Consuming calories when endurance cycling is vital. Getting the right kind of calories and enough of them can be a challenge particularly for rides that are 3+ hours. Team Joe Barr’s nutritionist, Jillian Mooney makes at least one batch of nutrient dense training bars a week. They are a perfect compliment to Joe’s nutritional package during those long cold hours on the bike and provide quick and tasty nourishment for the crew. They are packed full of nutrient dense ingredients like cranberries, pumpkin seeds, toasted pecans, oats and almond nut butter.
FULL RECIPE
1/2 cup pecans, finely chopped 1 1/2 cups oats 1 cup rice Krispies or Coco pops if you like chocolate flavour. 1/4 cup pumpkin or sunflower seeds 1/4 cup dried cranberries or raisins 1 tsp cinnamon 1/2 cup brown rice syrup 1/4 smooth almond nut butter
Preheat oven to about 150 degrees. Spread chopped pecans in an even layer in baking tin and toast them for about 10 mins until they are golden.
In a large bowl combine the oats, Krispies, pumpkin or sunflower seeds, cranberries/raisins, toasted pecans and cinnamon.
In a small saucepan stir together brown rice syrup and smooth almond butter until it softens and just starts to bubble.
Add syrup and almond butter mixture immediately to all the ingredients in the large bowl.
Mix well. It will be sticky but keep mixing until dry ingredients are well coated with syrup/nut butter.
Transfer mixture into a 9-inch square cake pan, lined with parchment paper, and press down hard to compact the mixture. (Tip: you can compact the mixture using a small jar as a rolling pin).
Place pan in the freezer, uncovered, and chill for 10-15 mins.
Lift the mixture out of the pan using the parchment paper as handles and place on cutting board.
Cut into bars and store in an airtight container in the fridge. They will last for up to 2 weeks!!!
**************************************************************************** Jillian uses brown rice syrup as the sweetener. It has a slower absorption rate than most other sweeteners (such as honey…). This combined with the fat and protein from nuts and the complex carbohydrate from oats makes for a bar that provides a steady source of energy v typical sports bars.
As you know the longer you ride fat becomes the primary fuel source. Almond butter plus the additional nuts in the bars provides easily accessible fat, significant enough protein for Joe’s needs and tons of key nutrients like magnesium and zinc. At times we add some coconut butter to beef up the medium chain triglycerides.
And these bars keep their shape. How many times have you reached into your back pocket to take out a pile of melted mush!
Nutrition is key we all know that. Getting it to work for you on the bike can take some trial and error but when it works performance soars.
Happy riding and eating this weekend…..see you on the road…