Avatar Nutrition and flexible eating

The times in my life I've lost a significant weight I did it with low carb eating or a computer program called Diet Power. Diet Power was awesome because it adjusted my calories to ensure I hit a certain weight of my choosing by a certain date also of my choosing. The big problem with Diet Power was it was a computer program that was downloaded with a disk. So I had to carry a lap top with me everywhere. I also tried flexible eating with a diet coach. That worked well. I thoroughly enjoyed having someone knowledgeable there to tell me how many carbs, fat, and protein I needed to eat to make my goals. I also really enjoyed being able to log my food and prepare meals with absolute control and accuracy of carbs, fat, and protein. But a nutrition coach was expensive and having to report my daily successes and failures with feed back every week was to much pressure for me.

I recently found a website that seems to have all of the positive aspects of a nutrition coach and Diet Power on a mobile site for your phone. It's called Avatar Nutrition. It allows me to prepare and log food. And it also adjusts my calories, carbs, fat, and protein to ensure I'm maintaining my weight loss goals.

I started it today. I'll be able to use it until my family and I leave for a 7 day vacation in New York. During that time I'll put the Avatar Nutrition program on vacation mode, so I'll be able to start back where I left off when I get back from vacation.

Current weight 325lbs, down from 346lbs a month ago. My goal is to get down to the 220's.

I'll keep you updated on how I'm doing and what I think of Avatar Nutrition.

Adocare Spark for weightlifting

This is my one thousandth blog post! I'm pretty excited about that. I've been blogging about the sports I've been competing in for over almost 10 years. Ive tried and blogged about triathlon, duathlon, running, cycling, swimming, brazilian jiu jitsu, CrossFit, powerlifting, and now weightlifting. It's been an amazing journey.

I've been using Spark by Adocare when I train or compete the last couple months. I love it. It doesn't matter how long or intense my training day is I never run out of energy or start lifting crappy because of fatigue. No matter how tired I am when I get to the gym, once I start sipping on Spark I'm feeling great and ready to train!

When I first stated taking it I was just mixing it with water. It worked really well. But I didn't get the unlimited energy until I started mixing it with gatoraid and a half scoop of whey protein. Now that I'm mixing it I literally feel like I could lift forever without any loss of performance or ability.

As much as I love Spark for training it's made the biggest difference in weightlifting meets. I used to start to crash hard after the snatch's. During the clean and jerks I'd feel so fatigued I just couldn't produce the effort to get anywhere near the results I knew I was capable of. Since taking Spark I never fatigue during the clean and jerks. EVER!

It wasn't until today I felt the downside of Spark. I forgot my mixture or Gatorade, whey protein, and Spark at home. By the time I was three quarters of the way through my workout I ran out of energy big time! I was struggling fierce. Training without it after feeling bullet proof during training for so long sucked.

I've been buying Spark off of Ebay for awhile now. I think it's time to get membership to Advocare. Buying my Spark directly through Advocare will be much cheaper.

calorie deficit and Discount Tires review

I hired a sports nutrition coach a few months ago to help more get better results from my training and to help me to get to the 105k weight class. Since getting help from him with my diet I've had the best gains I've ever had. Its amazing to me, I'm getting better results now at 40 years old than I did in my twenties. My only regret is I didn't hire a good nutrition coach sooner. In addition to performing better I've lost 17 pounds. Every couple weeks he's dropped my calories just a little more to see how my body handles training with the new caloric deficit. Thus far my training and performance has still been phenomenal. But this whole week I've been really hungry!

I've purchased my car tires from Discount Tires as long as I've been driving. 24 years now. I've never even thought about going anywhere else. When i need tires I go there. It's just habit. Over the years they've become more aggressive in their sales tactics. The last few years I've gone there it's like being on a used car lot. They'll do or say anything to force me to buy new tires immediately, even throwing out guilt tactics, insults, and outright lying. The last time I went there for a tire rotation they sent two salesmen one after another to try to talk me into buying. When that didn't work they sent the assistant manager. Then he sent his boss. I'm not sure if it's just the two Discount Tires here in Santa Fe that is like that or if it's everywhere, but i won't ever step foot in their store again. They've lost a life long customer.

pre-workout meal comparison and weightlifting belts

After trying every food imaginable I've found the food that gives me the most energy to sustain my energy through an entire weightlifting workout is white rice mixed 1/2 cup skim milk, sugar, and  one or two cups of coffee. After Thanksgiving I had a pumpkin pie and thought,  "this has lots of calories and is high in the glycemic index. I bet pumpkin pie will work great as a pre-workout meal!" Just in case your wondering,  pumpkin pie does not fuel an athlete well. Not only did I end up running out of energy half way through my workout, i felt like crap the rest of the day. And the pumpkin pie used so much of my daily allotment of carbs and fat that I was hungry the rest of the day. No bueno.

Every 4-6 weeks I tweak my back doing back squats. It's never an injury severe enough to make me miss training,  but it's serious enough to bug for a week of two while it heals up. I've tried everything to stop this from happening: changing my form, tightening my belt REALLY tight, squating slower.... nothing seemed to stop it. A few weeks ago I had to order a different weightlifting belt. The one i had been using the last couple years wasn't legal in powerlifting meets. Bada Bing bada bang, problem fixed! Turns out I was needing a different weightlifting belt. The one I'm using now gives my back perfect support!  I haven't had any problems at all since lifting with the new belt. It's an Ader 4 inch weightlifting belt. Its a miracle worker and a back saver!

There's a funny 105k+ story to go along with this belt. I ordered the belt based on their sizing chart. When I got it in the mail I thought they had to have sent me the wrong sized belt because this sucker was huge! I'm sure it would fit around two normal sized men twice with plenty of room to spare.  I started packing it in the box to return it and my wife said, "why don't you try it on so you know how much smaller of a belt you'll need to replace it with." Great idea! I tried it on, not only did it fit,  but if I was a half inch bigger around the belt would be to small. Ah, the life of a super heavy weight. Every day in the shoes of a 105k+ is an adventure!

Comfort Doctor heating, cooling, and plumbing Santa Fe New Mexico

On Tuesday the Comfort Doctor heating, cooling, and plumbing came and put the finishing touches on our air conditioner. They nailed a piece of plywood in between the swamp cooler and window, they also screwed a grate on the front of the swamp cooler. A few cuts on a piece of plywood, a total of 8 screws and they charged $608. I might be wrong, but I think they charged WAY to much! Consumer beware.

Chris's tree service Santa Fe New Mico

The tree in our front yard has been leaking a HORRIBLE smelling sap, it stinks bad enough I cant stand to be near the tree. It also and has MASSIVE swarms of black flies on it.

I contacted Chris Schaum, Owner of Chris's tree service. He spent almost an hour with me telling me what's wrong with the tree, how it got the disease, and how to treat it. He didn't charge me anything. Excellent customer service. His contact info is:

Phone: (505) 660-0698
Fax: (505) 757-6533                   
PO Box 1756, Santa Fe, NM87504

coffee thermos for comuting by bicycle

After a few failed attempts at finding a decent thermos that I can commute to and from work with on my bicycle I finally found one. I wanted a coffee thermos that would fit into my bike bottle holder, keep the coffee hot, hold enough coffee, and be durable enough to withstand a daily beating of cycling! It's called the Big Bubba. I found it in Target in the sports section. It holds over 20 oz of coffee, keeps it hot for a long time, and fits in my bike bottle holder. I've been using this one everyday for over 2 years now, so it's made to last too!!!! Finally, the perfect coffee thermos for a bike commuter!

Here's a link to it. Click on the name: Big Bubba

day 4 on Garcinia Cambogia Extract

On Wednesday I purchased some Garcinia Cambogia Extract to help me lose some weight. I had to do something. I saw a picture of me taken during the Missile Man Duathlon last weekend and I was horrified. I knew I'd gained weight, but I didn't realize how big I'd become until I saw the picture of me racing last weekend. I posted a couple pictures (below) to show how horribly things have gone in regards to my weight and to show why I felt I needed to do something extreme.

 

Here is a picture of me shortly before I got ran over by a vehicle while cycling in late 2011:

 

 

 

This is me last weekend at the Missile Man duathlon, approximately 14 months after the accident:

Since Wednesday I've dropped my calories significantly and am only a little hungry, so Garcinia Cambogia extract works at controlling the appetite. FYI, iť doesn't work as well at controlling hunger as Saffron Extract Satiereal does, but the main reason I decided to try Garcinia Cambogia Extract wasn't because iť suppresses the appetite. I'm taking iť because its supposed to help prevent emotional eating by increasing the production of seritonine. Saffron Extract Santiereal didn't help with emotional eating at all, hopefully Garcinia Cambogia Extract will.

I usually only struggle with emotional eating on my days off of work or when I'm extremely tired. Since I started taking Garcinia Cambogia Extract I haven't had a day off and haven't had to work any double shifts. Until I do I won't have the opportunity to see if Garcinia Cambogia Extract works at preventing emotional eating. As soon as I find out if does or not I'll post iť here.

Since taking Garcinia Cambogia Extract I've noticed I feel much more rested when I wake up and I'm not needing to sleep as long. I'd read that sleeping better was one of the benefits to taking Garcinia Cambogia Extract. Apparently its true.

Garcinia Cambogia Extract, appetite suppressant, emotional eating, and triathlon

Below the links is my post. The links are my posts about Garcinia Cambogia Extract:
Day 4 of Garcinia Cambogia Extract trial:  http://cody-the-clydsdale.blogspot.com/2013/02/test.html


Recently I watched an episode of Dr Oz where he explains how Garcinia Cambogia Extract helps people to lose weight, curbs appetite, and helps prevent emotional eating by increasing serotonin levels. This interested me because I'm an emotional eater and I've gained a lot of weight the last year. I've tried unsuccessfully more times than I can count to get back down to my race weight. So I've decided to try exercise and eating a Paleo diet (again) with Garcinia Cambogia to see how it works. I'll post my results here.

Last year I'd heard on the Dr OZ show that Saffron extract helps with appetite suppression, I'd tried it, but it didn't work for me. It was AMAZING at suppressing the appetite, but Saffron extract didn't help me at all because it doesn't help prevent emotional eating. Supposedly Garcinia Cambogia extract does.

FYI, I went to three stores before I found some Garcinia Cambogia extract. Since Dr Oz had it on his show and said great things about it it's been sold out and hard to come by. It was $24 for 60 pills at the vitamin shop I finally found it at. When I got home I Googled Garcinia Cambogia extract and found most sites sold 180 pills for $24.99. So if at all possible buy them online. You can buy 3 times as many for the same cost and not have to drive all over the place.

Below is the article I found on Dr Oz web site. It almost sounds too good to be true!

What Is Garcina Cambogia Extract?
Garcinia Cambogia is a small, pumpkin-shaped fruit, sometimes called tamarind. Though native to Indonesia, it is also grown in India, Southeast Asia, and West and Central Africa. It has long been used in traditional South Asian dishes, including curries and chutneys. Many also use the fruit for curing fish and preservation.

Adding this ingredient to meals is considered to be effective in making meals more “filling.” In some villages in Malaysia, garcinia is used to make a soup that is eaten before meals for weight loss because of garcinia’s appetite-blocking abilities.

This plant offers one of the least expensive herbal supplements on the market. The ingredient from the rind of the fruit could hasten your weight-loss efforts. The natural extract is called hydroxycitric acid (HCA), and researchers claim that HCA can double or triple one’s weight loss.

With proper weight-loss efforts (dieting and exercising), the average person taking HCA lost an averagw of 4 pounds a month.

Garcinia may also be great for emotional eaters. Those who participated in the study showed an increase in their serotonin levels; hence, it may also improve mood and sleeping patterns.

How Does Garcina Cambogia Work?
The HCA extract from garcinia cambogia supplement aids in weight loss by doing two things: It helps to block fat, and it suppresses your appetite.

HCA blocks fat by inhibiting a key enzyme that your body needs to make fat from carbohydrates: Citrate lyase. Usually carbohydrates or sugars that are not used immediately or stored in other forms are converted into fats. When HCA inhibits citrate lyase, the fat-making process is halted and the production of LDL (bad cholesterol) and triglycerides decrease.

HCA also suppresses appetite by increasing serotonin levels. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter in your brain that makes you feel good. It’s a target of many antidepressant medications. Having low levels of serotonin may make you feel depressed or anxious; it drives many people into emotional or reactive eating. By increasing serotonin levels, HCA improves mood and suppresses the drive to react to stressful situations with food. As you eat less, your body senses this and it releases stored fat in your fat cells.

Many studies have shown promise. One randomized placebo-controlled study followed 60 obese persons for 8 weeks. With a calorie-restricted diet (1200 kcal/day) and an HCA dose of 1320 mg/day, the experimental group lost an average of 14 pounds (compared to 6.1 pounds in the placebo group). The participants also noted reduced appetite.

Is It Safe?
The plant and its fruit have been eaten safely for years. The HCA extract is also likely in safe amounts.

However, don’t take this supplement if you are pregnant or breastfeeding. If you are taking a diabetic medication (like insulin or glyburide), talk to a doctor before taking this to make sure this is right for you, otherwise this supplement may allow your blood sugar to fall even lower than normal.

Those taking a statin (a cholesterol-lowering drug) should use this supplement with caution because it can increase the risk of harmful side effects, like rhabdomyolysis or muscle degradation. Those with Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia shouldn’t take HCA because of the risk of worsening dementia.

How Much Should I Take?
You can buy garcinia cambogia extract in health food stores or online. When looking for a supplement, look for “garcinia cambogia” or “GCE” with at least 50% HCA (active ingredient potassium). Some experts believe that the newly available HCA potassium salts are more effective than the other HCA formulations.

Take 500-1000 mg before each meal, and make sure to take no more than 3000 mg total per day.

When looking for supplements, make sure you can see and review the list of ingredients. Do not purchase if you can’t see any ingredients. Furthermore, there should be no fillers or artificial ingredients.

With no other changes, you may lose 2-4 pounds within one month. However, it is highly recommended that the person taking HCA also find time for moderate exercise a few times a week and eat properly portioned meals. Let the power of the HCA supplement work along with making healthier choices.

Also, understand that no pill is more effective than maintaining a regular exercise regimen and a healthy diet.

The Broken Spoke bike shop Santa Fe NM

Since my favorite bike shop, Frankie Flats went out of business late last year I've been searching for a  bike shop to do business with. The owners of my old bike shop suggested I go to The Broken Spoke here in Santa Fe NM. Earlier this week the battery to my bikes computer died. It would have been an easy fix for me to do, but this was the perfect opportunity to see if this shop was honest and reasonably priced.

The last bike shop I went to was Charlies bike shop and asked them to do a small swap of components. When I went to pick up my bike from Charlies they doubled the amount they had quoted me, refused to give me my old equipment back, and even stole my drivers licence.

At the Broken Spoke my bike was ready for me to pick up the day after I dropped it off. The fees were fair and they were super friendly. They even put new zip ties on my rear transmitter at no charge. Looks like I've found myself a new bike shop!

an enviroment to succeed

Last nights CrossFit workout was brutal! I'm not sure if its because I didn't do anything physical during my week long anniversary trip to Sedona AZ with my wife and I lost fitness, or if its because I put on more weight- I'm tipping the scaling at a whopping 254 pounds now. Whatever the reason was, at the half way point of the workout I was exhausted, cramping up, shaking, and was seriously doubting if I'd be able to finish. I did end up finishing, but my time was HORRIBLE! After the workout I just laid there on the floor of the gym. I was too exhausted and... well.... embarrassed of my performance to get up. Within moments of finishing my pathetic workout a couple people came up to me and told me, "way to finish strong." And "way to push through iť". It's amazing how a few words of encouragement can change my perspective. I had been hurting beyond belief but still finished every rep and set of the WOD (workout of the day) when others may have quit.

After I recovered I noticed that when the other athletes in the gym were finished, they didn't leave until everyone else had also completed their workout.

As I was leaving, my chin held a just a little bit higher in spite of my poor workout at least 5 people yelled farewell to me. Zia CrossFit is like no gym I've ever been to before. It's more like a community. Iť wasn't until last night that I realized why every single person in that gym is in such great shape and looks so good: its virtually impossible not to succeed in an environment like that.

personalized crossfit training

I'd been reading a lot about training techniques for endurance athletes. Many pro endurance athletes have started doing some light Olympic lifting to supplement their regular training.  Olympic training builds strength, power, explosiveness, and decreases muscle fatigue and damage in long training sessions. There are some common misconception about Olympic lifters, like they are all big, fat, and muscle bound. Turns out Olympic lifters are some of the leanest athletes in any sport and they have a vertical leap higher than all but basketball players and volleyball players. I decided I wanted to try to suplament my triathlon training with some Olympic lifting so I joined a CrossFit gym. I'm very excited about it.

There's a lot of training in CrossFit that I've never done. Things like Olympic lifting, gymnastics, and kettle bells. These exercises are foreign to me so I decided to get a few days of personal training with one of the coaches, Will O'Connel at Zia CrossFit before I tried a CrossFit workout. I was really impressed with the training I received. I feel ready to try CrossFit to supplement my multi sport training. My 1st day will be Monday. I'll let you know what I think.

Crossfit Santa Fe and Zia Crossfit

Triathlon training is not working for me right now. I'll build a perfect triathlon program for me that fits my fitness and schedule, and then I never end up doing anything! In the mean time I just keep getting more out of shape and unhealthy. A buddy of mine told me about crossfit. I seems intense and fun so I've decided to try it.

Turns out there are 2 crossfit gyms in my area, Crossfit Santa Fe, and Zia Crossfit. I went to each to decide which one my wife and I would go to.

Cossfit Santa Fe is located inside Undisputed, a mixed martial arts gym. A HUGE benefit to this gym is that if I purchased a gym membership for Santa Fe Crossfit I could attend all the jiu-jitsu, boxing, and cardio kick boxing classes for free. They have a ton of crossfit, grappling, boxing, and cardio kickboxing classes available everyday. It seems like they have a class starting just about every hour all day everyday of the week! They offered to help me with my diet and nutrition for free. Another big plus is that they have kids jui-jitsu classes available for my 5 & 7 year olds. The gym is owned by a guy who is a serious stud of a mixed martial artist. He was on The Ultimate Fighter a few years ago. The down side is Santa Fe Crossfit would cost $200 a month per adult membership, $90 per child, and we'd have to sign a contract for 3, 6, or 12 months. If I wanted to get a membership for my wife and myself for crossfit and get two of my kids into grappling it would end up costing us $580 a month. Or $400 a month for just for my wife and I. They also charge a one time $70 fee per member upon signing up. Don't get me wrong, for all they offer it's well worth it, but there's no way my wife and I could afford that until my wife graduates from college and we get 2 incomes for our family again. A big negative for us is that they don't have day care and don't allow children to hang out there while the parents workout, which would make training there virtually impossible for my wife and I.
On 4/5/14 I received a response from Heather at Santa Fe CrossFit concerning the prices at their facility. She said they offer a %50 discount on every other member in a family if one member is paying full price. That option wasn't offered to us when we visited their facility. I'm not sure if it was just oversight or if wasn't offered at the time. But I wanted to share this so anyone reading my blog can make a fully informed decision. There was also a change in Zia CF's prices, I updated those prices in red below. Both places offers a law enforcement and first responders discount.

Zia Crossfit has a much larger facility and more equipment. They don't have any martial arts training at their facility but The Santa Fe Brazilian Jui-jitsu academy offers a HUGE discount to any Zia Crossfit athletes. Zia Crossfit only offers 3 classes a day but the classes are at times that fit my wife and my schedules perfectly. The classes are 5:30-6:30 am, noon to 1 pm, and 5:30-6:30 pm. Zia Crossfit unlimited gym membership with no contract is only $120 a moth, or $240 a month for my wife and I both, there's start up fees. If your wiling to sign a contract the monthly dues go down significantly. The owners of Zia Crossfit are willing to build a free custom training program for any of their athletes who want to concentrate on a specific aspect of their training, such as strength, or endurance. Their gym is kid friendly, so we can bring our babies there when we train.

The updated prices Zia CrossFit as of early 2013 are:
2 times/week: $135/month (days can be combined)
Unlimited: $180/month (month to month, no contract required)
Unlimited: $150/month (6 month contract required)
Unlimited: $165/month (3 month contract required)
Members of Santa Fe Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: $110/month
10 Class Punch Card $200
Drop-in Fee: $25

My wife and I have decided to try out Zia crossfit because of the lower cost, the kid friendly environment, and no contracts. My wife and I start training at Zia Crossfit on Monday I'll let you know how it goes, I predict pain!

triathlon's expensive!

In the last couple weeks I've had to replace one pair of running shoes, a pair cycling cleats, 3 tires, and 4 tubes, and cables and housing on 2 bikes. To replace the shoes would be $120, and the cleats would cost approximately $180. The cycling cleats that I wore out were the pair I had purchased when I bought my 1st road bike 7 years ago. They were Time Impact pedals and cleats, they were were being phased out way back in 2004! I hadn't seen a pair of Time Impact replacement cleats in 4 or 5 years, but last week I happened to strike gold and found a brand new unused pair on ebay for $25! I also did a search for Brooks Adrenaline running shoes and found a pair for cheap. Normally buying a new pair of high quality peddles, cleats, and shoes would run me around $320. I found all of them on ebay for $65 shipping included!

I'll be buying three new tires from Frankie Flats, my favorite bike shop. I'll need to buy 2 pair of heavy duty tires like Continental GatorSkin or Armadillo's, and one pair of light weight racing tires. That will run me $50-70 a pair. Triathlon is expensive!

Joe Blow bike pump

When a triathlete uses a deep dish carbon wheel most bike pumps wont fit inside the hole where the presta valve is located. We have to use a disk wheel adapter (see picture below).
I used to CONSTANTLY forget my Disc Wheel Adapter when packing for races. Then at the race I would have to scramble to find another athlete who had one. I FINALLY purchased a bike pump that fits into a deep deep wheel! It's called the Joe Blow bike pump. It fits into a deep dish wheel, so I no longer need a Disc Wheel Adapter or the stress of finding one on race mornings!!


Deep dish wheel (picture above)

Disc Wheel Adapter for pumps (picture above)

My Joe Blow bike pump fitting into my deep dish HED 3's!

My new commuter bike head light

I purchased a new head light for my comuter bike, my old one stopped working. It couldn't have happened at a worse time. We're hurting in the old pocket book right now, but my bike is how I get to and from work and I need to be seen by cars or risk being ran over again. I chose to buy a Nite Rider MiNewt Mini, which is a rechargeable 300 lumen LED light. Recharging is easy, I can plug it into the wall or my computer's USB port. I love it! That bad boy is brighter than a cars head light on high beam! No one can possibly miss seeing me on my ride home from work in the dark anymore!!!

In n Out burgers

Anytime I go to Tempe to race my family and I always stop to eat at the In n Out burger. There aren't any In n Out burger joints in New Mexico, so it's a treat for us to eat there. They have some really delicious food!

While at Tempe's In n Out burger there are always dozens of birds swooping in for dropped or abandoned food at the outdoor patio. While there relaxing, staying off my feet preparing for my race I enjoy feeding the birds french fries. Last time I was there I saw a sign at the In n Ouyt burger saying, "Please don't feed the birds for health reasons". That made me wonder.... if In n Outs food is so unhealthy that it's bad for wild animals why am I eating it?

My Garmin 305 won't turn on or power up

My heart just about stopped today when I went to use my Garmin 305 and it was completely dead. I depend a lot on my heart rate monitors while I train. I tried a couple of different chargers and it wouldn't come to life. I left it on the charger for awhile hoping it just needed to charge. It still wasn't working an hour later. Luckily I found this tip on the gamin website:
http://www8.garmin.com/products/faq.jsp?product=010-00467-00

You have to hold down the "reset" and "mode" buttons simultaneously then push the on/off button while holding them. It powered right up and all is right in the world again!

Mc Donalds food warning

Acrylamide has been a listed carcinogen under Proposition 65 since 1990, and it looks as though OEHHA will soon be listing it soon as a reproductive toxicant as well. Acrylamide levels in potatoes increase as they are turned into french fries, potato chips, etc. Hence, the following rather complicated Proposition 65 warning (presented here without warranty as to authenticity -- I'm not really sure):




Formal identification and sufficiency of evidence:

In 1991 and 1992, NIOSH published reports on occupational health standards for acrylamide that identified developmental and male reproductive toxicity (NIOSH 1991, 1992). These reports satisfy the formal identification and sufficiency of evidence criteria in the Proposition 65 regulations.

NIOSH (1991) concluded that:

“…acrylamide monomer may be neurotoxic, carcinogenic, genotoxic, and hazardous to reproduction. Recent studies confirm that acrylamide exposures cause cancer and reproductive effects in animals, but epidemiologic studies have not demonstrated these effects in humans.”

“Acrylamide exposure affected both fetal and postnatal development in mouse and rat offspring when dams were orally dosed during pregnancy.”

NIOSH (1992) stated that:

“Acrylamide is an irritant, a potent neurotoxin that affects both the central and peripheral nervous systems, a reproductive toxin, and a carcinogen.”

Adverse effects on male reproduction cited in NIOSH (1991, 1992) consisted of testicular degeneration, decreased testosterone levels, decreased fertility, and dominant lethal effects in exposed experimental animals. Developmental effects included nerve degeneration, decreased birth weight and decreased weight gain in the offspring of animals exposed to acrylamide during pregnancy.

In 2005, the NTP-CERHR published a report on acrylamide (NTP-CERHR, 2005). This report concludes that the chemical causes developmental and male reproductive toxicity, and satisfies the formal identification and sufficiency of evidence criteria in the Proposition 65 regulations.

OEHHA is relying on the NTP-CERHR’s conclusions in the report that acrylamide causes reproductive toxicity. The NTP-CERHR report concludes that there is:

Clear evidence of adverse effects for developmental toxicity in laboratory animals.

Clear evidence of adverse effects for reproductive toxicity in laboratory animals (male mice and rats).

Armadillo tires

On my 1st day back to cycling outdoors I rode 56 miles and ran 4.5 miles. While riding the rubber on my Armadillo tire came off mid ride. I rode home with the rubber flapping off the tire. It was incredibly unstable, it felt as if my front wheel was riding on ice. I was glad to made it home alive!

I've put a ton of miles on those tires, I'm amazed they lasted so long. Even riding without the rubber protecting and riding on the wire tread the Armadillo tire still didn't go flat. Those tires are sound! Very heavy. But indestructible!