Tag: bike

CX and Frisbee

Vegan Month of Food Logo
What a day! Two Cyclocross races in Longmont and a disc dog play day in Broomfield. Needless to say, I didn’t cook except to microwave some falafel. Vitamin Cottage has been stocking these yummy tortas for awhile, but I don’t think they sold well. They seem to be on sale at every store that has them, and near their expiration date. They’re a pastry like, cracker made in Spain.

Falafel and Tortas

[I’m not sure why, but now the camera on my phone isn’t working so the only way I can take photos is with Photo Booth on my Mac which only does very low resolution. Hopefully I can find a loaner camera for the rest of Vegan Mofo.]

Spicy pinto bean breakfast

So my morning went like this:

  • Coffee
  • Apple Pie Lara Bar (I don’t often eat Lara Bars, but Vitamin Cottage had them on sale a few weeks ago, thus they’ve appeared twice in two days.)
  • Get road bike ready to go
  • Dress
  • Take Bonnie for a 30 min ride around the neighborhood with the mountain bike (exercise for her, warm-up for me)
  • 4 x 4 min/2 min intervals on road bike, planned 6 x, but power dropped significantly on #4
  • 8 min Crossfit AMRAP 7 back squats, 7 chest-to-bar (w/ assistance band for me)
  • Spicy pinto beans on toast

Spicy pinto beans on toast

The spicy pinto beans were not all that spicy, but it’s a more interesting title. I had some pinto beans leftover from yesterday that I’d simmered for a few hours with 1/2 c. beer, 1 veggie boullion cube and a few cherry tomatoes. This morning I added about 1/4 c. red sauce leftover from a tamale dinner I’d made for friends a few weeks ago. I simmered that over very low heat for about 15 min then poured over toast. A corn tortilla would probably be more appropriate, but I didn’t have any. And pinto beans over toast always reminds me of one of my favorite childhood meals; pinto beans over toast with ketchup!

This is the recipe I use for red sauce. It’s the “Classic New Mexico Red Chile Sauce” in Hot and Spicy Meatless by Dave Dewitt, Mary Jane Wilson and Melissa T. Stock. I’ve had it about 15 years and it’s one of my favorite cookbooks. Not all recipes are vegan, but most that are not can easily be made so, especially now that we have Daiya.

10-12 dried whole New Mexican red chiles
1 large onion chopped
3 cloves garlic chopped
3 c. water

Toast chiles in 250° F oven for 10-15 min. Crumble chiles into sauce pan. I usually use a big stovetop wok. Add other ingredients and bring to a boil. Simmer 20-30 min. Puree in blender until smooth. Simple, yummy, perfect red sauce!

Jamestown Canyon 200k Brevet

It’s always good to have one of your best training rides of the year, 5 weeks AFTER your big race. Hmmm. Compared to the sufferfest (at least for me) of Capulin Volcano 300k last week, Jamestown 200k was an unintimidating ride. I think I had more feet of elevation gain in two Cyclocross races on Saturday, than the entire 200k on Sunday. It was not the route, but my effort that made it good training. The ride up Lefthand Canyon to Jamestown is a nice gradual climb. The only bad part about that is that when you turn around it’s not a very fast descent. The route was on some of my favorite roads and we had nearly perfect weather.

Pumpernickel breadUnusually for a Colorado brevet, only one control was at a convenience store. My vegan chow for the ride included 4 scoops of Unflavored (I say, marshmallow flavored) Perpetuem, an Eggless Salad sandwich on pumpernickel, a Cherry Pretzel ProBar, and a Lemon Lara Bar.

I was pretty hungry when we arrived at the convenience store at mile 110, and for the first time in my brevet-riding career, I’d eaten all the food I’d brought a few hours before. I didn’t find any of my usual choices so I ended up getting regular Coke. It seemed to give me a headache, but there were only 15 miles to go.

These are some vegan foods I can frequently find at convenience stores where I ride. There’s a longer list of common foods that are vegan on PETA’s website.

  • Teddy Grahams
  • Chick-o-stix
  • Clif Bars
  • Nutter Butters
  • Twizzlers
  • Fritos
  • potato chips
  • pretzels

My preferred convenience store beverages during long rides are Pepsi Throwback, Mtn Dew Throwback, Peace Tea, or Lipton Pure Leaf Tea. All of those have cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Dr. McDougalls Tomato Soup Peace Tea wins over Lipton if both are available because it’s about half the price and the tall can is just the right size to fill my tall bottle.

After the ride I ate some black beans that I’d made at home and brought with me, and a little later, Dr. McDougall’s Chunky Tomato Soup. For some reason, I often crave that particular soup or Bubbies Sauerkraut after a brevet.