Originally Posted by prathmann

Unless you have a free source of either lard or vegetable oil there's no point in this. Sure lard is a pretty cheap source of kcals. compared to most food, but 2000 kcal/dollar is hardly cheap compared to regular diesel fuel which has about 35000 kcal/gal - or well over 10,000 kcal/dollar. Those running trucks off vegetable oil generally have an arrangement with food places to get their used oil essentially for free.

And while eating straight lard may give you enough extra kcals. to support a century ride (or more), I doubt you'll be feeling too good with that as your steady cycling diet. With a more healthy and appetizing mix of real grocery foods it's hard to do much better than about 500 kcal/dollar at which point the cyclist may well be spending more on his extra fuel intake (over and above what he'd eat while sedentary) than the motorist zipping by him on the way to the same destination.