Bike ride from hell
What’s the most physcially demanding thing you’ve ever done? For some it’s birthing a child. Others, maybe it’s running a marathon. For me, it’s this bike trip I’ve been on for the past week, riding across the Eastern United States from Atlanta to Maine. Today, we finished a 135 mile ride in the hilly farmlands of cental Pennsylvania. Tomorrow’s ride is shorter at 90 miles, but includes more climbing.
We’re about halfway along our 2 week trip and each day that doesn’t kill me makes me stronger. Or so I tell myself as I suck wind climbing up the hills the torment us ceaselessly like the late night TV commercials for the Ab Lounge. On the other hand, I’ve been eating like a pig every day to take in enough nutrition to recuperate. What have I been eating? Well, we’re staying in small town motels with very few quality food options. Buffet restaurants. Fast food. Nothing remotely “nutritious” nor delicious. Nor do I care. After a 100 +mile ride, I need calories, it almost doesn’t matter where it comes from. I’d eat the grass in the parking lot if I thought it’d carry me through until dinner. So no exciting food photos, no tasty missives from the hinterlands of the East coast.
With any luck, I’ll have more to write about after the bike ride is done and we start a foodcentric tour of New England. Lobsters. Clam shacks. The legendary pizzas of New Haven, Connecticut. Stay tuned. Food will return to this blog, I promise.
July 30th, 2005 at 2:15 pm
keep on chuggin! Good luck
August 22nd, 2006 at 1:39 am
[...] After the excitement of walking on stage subsided, we still faced the task of packing up camp and driving over two hours home. In the spectrum of tiredness, I’d put barbecue contest tired right up there with moved a house tired. I’ve slagged the “sport” of barbecue by comparing it to bowling, bass fishing, or poker: a competition among fat guys drinking beer. But I learned that two days of driving, setting up equiment, cooking with little sleep and bursts of intense focus really take a toll on mental clarity in the critical, waning hours of the contest. I’ll have to work on this aspect if I’m going to improve in future contests. Speaking as someone with endurance sport credentials, I will stop dissing the sport of barbecue. It’s a different kind of endurance event with a more delicious ending. [...]