Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Eat to ride or ride to eat?

Lot's of cyclists love food. I am one of those people. I love food. This is probably not surprising considering I've been documenting my weight loss here on the blog.

Now that riding season is in full swing here in MN, I am craving food. Even with all this riding, I've actually put a few pounds back on. I'm still under 200lbs, but some days I go back to the rock crusher or clydesdale class. These up and down cycles have resulted in some crazy weight fluctuations. I had a 24 hour period where my body weight fluctuated 10 lbs!

I, of course, look at this and over analyze it. One thing I find is that all this bike riding is making me fall into old habits. At the beginning of 2008, I was eating right. Now that it is riding season, I'm making some bad choices and I am riding to eat. Hmmmm? You see, with all this riding, it is just too easy to justify bad food and bad choices. "I rode 3 hours today, I deserve an extra treat or dark beer!"

So, with that, I'm documenting it here in an effort to call out those bad habits and get back to business.

And....Since all good blog posts need a picture, here is a picture from my recent trip to Taiwan. If you've never experienced "Hot Pot" you are missing out.



I love hot pot. You sit around a table that has a burner in the middle of the table that boils a giant bowl of broth. The picture above has a hot (redish) and mild (white) broth. You probably don't want to know what is in the hot broth!

After preparing your sauces in a small bowl, you cook the food at your table. You remove your food, swirl it around in your sauce bowl and eat it. It is incredible and the flavor(s) are amazing. Top it all off with a little tea or Taiwan beer. It is my favorite meal in Taiwan.

So, here's to better habits. Eat to ride!

3 comments:

blackmountaincycles said...

Mmmmmm, I love the hot pot! Thanks for the memories.

Jason said...

If I didn't ride I would seriously weigh 300 pounds again. I too fall into the reward habit very easily. It's to the point sometimes that I think "hey I THOUGHT about riding today! Extra MEATBALLS!"

I find myself WANTING to know what in the hot broth. Sort of.

Guitar Ted said...

Thanks for that post. Good to know I'm not the only one that struggles with this.