It WAS more than just potato chips

While I realized in my last post I focused on the endless supply of junk food, the ride, eating-wise was much more.

I'll start by saying breakfast and dinner, by and large, were really good. Lunch, not so much.

I usually started the day in the Express Line with oatmeal and a cup of yogurt. That was accompanied by a wonderful cup of coffee made in my Aeropress. To me, Aeropress is far superior to French press, and oh so much easier to clean up. I made a strong Americano every morning and it got my day started off right. That was my only caffeine of the day.

I was once again a vegetarian on the ride, and with the exception of the tofu with orange and balsamic, dinner every night was a hit. I loved the veggie meatloaf and the enchiladas, though generally I skipped the vegetables because they appeared to have come out of the freezer or a can and were significantly overcooked. The exception was broccoli one night. I had seconds. I generally skipped the wrapped in plastic desserts. After all, I had spent the day eating snickerdoodles and fig newtons. Who needed mass-produced cheesecake!

Lunch, unfortunately did not rank high for me and many others. I wish I had a solution, but serving close to 3,000 bag lunches would be difficult for most anyone. The sandwiches were boring, the pasta salad so-so and the fruit, unless it was an apple, was unripe and tasteless. It was my one chance to have a significant portion of Powerade. While not my drink of choice, I know I need to replace those electrolytes, so I'd down a small bottle of it to get it over with.

The once solace at lunch were the potato chips. Little bags of crisp salt, grease and goodness. I did limit myself to one bag this year, despite boxes and boxes of them screaming to me to eat, eat, eat. Talk about willpower.

I've been back at home now for close to a week, and my roaring metabolism seems to have slowed down to its usual crawl, thank goodness. The first day or two after the ride I wanted to shove everything I could into my mouth. Now it's back to the usual trying to eat a healthy diet. With strawberries and blueberries in season, it's not too hard.