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Get Fit, Stay Fit, Feel Good - 2026

Man work sucks I have to keep rescheduling gym days due to working late.

Tuesday was able to finally go and got in a pretty good day skipped some lower back exercises as I must have tweaked mine over the weekend and it was feeling up to snuff. Did some bench presses to warm up then hit the crossfit stuff. Getting better at lunges and am doing more per set when needed. Also did some more standing jumps to get that going want to get that box flipped to the 36" side. A set of some stuff with a medicine ball and some farmer walks. Wednesday I was pretty sore but think that was because I didn't sleep good Tuesday night due to some cramps that kept waking me up. Haven't had those in a bit so not sure what happened. Went to sleep last night and woke up this morning with minimal soreness so yeah for that as I am getting some positive stuff from suffering for the initial few weeks of workouts.

Tonight is gym night so we will see what happens.
 
Ridley said:
I have no idea what my VO2 max is. The last measurement I got was back in July when I went from running and riding to riding only. It was 46, which was down from my previous high of 48 during my training for broken arrow. Maybe I should go for a run, or just suck it up and get a power meter.
Click to expand...

Mine's been stuck @ 46 for some time now, but it's also not something I've been focusing on. I find that number high for the amount of time I focus on raising VO2 max.
 
Leaving for Bakersfield tmrw for Rock Cobbler 13.0. This year the course is a little shorter at 69mi with ~7000ft of climbing. And supposedly the hike-a-bike is a little easier. Last year I went 5:35 for 75miles. 6miles is about 20min. Minus a little bit more. So goal time this year is sub 5hrs. Maybe stretch goal is 4:45! Just for the record.

I’ve made 4 bottles with 100g of sugar and 1 gel with 200g. That’s more than enough since the target is 100g/hr. If I’m fast enough, I’ll prob do 3 of those bottles, 1 of water, and the whole gel. 🤔. This is my race prep. So many details.
 
@stangmx13, why did you choose sugar over something like Scratch high carb? Do you have a bottle with electrolytes to minimize cramping?
 
Ridley said:
@stangmx13, why did you choose sugar over something like Scratch high carb? Do you have a bottle with electrolytes to minimize cramping?
Click to expand...

There’s nothing special about drink mixes and they cost a shit ton. Skratch HighCarb is one of the most expensive drink mixes at ~75 Cal/dollar. So a 400Cal bottle is >$5. I drink like 10 bottles a week minimum. I can’t afford that 😅

My mix is 50/50 sugar and maltodextrin. I pay ~$50 for 8kg total btw the two ingredients. That’s ~640 Cal/dollar. A 400Cal bottle is ~63cents. I use malto cuz it has zero sweetness, but am training to use less of it. Oh and I add 3g of citric acid, which costs a few cents.

I make my own salt mix. It’s a clone of Skratch Clear using raw ingredients in bulk off Amazon. Each bottle gets 2-4g depending on conditions. The serving for 1 bottle costs me <10cents instead of the ~75cents Skratch charges.

My gels use 75/25 sugar and malto, plus the same salt mix and citric acid. I put it in reusable flasks.
 
This stuff is fascinating. Thank you, Robert. I’m going to be wishing you all the best and can’t wait for the race report.

I’m attempting my pre-accident four mile walk tomorrow for the first time. I think my foot is ready.
 
stangmx13 said:
There’s nothing special about drink mixes and they cost a shit ton. Skratch HighCarb is one of the most expensive drink mixes at ~75 Cal/dollar. So a 400Cal bottle is >$5. I drink like 10 bottles a week minimum. I can’t afford that 😅

My mix is 50/50 sugar and maltodextrin. I pay ~$50 for 8kg total btw the two ingredients. That’s ~640 Cal/dollar. A 400Cal bottle is ~63cents. I use malto cuz it has zero sweetness, but am training to use less of it. Oh and I add 3g of citric acid, which costs a few cents.

I make my own salt mix. It’s a clone of Skratch Clear using raw ingredients in bulk off Amazon. Each bottle gets 2-4g depending on conditions. The serving for 1 bottle costs me <10cents instead of the ~75cents Skratch charges.

My gels use 75/25 sugar and malto, plus the same salt mix and citric acid. I put it in reusable flasks.
Click to expand...
I’ll subscribe to your recipe newsletter.
 
@stangmx13 I had no idea. Thanks Robert. And right after I read your post I was on YouTube and this popped up on my feed…I wasn’t even searching for it.

 
So last night was a success. No lingering soreness to hold me back from doing a very nice workout. I even got in all my lunges without feeling like my legs were going to die. Got some 24" box jumps and some farmers walks in as well. Then I hit the treadmill at a 3 incline at a 3 speed for about 20 minutes all this talk of VO2 max got me thinking I have neglected my cardio. :laughing

Feeling pretty good today so next week thinking about maybe starting two sets each gym visit to see how close I can come to killing my legs again. Happy with the progress always wish it could be faster but at my age and weight at the moment I am happy to be making any progress at all.

I kind of feel like that commercial on TV where the guy is always talking about a kitchen upgrade but think once I get some tests done at the end of this month early next I am going to go straight weight loss, take the hit in strength and muscle mass and lose the damn weight for good. then I can focus on protein overload and building back the mass/strength at a later time. I waffle too much between the two and neither one is making solid gains so it's time to buckle down and focus.

of yes forgot to add @stangmx12 please share your rehydration recipe. I go through a metric shit ton of dollars during summer here trying to rehydrate with store bought stuff.
 
Time for another positive race report!

The main goal for my racing this year seems to be "stay with the front group". The more time I spend with them, the further I make it into the race with great speed and an amazing time. Bike races always have some choke point or feature that makes that difficult. Get through there and you've "made the selection". For this course, it was the first dirt section with the first real climb. We rode off a nice wide bike path onto a chunky narrow double track with 20%+ climbs.

Screenshot 2026-02-08 at 11.28.22 AM.png

Screenshot 2026-02-08 at 11.41.12 AM.png


This section ended up taking 12min, though it felt longer. I burned a match or two. The numbers say it was a threshold workout, but it definitely felt like I was trying harder. By the end of the descent and back onto the road, the front group of ~20 was 300ft ahead. Unfortunately, they didnt slow down and let me catch up lol. I got really aero, put down some power, and made zero progress. Then I slowed a little, let a group of 4 catch me, and worked with them. But the front group still pulled away. Damn!

The rest of the race ended up being a full-on sufferfest. One of the pre-race emails said the dirt was drying rough and they weren't lying. There were so many sections of dry cattle prints that were deep! A few times, the course just sent us across the side of a hill through the grass with no trail. And if there was a trail, it was a cow trail with the previously mention cattle prints. It took so much power to just stay rolling, let alone feel like I was riding fast. My 52mm front tire felt too small. Next year I'll have to try less air pressure. It was so rough that I broke my freaking saddle. Ya, I slammed my pelvis into the saddle so hard somewhere in the last 30min of the race. Ugh!

IMG_4228.jpg


The only thing that went wrong during this race was cow :poop:. About 1/4mile from the high point of the course, a huge blob of :poop: got picked up by my rear tire and stuck onto the front derailleur, which started to cover the chain with :poop:. So i stopped and used my remaining 1/2 bottle of water to squirt things clean. Then I stopped at the aid at the top, cleaned it more, and filled my bottle. Data says I wasted 2min. :poop:

Turns out that everyone else suffered just as much as I did. Last year, I finished 1hr8min behind the winner. This year I finished only 39min behind the winner! It's so nice to know that I can burn matches at the start of these races and still feel good 4hrs later. That thought alone turns these events into actual races for me, instead of just solo adventures. The smarter I ride, the faster I'll go.

IMG_4212.jpg


The numbers:
Screenshot 2026-02-08 at 12.37.03 PM.png


Calories Expended - 3564Cal
Calories Consumed - 1800Cal (450g sugar)
Fluid Consumed - 2750mL
Estimate Sweat Loss - 2900mL

Next race is BWR AZ is on Feb 28th. My replacement saddle will be here tmrw.
 
@stangmx13 my, uh, saddle contact points hurt just thinking about breaking a saddle. I reckon it’s good that it broke later rather than first thing but tha cow shit was bad news all around. I’m gonna find an ultra light evil eye 🧿 to ward off poop for next year. :rofl

I’m glad you’re feeling and seeing the ROI on your hard work. I’m so pumped by your racing and it keeps me motivated and putting in work. Please keep sharing and keep kicking ass.

:banana R :banana O :banana B :banana E :banana R :banana T :banana
 
Rob's Sports Fueling Recipes

IMG_4232.jpg


Electrolyte Mix

1 Serving of 2.5g / 2.75ml / 0.5 tsp gives:
400mg Sodium
100mg Potassium
50mg Calcium
50mg Magnesium

Recipe for 50 servings:
86g sodium citrate
10g potassium chloride
14g calcium citrate
18g magnesium citrate

For low-sweat activities like night rides or low intensity, I try for 0.5-1 serving per hour. For high-sweat like hot rides or high intensity, I try for 1.5-2 servings per hour. I'm light and not a salty sweater. Salty sweaters may need to do like 3+ servings per hour.

Pretty much every good sports drink mix on the planet should have sodium levels that are comparable to this. The other ingredients are far less crucial for performance, more a "nice to have".

You can put this mix in straight water. It's not salty because it doesn't use sodium chloride (salt). It just tastes a little mineral-y. But if you are exercising, even a little sugar is a good thing.

The containers above are approx 500 servings of sodium, 5000 of potassium, 900 of calcium, and 700 of magnesium. The whole lot is $75 on Amazon. If you go down this rabbit hole, try to buy less potassium chloride :LOL:


Drink Mix

1:1 ratio of table sugar to maltodextrin

50-75g in 550ml bottles, 75-100g in 750ml bottles
0.5 tsp of citric acid per bottle
0.5 - 1 tsp electrolyte mix per bottle, as stated in the prev section


Gel Mix

3:1 ratio of table sugar to maltodextrin

50-100g in 150ml flask, 100-200g in 250ml flask
0.25-0.5 tsp citric acid
0.5-1 tsp electrolyte mix
Fill almost to the top with water

Drinks and gels are effectively the same thing - dissolved sugar. There are two types of sugars here - glucose and fructose. Table sugar is 50/50 glucose and fructose. Maltodextrin is long-chain glucose that has almost no sweetness. The ultimate goal is to have a ratio of 1:0.8 of glucose to fructose for peak metabolism. Unfortunately, higher concentrations of fructose can cause gastric distress for some. And simple sugars are sweet, which can make it really hard to drink them for long durations. Everyone's tolerance for all this is different.

The drink mix with its 1:1 ratio is a good balance of some fructose in the table sugar and reduced sweetness from the malto. In the gels, sweetness is far less bothersome. So the 3:1 ratio is better to get more fructose. In both cases, citric acid is used to curb the sweetness some. Just don't overdo the citric acid in the gels. Also, table sugar dissolves far easier than malto - which becomes an issue with the high concentration gels.

That tub of malto is 3.6kg and is only $38 on Amazon. Table sugar is cheap AF, like $2 per kg. And that kilo of citric acid was $9.

Edit:
Buying all the electrolytes is a barrier for entry. But you don't have to. All that can be substituted with regular table salt. 1g table salt gives 400mg sodium, the same serving as my electrolyte mix. 1g is ~1/5 tsp. That amount of salt in a bottle is not salty, especially with added sugar. It's a reasonable replacement for my electrolyte mix.

Also, lemon juice can sub for the citric acid. It's the same thing and will probably taste better. However, you'll probably want the juice from 1/4-1/2 lemon and constantly buying and juicing lemons is tiresome.
 
Last edited:
I just crushed a rain ride. I spent 87 continuous minutes in the saddle and covered 17 miles.

I need a rear fender on this bike. It feels like I peed my pants with ice water.
 
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