Thursday, August 2, 2007

174 Miles in 3 days

Tomorrow I leave on my bicycle/camping mini tour. I'm going to be carrying a few power bars and a protien bar I found at REI. Aside from that I also plan to pack a bag of mixed nuts and some bananas.

We eat our main meals at restaurants on the way, so we're basically stuck with whatever is close by when we're hungry. So I'm just going to try to eat as healthy as possible at those places. Steaks and Eggs for breakfast, salads for lunch, etc.

I've seen people eat salt because it helps with cramps. Anyone familiar with that? Anything else to add? Does anyone have any last minute suggestions for what to bring food-wise?

For anyone interersted, here's a map of where we're riding:

Day 1 - 52.7 Miles

Day 2 - 62.3 Miles

Day 3 - 59.1 Miles

Map of entire trip

7 comments:

Rob Tucker said...

You.

Are.

The.

Man.

Don't die on us, we need the motivation to do something like that. What kind of bike are you riding?

Anonymous said...

I'm so jealous!!! Have fun.

Make sure you drink enough water and take food with good carbs. You'll need energy for those miles!!

Brian said...

I'm riding my recumbent. Here's a pic from a chicago-Philly trip from a few years ago:

http://www.brian-payne.com/bikes/cycle.jpg

and another:

http://www.brian-payne.com/bikes/cycle2.jpg

That's my father riding with me. It's not less work than an upright bike (Especially up hills), but its 10 times more comfy. I used to do a lot of trips like this but I've fallen off the wagon, so this trip we're doing is probably going to be a little painfull. At one point, I rode 125 miles in one day with 40 extra pounds on the bike. Now there is no way i could do that, and the 40 pounds is on me :)

That said, if I can do it, any of you can.

David said...

This is so cool Brian !

My girlfriend is hell of a bike rider (1000-2000 miles a year).

- Expect to burn 3000-4000 calories a day. So if you don't up your food intake, you're in for a tough ride but the benefits will be higher !

- Honey, in moderation, is a great simple fuel source along the way with some water to rinse it out !

- Your muscles work with two main electrolytes : Sodium and Potassium. You need to moderately replenish both along the way. Gatorade does a good job at that but also contains way too much sugar. At the end of the day, a banana (potassium) and a couple of salty cookies (sodium) will do the job just fine.

I wish you a great time !
Can't wait to hear from you when you come back !

Rob Tucker said...

Those bikes are pretty cool looking, I've always wanted to do that.

Get some good pictures!

Anonymous said...

Oh, about the salt thing, I just read last night that you should consume sodium prior to a workout because it helps you retain water and stay hydrated while exercising in high temps.

I also read that water makes up 75% of muscle mass and not drinking enough can lead to muscle injuries.

Hmmm, wonder if there's a correlation? :)

Unknown said...

Brian: You joined FAT while I was on vacation, etc. I am just now getting around to everyone's blogs again. Congratulations on taking the steps to get in shape!