Braces-half my diet has been eliminated!

[GLC1968]

Tape the gel packet to your bike's top tube? I've heard that triathletes do this and just tear them off and open in one step.

Yep, this. Tape just the top of the gel to the top tube (you can layer them if you need a bunch for a ride) and just rip one off at a time. The top stays taped to the tube and you get just an open packet in your hand. Works best with electrical tape.

[Becky]

Glad to hear that this works! I intend to try it for mountain bike racing next season.

[e3rdpower]

At the time, I was riding 200+ miles a week and living on yogurt and soup was hard, as I needed to consume a lot of calories to keep up. I was starving at times, and that induced a few breakdowns. But it got easier; I swear.

Thanks, Indy. This is a big concern for me as well. I just finished a 2 month training block of 15-16 hour weeks (road, likely 250-280 miles ish). Thank goodness right now I'm in a lower volume, going back to the gym phase, but I'm still hungry. Base training will be coming up soon though, so I'm hopeful that by then getting adequate calories won't be an issue.

Yep, this. Tape just the top of the gel to the top tube (you can layer them if you need a bunch for a ride) and just rip one off at a time. The top stays taped to the tube and you get just an open packet in your hand. Works best with electrical tape.

Perfect. Thank you very much!

[jessmarimba]

This is just a random comment regarding food and braces - I haven't read the entire thread. But within hours of getting mine off, I made my mother take me to the candy shop in Williamsburg so I could get a caramel apple. I'd wanted one for three years.

(I'm not supposed to eat apples without cutting them, anyway, since one of my front teeth is mostly fake and is eventually going to snap off again, but that was a worthwhile exception).

[e3rdpower]

Apples are definitely high on my list of favorite foods, so having the ability to eat them at all (even cut up) I'm looking forward to!

Also, a friend of mine told me about the Gelrilla grip-another option for holding/opening gels.

http://www.gelrillagrip.com/

[indysteel]

e3rdpower, how are adjusting to your braces? Has the worst of the pain subsided yet?

[e3rdpower]

e3rdpower, how are adjusting to your braces? Has the worst of the pain subsided yet?

Thanks for checking on me! (I'm Erin, by the way.)

Actually, I still can't chew. I have very little discomfort when I'm not trying to chew, but chewing is very uncomfortable and the teeth feel "wobbly." I also had an extraction of a lower incisor last week, so that most likely is contributing to everything. My molars are still not touching, as I gather it that may continue as my bite is corrected. Tomorrow will be 2 weeks since I was braced, so they're still fresh. I don't have an adjustment until the 26th, so I'm really hoping to be able to eat a little on Thanksgiving, since I'm cooking it all!

So, still soft foods for me for now. Mashed cauliflower has by far become my favorite veggie.

[indysteel]

Erin, I'm so sorry you're still hurting. I can't remember how long it took for the pain the lessen after the braces first went on. I didn't have teeth pulled until a couple years in (after we'd tried to avoid it). I had four pulled at once. One on each side both top and bottom. That part of the treatment was hard.

I hope it gets better soon! The holidays are a rough time to adjust to them. I got mine on in late September. It was the first and only year I resisted all the Halloween candy!

[e3rdpower]

5 week post braces update:

I had my first adjustment on Monday, and it went fine. The actual changing of the wires was quite uncomfortable, but afterward the discomfort was no different than it had been. My teeth are moving at a pretty rapid rate, which of course is awesome, but is also why I'm still having so much difficulty chewing. It's not even pain, they're just too loose to properly chew, and the only area I can chew at all is in the back left side. I was able to eat some things at Thanksgiving, just cut into little tiny pieces.

I'm riding back to back centuries this weekend, and am going to use Skratch in the bottles, EFS liquid shots and honey on the bike. I have small packets of almond butter that I will also take and will pick up chocolate milk/banana when we stop. Hopefully that will work

[indysteel]

5 week post braces update:

I had my first adjustment on Monday, and it went fine. The actual changing of the wires was quite uncomfortable, but afterward the discomfort was no different than it had been. My teeth are moving at a pretty rapid rate, which of course is awesome, but is also why I'm still having so much difficulty chewing. It's not even pain, they're just too loose to properly chew, and the only area I can chew at all is in the back left side. I was able to eat some things at Thanksgiving, just cut into little tiny pieces.

I'm riding back to back centuries this weekend, and am going to use Skratch in the bottles, EFS liquid shots and honey on the bike. I have small packets of almond butter that I will also take and will pick up chocolate milk/banana when we stop. Hopefully that will work

I'm sorry that you're still having some issues. Early on in my treatment, my ortho used pretty light wires and explained to me that his first order of business was to sort of "gently wake my teeth up." While I saw movement from the start, it was pretty gradual, as he purposely didn't start using heavier wires until I'd been wearing my braces for a few months. I don't remember my teeth ever feeling all that loose. That might be because my teeth were so crowded to begin with, but also wonder if your ortho is using a different approach and is starting off with heavier wires to get more immediate results. You might talk to your ortho about your discomfort.

[e3rdpower]

I honestly have no issues with and will deal with the loose teeth if it means wearing the braces for only 12 months, which was my original "quote." My teeth were crowded, but by having the lower incisor extracted it gave room for movement. My husband and I are going on a cruise next November and I *really* want to be brace-free.

I rode 100 miles today and did well with fueling; using 4 bottles of Skratch, 4 servings of EFS liquid shot (I opened the flask and left it open-made for a little stickiness but not horrific), a homemade liquid gel with honey, coconut oil, water and Lite Salt in a reused EFS liquid shot container, 100 calorie almond butter packet and a small chocolate milk.

[indysteel]

I totally understand your desire to get them off sooner rather than later! I wish I'd had even a remote possibility for a short term.