What Do Randonneurs Eat?

I'm always hungry....

                                             

There are as many ways of approaching eating for rando success as there are randos.   When I first started randonneuring, I would sometimes have challenges with nausea and/or bloating on longer rides.  That’s mostly gone away, as I’ve learned what my stomach can and can not tolerate.   

For example, I CAN tolerate a peanut butter/banana/bacon "sandwich.

Still, I’ve never specifically tracked my exact intake for a ride, nor tried to calculate the nutritional value/caloric content of my intake.

Recently, I decided to track everything from start to finish, including my pre-ride and post-ride meals.   Here’s the good, the bad and the ugly…

Pre-ride (~850 calories)

Bowl of oatmeal with dried currants and maple syrup @ home

Grande nonfat pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks enroute

During the ride, in no particular order:

(solids ~1700 calories)

1 banana

1 package (1.375 oz) honey roasted peanuts

1 Gu gel

1 PayDay bar (1.85 oz)

1 Kashi Granola Bar (trail mix flavor)

3 tablets Perpetuem solids

2 pieces “trail putty” (peanut butter/honey/powdered milk/flaxmeal)

1 egg salad sandwich

(liquids ~ 1100 calories)

3 bottles Perpetuem (café latte flavor)

2 canned Starbucks Doubleshots

1 bottle water with a Nuun tab

1 bottle plain water

Post-ride @ the brewpub (~1400 calories)

8oz hamburger with blue cheese and bacon on a kaiser roll

waffle fries

Pint of Stout

Total caloric intake for the day: ~5,050.

Sign me up.

Estimated caloric burn (24 hr period):

9 hours turning the pedals at 400 calories per hour = 3600

2 hours off the bike (controls, etc.) at 200 calories per hour = 400

7 hours sleeping @ 50 calories/ hr = 350

6 hours (the rest of my day) simply living @ 100 calories/hour = 600

Total estimated burn for the day ~ 4,950.

All the numbers are estimated but the consumption calories are based on product labeling, etc.   The burn calories are based on testing I’ve had done in the past, plus online calculators for averages of types of activity like sleeping etc.

I was quite interested to see that when all was said and done, the calories in and calories out worked out to be roughly the same.  I’m sure there’s a reasonably large margin of error to all my estimates, but nonetheless I was still surprised to see them come out so close.

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The thing about randonneuring is that you never know what you're going to find/forage, and sometimes you just have to be flexible.

If you find yourself in a place like this at oh-dark-thirty,

you'll need to be willing to eat whatever you can find that looks the least toxic, like this:

On the other hand, you might luck into a wonderful donut shop or coffee shop!

Try the bacon maple bars in Sandy, OR

Coffee and pumpkin bread in Camas, WA

Bagel sandwiches at Rosies in Mill City, OR.

One of my favorite things about travelling to ride a brevet or perm is the chance to try the "regional delicacies" such as:

Hawaiian mochi

Pecan waffles in Key West, FL

Snack bars in the UK.

Spam musubi in Hawaii.  Kickass rando food.  Salt, carbs & fat.  Yummers!

I didn't try the "Beef" in Arizona, though.  Too bad.

International events provide a great opportunity to try new foods as well.   Sometimes good, sometimes somewhat less than appetizing.

Roadside crepes in France - PBP 2011

The biggest fish sticks in England?  - LEL 2013

Jeff Tilden demonstrates the ride-while-eating-baguette skill necessary for any successful completion of PBP.

Control food on LEL 2013.  It tasted better than it looked, but just barely.

Breakfast food seems to make GREAT brevet food, no matter what time of day you eat it.

Denny's in Arlington, WA

Omelettes at the Little Red Barn in WA - Fleche NW 2013

Of course, sometimes you're just too damn tired to eat the food, even when you know you need it.

Fleche power nap

Table nap.  Dreux control.  PBP 2011.

Wakey, wakey.  Your food is here!

Of course, the best part of a brevet, is the celebration with adult beverages and good friends.

Cidre in Eugene, Oregon with Theo & Lesli

Curbside Gin & Tonics, courtesy of Theo, to celebrate the successful completion of the ORR Spring 2013 600K, aka The Hillpocalypse 600K

 Wishing you many happy miles and many happy meals!

-Susan

Coffeeneuring #7: Coffeeshop Without Walls - Sunday, November 3rd

Michael W's wife Allison purchased a Chemex coffee maker for Michael's most recent birthday.   With the two of them having an infant at home, getting out for coffeeneuring can be a challenge.  So Michael invited a small group of us over to his home for a "Without Walls" coffeeneuring adventure!

I rode my bike over to Beaverton with the intent to take the MAX over the hill and meet Bill in town for the ride to Michael's.   The trees are still a riot of color.

On the way to Beaverton

Upon getting to Beaverton, I realized that I was early.  Very very early.  As in spring-ahead-fall-behind kind of early.  Yup, the clocks had changed and I was an hour ahead of time.

What else to do but have a pre-coffee coffee?!  I popped into Edge Coffee and had a latte while I killed time.

Showing off my LEL vest.

Edge gets it.

 Eventually I met Bill & we rode over to Micheal's house.  Micheal explained to us his process for roasting beans with a popcorn popper!

Green beans

The secret roasting equipment

Birthday Chemex

Bikes and coffee.  Photo courtesy of Bill Alsup.

The family is gluten free and Allison has a keen interest in gluten free baking.  I brought over some gluten free banana muffins I'd made the night before, and we had a long conversation about the keys to GF baked goods.

And of course, we spent a fair bit of time admiring the newest member of the family, Miss Marjorie!

Someone finally woke up!

Photo courtesy of Bill Alsup

Roundtrip miles for the day: 20.8

Total coffee mile for the challenge: 296.1

Coffeeneuring # 6: Bridge of the Gods - Sunday, October 27th

Yesterday's coffeeneuring ride with Calvin featured Oregon's rural countryside.  For today's ride, I wanted to show him some very different terrain.  We decided to do the Bridge of the Gods Loop.

My partner Jeff and I picked up Calvin in our car for the drive out to Troutdale.    Kevin met us there.  

While one can start a BOG loop pretty much anywhere, the "traditional" ride start is at McMenamin's Edgefield, where there is ample parking and, more importantly, ample beer in the pub at the conclusion of the ride!

The weather was crappy but our spirits were high as we set out.  The bike path along the Columbia River is always beautiful.

Marine Drive Bike Path.  Photo courtesy of Calvin Boo.

Crossing the I205 Bridge into Washington State is noisy and nearly all uphill, but at least there's a nifty bike path right down the middle.

Jeff crosses the I205 Bridge.  Photo courtesy of Calvin Boo.

With all the rain, we were looking forward to our coffeeneuring spot.  The Caffe Piccolo Paradiso at mile 20 in Camas was perfect.

Blurry photo, apropos of the rainy day!

Obligatory bike shot

Breakfast or dessert?

Vanilla Latte & Pumpkin Bread

My riding buddies are kinda cute, doncha think?  Photo courtesy of Calvin Boo.

 Sadly, we couldn't stay warm & cozy in the cafe, so we headed out into the rain.

Start of the climb up Hwy 14.  Photo courtesy of Calvin Boo

Lots of mist and rain.   Pretty in it's own way.  Photo courtesy of Calvin Boo

At the ride's mid-point, we crossed back into Oregon via the Bridge of the Gods.  The nice folks in the jeep in front of us paid our tolls!

Bridge of the Gods.  Photo courtesy of Calvin Boo

We had a sit-down lunch in the Charburger.  Window seat with great views of the bridge!

Photo courtesy of Calvin Boo

 It's been pointed out to me that we sure do eat a lot of food on these rides.   Yes, yes we do.

Not going hungry.

Leaving the Charburger, we found this fresh kill in the parking lot.  Looks like this guy is going to be on someone's wall soon.

Photo courtesy of Calvin Boo

From Cascade Locks west to just before Multnomah Falls, we followed the historic Columbia River bike trail.   More fairy tale forest.

Photo courtesy of Calvin Boo

You'd think  they could have come up with a better solution here... Photo courtesy of Calvin Boo.

Leaving the trail, we followed the Old Columbia River Hwy, passing many waterfalls along the way, including the ever-spectacular Multnomah Falls.

Multnomah Falls

We climbed to the high bridge

If you know where to look, you can see Jeff & Kevin!

After leaving the falls, the road climbs up to Crown Point, for one last killer view down to the Columbia River before the road heads back down to Troutdale.

The view of the river from Crown Point never gets old.

Fading daylight at Crown Point.

Finally back at McMenamin's Edgefield, we had dinner and beer, a nice reward after nearly 82 miles, much of it in the rain.

Photo courtesy of Calvin Boo

Seriously creepy 3D artwork over our dinner table.

Strava ride file here: http://www.strava.com/activities/91766356

Coffeeneuring mileage for the weekend: 159 miles! 

Coffeeneuring #5: Coffee with Calvin - Saturday, October 26th

This summer, I rode my longest brevet to date.  1418km on London-Edinburgh-London.   Long before the event, the organizers started a Facebook page for people to meet and talk about the event.  A real community developed, and by the time I reached the start line in July, I felt like I'd made many new friends.

One of those friends was Calvin Boo, a randonneur from Singapore.  We never managed to meet face to face during the vent.  But when he sent me a note in September letting me know that he was planning a visit in October, I didn't hesitate to offer to show him the beauty of Oregon by bike.  Along the way, we could visit some far flung coffee shops for Coffeeneuring credit!

I met Calvin in town at the bike shop where he rented a very well equiped road bike.   Rando friend Jeff A met us there, and together we boarded the MAX train to the last stop in Hillsboro.  A 5 mile ride took us to North Plains, where we met up with Bill and Ray.

A pre-coffeeneuring coffee on the way to pick up Calvin.  Black, like the cup.

Multi-modal coffeeneuring!

Together, the 5 of us rode the quiet country roads to Banks and the start of the BV trail.

L to R: Bill, Jeff, Calvin, Ray and yours truly

Coffee posse.

Calvin's pre-visit research had turned up the Banks-Vernonia Trail as a route he was interested in.  Luckily, the BV Trail is one of my favorite rides.   It's a gorgeous rail trail with few road crossings.  No matter the time of year, it's like riding through fairy tale forest for much of the route.

Though it had been overcast much of the morning, I'd remained optimistic that the sun would come out.  And so it did!

At the far terminus of the trail is Vernonia, with the Black Bear Coffee Company.   Many NW rando rides use Vernonia as a control, and countless other recreational riders stop in there during day rides as well.   It's a perfect coffeeneuring destination.

Like turtles on a rock

My usual non-fat vanilla latte.

Before swinging around for the return trip home, we stopped at the park in Vernonia to look at the old train engine.

The sun was low on the horizon as we returned to the beginning of the trail.    A few miles from home, Jeff escorted Calvin back to the MAX while I returned home.

Total mileage for the day: 77 miles (including trips to and from MAX)
Primary Strava ride file here: http://www.strava.com/activities/91515773