Saturday, November 24, 2012

Food



I have a pretty high metabolism. It's mostly pretty nice, because I don't get too cold in the winter. I think it has slowed a little bit or things have changed because I'm not a vegetarian anymore, because I don't have to eat as much during the summer. Or, when I ride by myself, I don't push myself too hard so that I blow up and die. It still happens a bit when I ride with other people. This year's De Tour was a good example of that. I rode fast with Salem and Jessie and when I got back to East Hampton, I burned up all my energy and ground to a halt.

Anyway, the temperature has gotten a bit colder, so I have to burn more to stay warm. That means I need to bring more food with me so that I don't pass out in Penwood and have to eat tree bark to avoid death. Not that that happened today, but it occurred to me after I ate the last of my food at the turn around point that I probably should have brought a little bit more. Or, I should ride with other people who can carry food for me.

Do other people have this problem? I was ice climbing once (and the only time) and the good ice climbers were telling me about that the nice thing about ice climbing is that you eat whatever you want because you burn so many calories staying warm (as well as climbing up the side of icy cliffs). It's not that I'm concerned about getting fat, it's more that I'm concerned about running out of energy and having to resort to eating tree bark.

3 comments:

Tony C said...

Usually I can dial it back to a fat burning effort level and avoid eating tree bark, which metabolizes horribly methinks.

It is pretty easy to bring an extra bagel or granola bar... Or you could pay a domestique to mule your snacks. Whatever spins yer wheels.

Anonymous said...

I need a handle bar bag loaded with snacks during bike overnights/touring rides to keep me going strong. That way I can be huffing a hill and eating granola bars at the same time. Otherwise hanger (hunger + anger) sets in and then I eventually have to sit and eat for a while to recover.

Anonymous said...

I went for a ride once with my friend Joel and he had a handlebar bag filled with Swedish Fish.