We also needed to stop by a home center and see about picking up supplies to fix some very distressed wood sections of the small wood deck behind our house--making my participation in the pilgrimage mandatory (ended up ordering the wood to pick up later, so the store could cut most of it to size, but bringing back various deck coatings/stains, brushes, nails and wood screws in bulk).
Speaking of Costco, I think I've found the best food bargain in Japan. I've been trying to eat a bowl of oatmeal (with some brown sugar, and raisins, banana or berries), along with a small yogurt cup, regularly for breakfast since last Fall, and Costco is the only place in Japan I've seen the 10 pound (4.25 kg) boxes of Quaker Oats. I still am working on the box I started back in October, and so I believe the labeling which says each box has around 100 servings. For 848 yen. That works out to 8.5 yen per serving.
The contrast with other breakfast cereals available in Japan -- even if you get them at Costco -- is pretty remarkable. And of course this stuff is supposed to be very healthy, and I don't get hungry an hour after I eat, like I do if I eat breads (or, in an emergency, rice) at the breakfast table. Is this a good rider's breakfast?
So no ride this weekend. I did hand over the tandem to Jerome on Saturday, and on Sunday did clean up my bike gear/tools/supplies, get on the trainer for awhile, and also tried to spin over to Positivo to pick up some supplies -- only to be greeted by a "rinji kyu gyo" (closed) sign. And I somehow managed to have a spoke on my HED rear wheels come loose on the way back from Positivo, with the spoke nipple rolling around in the rim well. I dug it out but was not able to re-attach it, so I'm headed back to Positivo for wheel repair soon.
hidihi David,
ReplyDeleteenjoyed the oatmeal discussions. i have it on good authority (my Dad) that oatmeal has long been the breakfast of choice for bike riders - up til about 1965 it was steak!!
There is some recent research that the old adage "breakfast like king, lunch like a prince and dine like a pauper" is a load of tosh. They reckon that if you skip breakfast you dont eat more later to make up (I dont subscribe to the theory!)
On MOB's visit to PEE we presented him with a large bowl of the breakfast of champions (no, not a bowl of EPO, HGH and testosterone), Scotts porridge oats, before taking on the English Alps. He was visibly horrified and, no doubt, suffered due to his lack of consumption of the mighty oat!! Lets hope your team mate has acquired a taste for it come July ;-) !!! DJ
Thanks DJ for your Dad's insight. I was getting worried that a post on oatmeal--which, without fruit and spices, is as bland as it gets--might kill all discussion on the PE blog for as long as Knotty's barfy mcbarfington post awhile back!
ReplyDeleteI think steak would be fine for breakfast DURING events, maybe more frequently if I trained like a pro instead of a weekend warrior ... and of course Jerome insists on eating large pieces of [non-Spanish] meat ("real food") before dawn on the second day of a Brevet.
I don't think MOB will suffer from not eating oatmeal at Transalp -- the Germanic hard rolls, sliced meats and cheeses, along with milk & cereals (muesli, etc.), yogurt, and even sausage & eggs when they appeared, were also breakfasts of champions. I can almost taste them now ...
Oh, that stuff, I remember ..... It wasn't that bad but it take hours to eat it and I was only for a weekend in London, PEE. Otherwise the food was great, in particular he typical English dishes we had at "Lahore".
ReplyDeleteok, got it. next time we have to serve MOB curried oatmeal for breakfast :-)
ReplyDeleteLatest update from Dad - he could never understand why he had to have steak for breakfast... usually he rode the first two hours of long events with heartburn as a result. His other top tips were:
1. A bidon filled with diluted tinned rice pudding mixed with honey (yum yum!!!!)
2. a hip flask filled with strong black coffee and brandy - apparently gives you a nice big kick for the sprint finishes. dj