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.

Vegan MoFo – Cyclocross Day

This is a biking weekend so there won’t be much cooking. This morning I drove to Frisco for Frisco Cross. It’s a two day event, but I have a 200k with RMCC tomorrow so no CX for me on Sunday. This was my third CX race, but the first Colorado Cup race of the year so there were more riders than when I raced a few weeks ago. I signed up for two races, Women’s 35+ and Women’s Cat 4. I realize that the age requirement for the “old” women’s race is not very old, but it still shocks me how young most of the 35-40ish women look. I could swear some of them must be first year college students. : )

I finished 9 out of 16 in the Women’s 35+. I had a horrible start. I missed my pedal and almost fell, and then “sprinted,” as much as I can sprint, to catch the back of the group as they turned off the pavement. The first lap I was hanging back a bit to check out the course, since I didn’t take any practice laps.

I don’t even know how I finished 9th of 29 in the Women’s 4. I thought since it was only 40 min we’d only have time for 4 laps. As I passed the start/finish at the end of the third lap I saw “2” to go. Ugh! I was pretty wasted by that point, I think I might have passed one or two on lap 4, but on lap 5, even though I had a couple riders close in front, I just didn’t have any bursts left to get around. I spent a lot of time in the dirt too. I never fell while riding, but three times, while getting on or off or just running along I fell. It’s funny. During the race I didn’t notice if I was hurt or not. I was just pissed at myself for dumping my bike.

Race numbers and race foodI have some photos and video of the new Frisco Bike Park. Unfortunately I got out of the house without the cable for my camera. Here’s a photo of a few things I ate. The ProBar Whole Berry Blast and Q-bel Double Dark (my favorite vegan candy bar) were after the race. I ate the Fruition about 20 min before the start of the second race when I realized I was low on calories and didn’t have any more gels. I love the Fruition Cherry! It seems like every time they come out with a new flavor it becomes my new favorite.

I also got some yummy pumpernickel bread from my friends’ bakery yesterday and had a PB and rice syrup sandwich for breakfast and ate one of the Eggless Salad sandwiches I made for tomorrow’s brevet when I realized I hadn’t brought anything for my 3-hours-before-the-race food.

This is roughly how I make Eggless Salad.

1 pkg extra firm tofu crumbled
1 tbsp mustard
dash of tumeric
dash celery salt
several dashes of black pepper
1-2 tbsp sweet pickle relish
3-4 tbsp Nayonaisse
1 tbsp chopped onions (optional)

Mix well in a container you can store it in. Why clean an extra dish?!