In 1979 I did my first TransAm on an upright bicycle. On that ride I did just about everything one could do wrong in the interest of acid testing all the known (which there were few at the time) and unknown axioms about cross-country cycling. One of the most dramatic improvements I made (besides riding a recumbent) on my second crossing, was how I nourished myself.

In the 7 years between rides I learned a lot about food. So much so on my second ride, in fact, that even though the route I chose was nearly one third longer, I towed a hundred pounds more gear, had hit my early 30's and had a much more rigorous schedule with my public speaking and the articles I wrote from the road, I cycled and played strong on a consistent predictable basis. That, of course, couldn't be said about my first ride, when my moods were all over the map, thus altering my performance, It was also in ’79 that I relied on the sheer forces of will to ride through many a stomach flu and even experienced several days of down time because I finally listened enough to my body to know that it couldn't take any more.

As such then, if we want to go beyond just getting through a day, to demanding TransAm performance from ourselves, we will need to exercise special care in how we nourish ourselves. If your are still not convinced this is so, consider a race car. Such a vehicle cannot come out to the track and expect success if it has been fed a diet of second rate gasolines which we know will leave deposits in its carburetor (heart), gas tank (stomach) and fuel lines (arteries/veins) that slow the passage of fuel to the combustion chamber (muscles). With that in mind, in your regular practice of life, long before you head off on that century or tour, eat as simply as you can. In a perfect world, an example of eating as close to nature as possible (eating simply and organically) would be the third world diet of rice, beans and vegetables 1.

On your daily rides, (See Chapter 11 "TransAm Road Food: How, What, Where, When", for a more complete discussion for once you do hit the long distance road), you will do well to get in the habit of avoiding refined sugar. Stay away from such quick burn fuels as donuts and candy bars. Replace them with nuts, raisins or carefully selected energy bars (see my suggestions at the end of chapter 11 as most of the commonly available energy bars are tainted with some of the more dangerous sugars such as high fructose corn sweetner). By eating right on a daily basis, you won't need the sodas, other sugar waters and many of the simple sugar energy bars and liquids on the market today to excite you to the winner’s circle once you do hit the road. A person putting the proper fuels in their body before, during and after their rides, doesn't "bonk" or "hit a wall", nor do they need sugar food or drink, to power through obstacles, they just ride and ride.

An analogy might help illustrate the problem with simple sugars. If you walk into a cold house and try to heat it with a wad of newspapers, what do you get? A lot of flash, tremendous heat and then what a few minutes later? Nothing, except a room that feels colder because the intense heat sucked in the outside cold air through every crack and hole it could find to fuel the fire.

If instead you walk into that same cold room and start a log to burn you get a fire that burns slow and steady and clean. And it burns for a long time.

The body is the same way. Feed it foodstuffs laced with simple sugars and you can expect short-term power that leaches reserves from those parts of your body that are not even being used. Feed it slower burning fuels in your daily meals such as vegetables, fish, organically grown poultry, beans, miso seaweed soups and the whole grains (which form the basis of a diet that is going mainstream) you can buy in bulk at a health food store like rice, buckwheat and millet and it will reward you with great endurance and unwavering performance when you do begin your ride.

As you shop for the simpler foods you will need, you must also read labels. This is so because the number one energy thief, simple sugar (also called sucrose, dextrose, corn syrup, maltose, glucose, saccharine, sorbitol, Sucanat, nutrisweet, high fructose corn syrup, etc.) is also a preservative. And it seems to find its way into everything from bread to ketchup to certain brands of nuts and many "natural" jams and jellies. Be also forewarned that honey and dehydrated cane juice are simple sweeteners that place your body in unnecessary overdrive.

Worthy sugar substitutes include:

-      Xylitol recommended by dentists of which Lo Han sweetener is a good source
-      Stevia extract
-      Agave nectar
-      Barley Malt
-      Brown rice syrup
-      Fruit juice sweeterner

Occassional

-      Molasses
-      Pure maple syrup (not the formulated kind)
-      Maltitol

Since this whole topic is confused by the marketing forces of this world (the word “natural’, for example, does not mean the product in question is sugar-free or organic as it applies to food packaging) you will need to do lots of homework to know what really is right for your body in the way of nutrition. To get a good understanding of the basics, when to eat, what not to eat and why, etc,I heartily recommend books about Macrobiotic nutrition. As well, it will serve you to learn about the perils of sugar. A powerful book, once a best seller and now considered a classic, that speaks to this is "Sugar Blues" by William Dufty.

Note: Having been Car Free since 1989, instead of having to train many weeks or months for a long distance ride, my body now always feels conditioned for the long distance road. So much so that I’ll get out and occasionally roll the big miles without doing any advance preparation. Staying keen in such a way, however, requires more than just my hundred plus miles a week bike to live habit. I am very conscious about diet. My disciplined (discipline gives me freedom) body building practice, not to mention the yoga or the dance that I also regularly engage in, demand that I be even more careful about how I nourish myself..

And it has been pushing the physical envelope in this way that forced me to begin taking vitamins a few years ago when my long time vegan diet forced me into a meltdown. The lack of bio available protein in my ever higher concentrations of seaweed, soy products and other legumes, and grains had left me with arthritic elbow and shoulder joints. Finally, however, I discovered that instead of spending a hundred dollars a month on supplements, that animal proteins such as eggs, fish and the occasional range fed chicken made my body whole once again.

These are suggested as occasional foods in the macrobiotic diet, but I have found that when you are pushing the body to perform at higher and higher levels, one needs to increase their frequency and amount.