Sometimes we all do crazy things and this seems like one of those moments. I had just finished my ride for the day and was about to head off down the pavement to home base when I decided to do another lap. Even my faithful trail dog, Ginger, looked at me in disbelief, as all she new was that instead of heading for home and some food and rest we were going to do this 2 hour ride again. It wasn’t that this ride was such a big epic; it was the uphill climb which she probably thought I was insane to attempt again, 8km of relentless uphill grinding. After all, we had never done this particular route twice in her 6 years of tagging joyfully along with me on our many adventures.

Well, as any cross country rider will tell you, it’s all about the climb and no matter what the situation is, the creed says that you can’t push your bike. My dog seemed to sense this and since no one was around to witness this insanity, she tried her best to encourage me to carry on, by trotting uphill ahead of me, chasing after some imaginary rabbit.

All was going not too badly until we got to the spot on the trail marked where a tree had been hit by lightning, bad omen. My heart rate monitor was reaching new highs and my head pounding so hard I thought my helmet might explode as we approached the steepest pitch where it was hard to even hike up. No way was I going to walk it, I would die trying. Or crash instead, which is what resulted from my wild flaying attack. Too tired to correct my spinning rear wheel, I basically tipped over and lay on the ground motionless, disc rotor fortunately not too hot to burn my side.

After gathering myself and sensing the karma to complete the rest of the ride was tainted, I decided to turn around and just head straight home before further damage was done. And besides, I was dying for something to eat and I could still return a hero, having at least attempted this thing. Anyway, I started thinking about food and how great it was going to be to have a massive lunch.

Well I held that thought all the back home, rolled off my bike, opened the door and slid into the kitchen like it was home plate. Well what to eat, pizza was all gone, recovery milk shake mix long disappeared. What to do!!. I panicked, grabbed a frying pan and threw in our dinner meal, a beautiful porterhouse steak. I don’t now why, I must have been crazed. But wait, isn’t this what everyone is up too: EAT MEAT and lots of it!!!

Well I don’t know about you but something seems seriously flawed with this latest diet craze. After all, it seems like just yesterday that we were being told of all benefits of carbo loading and a low fat & protein intake. Now it’s all out the window, if you are not frying up bacon and eggs for breakfast, having a ham sandwich for lunch and a big steak for dinner, well you are going to morph into the Pillsbury dough boy. But is this for everyone? Do these protein enriched people work out at all? Sure I can get away with gorging now after burning off 2000 calories. But to eat like this as a form of dieting? I think not.

You see, I bet none of these crazed beef eaters considered their bicycle and all of its potential, yet every garage in North America has at least 2 of them. So what are all these people doing with their bikes? Nothing!! No one seems interested in sweating any more because with the new protein diet craze you don’t have to even exercise. Just chow down in front of the television and magically the weight will just begin to disappear. Well, instead of staring blankly at the mirror, wondering why your muscles seem to be sagging, give your face a slap and try something different.

Yes, we cyclists have a choice. Show the world the way to a healthy lifestyle by rolling out your metal beast, find the biggest hill in your neighborhood and sweat away crazily, even in the rain, trying to make it up and laughing like hell when you do. Remember Newton’s 2nd law: Force = Mass x Acceleration. Which equals one heck of a good feeling after a big ride.

Soon, people will notice, it will catch on and who knows where it will lead. Ride 6 hours a week. Amazing things will happen. You will begin to loose weight naturally; your appetite for empty calories will disappear and maybe the local 7 eleven will go broke. Remember that we of humble Canadian citizenship are a huge force in the bicycling world, as the best Free riders and XC riders in the world live here. Ask Roland or Wade, it is really all about the climb.

Finally, just for laughs I’d like to show the difference in diet between the popular protein lover’s diet and what The Standards set by Health Canada are:

DAILY CALORIES From PROTEIN From FAT From CARBOHYDRATES Average Joe 2100 180grams (80) 125 grams (70) 68 grams (290) Note: the brackets represent the Health Canada Standards

For the record, statistics show that 35% of cancers are caused by poor diet and that fat is a leading cause of the disease. Happy trails.