Super-sized meals on our bike trips

[shootingstar]

Ok, some food porn of some shockingly large meals we've had on some of our cycling trips. And these are just single dishes, an entree or appetizer or dessert!

Sample below --torellini. And maybe TE members from Washington state might know of some of these places featured where we found such dishes!

[pll]

I love how you describe the bowl of spaetzle: a "generous bowl of spaetzle"... it looks enough for a family of 4!

[TrekTheKaty]

I ride to eat!

[shootingstar]

I probably have grossed out some folks here.

But truth be told-- I would challenge any regular cyclist who has done bike trips to have never, ever, never done a mega meal at all!

As long as this only happens um a few times per year with rides.


I'm sure folks have stories here..or is everyone so ..um disciplined during a bike touring trip?

[TrekTheKaty]

YUM! I need to make polenta lasagna.

My fav memory is riding 20 miles to eat breakfast. The special was a bacon omelette, and for some reason, that sounded wonderful. My hubby shook his head as I gulped it down. I still don't regret it, but I belched bacon for the 20 mile ride back TMI? Sorry

And I have to mention it again--the Tour de Doughnut in St. Louis. I haven't done it yet, but it involves specially designed doughnut smashers to maximize consumption. Yep.

[Owlie]

I dunno, since I manage to eat everything in my kitchen that isn't nailed down after rides, a big dish of something with protein and salt in it sounds pretty good.

Not sure I could do doughnuts on rides... but then, DBF tells fond stories about grabbing French toast sticks and Coke on rides with his scout troop. The Coke I can understand. But the toast...ick! (That and the amount of sugar from the fake syrup and the Coke...the idea makes my pancreas want to go into hiding.)

[shootingstar]

I could not do deep fried foods on a bike ride. None of my pics include deep fried because when we were confronted with these large dish experiences, 99% of time it was not deep fried dish. Neither he nor I like much deep fried foods at all.

Sure I've had a doughtnut here and there but I don't go out of my way at a coffee shop off bike during a long loaded trip ride, to buy a doughnut. It would be more of a muffin or bagel if it has to something like that and if given a choice.

TrekKaty- the polenta appetizer was VERY light and hence very surprising to us. Light as a cloud! The waitress kept saying that there was no tapioca in it...my partner didn't believe her because he figured she wouldn't understand an old European technique of fluffing some carb thing. Of course, no restaurant would want to mention the use of tapioca in a dish.

[Owlie]

Thinking about it, I could probably do one doughnut per ride. Clearly, I should test it. For science.

Coke is actually one of my preferred post-ride foods, as it seems to keep the post-ride headaches away. I think it's the quick sugar delivery and caffeine.

[channlluv]

I ride to eat!

Hahaha! Me, too! Only I haven't been riding so much lately.


:P

[marni]

and of course the big thing is to be able to differentiate how much you eat when on a tour or long ride, and how little you eat the rest of the time and remember to scale back upon completion of the ride, not a week later or a month later!



marni

[bmccasland]

Day two has two of my favorites - cheesy garlic mashed potatoes at lunch, and sausage jambalaya at the finish. Hot sauce on the side.

[shootingstar]

cheesy garlic mashed potatoes at lunch

Mashed potatoes sounds like a great idea in the midst of a long touring ride!

[TrekTheKaty]

and of course the big thing is to be able to differentiate how much you eat when on a tour or long ride, and how little you eat the rest of the time and remember to scale back upon completion of the ride, not a week later or a month later!

marni

wah?!

[Crankin]

All bets are off if I am doing a long (4+ days) tour, especially one that involves sampling food from a different culture and riding that has lots of climbing. I can't do anything too unusual while riding, though. I have had some great gourmet sandwiches at lunch stops; generally, those are OK. But, most of my eating adventures involve after the ride...
Our trip to Spain was pretty strenuous. At the end of the ride, the other people on the tour generally took a nap, or went shopping. We took a shower and headed out to a bar or restaurant, where we had tapas. It was usually around 4-5 PM and everything else was closed. Seriously, some of these appetizer meals were as big as my normal dinners. So, we ended up eating 4 meals a day, though I must say my breakfasts and lunches were average or small and I nibbled during the riding, because the heat for the first few days was so awful. I needed every bit of this food and I had no trouble getting back to my normal eating when I got home.

[shootingstar]

I think some parts of Spain would be strenuous, Crankin along with the heat.

Not every European place is like Copenhagen. Dearie enjoyed the food...far better than Denmark where he was last year longer than I for an extra 5 days.

He stumbled across a local red wine festival in Spain during his ride from Madrid to Seville. Just wonderful.
Gourmet sandwiches...for supper would be my choice instead of trying to hurry through one mid-stop at lunch during a touring ride.