What do you eat on a bicycle tour?

June 11, 2017:

The other night I was hanging out with some other bicyclists. One young guy, wanting to try out bicycle touring, asked what you would eat for a long bicycle ride. Do you get special foods like gels? Do you want food you can digest easily?

Someone said, “I know a guy who made it across the country on McDonald’s fries. You’ve got your salt replacement and complex carbs.”

I said, “I just eat whatever I feel like eating. If Rob and I find a place that serves milk shakes, we’ll get a milk shake. If it slows us down, we’ll ride slow.” 

The last time we stopped for milk shakes was when we were passing through a small town in Vermont. Like many Vermont small towns, this one had a few shops, a church, a town green, all on one main street. We sat outside the local cafe savoring our shakes - chocolate for me, strawberry for Rob - and watching the town's goings- on. Occasionally a car drove by; someone came out of the shop across the street, got into a car, and drove away. It was a quiet town.

I looked sadly at the bottom of my glass, slurping with my straw the last few drops of my shake. I was contentedly bloated, not at all eager to get back on my bike. Rob said exactly what I was thinking. "I could use a nap." I looked next door at a grassy expanse in front of a church. It had a gradual slope, just the right angle. I said, "That looks like the perfect spot." 

After paying our bill we laid our bikes on the grass and got down next to them. And just then a town maintenance truck pulled up in front of us. We watched as a couple guys got out with some street signs and began drilling a hole in the cement. "Maybe they'll be quick," I said. They put in one sign, then moved a short ways up the street to do another. No naps for us.

We really do just eat regular food. And for an especially long trip, we’ll eat substantially more of it. When I was on an eight-week solo bike trip back in my youth, I would think nothing of picking up a pint of ice cream and downing the whole thing in one sitting. I had to. I had no one to share it with.

Then there's free food. You never pass up free food when you're bicycling. On that same trip in Vermont, Rob and I had just finished eating our lunch in a school playground on the outskirts of another small town. As we bicycled into town, we noticed lots of cars parked in front of a bank, like there was some event going on, but it was a Friday. What happens on a weekday in small Vermont towns? We stopped to find out. The local state bank was serving free lunches at a different branch throughout the state on Fridays. Everyone was invited, even itinerant bicyclists. That was the summer Rob and I were trying out a vegan diet. But so what? I certainly wasn't going to pass up free food. Chips, bratwurst, ice cream. Nothing remotely healthy about it, but all delicious. And free.

So here’s what Rob and I have been eating on our recent trips. For breakfast, it’s been oatmeal with raisins or fresh fruit and nuts. On our Maine trip in 2015 we were into steel-cut oats. If you put them in boiling water and let them sit overnight then they only need to be heated in the morning. So we’d boil them and then find a place in one of the bathrooms to leave them in the pot overnight, usually on a shelf with a sign, letting folks know they belong to bicyclists in the campground. We always found them – just as we’d left them - the next morning.

We carry bread and peanut butter and jelly for Rob’s lunch. I’ll eat a peanut butter sandwich plain under duress; with jelly, never. My lunch is cheese and crackers, a salami and cheese sandwich, or peanut butter on graham crackers. Actually, what’s really good, if it isn’t too hot and you can pack some Hershey’s chocolate bars, is a graham cracker with a Hershey bar, and peanut butter. Kind of a do-it-yourself Reese’s peanut butter cup for lunch.

We do eat lots of fruit – fresh and dried – and usually carry some fresh vegetables and nuts and other snack foods. We try to have enough food for the next couple days, but don’t want to carry anything too heavy or anything that won’t keep if the temperature is too hot. We’ll carry a couple lightweight dinner options, like Annie’s mac and cheese or Ramen noodles, but it’s always good if we find a grocery store as we close in on our camping destination so we can pick up something more interesting for dinner.