IAVCEI 2013: Ash & Ribs

A couple of gems from the IAVCEI 2013 conference in Kagoshima.

Firstly, volcanic ash fall is so common in the city that where most cities have trash collection points, the government here has also set up ASH collection points. Residents bag ash on their property and leave it here to be taken away. Ash is prevelant everywhere, staining the roofs of people's cars and in all the little nooks and crannies on the streets.

Ash collection point on the main street

Kagoshima is famous not only for its resident volcano, but also for black pork, beef and sweet potatoes. I visited a steakhouse and paid for the Kagoshima Black Pork Spare Ribs. Some meals are special; this was utterly transcendent. Without a doubt one of the top 3 meals I've ever eaten.

Also, and somewhat hilariously, a 'medium' beer turned out to be 800ml.

I was hungry after a day of working registration at IAVCEI. No more!

The Japanese know ribs!

I realise I haven't mentioned the conference at all, but that's because I'm helping out with the organisation at the moment (and again tomorrow). Aside from running into several people I know from years past, not much has happened. I'll be engaging in the symposiums on 23rd and 24th, so that's when the real action will happen.

More to come soon!

Hello, heat...

Rode a quick, early morning loop with Grecia this morning, then decided to carry on for a bit because it was a glorious day. After dropping in to Otsu over Hieizan (one of my favourite 'test' climbs) I decided to head south and do the East side of the Omine Forest Road climb, the other side of which we did on February's Rapha Cycle Club ride. Turns out it's less steep from this side, and the descent is absolutely stunning. I'll try to record it sometime. Definitely one of my favourites now!

Hot day...

The heat started really messing with me a couple of hours into my solo venture. I was trying a new hydration approach but it's just hard to drink enough when it's this hot. I tried bringing one bottle of pure water, which I would drink from frequently and could easily refill, and a bottle of super (x3) concentrated energy/electrolyte drink, which I would drink from about every 15 minutes and wash down with water.

Labelled bottles: left, water (W); right, electrolytes/energy (E)

My scheme seemed to work well and I stayed feeling relatively good right up until maybe the last hour, but my performance on the climbs wasn't great. There's only so much you can drink! Not sure what else to try - I'm thinking that riding in these conditions is just going to be more endurance than KOM-grabbing...

Cold coconut milk with tapioca beads - really good mid-ride refreshment!

Top of the Omine Forest Road climb.

Uncontrollable sweating makes for the best photos, I find.

We're just getting to summer. It's only going to get worse from here.

God help us here in Kyoto...

Cake & Flies

Rode out to Kizugawa again today, because my front derailleur is messing up and I needed something flat, but it was too good a day to not ride somewhere.




Things to note:

1) Cake is still the greatest mid-ride nutrition. Today's featured a very seasonal strawberry (equivalent in value to gold in Japan).

2) Riding 35km with a small stinging insect in your baselayer is NOT fun. At all.

The finer things in life

Sometimes, no matter how bad an idea it obviously is, you just have to stop in the middle of an 85km ride to wolf down a huge American breakfast with some good friends... and then keep riding...

Kaikoma prep (2) - Nutrition

Following on from my previous post about homemade energy bars, I thought I'd just show you how they fit in my plans of what to eat on the trip...

Really simple, minimal faff. Everything will survive cold temperatures and being repeatedly crammed into a rucksack. Stuff is divided into ziplock bags to help with organisation.

Breakfast is quick and easy - the bars can be eaten on their own or broken into hot water to make a sort of strange porridge. In this case a squeeze of tube butter is added for extra calories. Tea gives a mild caffeine kick without a huge crash later on and is hydrating - I tend to go for a variety of fruit teas which, while undeniably girly, does help to break up the monotony.

Daytime food is quick and easy as well and can be eaten on the go. Power bars and Kendal Mint Cake for quick energy, homemade 'active' bars for a more balanced input. Peanut butter is just generally awesome and I found it in a tube, so that's a winner. The tortilla wrap will be loaded with cheese and meat (and possibly, wait for it, peanut butter!) and is actually something substantial so you feel like you've eaten something! Boiled sweets keep the spirits up on long belays, etc. An isotonic sports drink in my Nalgene provides the day's hydration plus a steady input of carbs and ions to keep going and fend off muscle cramps.

Dinner is a 'proper' meal. Instant ramen noodles form the base (I'll take a variety of not-too-adventurous flavours) and individual cheese squares provide extra fat, as does a squeeze of butter. Both can be added to the noodles if you want. Very hot chili sauce decanted into a tiny dropper is also good as it provides a lot of flavour for very little weight and bulk. Homemade 'recovery' bars give the body what it needs to refuel and repair itself ready for tomorrow. Cocoa is a hot, warming comfort drink - just what you need at the end of a long day.

It's impossible to carry enough water during the day, really. Therefore you make sure to hydrate properly in the morning and evening. Copious drinks and water-rich foods help here (as long as you can either find running water - lucky! - or melt enough snow).

I'll also carry a bag of nuts/rice snacks to eat at night if I wake up cold - always seems to work.



EDIT: And here it is, all bagged in individual ziplocks to massively simplify organisation.

Top to bottom: 4x breakfast; 5x lunch; 4x dinner; sundries (butters, nuts, trash bag)

Homemade energy bars

Insulation is important in climbing. You're there, puffing away (you purebred athlete, you), generating all that heat... so the last thing you want is for it all to blow away when you stop, leaving you to start all over again. However, all the insulation in the world won't do you any good at all if you can't generate that heat in the first place. You have to keep stoking that fire.

So, nutrition is vital. In the winter especially, where you burn energy just to stay warm let alone climb anything, staying on top of your energy needs is critical. In fact, that's one of the many reasons why winter climbing is fun (honest) - it's almost a license to eat stuff other people would consider 'bad' and then justify it with "Well, I'll die otherwise!".

Fat rules, because you generate lots of heat trying to break it down. You also need carbs to keep you going (short and long-term release, ideally), protein to help your muscles stay in good condition, vitamins and minerals to stay generally healthy, fibre to keep things moving inside and also to regulate carb release...

Power bars are popular but are hideously expensive and often don't really contain what you need, especially for winter climbing. Inspired by a recent post by Ed (of iceclimbingjapan) I decided to have a shot at making my own power bars. I basically copied his recipe, eyeballing the amounts (but noting them as I went along) and missing out one or two ingredients I just plain couldn't find here.

To make them I just mixed all the liquidy ingredients together over a low heat to soften them up, then threw in the dry stuff and mixed it all up for a few minutes. Spread it on some wrap, topped with more wrap, flattened it and made it roughly square and then threw it in the freezer to cool. After an hour or so it was cool enough to cut into 'bars', each of about 200 kcal (so you can count what you're eating).

I'm keeping them in the freezer for now but honestly I think they'll be fine in the fridge too. I'll test one or two and see, maybe.

The ingredients (including approximate weights and calorie contents) for both 'rest/recovery' bars and 'active' bars are below.

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'Rest' bar - breakfast, evening meal, etc


Ed says: "for breakfast and after climbing your system needs to recover from the last effort and store energy for the next. you want fat and protein, slow release carbohydrates, micronutrients and vitamins, and fibre to keep your system moving. these are for fast breakfasts (can be broken into hotwater if you want), straight after climbing for the day and as a midnight snack if you wake from the cold. think where you will be eating these – at a bivvy, in a sleeping bag etc – so larger blocks may be more convenient to consume."

1/2 jar (170g) smooth peanut butter - 1000 kcal

120g honey - 400 kcal

110g nutella - 580 kcal

100g dried berries - 350 kcal

20g butter - 150 kcal

25g dried shaved coconut - 120 kcal

30g chopped roasted almonds - 180 kcal

25g flax seeds - 130 kcal

30g sunflower seeds - 180 kcal

150g oats (10% oatbran) - 630 kcal

TOTAL = 780g = 3720 kcal

18 x 200 kcal bars (plus a little extra)

'Recovery' bar prior to cooling and cutting

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'Active' bar - on-the-go energy


Ed says: "your system is zapping calories during this phase and doesnt want to be redirecting blood and hormones to digestion when youre climbing. you want a mix of slow and fast releasing carbohydrates, sugars to perk your brain up and flavours to make you want to eat, fibre to regulate absorbtion, plus just a hint of protein and fat to keep the system from crashing. these are designed to chow down at belays, on the move or when taking breaks. these will be eaten fast and in less-than-ideal places, so consider chopping them into bite sized chunks you can drop into a pocket or stuff sack and get to with gloves on."

1/2 jar (170g) smooth peanut butter - 1000 kcal

120g honey - 400 kcal

120g choc chips - 580 kcal

200g dried berries - 700 kcal

250g oats (10% oatbran) - 1050 kcal

TOTAL:  860g = 3730 kcal

18 x 200 kcal (plus a little extra)

'Active' bar, as above

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I'm sure there's some refining to do (I overdid the chocolate in both cases, I think - I just threw it in but a little seems to go a long way!) but they seem promising and man, they taste great (shouldn't be a problem wanting to eat them... by the time I left Yatsugatake I couldn't stand the thought of eating GORP or muesli ever again...).

I'd also like to add maltodextrin to the active bars, for more slow-release carbs, but I couldn't find it here. People have recommended replacing it with oats, so given the high oat content anyway it may not be a big deal. I'd still like to track some down though.

Both bars set quite solidly and should stay that way in cold conditions. I can't vouch for them in warmer climes but you'd probably want to make a much less fatty mix then anyway.

I'll be taking a lot of these to Kaikoma along with some 'proper' meals for evenings (read: cheese and instant ramen noodles) and good ol' Kendal Mint Cake for those times when you just can't get enough sugar to keep you going...