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[tomimcmillar]

got out again wknd before last, probably the last chance I'll have this season.  had a route laid out, 135ish miles looped from the doorstep.  leave Friday eve, home before sunset Sunday, expand the range a bit.  forecast was $$$, but was not accurate for my locale.  3hr spin on rd then fireroad with two stout climbs, then bed down.  Spot on the map I had picked didn't pan out, so onward.  Grabbed an established spot just off the road, a bit too close to possible traffic for my comfort, but it was getting kinda late.  Rough night's sleep with a bit of a chill, tossing and turning.  Up 5:30ish, make coffee and oats.  Rolling from camp 7ish, change the packing strategy a smidge, then a totally unexpected pitter pat of random raindrops.  Just an early morning anomaly, sun will burn it off, right? 

Push forward to refill water, checking out lots of new to me trail; some good, some not so good, some unxpectedly spectacular.  Noon o'clock and it's still raining.  Still.  Frustrated, power up the cell phone and actually have one bar of service, check the weather radar.  Neat, I'm smack dab in the middle of a big green blob, looks to be about two hours ride in any direction to get out from underneath it.  Last night was not comfy, a decent soaking rain has been underway since sunrise, and I'm at least an hour behind where I thought I'd be.  Weigh the options, ask some questions....pull the plug.  Settle on the simplest, least demanding route home, but do make sure to check out some surprisingly good trail before dumping onto the paved.  So, another fun hour in the woods, then an hour of road to the deli/gas mart for two hot dogs, fries and a coke.  Just enough to get me across one last climb during the final two hour stretch.  Slept in my warm bed, then did a shorter, spirited birthday ride with the local crew on Sunday, turns out there no local rain while I was out.....  Still, no regrets on the bailage, did get in 85ish mile and learned some more, lots more.....like the need for mucho-mucho calories!!!!

pics:

[ScottM]

Love the pics.  Outstanding.

Where do you live?  Always cool when you can start a trip from your front door.

I hear ya on the calories.  I'm a calorie fiend when on the trail.  Never can seem to get enough.

[tomimcmillar]

Love the pics.  Outstanding.

Where do you live?  Always cool when you can start a trip from your front door.

I hear ya on the calories.  I'm a calorie fiend when on the trail.  Never can seem to get enough.

I'm in PA, south central in the Cumberland Valley.  Theoretically, I can leave the house, pedal for a bit to get to either ridgeline that borders the Great Valley, then follow said ridgeline all the way to the Carolina's, or north towards NY. 

Lots to explore, I live near the 7 on this map:

[Pivvay]

Love the pics.  Outstanding.

I hear ya on the calories.  I'm a calorie fiend when on the trail.  Never can seem to get enough.

So funny, my calories packed and eaten has gone down a lot the last couple years. On the CTR I packed food for the entire trip and had some left when I was done, not counting incidental hot food when I could get it and a few ice cream bars or M&Ms. Mostly every town I just tried to make sure I didn't forget a Starbucks Doubleshot for the next morning

[tomimcmillar]

what I've been misunderestimating, is what's needed for the full trip.  Rode a new to me Fall Classique last wknd, 32 miles of incredible trail with an ez 20mile railtrail sunrise spin to start it out.  Looked at the tally on the hr gizmo and it estimated 5000calories for the 7.5 out of 9 hours it was recording.  I probably ate at most 1500, and those MtnHouse 'meals' are only 500ish calories each, for 2servings? that's funny. Not exactly the big gorge fest that normally follows a full day, I usually get that many calories from recovery beers alone.     Need to look beyond just the time in the saddle, or more calorie dense food...

I guess not having to bring along the extra layers of warm clothes will free up some space come June next year, so that'll help with being able to top off the tank, or at least not run a huge deficit.  I had a vision of a possibly sweet loop up in northern PA, needs more scouting to figure out where all it's possible to resupply.  Thinking it'll be a 3-4day loop, and so far I only know of one store that's on the route without a major out n back detour, and it's at the end of 'day one'....or, snap!, I guess I could just relocate the start point and put it at the end of day 2/mid point, like I said, more scouting req'd.....and the window's closing.

[Pivvay]

Yea it's all going to be personal too. I can definitely do 2000-3000/cals a day for at least a week but I started out bringing more like 7k and no way I could eat all that self supported. You're going to be burning plenty of body fat, you just need enough food to keep the reaction going so to speak.

These days I bring a good amount of my homemade drink mix with protein and carbs and electrolytes, some lemonade powder for when I'm sick of plain water, some random sports bars and gels that are sweet and salty, a small amount of jerky and a little chocolate candy. If there are hot meals en route I go sans stove. If there are no hot meals I bring 500 cal dehydrated dinners (usually homemade but also Mary Jane's Farms) and add some olive oil from a small bottle. Sometimes I also bring the little can of tuna or chicken packets but they're heavy so I rarely bring more than 1.

Extras include tea (or cocoa when it's cold), apples and carrots for day 1 and 2 (thanks Fred), pringles (DaveNice), Starbucks double shots (ummm these rule), and lately quality nuts which are really good for calories/ounce but you get sick of them fast if you try to eat a lot. The fresh foods are really nice on touring outings and I really craved any veggies on the GDMBR when I could get them.

Any stops with ice cream snickers or pie are mandatory!

[Eric]

Cookie dough - sans eggs.
take a few pounds of softened butter, add oats, crasins, tons of cinnamon, brown sugar, slivered almonds, penut butter, chocolate chips rasins... you get the idea until it is not sticky but not crumbly either. Breakfast, lunch and dinner all in one ziplock bag with 1000's of calories. 1 lb per day..

cheap, extremely calorie dense food.

it takes some getting used to though and isnt the best thing for high intensity... but then you'll never buy bars again.

[goldenboy]

Great post Tomi,  I liked the pictures, especially the steamin cup and seeing your gear drying on the fire.  It added to the feeling of a wet trip, oh what a feeling.
I wouldn't go by what your computer gadget says for calories burned.  They usually are not accurate for calories burned on the bike. 
Second the idea to make your own bars too, adding nuts, dried fruits, oatmeal, and all that usual stuff but also throw in some endurolytes into the mix.
Is that a fixed gear you are riding?  I am liking my new cog a lot! Thanks, it works great.
Jsun

[DaveC]

Cookie dough - sans eggs.

I'll have to try that this winter.  Still sounds kinda gnarly.