LunchFiets!

For some time, I’ve been struggling with my lunch.

Not to imply that I normally (or ever) eat live pythons for lunch, or that I suffer from intractable heartburn. Rather, I have been buying lunch at school and kvetching about it.

The problem is that there are only two options at school: cheap but bad for you, or healthful but expensive — and I’m trying to get back in the habit of eating better, in hope of improving my performance on the bike and my day-to-day health. The obvious solution — bringing lunch — is complicated as a function of riding my bike to school. I needed to come up with a solution that would neither induce death by botulism nor take up precious space in my backpack.

A couple weeks back, I discovered an insulated rack-top bag made by Topeak, and that got me thinkin’.

The rack-top bag in question looks awesome and offers the benefits of quick-n-easy velcro attachment and a removable shoulder strap, but might actually be a little on the tall side for my setup (I’ll have to measure for clearance from my rack to my saddle), but the world is full of miniature coolers that would fit perfectly. They’re light, just the right size for lunch on the go, and any of them should be easy enough to install with bungees or a cargo net.

I hadn’t really considered the implications of acquiring a cooler that would let me carry lunch with me, but the more I think about it, the more I like it. Imagine heading out on a 50-mile picnic ride. No need to worry about locating a lunch stop near your route — lunch is on the rack. If it’s in a hard-shelled cooler, you don’t even need to worry about your sandwiches getting squashed.

I suspect that I’ll go with one of the mini-coolers, since they’re super-durable, efficient, and easy to clean. One of those coupled with an ice pack or two should enable me to carry tuna salad (pretty much my favorite lunch food) everywhere I go.

Also, breath mints.

Thus equipped, the Motobecane will transform from a mere ‘cross-fiets into a bona-fide ‘lunchfiets.’

Speaking of MotoMoto, I still owe the universe a review and a few more pix of the ‘cross bike. Suffice it to say I’m still riding the bejeezus out of it and loving it. It’s especially nice in the slush, as I learned recently — sure-footed in the grotty, wintery stuff; a nice little pack-mule of a bike that I predict will make my life a bazillion times easier.

It will also be going camping this weekend for the first time. Woot! I’ve fitted the Moto up with my perma-rack (as opposed to the clamp-on rack it wore for a couple of weeks), a basket-style folding pannier (might snag a second one; we’ll see) and I’m planning on carrying my jelly-roll sized bar bag. This should give me sufficient carrying capacity to manage a little dome tent, a sleeping pad, a sleeping bag, and whatever other camping miscellany I decide on (I think I’m bringing a French press and a ‘Junior Terrorists’ Society Miniature Blowtorch,’ as we have dubbed the ubiquitous long-necked lighter. Also, some newspaper, as I have fire duty on this trip (yessss! … errr … I mean … heh-heh … forget I said anything, there).’

Photos will doubtless be forthcoming. To my shame, I have yet to remove the dork disc from the Moto, as I still lack a proper cassette-removal tool. D’oh. I suppose I will survive.

In other news, I am certainly on the mend now, but working to manage my recovery a little more cautiously than is usual for me. I have a race coming up March 10th and I really can’t afford a relapse, since I’m already something like three weeks down in training land.