Thanks! I'm going to check into making the sports drinks.

Luckily, since I am so far post-op, I have a pouch of steel. Nothing - and I mean nothing - bothers it. I can pretty much consume anything as long as I can manage to chew it. This is probably one of the reasons I gained so much back but I'm back to 200 now (which is my goal, forever, anything else is bonus) but I'm hoping cycling will help keep it off this time.
Todays ride I took along some pasta salad (with EVOO and Parmesean) and a ham and provelone tortilla wrap and I didn't feel burned out an after after the ride and need a nap like normal. I'm going to keep trying 5 miles this week (every other day) then I'm going to go for 10 one day next week when the kid is in school and I'm not pulling an extra 60 lbs! (kid + trailer)