The spirit of Mardi Gras or “Fat Tuesday” overcame me last night. I’m not talking about beads and women flashing me their mammory glands either. I’m talking more of the pageantry and feasting and living in excess and then starting Lent on Ash Wednesday for 40 days of giving up a normal “vice” and giving pennance for sins. I was riding back home from a hill workout and noticed people walking around with beads and hats. My focus shifted from going home, eating a good meal, stretching, and getting some good rest in to “I should let loose, go out to eat, drink a few beers, and check out the scene on 6th st. for a little bit” Colleen was sick and couldn’t come with me, but she can rest assured I only took one bead necklace with me and it was not one I was not willing to give up. I had a nice southern comfort meal at Victory grill (highly recommended, by the way) before heading to some blues bars and throwing a few beers back on 6th. The scene down there is interesting, and pathetic at best. It used to be a lot more celebratory and in the true spirit of Mardi Gras, but these days, it’s mostly a bunch of minorities running around with a digital camera trying to find the next overweight unnattractive woman willing to expose her chest for a few plastic beads. It’s almost a legal form of prostitution if you think about it. Instead of paying the women directly with money, a guy buys some beads and gives them to a female in exchange for a 2 second viewing. The ironic thing is that the actual money goes to the sidewalk “pimps”, those nice folks selling the beads out of their corner store and that the men never get any real “service”. Oh well, I guess some guys get what they can take. Me, I just kind of hung around gorging myself with ice cream bars and pizza (PROCESSED CARBS!!) laughing anytime there was mass rapid migration of men to a gullible woman like a flock of pigeons swarm to a piece of bread. It’s actually more entertaining to watch from afar. Anyways, I consumed enough junk and processed carb calories to last me well over 40 days and felt my job was done so I retired early and actually got to bed before 11:30. As for what I’ll giving up for Lent, i think caffeine would be a good start. In the least, I can give up coffee, because I really do enjoy hot teas and the other benefits tea has to offer, it just so happens that tea has a little caffeine in it. I’ve done alcohol before, but truly, that’s not that hard. I’m already giving up carbs for my Paleo diet so that won’t be hard either. I barely watch any TV so I don’t see that as a worthwhile sacrifice either. Coffee it is! I will even fast all day Wednesday to help clear out all the gunk in my high octane engine. Even if you aren’t Christian, Lent is a nice way to realize all the blessings in your life and identify stuff that you really don’t need. Intermittent fasting just happens to be part of the Caveman diet too! Remember that cavepeople weren’t always able to secure a food source, so their bodies adapted to going a day or two every now and then without food. An abundance of food choices has made my mind weak, fasting will help make it strong. I urge you to give up something for 40 days that you might consider “bad”, and consider fasting on occasion. Let me what it is, and how you’re doing in 20 days. Good luck!

After a 15 month hiatus from road racing, I returned to skinny tires, a lightweight carbon frame bike, and some smooth roads of central Texas to test my meddle with the roadies. True roadies are a different breed of cyclist compared to mountain bikers. I’ve done enough racing in both to know which sport and people are better, and if you know me, I don’t even have to say which one it is.  Roadies, and more specifically-but not limited to- lower category riders such as Cat4’s and 5’s, give me several reasons not to like the sport:

1. they always like to make excuses why they didn’t do so well
2. Sometimes they have a legitimate excuse because some moron next to or in front of them doesn’t know how to a) hold their line in a turn b) hold their line in a straightaway c) shift gears without dropping a chain d) not lock up their wheels when they get too close to the person in front of them e) get a drink of water without drifting in to anyone f) keep their calm when there is a little shoulder to shoulder or wheel to wheel contact, which happens because of all the above, and said rider initiates a crash that takes out anyone within a 20 foot radius
3. Roadies don’t share the pre-race activities and team camaraderie that mountain bikers do like camping out, having dinner together, drinking beer, etc.
4. In fact, roadies always opt for a hotel and all the creature comforts they can take, even given an option to camp at the race site
5. Road racing is definitely a team sport. It’s one thing that I hardly ever have teammates that do road racing, but it is another to have your success depend on others. In this respect, road racing gets overly tactical and more like a game of Risk than a fun race.
6. everyone wants to win, not everyone wants to work for it. In mountain biking, you have to work the entire race if you want the win. There is no wheelsucking or chillin in the pack.
7. Colleen brought this up after the Sunday race, but roadies like to sit around after a race and super analyze the thing and what went wrong and share their excuses with each other. A mountain biker would be like “yeah, i just got it handed to me today, but I had a great time!” and sip on a beer whilst enjoying friendly conversation with another knobby tire friend
8. Roadies in general feel that spending more money on their bikes will give them an edge. A wheelset that is .4 lbs lighter is a non issue if you have 10 lbs of fat hanging over your bike shorts
9. One of the stronger sentiments, in my observation, is that roadies are usually more stuck up, more self centered, less patient, and less courteous folks. They take the competition WAY too seriously. We saw guys driving up in Porsches and BMW’s honking and yelling at riders to get out of the way in the parking area so they could find a place to park. What a lovely way to treat your fellow cyclist.
10. many many more reasons i dont have time to explain

I’ll take a race involving a 25 lb hunk of alloy with 2.2″ tires, a flat handlebar, and a suspension fork any day over a featherweight machine with curvy bars and tires with less width than my thumbs. The racing this weekend did nothing more to reinforce that mentality. Heading into Saturday’s race. my “road form”  was admittedly rusty, and my nerve not quite what it used to be, but I felt I was in good shape and could get me a few top 10’s for the weekend. Not even close. If you don’t have the skills and confidence to race mountain bikes and are perfectly happy sitting in the pack, I suggest you check out this article from  Bike Snob NYC on how to race Pass/fail. Excellent reading!

Saturday- Walburg Road Race

• Started the 48 mile course with light rain, a slight chill, and no wind. No problem I thought to myself
• Rain dried off, things were going smooth. As we took the right turn off 487 onto a county road (see map), the leaders launched one of the most ferocious attacks I’d ever seen in a Cat 4 race. I struggled the entire section to try to pull up to the pack.  Meanwhile the rest of the field was being absolutely decimated. We probably started with 65 riders. it looked to be 15 in the front, about 8 loose riders between me and them, and everyone else fighting for dear life behind me
• another right turn onto the main road and out of nowhere we were faced with one hell of a headwind. The front pack continued to push.
• I pulled up to one looser rider at a time and we eventually got a group going to begin the chase
• Despite the lead group’s slow pace, the wind was really hampering the chase group’s effort to bridge. I knew if we didn’t catch them that the race was over, so I pulled HARD. The effort got us to the tail end of the group, but I was spent and fell off the back.
• Keeping the pack in sight kept my hopes alive, but heavy wind worked to break me of that hope.
• Small groups would catch me and I stayed on as long as I could until finally I cracked. The constant 20-30 mph winds broke my spirit, my body,  and the will to go on. I had bonked, and the only thing keeping me going was the desire to get back to my car and get some energy back in the system. I was completely demoralized and not looking forward to the race on sunday.

Sunday- Pace Bend Road Race

• Colleen and I got the incorrect start time of 8am for a 10am race from last year’s flyer so we get there 2 hours too early that could’ve been spent sleeping in. oh well. better early than late.
• bigger field, more aggressive riders, higher pace-NO WIND today. The course had several short hills and spots with fast acceleration, something that favored my strengths
• I wanted to be up front attacking like crazy, but the legs weren’t feeling so hot from the day before, so I was content in the pack
• even with a full rolling enclosure (full width of the road), I still found it difficult and/or dangerous to move up in the pack when I wanted. That’s no excuse for poor position, it was just frustrating though.
• things were looking good as I was still with the pack on the final miles of the last lap until a crash with about 1k to go tangled me up. i did not go down, but came to a standstill and got detached from the pack. by the time i caught back up, the 200m sprint had commenced, but having just done a 700m sprint I didn’t have much left in my tank, so another disappointing finish.

That’s road racing, and right now, methinks road racing isn’t all that fun, so I will keep a focus on mountain biking until further notice. The next race is this weekend at St. Jo in north Texas, one of my favorite courses. Thanks for reading.
Greg

It was a year ago last night that I suffered one of the biggest defeats in my life. Colleen and I took to the Peter Pan putt putt course for one of our first dates. I fought hard and valiantly, but a few 5 and 6 putt holes would ultimately be my demise. I think I might have still been in a race hangover from the 24 hour race in Tucson, but people who really want to get something done find a way, others just find excuses. I guess on that balmy day Feb 19, 2008, I was just one of those “other” people. Little did Colleen know that I would be taking her on a surprise date last night to revisit that hallowed battleground to commemorate the historic struggle, and that this time, I was not going down. I would have to find a way to get ‘er done, no matter the cost and casualty of war. My first shot was a hole in one, to her 3. I was driving the point home early, and I think the intimidation got to her, for I steadily built an insurmountable lead to take the East course 52-59. It was on to the more difficult West course for 18 more shots of glorious battle. This course favored her skills a bit more with a “hit the crap out of the ball and hope it lands somewhere good” approach as opposed to my finesse and precision targeting ability because of the subtle slopes and course inconsistencies (i.e. poor craftsmanship, dilapidated materials). Nonetheless, when I was down 3 shots at hole 9, I pulled myself together for the comeback victory of a lifetime. By the last hole, I had tied it up. The stakes were high as we shook hands as a matter of respect for each putt putt warrior. She saw me curse her purple ball with bad ju-ju around hole 14, but I don’t think she took it to heart like she should have. She went first, no hole in one for her. Then I went, same outcome. Her second shot failed. Mine did not. Victory was mine!! She was left completely demoralized trying to sink her 3^rd and eventual final 4^th shot while I did a victory dance around the course and basked in the glory of my revenge. Final score for the west course 54-57.

Better luck next time, babe. But don’t count on it. I will become a master dark overlord of putt putt and become more powerful than you can ever fathom!

Wow, 2 wins 2 weekends in a row! That might be a new record for me and my bikes! Colleen and I made the long drive out to Terlingua with teammate Patty B. this weekend. We left Austin Thursday after work and made our campground in Sonora by 11:30pm. A raw egg/fruit/nut breakfast and I was ready to hit the road. We got to Terlingua with plenty of daylight to spare. Got the camp set up and went for a little pre-ride. A raw meat dinner, some veggies, and a few beers left me ready for bed under the starry Terlingua sky.

Terlingua is the season opener for the TMBRA spring series and is a bit unique from the other cross country races in that it is combined with the TMBRA marathon series. Experts must race the 100k distance to get their XC points, but their finish also counts towards marathon points. Having completed the 12 hour race just one weekend before, I was not in good condition to race the full 100k (2 laps of a 31 mile loop). The only way I could get away with doing 1 lap was racing in the singlespeed category, so to keep myself from even thinking of racing the 100k, I only brought the singlespeed bike. This course has one monster of a climb close to the end (some 1200 or so feet in about a mile) and lots of other smaller climbs after about 30k but it also has a lot of wide open super fast single track and jeep road, so I took a gamble and geared the bike high with a 36-18 in hopes that I would be able to cover more ground faster and not spin out. I was prepared to walk as much of the mountain climb as I had to as a compromise, because even with lower gearing I still wouldn’t have anything close to a middle ring with a 32t rear cassette. Most people would be riding this climb in their granny gear! The gamble worked, and then some. I had the third fastest 50k time of the day of all categories at 2:19:11, less than a minute off 2^nd and 3 minutes off 1st. The time was good enough for a 10 minute victory in the singlespeed class. A steel frame bike that I paid $300 for with one gear and no suspension put a lot of folks to shame that day. In a bit of fairness, I should clarify that I added my new Stan’s wheelset, my super old avid juicy 5 disc brakes, and the Syntace vector handlebar. Against the recommendation of some folks who had recently ridden the course, I also kept the Stan’s Raven tires on. I’m not sure why they didn’t think it would be a good tire out there, if anything it was THE tire to run. That bike was just smoking fast, until I hit the climb, and then the weight of a steel bike with a high gear really bit me in the butt. On the parts I actually could ride (about half the climb) I just turned those cranks over one painful revolution at a time. It felt like lifting weights. The other half I just couldn’t ride and had to push that clunker up one painful breath and step at a time. I didn’t lose too much ground to several geared riders I had passed earlier in the course, and probably none to other single speeders. When the enormity of the climb began to get to my head, I just kept telling myself  “Tis not the mountain that makes the man” (warning, link contains expletives) and kept doing the only thing a caveman knows to do: just keep going. The last 5 miles were pretty fast jeep trail and again, I was glad I had picked a higher gearing. Major props to Rebecca Rusch ( 24 hour national champion and elite endurance mountain biker) who caught me within the last mile and half only to get passed back because of my Caveman pride.  She had another lap to go and was easily matching my 1 lap pace (she did have gears though). She went on to win the female 100k race in a new course record time and had I known that was her at the time I probably would’ve chatted a bit.

As most of the 100k racers started pooling in, the beer began to flow. The Terlingua race is renown for it’s partying Saturday night after the races and with the pleasant weather we had this weekend, it was really a great turnout. Another great weekend of mountain bike festivus down in the history book.

Some other race notes.

• Colleen won the Cat 3 Women 30-39 category. She had a great race and this was her first victory, so big props to her.
• The team in general did very well and we racked up some good points for the team challenge. It looks to be a very promising season for the blue army!
• The single speed category is an open category, so anyone from the world champ to a beginner can enter it. The competition that day wasn’t particularly stiff, so I felt like a sandbagger taking that first place, but it was the only way I could do the 50k and considering I won the 12 hour last weekend, I was pretty pleased that I was able to crank out the performance I did on Saturday. Since the 50k distance is a sport category, I should’ve had one of the fastest times of the day. It was a nice change of pace going from a moderate 12 hour pace to a no holds barred 2 hour pace.
• The caveman diet once again proved itself as I ate raw meat/eggs/fruits&veggies for dinner and breakfast before the race with no problems whatsoever. This diet is here to stay!

I have dusted off my road bike and have signed up to do some skinny tire racing in the central Texas area this weekend. I have seriously almost forgotten how to ride a road bike really fast, so hopefully some training rides this week will get me back in the groove of things. I have no expectations for these races other than to go to the front and attack as much as I can just for the heck of it. Hopefully I will blow up near the end of the race and bow out gracefully. If I ain’t feeling any pain, I’m not getting a good workout in.

It’s off to Terlingua, TX this weekend for the longest road trip of the spring season-The Mas o Menos 100k. The stars at night are definitely big and bright out there, I guess that’s what keeps me coming back to this place, along with the mountain vistas while riding the 31 mile loop, because otherwise, it’s a long boring drive and this place is in the middle of nowhere. I missed this event last year to compete  at the 24 hour race in Tucson, which resulted in the knee injury that kept me off the bike for 2 months. I am not recovered from the 12 hour race last weekend so I don’t plan on entering the Pro category and pushing gears for 62 miles. I’m feeling much better than I did earlier in the week, but not good enough for 2 passes over Tres Cuervos (the 1,000+ foot mountain climb) at XC pace. I’m bringing the single speed instead, and might enter the single speed category since it is only half the distance of the big boy race. I’ll be less tempted to actually race and just enjoy the ride on this bike as well. Check back Monday for a follow up.

If you believe in yourself and have dedication and pride-and never quit-you’ll be a winner. The price of victory is high, but so are the rewards. –Paul “Bear” Bryant

If Flat Rock Creek is the course that has always been mean to me, Warda is the one that has almost always been nice. I’m now 4 out 5 for 1^st place finishes there. 1^st in Collegiate A, TMBRA expert 19-29 , Dirty Dozen 2 man team, and finally, this weekend’s win at the Dirty Dozen solo expert category.

A solo win is rarely solo at all, so appreciation for my “team” is the first order of business. Thanks to all those who supported me in the feedzone-Amy Hall, Shauna Metcalf, and my little cupcake (she did the 6 hour race and helped me for the last 6 hours-good job on your first 6 hour!). Thanks to Brandon Lucas for wrenching on my bikes and making sure they were race ready. Thanks to Ian Hall for sitting in the feed zone and downing Miller High Life’s, and occasionally checking up on my position. Part of a successful strategy for races like this is minimal time in the pits and maximum time on the trail. I’m proud to say, with the help of my pit crew, I didn’t spend more than a minute in any of the pit stops, except for one late in the race to stretch out an ailing knee. Thanks to my supplement sponsor, Puresport, who provided the workout mix that pretty much fueled me the entire race. I ate 1 ½ Odwalla peanut bars, some pickles, some bison jerky, and drank some Odwalla smoothies with a lot of vitamin B, but really a bottle of Puresport workout each lap was what sustained me the entire time. Thanks to my therapist, Performance wellness who I will be seeing a lot of in the next few days. Thanks to Sean Ahmadi who gave me a training plan to prepare for this race. And as always, thanks to everyone on Team NRC/Pedalmasher who was there to cheer me on.

I will sum up the race very quickly bullet style.

• Proud Mary (the hardtail) handled the first 9 laps very efficiently and pulled me up from the middle ranks to 1^st position.
• The new Stan’s arch 29er wheelset and Raven tires held up great with a tubeless setup and were smoking fast. See the tech corner for review.
• Big Tex (the full suspension) took over on lap 10 so Proud Mary could get a little work done on her. After two laps I decided to stay with this bike since it is more stable and I was getting more and more fatigued.
• I completed 17 laps, somewhere around 130 miles, in 12 hours flat. It was a much quicker pace than the 24 hour Rocky Hill race where I did 17 laps and 175 miles in 24 hours
• Having done a faster pace and just as many laps made the race feel longer than 12 hours and just as painful as the 24
• I was pushing the pace really high the first 7 laps, pretty high the next 6, and chill the last 4 when I learned I was more than an hour up on 2^nd place. By the way, Brandon Melott from up north of the Red River held on for that second place on a singlespeed. A very hard fought and well deserved finish for him. I’ve raced Brandon before in other events and he always puts up a hell of fight
• I could’ve gone 18 laps, but didn’t need to when I heard Brandon had already completed his 16th lap 15 mins before the cutoff, making it an impossibility for him to catch me
• I did not have one single mechanical the entire race
• I was very well hydrated for the majority of the race. Not wanting to give up time for “nature breaks”, I mastered the art of said breaks while on the bike about 7 times throughout the race. Email me if you want to know the details of this skill. I’m not sharing publicly.
• The Paleo Diet which I am now 90% subscribing to, appears to have no detrimental effect on athletic performance. I expect as I get closer to 100% and better adapted to it, performance will actually increase. Instead of carbo loading the night before, I ate a raw steak and a salad with lots of veggies, seeds, and nuts, much like the meals I had for the entire week before. For breakfast, I had 2 raw jumbo eggs, an orange, and some mixed nuts
• Much like my primal eating habits, I elected to go more “au natural” and forego the use of chamois butter, a bike computer, and/or a heart rate monitor/powermeter. Technology is nice, but there is no substitute for instinct and mental toughness.
• If I do this race next year, I think I will attempt it singlespeed rigid. With my P90X strength training and arsenal of ergonomic handlebars, I didn’t really have issues with my wrists, shoulders, arms, or back hurting at all. SS rigid would be a fun way to up the ante
• I freaked a lot of people out at the awards ceremony by taking a raw steak I was eating for dinner up to the podium to accept my award. Thanks to the ranch owner, Damon Nolan for providing the awesome longhorn t-bone. Check the Bluff Creek website if you are interested in purchasing quality free range Texas Longhorn beef

Much like the 24 hour win in 2007, this one came with a price. The last 4 laps, I had to fight through some really excruciating pain on the lateral side of my left knee. I’ve been having issues with this knee since that 24 hour race, but never in this location. It appears to be IT band tightness and hopefully nothing a little therapy and proper recovery can’t fix. Having the mental toughness to overcome that pain and bring home the W was honestly one of the more meaningful achievements in my racing career and I will cherish this win for a long time. Racing Terlingua this upcoming weekend looks out of the picture, but who knows? The body is a resilient thing. Long live long rides! Happy Monday,
Greg

I can hear the wind whisper my name
Tellin’ me it’s time to head out again
My 29ers are racked and the beer iced down
I’m long overdue for headin’ outta town
Gotta fever that they call the 12 hour rodeo
Just enough winnings to make the next show
Sometimes you make twelve, sometimes you hit the wall,
Go on pin another number to the front of my bars!

And I’ll ride that hardtail fast
Like a cowboy from the past
Be young and wild and free
Like Texas in 1880
Just like Texas in 1880

Awe, from Terlingua to Austin to the Astro Dome
From Palo Duro Canyon down to San Antone
There’s boys that are ridin’ for legendary fame. And our money’s all gone but I still ride the same.
My heart’s a gettin’ broken

And my body’s gettin’ busted
I’ll always believe in the things that I trusted
They’ll be those nights when glory comes round
And I’ll tip my beer and wave to the crowd

And I’ll ride that hardtail fast
Like a cowboy from the past
Be young and wild and free
Like Texas in 1880
Just like Texas in 1880

Someday when you’re older someone’ll see
That trophy hangin’ there on your wall
Askin’ just how it felt…

And I’ll ride that hardtail fast
Like a cowboy from the past
Be young and wild and free
Like Texas in 1880
Just like Texas in 1880

(paraphrased from Radney Foster’s Texas in 1880)

Look for a race report early next week for this weekend’s Dirty Dozen 12 hour MTB race at Warda, TX. Everybody have a good weekend!

Here’s what I had for dinner last night:

Here’s what I had for lunch today:

I’ve been eating a lot of salads lately at some of my favorite restaurants, and then it finally hit me, why don’t I just start making my own? So I took off to the grocery store and found pretty much everything I needed to make a “Caveman Salad” It was easy, and this thing is packed with good stuff, and not one single processed carb. Here is the recipe if you’d like to make your own. I mixed it all in a big bowl and along with a side meat, it looks like it’ll be enough to last for 3 meals. I still have a ton of raw ingredients left to make a whole lot more as well, so all in all it is much more economical to make them yourself.

• Romaine lettuce
• Spinach
• 1 chopped squash
• 1 chopped cucumber
• sliced mushrooms
• bellpepper
• broccoli
• tomato
• 1/2 large avocado
• almonds
• sunflower seeds
• citrus fruit ( i used a tangelo)
• raisins

I did add some Newman’s olive oil and vinegar dressing for a little flavor, but it is all natural and minimally processed. For dinner, I didn’t have any fresh meat to use, so I threw a can of tuna in there. For lunch, I had a nice salmon fillet sitting in the fridge at work. I put it in the toaster oven for about 3 minute, just long enough to cook the outside. The inside? RAW! No spices to mask the rawness this time, i ate like it was. It wasn’t “delicious”, but it wasn’t bad either. I think some basil or rosemary would spice it up nicely next time. There’s so many different greens, veggies, and seeds/nuts out there that the possibilities are endless for salads. If you are going to eat a lot of salads, it’s actually best to change up the ingredients for better variety in nutrients. I just came up with my list because everything was readily available and tasty, especially the fruit in the salad! Bon apetit!

It is with a grateful heart that I welcome my newest personal sponsor: PureSport. PureSport is a workout and recovery drink supplement manufacturer. They are based right here out of Austin, TX and sponsor a handful of Olympic athletes including Michael Phelps and Nastia Luikin. Much of the research and development for their drinks occurred at my alma mater UT Austin with well-known kinesiologist Dr. John Ivy. To me, this makes their generosity even more meaningful. I was first exposed to Puresport after a mountain bike ride with fellow teammate Thommy Cho last year. He let me try some of his grape recovery drink and I was instantly hooked. I had never drank a recovery drink that went down so easy. I was expecting a very whey-proteiny, chalky taste and texture, but what I got was more like a yummy grape soda! The main thing that sets PureSport’s formula apart from other’s is the carb to protein ratio (and really the use of protein in the first place). Go to their site to read more about the science behind it, but basically, the past few weeks I’ve been preaching about the Caveman diet-increasing protein and decreasing carbohydrates. These guys get it, and provide me with a drink that will sustain me longer, stronger, and help me recover faster after the effort. Not to mention all four flavors taste great! Their products are very competitively priced with Hammer, Endurox, Cytomax, and all those other brands on the market, so if you are spending the money up front for those, you at least owe it to yourself to give these guys a try. Support a Texas company and see greater performance gains doing it! Go to their site to find a retailer close to you.

Raw Fruit and nuts?-of course. Raw veggies? A little bland, but no problem. Raw eggs? Bland and gooey, but the risk of illness is very minimal and I’m getting used to them. Raw meat? That’s a whole other topic. I know that from a nutritional standpoint, it is the best way to eat meat. You are not destroying healthy enzymes and bacteria that actually HELP you digest and absorb other beneficial nutrients. From an immune system standpoint, you have to have pretty fresh and clean meat to eat it raw. There’s no telling what all it’s touched from it’s journey to the animal to your dinner plate. A trustworthy source-or a super strong gut-are necessary to go raw and not get sick. Last night, I felt I had both. I had planned on starting light, with fish and small portions, but a mission rarely gets executed according to plan.

There is a newly opened Ethiopian restaurant on the east side. Colleen and I have been wanting to try it out since we noticed its opening. I was especially excited when I noticed they had a Beef Tartar (spiced raw ground beef) on the menu. I did not hesitate to order it. I thought it would be about the size of a medium hamburger patty. I was quite surprised when the waitress brought a plate almost full of meat, with some collard greens, cottage cheese, and injera (an Ethiopian flat bread) on the side. It gets better though! In my culinary naivety, I did not know that Ethiopian food is traditionally eaten without utensils! So, i got to chow down true caveman style with my hands. The meat was a bit more chewy than cooked, but it was seasoned so well that I couldn’t really tell it was raw. It was actually a very tasty dish, and I highly recommend this restaurant for you Austin cuisine go-ers.

I felt a little funny after dinner, not stomach wise, but in the head, like a food high, and was tired. But it had been a long week and I had done interval workouts just before dinner so I’m not blaming the food for that funny feeling. I slept like a rock and woke up feeling normal. I got to work and had breakfast-3 raw eggs, some grapes, and organic milk. The stomach felt a little uneasy for most of the morning, but I felt fine after 11. I think the grapes were bad since the had been sitting in the fridge for a few weeks. I’m not blaming the eggs and surely not blaming some good meat I ate the night before. Part of it just might be adapting to this diet and getting my gut and immune system prepared to eat this kind of food. Since I’ve taken my first big step in eating raw meat, I’m ready to keep moving forward. Please feel free to address any concerns or post any questions you might have.This is a controversial and largely misunderstood topic that I wish people had more interest in.