I've officially been here for a week now. A week of awesome riding, fantastic weather and some fantastic meals. I have to say, when you are in a groove of burning anywhere from 2000-5000 calories a day, what you eat to fill that void in your stomach becomes mega important. During my rides I have been surviving on organic trail mix that has things like dates, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds in it, which seems to keep me going, as long as I still have some drink left in my bottles. My morning pre-ride shenanigans have been spent doing anything from perfecting my omelet technique (which is stellar at this point if I do say so) to leftover dinner from the night before.



I took the bus yesterday to the nearest Whole Foods (delicious). Granted it can be pretty expensive but if you don't go crazy and buy things like gourmet cheese then you should be able to keep your tab to a minimum. Being a vegetarian, there are a few things in my diet one would think I lack in order to perform as an endurance athlete. Iron, protein and vitamin B are the three most common. To use the word lack though only suggests that I can't get these things ANYwhere in my diet other than eating fish or meat, which is completely false. If you are like myself and are "lacto-ovo" and you allow yourself to eat dairy, then all of the above can be supplemented in an egg. 1 large egg contains about 6 grams of protein, 10% daily value of vitamin B12 and B6 and about the same daily value of iron. Milk is also stacked with these things and acts as a super tasty recovery drink.

That being said, I don't actually eat that much dairy. It's hard to find eggs that are produced ethically, hard to find rennet-free cheese (google "rennet") and well, as much as I love milk, sometimes...we just don't get along that well. I do however, have huge respect and gratitude for local farmers who oppose factory faming and pushing animals beyond their limits. So bringing us back to that original point...spinach or dark leafy greens, nuts and soy. These tasty items are where I primarily get these nutrients from. Spinach is an excellent source of iron and it's super easy to incorporate into just about every meal if you're inventive. The only thing is that dry spinach by itself is super hard for the body to break down so its important to have some sort of acidity with it (balsamic vinegar, orange juice). Nuts of just about any kind usually have huge protein content and fat as well. Vitamin B-12 is the hardest one because its not naturally produced by plant, or animal. B-12 is produced by a bacteria that animals will eat which, in turn, make them good sources of the vitamin themselves. This is probably the hardest vitamin to get for vegans (those who don't eat dairy, as well as meat) because well, plants usually don't get around to eating other plants that often. Therefore, most soy products are enriched with the vitamin to compensate. Soy milk is a perfect example.

I would like to segue now into talking about the pizza that I ate last night. It was so good and filling that it took me about three hours before I could comfortably move anywhere other than shifting my ass on the couch.




Gluten-Free Pizza crust
little bit of olive oil
pinch of salt
sliced tomatoes
red onions
vegan kielbasa sausage sliced
white sweet potatoes, thinly sliced
fresh basil
chopped spinach
mushrooms
green peppers
topped with a tiny bit of mozzarella.

And there you have a pizza that has somewhere in the realm of 40 grams of protein and tons of other delicious things.

My riding has been good so far, It's hard not to notice some improvement, even after only a week. Yesterday though, when I woke up I had a bit of a tickle when I swallowed and my ears were plugged up so I only went out for about 2 hours to check out this place south of me called 'pistol hill.' It's an awesome little loop that I'm sure I'll get at a ton while I'm down here. Slept in a bit today to give me some time to get better and will probably do maybe 3 hours today and see how it goes.

Just finished my coffee and oatmeal so time to get ready to get outside. Hope everyone is enjoying this blog thing so far I'll be back at it soon.