Bike packing/bike touring

(David) #1

Planning to riding as many rails to trails as I can after I retire in May. Hope to be fat adapted by then. The food I use to carry/cook while touring is now a no no (Ramen noodle, banana and peanut butter roll ups, Ect)
Those of you here that do either or both, what to you cook at camp? How much food do you carry verse buy before camp?
Looking for ideas.

(David) #2

Surprise no one here does any bike touring/bike packing.

(Tammy75 ) #3

Hi David, I am brand new here,
I don’t do any bike touring, but you could bring walnuts, almonds, what about natural pb on celery? I thought I saw Costco selling keto bars, but it may just be junky. I heard people even bringing dill pickles with the juice to benefit from electrolytes from the dill juice. When I would road ride, after I would eat something carby and would be hungry. Not now, it took about a month to become fat adapted, my first hard ride on Zwift, after I started keto was really strange! my endurance went way down and my legs felt weird! It was so hard, but a week later, I was back to normal, with huge energy, and better endurance! The best part is, I’m not ever that hungry after my rides now.(so maybe you won’t need as much food) Been keto a solid month. I hope this helps

(David) #4

Thanks for the reply. I’ve been Keto since Dec with my ketones ranging from 1.0 - 2.8. My first ride was awful. Felt like I had lost 80-90% of my power. Don’t know if do to Keto or not riding in awhile. Getting my power back slowly but my endurance has increased.

As for touring, I’m looking for ideas for campsite. Hard to carry eggs and meat for multiple days when stores are not close by. Thinking almond butter with low carb tortillas, packaged tuna and avocados.

#5

I don’t really need to cook when bikepacking. I ususally pack almonds, biltong, pemmican & maybe some canned tuna, chicken or vienna sausages. Almonds & macadamia nuts are insanely calorie dense. You could get by for a few days on those alone. But biltong & pemmican are simply amazing for bikepacking.
Only thing I pack a stove for is morning coffee. For that I pre-grind my beans & pack an aeropress.

(Jamie) #6

I just rode 300km in 3 days with 4086 meters of climbing. OMAD, supper only. I lived on spam and kilpered herring basically. No cooking. My food was a bit heavy but there was no cooking gear and the food weight dropped fast. For longer rides i certainly would have brought almonds and macadamia nuts and more sried meat to avoid the water weight of what i brought.

In my experience being fat-adapted means i can ride all day with no need for food until the ride is done.

Being cookless is very liberating.

(Stu Shez ) #7

Hi David, I’m a bikepacker too. I’m new to the forum and newly doing keto. It’s not my first time, I use it as a tool once every year or two to shed a couple of stone. This time I may stick to it though…

Ive also been thinking about what I can take, eat and cook. Packets of cheese, salami and meats, nuts etc are easy. The big question for me is what can I carry to replace my oats and rice type meals. When I boil water I usually use half in a brew and half in some form of boil and eat food. Chorizo and eggs maybe. Ive seen bone broth and eggs being used on YouTube… it looked rank. Maybe some salami / chorizo that won’t go off quickly, halloumi, bag of pre-riced cauliflower?

Let me know if you come up with any good ideas.

(Krispy Kreme) #8

I am also a bikepacker on keto.

During my last big trip, I made the mistake of adding carbs just before the trip. On day 3 I bonked very hard at mile 40 or so. I would love to know how to prevent for future rides. I have another trip planned in July where I will be mountain biking in Idaho for 500ish miles over a week or so.

Jerky and Beef sticks seem to be a pretty good formula for me.

(Krispy Kreme) #9

What do you pack for a week’s worth of riding?

(Stu Shez ) #10

Hi Krispy,

Like you I’ve always eaten carbs when doing multi-day trips. I’ve never really done keto more than two months at a time until doing the last four months of 2019. I bailed at Christmas but I’m now back on the wagon!

I don’t think I’d ever pack a week’s worth of food. Two / three days tops for me and then I’d be looking to find a shop and restock. Weight and freshness reasons I suppose.

Cooked chicken, cooked meats like chorizo and salami, whole avocados, dark chocolate, jerky, rinds, nuts, and cheese! I reckon that I could pack enough for a few days without even needing to cook.

How often will you hit towns going across Idaho?

(Krispy Kreme) #11

Not sure of the towns. We are doing the Idaho Hot Springs Mountain Bike Loop. At least a portion of it. Starting/Finishing in Boise and circling east to Sun Valley and North before routing back. all on trails. When we did Great Divide, towns came up every 2-3 days so we could shop for groceries. Not sure what I am going to do for this trip.

Need to start riding on weekends without straying from the 20g carb limit. Hopefully I can have some results on the bike like @richard.

(Krispy Kreme) #12

Over the weekend I found a company who makes keto backpacker meals as well as a keto dried sausage company. I ordered a few of items to test. I’ll let you know how it turns out before I broadcast their names
.

(Stu Shez ) #13

I’ve just bought a 250g bag of macadamia nuts… 1900 kcal in one tiny bag, 75g fat / 3g sugars per 100g.

There will be a bag of these in my pack!

(Krispy Kreme) #14

Tried Next Mile Meals this weekend on a camping trip. Actually pretty good. Did not get to test the impact on my cycling. Also tried some Duke’s sausages. Very tasty to both.