Aaron Wolfe salivates for cycling almost as much as for a big plate of homemade food. Here he’ll drool publicly and sometimes count calories with weekly recipes aimed at you finicky cyclists. Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here, Part 4 here, Part 5 here, Part 6 here, Part 7 here.

Can you trust recipes from such a skinny man?

Slow circles

@##=#<9,L>@##=#This time last year I had officially declared my season over except for one last threshold test, which went very poorly. That makes sense, because like last year, the only circles I want to push are with a wooden spoon through something warm in a heavy pot while slouching next to the stove.

However, this season has gone much better than last, so there’s a little conflict between the desire to stretch it out for a few more weeks and the desire to get fat on potato chips and chocolate Pop Tarts.

Stretch Number 1 will be the Silvermine TT next weekend. Number 2 is the final CRCA Team Cup race, where we hope to show up with a sprinter and boot the Adlers out of second place.

I do a lot of TTs in training, but only a few where I get to throw on my wobbly trispokes and heavy aero bars and don my shrink-wrap covered helmet. The Silvermine course is on a road I’ve been riding all year. I’m no expert, but I don’t think the race will be won by minor adjustments of position or slight aerodynamic advantage. Instead, I’m betting that going hard up the hill at the start (contrary to normal TT practice) and having the guts to go down that same rough road in the aero bars at 40mph or more will grind out an advantage over an imaginary competitor in equal form. A big gear will help.

The beauty of where I live is the ability to ride different routes nearly every day of a month if I want, although that rarely happens. The recovery route is always the same, as are the routes used for shorter intervals. For longer endurance rides the options are practically countless, although I stick to a few favorites. I’m hoping to squeeze out a couple more weeks of interest by taking some of my rarely used roads. In other words, how do you guys do it in the parks everyday with only a few 9W variations on the weekend? It’s been the variety this year that has kept training fresh.

@##=#<8,r>@##=#I was asked to make something with chicken for dinner on Monday, so I found a nice slouch-by-the-stove recipe in Chicken and Sausage Gumbo. Gumbo is one of those foods that can only be made certain ways according to certain people, yet endless variations are possible. There is even a meatless version with a mess of greens for Lent.

Some say that it has to have okra to be gumbo. Others say that the base ingredients, rice, meat and vegetables, must cooked separately and combined briefly before serving. Gumbo’s bottom line is that it’s a stew thickened with roux, okra or file powder. Any variation you like will make you happy to dawdle by the stove as fall approaches.

Chicken and Sausage Gumbo

Brown and separately cook all the way through 1 small chicken cut into small pieces and seasoned well with salt and pepper, and 4 or so Andouille Sausages, cut into half-moons. Let the chicken cool so you can handle it.

In the fat from the chicken saut