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Nutrition Reviews

For Goodness Shakes Sports Recovery

For Goodness Shakes

The post-exercise recovery drinks market is awash, if you’ll forgive the expression, with products and For Goodness Shakes have been around for some time serving up nutritious (and mostly yummy) solutions. But now, according to their publicity, after a challenge thrown down by The English Institute of Sports and two years of research and development they have unveiled their new Sports Recovery powder mix.

 

In Cyclo’s opinion the first hurdle at which this kind of recovery powder normally falls is in its ability (or otherwise) to mix well, but on this point the FGS powder performs well, dissolving almost completely for a non-gritty milkshake-style drink.

 

So, let’s crunch the numbers:

 

FGS Sports Recovery delivers a 3:1 carbohydrate to protein mix (pretty much standard and recognised as the optimum ratio for absorption) but unlike many of its competitors this drink mixes both fast- and slow-release proteins (whey and casein). The bulk “carrier” is skimmed milk (so lactose intolerant cyclists be warned) which will give around 80% of your RDA along with around 6g of essential amino acids for muscle repair. Like all FGS products this is based on the “NutriMIX” formula which combines a mix of vitamins and “salts”. The vit break-down includes A for general muscle repair, D largely for bone benefit, E – an antioxidant that also aids muscle repair and growth, C (a symbiotic vit that works with E) and B6 which aids the body’s absorption of both carbohydrates and proteins. Potassium and Sodium (along with, but to a slightly lesser extent, Zinc and Magnesium) are also in the mix which work to replace “salts” lost from sweating – but if you’ve been careful with your hydration strategy during exercise, maybe using Elete, nuun or similar electrolytes, then this is really belt and braces stuff.

 

Phew! That was a lot to take in. But easier to digest is the product itself which is available in Banana, SuperBerry, Vanilla and ChocMalt flavours and retails at around the £1.60 per sachet mark. This could well be Cyclo’s recovery drink of the summer…

 

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News

RIP: Cycling England

Cycling England, the body established by the Department for Transport in 2005 to “promote the growth of cycling in England by championing best practice and (by) channelling funding to partners engaged in training, engineering and marketing projects”, will cease to be from Thursday March 31. Due, in the main, to Governmental cost-cutting many of the bodies key functions will be brought back in-house by the Department for Transport who will now oversee funding (and distribution of funding) via the Local Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF). Spending on cycling-based schemes – which naturally fall within the “sustainable transport” category – will now primarily be down to the whim of individual local authorities and be dependent of how willing those authorities are to jump through the hoops for submitting funding requests.

 

A small number of Cycling England’s most successful initiatives, including their flagship Bikeability scheme (described as “Cycling Proficiency for the 21st Century”) will be maintained. However fears remain that the idea of “hand(ing) power back to local authorities”, as Norman Baker, Under-Secretary of State for Transport, has put it will ultimately see the end to much of the joined-up thinking that has defined Cycling England for the last 6 years. Cyclo, for one, will miss you…

 

See below for Norman Baker’s introductory speech on the Local Sustainable Transport Fund.

 

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News

Homage to Catalonia

VoltaTriple Tour de France winner Alberto Contador has managed to both maintain and capitalise on the lead he established in last Wednesday’s Andorra mountain stage to bag another overall win at this year’s Tour of Catalonia with a time of 29:24:42. Italy’s Michele Scarponi (Lampre-ISD) finished in second just 23 seconds behind, whilst Team Garmin-Cervelo’s Dan Martin placed third at +35. The seventh and final day/stage of the Tour – Parets del Valles to Barcelona – was won by France’s Samuel Dumoulin with Sky’s Rigoberto Uran in second.

 

Yesterday’s win in Catalonia sees a continuation of an outstanding season for the Spanish rider – he has already scored a win at this year’s Vuelta de Murcia (Tour of Murcia) – despite the controversy over last year’s Tour de France failed drug test still rumbling on.

 

First held in 1911 – and won then as now by a Spaniard (Sebastià Masdeu) – The Tour of Catalonia (“Volta” Ciclista a Catalunya) was celebrating its Centenary edition this year – it’s the third oldest cycling stage race in the world just a year or two off the Tour de France (1903) and Giro d’Italia (1909).

 

For full results see: www.uciworldtour.com

 

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Events

The Meon Valley Riser – April 3

Meon Valley RiserThe Meon Valley serves up some of the most spectacular and, at times, challenging, vistas in the South-East of England and as this new sportive is brought to you courtesy of those fine people that organise the New Forest Rattler (Sunday August 21) this should be a doozey – though certainly not a doddle. Two routes on offer of 46/85miles with challenging climbs including Old Winchester Hill and Stoner Hill, plus what the organisers describe as: “some awesome sweeping downhill sections to raise your average mph!”

 

Race HQ is at Boundary Oak School (map details here) and your £23 on-the-day fee gets you pre-race drinks, feed stations, SAG wagon to pick up the defeated (surely not you), post-race soup and drinks plus a finisher’s medal. 15% of profits goes to the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.

 

For full event details see: www.meonvalleyriser.co.uk

 

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News

Aussie Rules

So, not a bad haul of medals for Great Britain as the UCI Track Cycling World Championships draws to a close after five days of fierce competition in the Netherlands. But it wasn’t without its upsets and GB, despite ending fourth in the medal tables, were certainly down significantly on last year’s total of three golds, five silvers, one bronze; managing here just a solitary gold (Women’s Team Pursuit), plus three silver and five bronze. Meanwhile Australia blazed their way to a magnificent eight golds with 11 medal wins.

 

Australia’s Anna Meares ended Victoria Pendleton’s chance of a fifth consecutive world sprint title eliminating her in the semi-final stage in a battle which was as nerve jangling to watch as it must have been to participate in. Both riders displaying as much psychological grit and mind-game as raw power; but in the end it was Pendleton that cracked and Meares that went on to prove that this year’s Championships truly were an Aussie affair as she made comfortable work of defeating Lithuania’s Simona Krupeckaite 2-0 in the final to take her first sprint world title.

 

Things took an equally disappointing turn for Sir Chris Hoy who had to settle for silver in the men’s keirin as he was narrowly squeezed out by Australian Shane Perkins in the final few meters.

 

Still, there’s more than a year to go to the Olympics, right?

 

For full results, see:www.worldchamptrackcycling.com

 

 

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News

Gold for Women’s Team Pursuit

By the midway point of this year’s UCI Track Cycling World Championships (March 23 – 27) Great Britain’s Women’s Team Pursuit trio have taken gold with a blistering performance in the Netherlands. After setting the fastest qualifying time of 3:23.642, the relatively newly formed team of Wendy Houvenaghel, Laura Trott and Dani King (the latter two making their World Championship debuts) stormed home in the finals with a winning time of 3:23.419 holding the USA in silver medal position (3:25.308) and New Zealand in bronze (3:24.065). The success marks veteran Houvenaghel’s third title.

 

But in the Women’s Team Sprint final British pair Victoria Pendleton and Jessica Varnish had to settle for silver with a time of 33.525 behind Kaarle McCulloch and Anna Meares (Australia) who scored a gold place with their time of 33.237. China took bronze.

 

There’s still plenty of time over the next few days for GB to pick up further wins and boost their confidence pre-2012 Games; Cyclo will bring you more news and results from the Championships over the weekend.

 

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News

Contador Controversy Rumbles On

As has long been widely anticipated the UCI (International Cycling Union) has confirmed it will be appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) after Saxo Bank-SunGard’s rider Alberto Contador was cleared by The Spanish Cycling Federation (RFEC) of doping offences back in February. Contador tested positive for Clenbuterol at last year’s Tour de France, although the Spanish cyclist has always maintained that he accidentally ingested the illegal performance enhancing drug via contaminated meat. If the UCI are successful in overturning the verdict of the RFEC Contador will face a ban of up to 2 years as well as being stripped of his 2010 Tour de France champion title.

 

Undeterred, Contador has gone from strength to strength this season having already won the Vuelta de Murcia (Tour of Murcia) setting a best overall time of 9hours, 27minutes and 18seconds with wins on both day/stage two and three. He is also being touted as favourite for this year’s Giro d’Italia (May 7 -29) having last won the event in 2008, and is currently riding high in the Tour of Catalonia where, after four days of competition, he has retained the leader’s jersey he claimed during day three’s tough Pyrenees stage.

 

The Tour of Catalonia concludes Sunday 27 – Cyclo will bring you full results.

 

Categories
News

Topping Out for BMX

A “topping out” ceremony has taken place at the new National Indoor BMX Arena in East Manchester. Designed by Ellis Williams Architects the £19m arena – the first purpose-built, covered BMX track with Olympic-size ramp in the UK – will form, along with the existing velodrome, the National Cycling Centre incorporating the HQ offices of British Cycling. All of which falls within the wider scheme of London 2012 legacy. 3000 cubic metres of earth and clay excavated in the construction of the site are to be reused to form the base mounds of the BMX track, which will have a maximum capacity of 2000 when fully complete. Funding for the venue was split between Sport England, Manchester City Council and the Northwest Regional Development Agency.

 

On hand to add her seal of approval to developments at the arena was Shanaze Reade, triple winner of the UCI BMX World Championships and Olympic Track Champion in to the bargain. Pre-Beijing Games Chris Hoy had commented: “If I was going to put my mortgage on anyone winning the gold, it would be Shanaze.” Cyclo doesn’t know if Hoy took the flutter but he would have mad a mint – and we’re certainly looking forward to seeing what Reade can do once things in Manchester are complete…