WOW! It's been a long time between posts! I was focussed on my October 1 retirement for awhile, then took a celebratory trip to Mexico with Bob and some friends...time just flies.
'See this watermelon slice? Nothing...nothing, I tell you, looked better to me after the half-way point on any given day of RAGBRAI. Even though we were on our bikes and peddling by 6:30 every morning, it was very hot and humid all week. Many vendors along the way sold watermelon slices for $1.00, and they tasted so very delicious that we probably would have paid 5 times that without question. Luckily, there were many such vendors.
Good nutrition on long bike rides begins long before hopping on the bike each morning. It's important to eat lots and eat very nutriciously from the end of the day's ride until bedtime. No matter how good the mounds of cooked pasta marinara, barbecued chicken, and pulled pork sandwiche, followed by sweet berry and other fruit pies look and smell, they are loaded with things that will not be your best friend on the bike, when you're interested in feeling good and performing well for long miles.
That said, the main thing for the riding hours is consuming liquids, and many of them. I carry two water bottles which I have frozen the night before, filled with water and a green supplement powder. My preference is one of the Garden of Life powders, all of which are whole organic food based. Click this picture to learn more and/or order.
The secret to maximum long distance biking (or for any endurance athletic event, for that matter), is to drink lots of fluids, and consume enough food which is easily digested and will give some energy boost and nutrition along the way. Bananas and water are my mainstays. The watermelon was terrific and very satisfying. Other things that worked well and was easy to come by among the many vendors on the road were fruit smoothies. I didn't discover until about the third day of riding that I could get a smoothie made with real fruit and no yogurt or canned or boxed or powderded juices. They were icy and cold, and when I had drunk half of one, I poured the rest into one of my water bottles and drank it along the way.So there you have it. Thus concludes my musings on staying very high raw
while doing a long distance (did I mention 450 miles?) bike trip.
Next, I turn my attention to some new pages on this blog. I'd like to write about some kitchen equipment that I find helpful and reliable, and also some reading that I recommend. I encourage discussion here....we can all learn from each other on this raw food path to greater health and energy.
