Not very relishable

On a beautiful ride out to Orchard Beach & City Island, I stumbled upon this potato chips at a local bodega. Salty, sweet, vinegary, couldn't taste much pepper, was like salt & vinegar with the sharp stabby notes of the vinegar removed.

Weird packaging, stressing the "all natural" on the front and a list of ingredients to make a bell pepper relish on the back (though no method -- for that you have to go to the website.) Potato chips are freakin' potato chips, they may be all natural but they sure ain't healthful.

Last week's ride I blew out after 20 miles, but I should of eaten. On this ride I had a healthy lunch at mile 28, and didn't blow out until mile 41 or so. I even packed a cliff bar just in case, but it didn't come to that. Will I be ready for 100 in mid May? I think I may have to take more drastic actions...

I listened to a podcast of an NPR interview of Mario Batali, on a book tour promoting a new cook book about simple Italian dishes that are focused on what is made in the homes of Italy, not restaurants. He described how there are no big meat main dishes, and that a typical meal would be a tiny bit of protein (if any), a small amount of starch (like pasta) and mostly vegetables. A 1 lb bag of dried pasta in Italy feeds 5 people, but in the U.S. it feeds 2 people. I weighed my pasta this evening before cooking and....it was indeed 6.4 oz, an ounce and half away from being half a pound! A big batch of pasta is a good recovery meal after a long ride, though.

BREAKFAST: 9am, organic chex with dead milk, banana, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Wanted to save dinner for the evening, but my usual first snack on a long bikeride is the fabulous donuts from my local shop. So in the spirit of doing something friggin' differently, I swapped it out with a super ripe banana, very sweet and satisfying.

LUNCH: 1:15pm, turkey with let, tom, oni and roasted peppers on wholewheat roll, oddly flavored potato chips, 20oz of Gatorade, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
From a friendly small-town feeling deli on City Island, with which I pedalled over to Orchard Beach to sit on a picnic table by the beach to eat.

DINNER: 6pm, large green salad, mini cheese raviolis with homemade chili, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
The 50 mile ride blew me out, and took a nice bath. After, I set up the boiling water while ate salad, then cooked the pasta. Pasta and red meat, 2 things only to be eaten once a week. Well, I think I made it to Saturday! Tomorrow is Dim Sum, so rules are suspended for that then...

EVENING SNACK: 7:15pm, half a small chocolate babka, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Indulgent, homemade, felt right.

EVENING SNACK: 8:30pm, wholewheat waffle, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
I can't believe I was hungry enough for this after that chunk of babka, but I was, and it was good!