. Ended up a little further than we planned, but was good. Wind was brutal. This was a pretty hard push to only get 16.2mph. Average watts shows the truth.

I stayed near the front for much of the second half of the ride, but I was never far ahead. It’s more of the initial power-up rather than a massive difference in power. Looking over the last few months of Garmin history for rides over 20 mins and 5 miles, this is my highest average wattage (214 vs 207) by 7 watts, but only my second highest max-average-watts (244 vs 258 highest 20-min average during the ride).

I also had actual breakfast – 2 mini sausage-biscuits (300kcal) and 3 six-inch pancakes (about the same). No syrup or butter. Powerade full-strength in one bottle, and half plus sugar-free green tea in the other… plus 20oz of gatorade mid-ride, plus a fried pie mid ride. It was 20 miles in before I opened the first bottle, but I’ve been pretty well hydrated lately. I definitely felt the slowdown before beginning the rehydration.

I was short on sleep, and had Advocare MNS Max E (though I didn’t have the CorePlex, the probiotic, nor the Omega. I added a single OptiMen multi tablet, and one TwinLab TriBoron Plus calcium). The MNS E is caffeine laiden, and I felt very alert. Perceived exertion seemed lower than expected, but it was still very obviously a hard push. The ingredients all look to be okay were I in a UCI race, but I can’t help but wonder about metabolites, etc. I couldn’t find anything on the USADA or WADA websites on labs for testing. They specifically don’t test supplements. More research is warranted.
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