Mighty winds and mediocre food
We're taking a rest day in Swift Current, which means internet access courtesy of the town library!
"But Bryce," you might ask, "didn't you have TWO rest days in Calgary less than a week ago? Surely you're not that out of shape." Well yes, we have only put in 5 days, and about 600km of riding since our last rest day in Calgary, which is not quite as much distance as I was hoping to have in between rest days across the prairie flats, but for the past 3 days, we have been stalked by an extremely treacherous wind. The worst day was on our way from Dinosaur Provincial Park (dinosaur skeletons and crazy badlands topography, definitely worth the detour!) to Medicine Hat, where we biked directly into a south wind for 60km, then turned a full 90 degrees to head east to Medicine Hat. Within about 60 seconds of making the turn, the wind executed an identical shift, staying directly in our face for the remainder of the ride.
We've had a few hours of tailwinds since then on our path from Medicine Hat to Maple Creek, then Maple Creek to Swift Current, but most of the riding has been done leaning about 20 degrees into insane crosswinds that threatened to dump us in the ditch on more than one occasion. I'd estimate windspeeds at somewhere between 30 and 50km/h (confirmed, courtesy of the Weather Network).
This morning, when we woke up to yet another 25km/h headwind, we decided maybe it was time for a rest. Who'd have thought the prairies would be slower going than the Rockies?
Onto the second topic of this post: food. Our dinners have been reasonably good on this trip, and usually consist of either a footlong sub or some sort of pasta dish (if we treat ourselves to restaurant food) or a couple bowls of soup heated on our uber-tiny camp stove (if we're being budget conscious). My favourite new "camp cooking" trick is to buy a can of Chunky soup and a can of black beans and mix the two together. It's cheaper than 2 cans of soup, and the beans add a whole whack of carbs and protein to the mix.
Unfortunately, lunches have been another matter altogether. We have hit (and will continue to hit) huge expanses between civilization where there's really nowhere to stop but the occasional gas station, and so our lunches have tended to be premade sandwiches and granola bars, and let me tell you this: gas station sandwiches SUCK.
I know that's probably a fairly obvious statement, no one really goes to gas stations for an epicurean fix, but I'm absolutely mystified by the composition of gas station sandwiches. The mediocre bun, mystery meat and absence of veggies I can all understand from a pure business economics point of view... why waste money on fancy ingredients when someone buying a sandwich at a gas station will clearly eat anything non-toxic you put in front of their face? But that argument makes the next fact all the more puzzling... ALL gas station sandwiches, without exception, are covered with roughly half a gallon of mayonnaise. Always mayonnaise (never mustard, except on the rarest of occasions when it is also accompanied by mayo) and always a ridiculous quantity. If you're trying to cut corners on all the other ingredients, why not cut back a bit on the river of mayo while you're at it? Maybe then I'd be able to eat a gas station sandwich without being able to consciously feel my heart slowing down.
So here's my open inquiry to anyone reading this. Does anyone have any ideas for easy on-the-road meals that can be packed into a small volume and don't involve much assembly? We can usually hit up a grocery store at least once a day, or once every day in the more remote areas, so anything you can find at a small to mid-sized grocery store is fair game. Bonus points for being high in calories without also oozing saturated fat. If you have some great ideas, e-mail them to my Blackberry (brycedaigle(AT)bell.blackberry.net).
Now I'm off to go research how to sew. I got a bit careless changing into my only pair of pants last night, and turned a minor tear into a 5-inch long gash that's threatening to turn my only pair of jeans into a scandalously short pair of cut-offs if I don't do something about it.
"But Bryce," you might ask, "didn't you have TWO rest days in Calgary less than a week ago? Surely you're not that out of shape." Well yes, we have only put in 5 days, and about 600km of riding since our last rest day in Calgary, which is not quite as much distance as I was hoping to have in between rest days across the prairie flats, but for the past 3 days, we have been stalked by an extremely treacherous wind. The worst day was on our way from Dinosaur Provincial Park (dinosaur skeletons and crazy badlands topography, definitely worth the detour!) to Medicine Hat, where we biked directly into a south wind for 60km, then turned a full 90 degrees to head east to Medicine Hat. Within about 60 seconds of making the turn, the wind executed an identical shift, staying directly in our face for the remainder of the ride.
We've had a few hours of tailwinds since then on our path from Medicine Hat to Maple Creek, then Maple Creek to Swift Current, but most of the riding has been done leaning about 20 degrees into insane crosswinds that threatened to dump us in the ditch on more than one occasion. I'd estimate windspeeds at somewhere between 30 and 50km/h (confirmed, courtesy of the Weather Network).
This morning, when we woke up to yet another 25km/h headwind, we decided maybe it was time for a rest. Who'd have thought the prairies would be slower going than the Rockies?
Onto the second topic of this post: food. Our dinners have been reasonably good on this trip, and usually consist of either a footlong sub or some sort of pasta dish (if we treat ourselves to restaurant food) or a couple bowls of soup heated on our uber-tiny camp stove (if we're being budget conscious). My favourite new "camp cooking" trick is to buy a can of Chunky soup and a can of black beans and mix the two together. It's cheaper than 2 cans of soup, and the beans add a whole whack of carbs and protein to the mix.
Unfortunately, lunches have been another matter altogether. We have hit (and will continue to hit) huge expanses between civilization where there's really nowhere to stop but the occasional gas station, and so our lunches have tended to be premade sandwiches and granola bars, and let me tell you this: gas station sandwiches SUCK.
I know that's probably a fairly obvious statement, no one really goes to gas stations for an epicurean fix, but I'm absolutely mystified by the composition of gas station sandwiches. The mediocre bun, mystery meat and absence of veggies I can all understand from a pure business economics point of view... why waste money on fancy ingredients when someone buying a sandwich at a gas station will clearly eat anything non-toxic you put in front of their face? But that argument makes the next fact all the more puzzling... ALL gas station sandwiches, without exception, are covered with roughly half a gallon of mayonnaise. Always mayonnaise (never mustard, except on the rarest of occasions when it is also accompanied by mayo) and always a ridiculous quantity. If you're trying to cut corners on all the other ingredients, why not cut back a bit on the river of mayo while you're at it? Maybe then I'd be able to eat a gas station sandwich without being able to consciously feel my heart slowing down.
So here's my open inquiry to anyone reading this. Does anyone have any ideas for easy on-the-road meals that can be packed into a small volume and don't involve much assembly? We can usually hit up a grocery store at least once a day, or once every day in the more remote areas, so anything you can find at a small to mid-sized grocery store is fair game. Bonus points for being high in calories without also oozing saturated fat. If you have some great ideas, e-mail them to my Blackberry (brycedaigle(AT)bell.blackberry.net).
Now I'm off to go research how to sew. I got a bit careless changing into my only pair of pants last night, and turned a minor tear into a 5-inch long gash that's threatening to turn my only pair of jeans into a scandalously short pair of cut-offs if I don't do something about it.
posted by Bryce at
11:19 AM
1 Comments:
you sure it's mayo and not butter? those premade, saran wrapped sandwiches (the same kind of crap you can buy at airports) usually have a thick layer of butter on them. i've often confused it for cheese, until the first bite...
buy powerbars, or those milkshake replacement meals that they sell to dieters (equate? something like that...) to get a full meals worth of calories,carbs, protien, etc. out of a small space
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