Thanks to everyone for your comments!!

We have a bike club meeting this weekend to talk about our recent century and discuss ideas for next year. I will pass along your input.

For the past two years I've helped out at the rest stop that is about 20 miles from the end for the longer routes. (There is one more stop 10 miles from the finish. Some folks skip that stop, but many are glad to take a break there because it's at the top of a hill.) Traditionally we offer tomato sandwiches (tomato slices, mayo, salt and pepper on wheat bread) and pb&j sandwiches along with fresh fruit. For beverages we have water and Gatorade. We always have ice, though I'm not sure if it's available for people to put directly in their water bottles, so I'll check on that.

This year we had a few new offerings. We had two types of tomato sandwiches, some with mayo and some made with hummus instead. We also served dill pickles which were cut into pieces and placed out in small paper cups. These were very popular. We also had a variety of small candy bars, which I think were less popular.

We had five rest stops in all and there was different food at each -- bagels, different kinds of fruit, trail mix, some stops offered sandwiches and some didn't. At the first stop we served egg muffin sandwiches and at the last stop we had Italian ices. At the post-ride picnic we had grilled hotdogs, tomato sandwiches, a variety of other sandwiches from a local Italian deli, potato chips, watermelon slices, lemonade and iced tea.

Re: fig bars -- I've never been a fan of fig newtons, but I discovered Nature's Bakery fig bars a few years ago -- in a snack vending machine in the waiting room where I get my car serviced, of all places -- and I absolutely love them.

https://naturesbakery.com/product-li...nd-whole-wheat

For a while I could only find them in vending machines and at one convenience store chain, but now they're available in grocery stores and Target. I've heard you can get them online, too. I like the blueberry and raspberry flavors the best.