If you read the very first posting Kevin made on this blog you’ll note we made the mistake of not eating enough on our practice ride out to Sechelt. Kevin’s conclusion: eat plenty on our Around the World Bicycle Tour. I agreed wholeheartedly (it may come as a surprise to those that know me but I do like to eat—in fact I’m a bottomless pit when I turn on my appetite). And if there’s one thing Kevin’s better than me at, it’s eating (or at least he likes to think so). However, it seems Kevin’s penny-pinching prowess overpowers even his appetite. Spending more than $3 on a meal is unthinkable. So rather than eat like kings we eat like peasants. The one time we did eat like kings was when we stayed with Kevin’s friend Kaori and her husband Nick in Sacramento.On the first night we were treated with BBQ (burgers, ribs, salad and corn). Mmmmm… that was good. The next day we went out with Kaori and Nick for two (yes two) all-you-can-eat buffets. I ate so much I almost burst. Good times. The next day we are back on the road and Kevin reverts back to his old self: penny-pinching. That’s fine we’re still recovering from all the food consumed over the past two days. However, the following day Kevin develops stomach problems (he’d been having similar pains back in Vancouver before we started the bicycle tour).He first blamed these stomach pains on eating too much (i.e. the buffets). So we cut down our food consumption. Still he gets these pains. Next he blames it on acidic fruits (i.e. the blackberries I’ve been finding on the roadside). He stops eating blackberries. Still he gets these pains. Next he blames it on drinking too much pop. We stop drinking pop. Still he gets these pains. Then he blames it on drinking too much in general. He starts letting me drink ¾ of each drink rather than ½. So far so good. Though I think it might have been the Pepto-Bismol he took that did the trick.
Another thing Kevin said was important to do on this trip was not to repeat the long days we did on our SE Asia tour. We would average 140km per day giving us enough time to relax at the end of the day. During the first two weeks we totally didn’t adhere to that rule. Only on two days did we somewhat stick to that rule: on July 16th, 2011 we went 140km and on July 17th we went 150km. On every other day between July 14th, 2011 and July 26th, 2011 we went between 160km and 205km per day. (By the way those were first few weeks were hard for me since I was having butt problems. My seat sucked. With my seat now replaced my butt problems have disappeared and I’m cruising). Not until July 27th, 2011 did we slow things down (only 89km that day). However, not because we wanted to, but because of Kevin’s stomach. Everyday Kevin would have to get off his bike and just sit on the side of the road until the stomach pains subsided.
Not exactly what Kevin had in mind when he said we should only average 140km days. We still ended up getting into camp late. In fact on July 28th, 2011 Kevin was so plagued by stomach cramps that we got passed by another group of cyclists. That’s unheard of, nobody passes us (that goes against one of my rules, don’t get passed and always be first). Anyway it looks like Kevin’s stomach is on the mend as we’ve started breaking Kevin’s 140km per day rule again. We did 175km yesterday and 158km today. I’m not complaining (yet) since I’m finding it too cold to do anything but get into my sleeping bag. But once we get to a warmer climate then I’ll be pushing for shorter days so I can have some time to frolic in the ocean.
PS: I’m still trying to get Kevin to go to another all-you-can-eat buffet before we get to Mexico. I’m addicted to them. All you can eat for just $10, who can pass that up? Evidently Kevin can since he still thinks eating too much will give him stomach pains. And $10 > $3 which goes against his penny-pinching ways. L
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