Powdered Eggs...

[beachdog]

Powdered eggs, they taste so bad,
Powdered eggs, they make me sad.
The color's wrong and so's the taste,
Even with catsup they taste like paste.
So for next year, for the ride they sell,
May the eggs be real, and come out of a shell.

[davek]

OK, I'm weird, I love the breakfasts on CO. Lunches and dinner are all over the map, some good, some not so good, but I love the powdered eggs, taters and bacon. Throw in some yogurt, a muffin, a little cereal and I'm ready for the climb of the day.

Still say the lack of energy bars and gels at rest stops was a little shocking for the premier bike ride in the country. Especially since Payday Pro was listed as a sponsor...
DK

[bradc]

I've never used gels, though I have used some energy bars. Are they really better than a good handful of Nilla Wafers, a bunch of grapes, and two 20oz bottles of Geukos?

I agree about breakfast: Really good, with plenty of opportunity to stock up on all the key components of a high energy diet.

[David R]

Energy gels come in several styles, organic and well not so organic. The organic ones are a simple sugar made from rice. Many people have so little blood directed to their digestive system that they are unable to process a vanilla waffer or a fig newton but the gels get processed much like the glukos but you can't process 20 oz of glukos in 10min but you can process a sports gel in 10 min.

don't confuse simple sugar with complex sugar that is in candy, it is not the same thing. Fruit has simple sugar in it but it is mostly water and is process at a slower rate than sport gels.

Remeber what wroks for one person does not work for all.

[Ragu]

I had no problems with any of the food. I took the "Papillon" approach and ate anything and everything they gave me, except for the breakfast potatoes on the last morning at Wallowa Lake (funky taste). I looked at the meals more as fuel than a gourmet meal.

[slv0700]

Beachdog.........very clever poem but be lucky you even got eggs.

[Oroluk Lagoon]

I thought the eggs were great--didn't even realize they were powdered.

[Force 5 Robert]

I was fine with breakfasts.... always good and a test to get a seat and eat before the hot foor gets too cold. Luch was hit/miss. dinners were pretty good overall IMHO. I really appreciated the opportunity to eat at some local places - that made it worth it to help boost the local economies.

[beachdog]

slv0700... I would rather have done without the "eggs" entirely and had the french toast every morning.

[aktiv]

I recall that the first few COs I rode only had one hot item for each breakfast - eggs, OR sausage, OR bacon.... etc. CO is getting pricey, but I'm willing to spend above what it used to cost to get the better breakfast selection.

Cheers

Keith.

[Don Bolton]

In past years I'd get tired of the eggs as the week progresses. Now I've a system just perfect for that l;ate afternoon after burping taste.

Ingredients:

1 bagel
1 pkt cream chez (or synthetic likeness thereof)
3 pkts salsa from the condiment bins
1 gorp (a ladle) of synthesized egg product
1 serving of the breakfast pork product offering..

Split bagel in two sections and cover one side with the contents of the cream chez packet. Spread as evenly as possible with the fragile knife

Thoroughly mix the contents of the salsa packages with the simulated eggs and pile on other half of bagel

Using brittle plastic knife render the mornings pork product into a shape suitable for topping the egg/salsa paste. Apply to un chezed portion of the bagel.

Salt and pepper to taste, slap the bagel with the egg sludge, pork products back together and enjoy.

It keeps my coat nice and shiny

Don "keep that napkin handy" Bolton

I thought the eggs were great--didn't even realize they were powdered.

[dougnlis]

Sometimes not being a morning person is a good thing. The taste buds are the last things to wake up. I'm five miles down the road before I'm really awake. Breakfast means a balance of protein to get things going right away and a carbo load to take over before lunch. Eggs and meat are protein. When I'm half asleep I don't notice much about taste so the eggs are always fine. The meat is salty, without enough brainpower working to think about what sort of salts might be involved.

The key to a successful CO breakfast for me is the granola. Whole grains stick to the ribs until miles and hours peel them off to burn as energy. A sad day is when there isn't granola to mix in with a container of yogurt. Then I can only hope for oatmeal and something sweet to stir in to make it palatable, even at 7:00 a.m.

Pancakes count for little. The processed flour doesn't last like the real grains do. GIGO.

[wayneh]

I don't mind the breakfasts on CO. I eat the eggs, whatever meat protein is offered, always top the hot cereal with granola and raisins, sometimes eat the yogurt (which unfortunately usually contains high fructose corn syrup, which I typically try to avoid), never eat the bagels.

I'm half-awake anyway unttil the coffee kicks in. As I commented in my rider survey, I thought some of the the lunches, with the heavy mayo, potato salads, etc were the weak meal this year. On the other side, the fresh peaches at the rest stops were soooo good.

2,000 riders will have diverse opinions. I don't do this ride for the food, but can appreciate the strong opinions pro and con. I expect the meals to provide the fuel necessary to ride happy and energized, not to dazzle my palate, but there have been some constuctive comments on how to jazz things up a bit.