Eating while riding!?!?!

These are just the kinds of tips I was hoping to learn during my time with TNT.  You have to continue to eat while you train.  Okay, so I'm not that dense.  I knew you had to replace calories.  What I didn't know was just how many, and how often you have to eat.  I learned that you burn about 1,000 calories an hour...  If you ride at 17-20 miles an hour, you'll complete a 100 mile ride in about 5-6 hours.  5,000 to 6,000 calories!  I also learned that you can only process about 300 calories an hour, so you have to eat a lot, and start right away!

I don't know about you, but for me, this is supposed to be a healthy hobby.  I'd like to reduce the amount of processed foods I eat.  Plus, I don't want to be creating thousands of wrappers over the course of the next few months.  I found this recipe for Appalachian Trail Cookies in a bicycling magazine, and they are actually pretty good!  A little dry, but that gives them some durability (a good thing for stuffing them in the pocket in the back of a cycling jersey).  And at almost 160 calories each, you don't need to carry that many.  The pastry flour can be found at a health food store (like Whole Foods), and I'd try using the mini M&M's to get a bit more even dispersal throughout the batch.  Give them a try.  Leave a comment to let me know what you think.