What's in My Bike Bag?

Summer freshness: New for Women Adidas Body Sprays

May is Bike Month and a great time to kick off a summer of cycling and bike commuting. Even if you want to use your bicycle for short fitness rides or errands, you don't want body odor to precede your arrival! Odor causing bacteria needs only three things to grow on the skin: heat, moisture and darkness. So those humid summer days which are well on the way are going to present a challenge to keeping your cool.

New Adidas Body Sprays for Women
Natural Vitality, Fruity Rhythm and Pure Lightness are a new line of women's body sprays from Adidas. The guys are known for all that Axe stuff, well us women now have a light body spray all our own. Of the three, I like the Pure Lightness the best but all go on dry and light. No wet, sticky feeling. It's body fragrance for those of us who really sweat! See more at Adidas.com/Bodycare

What's in My Bike Bag?
You can also always take along Baby Wipes for the ride or Fresh Bath towelettes which are like having a full sized plush washcloth on board. I use these for camping and backpacking so I know how effective they are. Also you'll want to take along some Whish Deodorant Swipes for use after your Fresh Bath. Swipes are really tiny and you can pack a few in your jersey pocket for use at a restroom stop. They combine freshening and long lasting deodorant in one.

More Ride Essentials:

Minimergency Kit


All Good Coconut Sunstick

Energems

Probar Fuel

Visine Eye Drops

If you notice, most of these items are really tiny and can easily tag along in your bicycle bag or jersey pouch. Either way, you'll want to keep a few of these fresh ideas on hand to avoid sticky (smelly) situations this summer!

A fully outfitted Medical Kit and Secret Clinical Strength deodorant for serious rides.

Chocolate Week Goodies You've Likely Never Tried

The antioxidant properties of the cocoa pod are varied and powerful

I'm kicking off Chocolate Week(end) with a bang! Talk about friends with benefits, chocolate, especially the dark kind is a super food for athletes and cross trainers alike. Runners and cyclists who consumed a mere 8 ozs of chocolate milk after exercising were found to have less inflammation and faster recovery times. If you live in the northeast, you will have most likely visited Hershey, PA and taken the factory tour. They take you through all of the harvesting and processing of the cocoa pods. Chocolate was the drink of kings, especially Montezuma leader of the Aztec empire. They found chocolate mixed with chili peppers give them a lot of energy and stamina.  They needed it! Not having domesticated animals to ride means YOU will be hoofing it.  So here are some of my modern day chocolate inspired favorites:

Emmy's Choco Chili & Dark Cacao Macaroons
These raw food, vegan coconut-choco chili macaroons are about as close as you are going to get to Montezuma's recipe.  These are so light and fluffy, this recipe includes raw cacao, sweet vanilla bean, organic ground cinnamon and hot chili peppers. Each macaroon is 100 calories but trust me, the hot chilies will up your metabolism big time.

Emmy's cocao infused macaroons

Beauty Bursts in Chocolate-Mint by NeoCell
These tasty chews are loaded with easy to absorb Collagen, Hyaluronic Acid and Vitamin C. These are perfect before and after a workout, especially if you suffer from joint pain. One serving of only 2 soft chews gives you 2,000 mg or 2 grams of both Protein and Hydrolyzed Collagen. Made with natural flavors and real cocoa, you get some of the antioxidant benefits inherent to dark chocolate.

Beauty Bursts in Mint-Chocolate

Pure Inventions Pure Cocoa Antioxidant
These chocolaty liquid drops are very easy to take with you or add to your morning water bottle, coffee or protein shake. They really have a delicious chocolate flavor. 1 dropper full is all you need as it contains a proprietary blend of cocoa extract and cocoa powder along with Lo Han fruit extract. This is probably the best way to get an instant boost of antioxidant power into the blood stream.

Pure Inventions Cocoa Antioxidant

Emmy's Chocolate Sauce Original Dark
This is the BOSS of the chocolate sauce! Drizzle it over frozen yogurt or fruit, it contains  organic raw agave, organic raw cacao powder and wild crafted vanilla bean. This is serious stuff that will definitely boost your energy level on the spot.

Emmy's Chocolate Sauce

Natural cocao pod and beans c/o CocoWell