Tour Divide Food, gas station?

[Mauro_N]

Hello all, I will be lining up in Banff for the TD 2013!! I'm curious to what food is available in the gas station ect. Is there things like flapjacks, peanuts, peanut butter ect. Just trying to sort out my nutritional strategy for the race.

Many thanks

Mauro

[rooster14]

i am very curious about this topic as well.

all of my reading has led me to believe that you eat basically what you can find.  I was all prepared to try to plan out some sort of meal kit(s) for the trip but it seems most have abandoned this idea.

[trebor]

You will be so-SO hungry all the time. You can't ever seem to get enough food. I always looked in the gas stations for what was most calorie dense. Bear claws, honey buns, and other assorted pastries could usually be had in the 500-600 calorie range for a package. 2-3 of those a day. What's neat about those is there is a lot of air trapped in the dough... so i'd crack the package and squeeze them flat so they would take up less space in my bags.

Depending on pace, you will hit a town just about every day. Get a hot meal if you can -- and then order a meal to go as you leave... because you are going to be hungry. Fat and sugar and a bit of protien (chicken usually) from a hot meal and that's about it for me.

And at least 1 chocolate milk a day. Sometimes 2 or 3.

Did I mention you will always be hungry?

[DenisVTT]

Trail mix is probably the best gas station food for TD riders. Seems to have the most calories per unit of weight, it's got carbs, good fat in the nuts (that sounds dirty but it isn't!), it packs small, and most importantly it pretty much doesn't spoil, so if you don't eat it all quickly you just keep it in a pocket somewhere for when you'll need it.

Most convenience and gas station stores usually have a good selection of trail mix, something for every taste in addition to various sizes for different appetites and how long you want it to last!

[BobM]

Hello all, I will be lining up in Banff for the TD 2013!! I'm curious to what food is available in the gas station ect. Is there things like flapjacks, peanuts, peanut butter ect. Just trying to sort out my nutritional strategy for the race.

Many thanks

Mauro

Hi Mauro,

Not sure where you are from, I'm assuming not U.S. based on your question. Gas station convenience stores vary in size but generally have lots of nuts, candy, chips (crisps), drinks (including sports drinks and water), trail mix, energy bars, and packaged pastries.  Most will have a small selection of groceries including peanut butter, milk, cheese, lunchmeat, etc, but it will be expensive.  Many will have hot food and sandwiches.

[Mauro_N]

Thanks guys, yeah I'm from the UK. I've trolled through the site to investigate the cost of food, found a bit, but not enough to not ask the question again. Am i looking at 20us for a hot plate of food?

sure where you are from, I'm assuming not U.S. based on your question. Gas station convenience stores vary in size but generally have lots of nuts, candy, chips (crisps), drinks (including sports drinks and water), trail mix, energy bars, and packaged pastries.  Most will have a small selection of groceries including peanut butter, milk, cheese, lunchmeat, etc, but it will be expensive.  Many will have hot food and sandwiches.

BobM you mentioned that it is expensive, how expensive is expensive? As for energy bars are we talking about flap jack type of stuff or the GMC sports energy bars?

Thanks

[BobM]

Thanks guys, yeah I'm from the UK. I've trolled through the site to investigate the cost of food, found a bit, but not enough to not ask the question again. Am i looking at 20us for a hot plate of food?

BobM you mentioned that it is expensive, how expensive is expensive? As for energy bars are we talking about flap jack type of stuff or the GMC sports energy bars?

Thanks

Had to look up flap jack on Wikipedia - luck of the draw, but larger convenience stores may have Power Bars, Clif Bars...the good stuff.  Smaller ones might have the more prosaic Oats & Honey or Sweet and Salty bars, but you never know.

Cafes and small restaurants I would expect to pay around $6-$8 for a good burger and fries; $12 for a 14 inch pizza; $10 for spaghetti, salad and garlic bread.  In convenience stores I would expect cheese, meat, canned goods, peanut butter, etc,to be 1 1/2 to 2 times the cost of the same items in a grocery store.  Candy, pop, and chips will be about the same as in a grocery store.

All these are just estimates and will vary widely.

Bob

[Mauro_N]

Thanks BobM, helps a lot.


Mauro

[rhino-x]

Sorry, but what is a "Bear claw".

[BobM]

Sorry, but what is a "Bear claw".

It's a pastry, like a Danish.  Usually cinnamon and sugar, maybe almonds, sort of crescent shaped and slit several places along one edge so looks kind of like a set of claws.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/almond-bear-claws/

[BigPoppa]

Trail mix is probably the best gas station food for TD riders. Seems to have the most calories per unit of weight, it's got carbs, good fat in the nuts (that sounds dirty but it isn't!), it packs small, and most importantly it pretty much doesn't spoil, so if you don't eat it all quickly you just keep it in a pocket somewhere for when you'll need it.

Most convenience and gas station stores usually have a good selection of trail mix, something for every taste in addition to various sizes for different appetites and how long you want it to last!

Trail mix is good but don't rely on it solely. It tends to be a pretty "chew intensive food". Which can be a pretty big deal as your mastication muscles get incredibly tired after eating 15,000 calories per day....

Not that I didn't use it quite a bit but by time I hit Idaho, all I wanted to eat was soft fatty foods because my freaking jaw was so tired!

[Marshal]

google up "US gas station food" click on images

--unless you have a restricted/special diet the biggest issue is figuring out what you like after 10+ or so hrs in the saddle and making sure you hit a store during biz hours

--for some locations/towns you can use google/street view etc and pre-pick best store options--ie: one with a "new" look, located on the right side of the road, get hours of operation etc etc

--for a few locations you will only get one choice/location--store-bar-cafe etc, and they may have very very limited selection--I believe this is what your 'back up supply' is for---

[rooster14]

what (if any) food do you guys bring as either back up food or what might you keep on hand in your bag for those oh shoot/just in case moments?

[BobM]

what (if any) food do you guys bring as either back up food or what might you keep on hand in your bag for those oh shoot/just in case moments?

Snickers, Payday, GU packets.  I tried carrying energy bars as a backup, but couldn't bring myself to eat them even when I was out of food.

[elobeck]

1_Beef Jerky weighs nothing and the salt is nice.
2_Bag of Doritos also weighs nothing and ditto on the salt. (But fragile)
3_Those mini pecan pies. They are 4" in diameter and pack almost 500 calories per hit. They are mostly fat with some pecan nuts thrown in for good measure.   Better living through chemistry.
4_Pearson's salted nut bars. Kind of a redneck powerbar?
5_Mini can (the short ones with the pulltab) of chef boyardee spaghettios or beefaroni. Again, better living through chemistry. Lots of calories, and sort of "real" but on the heavy side.

These are my personal faves.

Erik

[rooster14]

Are you all hanging this food at night? If I were a bear I would always be looking for jerky. In fact. You should all be hanging the jerky for fear that I will be getting into it.

[elobeck]

Not sure what everyone else is doing. I hang my stuff where bears are around, or eat it before the bears do, or sleep in a concrete forest service bathroom. My jersey that has had food in the pockets always go in the bear hang if I do one.

Erik

[Marshal]

Back-up Food:

The specific food is not that important (as long it’s something you will eat) what really matters is:
1)   # of calories
2)   Packability.  

Basically you need enough calories to get you to the next reliable re-supply point on down the route.

For me personally the # of back-up calories was around 500-600, enough to get me some sleep time if stuck at night and then on down the route a couple of hrs the following morning.  

Also you can occasionally “use” your back-up as part of your race strategy—ie: it does not have to sit in your bag all the way to Mexico.   For the Boulder - Rawlins section I deliberately used up my on board back-up food to bridge up to the guaranteed re-supply at Rawlins. If I remember correctly I arrived at Rawlins with ½ of a energy bar and about 1L of water. Once there I bought enough food to get to the next store and replenished my back-up at the same time.

[sheilar]

1 Hammer gel, 1 serving Hammer Sustained Energy (this was the only sports food I carried), 1 pkg Justins peanut butter. Total 550 calories of just in case.  
sr