Do you ever feel like your bicycle is a rolling lab? My road bike sure is! For years, I\’ve experimented with different kinds of on-bike food during my long Sunday rides; and over time I\’ve come up with some favorites. I also have learned that some foods don\’t work so well.

FitCrunch bars are one of those favorites. I got started on FitCrunch bars when I first found some in the grab-bag bins at the salvage store; and getting them at those bargain-basement prices sure spoiled me!

Before FitCrunch bars came along, I often used Clif bars. I phased out regular Clif bars on the advice of a nutritionist, because they\’re high-carb; and low in protein. Clif Builder\’s bars are another story; and sometimes I use them instead of regular Clif bars.

For today\’s ride I decided to take along pieces of an Epic venison strip, as well as pieces of Met-Rx, and a Special K Protein bar. I wanted to try something other than all those bars; and as long as I\’m still entertaining notions of doing a century, I\’ll need greater variety in my on-bike menu. The oft-repeated advice for all-day rides is, do not try any new food or drink during the event; so I\’m trying it now. Thus I need to make my bicycle a rolling lab!

Results

The results of today\’s food experiment: Epic venison tastes OK; but it has a bit of pepper. The pepper is liable to catch in my throat, and make me cough. I think I\’ll look for something else if I want savory on-bike food.

Another rolling lab experiment of mine is to eat a bit less on the bike; and now I cut those FitCrunch and other bars into eight pieces, instead of six. So far it seems to work well.

Things that don\’t work well for long rides include Combos. I like them, and their saltiness is good on a hot ride; but they have no sustenance. They also have the drawback of crumbliness; and those crumbs tend to stick in my throat. If I want a salty snack, olives are good; and if you want something salty, but don\’t want the fat content of Combos, this is a way around it.

Today\’s ride felt harder than last Sunday\’s; and no wonder! The wind was stronger than it was last Sunday; and I also rode several miles farther. Oddly, I didn\’t burn quite as many calories today; and I\’m sure I was working just as hard. In fact, I became quite tired well before I finished the ride.

But Winter Wheelers is in progress; and I wanted the miles!