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Of cycling and iron in the diet
Monday, July 18th, 2005 08:13 pmA year ago it struck me it was a bit ridiculous that the furthest I'd ever cycled in my life in one go was twenty miles when until recently I'd been doing eighteen once a week for the round trip to work. So I decided to go on a bike ride to Morpeth, round trip thirty miles the next time I was in Newcastle. (Spare time in Newcastle is always a treat as regards bike rides; in ten minutes I can be cycling around the Northumbrian countryside, whereas here in London by the time I've got to the countryside I've generally had enough and want to come back.)
So far, so good, but now what next. Morpeth was a good long way, but it's still fairly close to Newcastle. I'm always limited in how far I can go, because I have to turn around and go back again. If I was able to keep on going without having to turn back, I could go a good way further. So the idea emerged to go on a bike ride to Berwick - twice the distance to Morpeth and back - and get the train back.
My father thought I was crazy, and worried about having to get me if I ran into problems. I'm not so bothered; I regularly do ten times that distance (not all at once, obviously) without problems. And if I ran out of steam, I know I can do as far as Alnwick, which is the same distance as to Morpeth and back; so if I got tired in the next fifteen miles, I could turn back and catch the train home from Alnmouth. Also, if a friend of my brother's could do the London to Brighton cycle rally (55 miles, I think) without any training whatsoever, I ought to be able to a little over sixty miles from the starting point of forty miles a week to work and back.
As my next trip to Newcastle (this coming weekend) approached, my main worry was starting already worn out. Nine years ago, when I first started cycling to work, I could manage forty miles a week without batting an eyelid. Now, it wears me out. Until now I'd put this down to getting older. Recently, it occurred to me to wonder whether perhaps it was an iron deficiency in my diet on account of my pesky tarian diet. I'd once been disallowed from giving blood on the grounds of low iron.
A little google revealed that (at least according to the Net of a Thousand Lies) iron deficiency is a common problem among vegetarians. Iron from plant sources is not as easy for the body to take up, not being chelated by haem groups, and soy bean produce, which many vegetarians, myself included, rely heavily on for protein uptake, apparently impedes the body's taking up of iron.
It occurred to me that perhaps I ought to alter my diet to increase the amount of available iron in my diet. Then it occurred to me it would probably be easier to take iron pills once a week or so.
There are people I can think of who would be horrified to know I was intending to take pills on a regular basis. Luddites! There's no difference between iron in pill form and iron from food (modulo the haem factor referred to above). Almost two decades late, I now appreciate the experiments I did in school to make copper oxide by different methods and then prove that the copper oxide made by either method was completely indistinguishable.
So far, so good, but now what next. Morpeth was a good long way, but it's still fairly close to Newcastle. I'm always limited in how far I can go, because I have to turn around and go back again. If I was able to keep on going without having to turn back, I could go a good way further. So the idea emerged to go on a bike ride to Berwick - twice the distance to Morpeth and back - and get the train back.
My father thought I was crazy, and worried about having to get me if I ran into problems. I'm not so bothered; I regularly do ten times that distance (not all at once, obviously) without problems. And if I ran out of steam, I know I can do as far as Alnwick, which is the same distance as to Morpeth and back; so if I got tired in the next fifteen miles, I could turn back and catch the train home from Alnmouth. Also, if a friend of my brother's could do the London to Brighton cycle rally (55 miles, I think) without any training whatsoever, I ought to be able to a little over sixty miles from the starting point of forty miles a week to work and back.
As my next trip to Newcastle (this coming weekend) approached, my main worry was starting already worn out. Nine years ago, when I first started cycling to work, I could manage forty miles a week without batting an eyelid. Now, it wears me out. Until now I'd put this down to getting older. Recently, it occurred to me to wonder whether perhaps it was an iron deficiency in my diet on account of my pesky tarian diet. I'd once been disallowed from giving blood on the grounds of low iron.
A little google revealed that (at least according to the Net of a Thousand Lies) iron deficiency is a common problem among vegetarians. Iron from plant sources is not as easy for the body to take up, not being chelated by haem groups, and soy bean produce, which many vegetarians, myself included, rely heavily on for protein uptake, apparently impedes the body's taking up of iron.
It occurred to me that perhaps I ought to alter my diet to increase the amount of available iron in my diet. Then it occurred to me it would probably be easier to take iron pills once a week or so.
There are people I can think of who would be horrified to know I was intending to take pills on a regular basis. Luddites! There's no difference between iron in pill form and iron from food (modulo the haem factor referred to above). Almost two decades late, I now appreciate the experiments I did in school to make copper oxide by different methods and then prove that the copper oxide made by either method was completely indistinguishable.
