I did the 65 mile Tour d'Organics in Sebastapol, California, last weekend. Beautiful ride, great people. Here's the problem: the ride is sponsored by a vegan group and all of the rest stops are at organic farms in Sonoma county. There's lots of excellent fresh produce, nuts, dates,some peanut butter, some sort of veggie wrap for lunch. However, there are no animal products whatsoever. There's also no Gatoraide,but plenty of water. The organizers claim that one can get plenty of protein out of a vegan diet and while that may be true, I felt uncommonly weak during the final miles of this ride. I supplemented with a power bar and a couple of gels, but by the end of the ride both my wife and I really felt out of fuel. The distance is well within our abilities, but we usually stop on training rides for lunch and that usually includes something like a turkey sandwich, a few cookies, maybe a coffee or a Coke. Most organized rides have these things as well.

The simple answer for the ride is to stop at a store and pick up a few cold cuts along the way and a bottle of Gatoraide, but what's the deal with the vegan approach to protein and how does it work out for others in terms riding. I'd be interested in hearing the experience of others.

Wow, screwing with someone's diet on a 65-mile tour is just not cool. Next year, bring a big, rare, bloody steak to eat at one of the rest stops.

Maybe a little less extreme, but I would just consider bringing your own snacks. I get the point they're trying to make, but a 65-mile ride is not the time/place to be converting people's diets.

I would think that you could have gotten as much protein as you need from a vegan ride. Did they have any beans? Protein is also more of a recovery item and not essential for a 65mile ride. You don't really break down and use that protein until it comes time to repair his muscles. Perhaps there was some other problem not the fact that they were forcing you to eat local vegatbles and things that didn't have to travel across the country on a truck spending 1000gallons of gas

Agreed.

The lack of your Turkey sandwich is not your problem. You could have just had a bad day - it happens. The animal protein argument is a myth brought to you by... you guess it - the beef & dairy council. There’s plenty of top athletes who eat vegan.

Parent-less protein is just as useful as parented-protein, according to nutritionists. However, protein is less important during strenuous exercise than carbs and minerals. Your bodies may have been missing the simple carbs that bread, gatorade and the like provide, which are quickly converted to energy as you need it. Protein is most useful for recovery after your strenuous ride.

There are plenty of vegetable protein sources available.

Also, they stated from the outset that it would be a vegan ride, didn't they?

Accelerade is one reason I couldn't go fully vegan (whey protein, IIRC). Well that and pizza!

(<-- vegetarian)

+1 to both accelerade and Pizza!

I raced without my accelerade last night and felt like crap by the end. I don't know how much of it is marketing BS and how much is real science, but I'll endure the flavor because damned if it doesn't make me feel great when I ride.

And pizza is great fuel!

(<--omnivore)

Name one 'top athlete'.

I never would've guessed either...

https://veggie.org/veggie/famous.veg.athletes.shtml

Also found a couple pages about Carl Lewis's vegan tendencies...

Gotta love Google--Learn something new every day!

There are actually very few sources of lysine in vegtable protein. Just eating 'protein' is not sufficient, or we could just eat eggs for protein.
Vegetarian diets need a lot of soy protein for this reason. But soy extracts contain a lot of phytoestragens and other hormone mimicry compounds whose impact is not understood yet.
While Soy products are being pushed heavily, this is because of large agricorps using this cheap food source for their processed products and the new 'nutriceutical' industry that has a lot of scammers in it right now.

Your comments are real "food for thought."

You pretty much demonstrate an average person's ignorance about diet and nutrition. There's probably no use trying to educate you. Anyone who claims to be "on training rides" and then chooses turkey sandwiches, cookies and Coke for fuel is obviously at their athletic "peak."

You win RC's "twisted oral bowel movments award" - complete with particles of undigested protein.

That was uncalled for. Just because they're not eating powerbars and GU on their rides doesn't mean they're not getting fuel from their sandwiches, cookies and coke...

To me, that rest stop sounds like a mix of simple and complex carbs and protein.

The rest of your post is just inflammatory crap that really doesn't merit comment, but your user name sums that up pretty well.

Probably true, but if his typical diet includes "animal protein" or what have you, and then out of the blue you go "vegan" you'll definetley lack energy.

All the reasons and vagaries aside, I think the take-home message here is that you shouldn't change a diet that works on the day of a big ride. The reasons for that go far beyond the scope of this forum, but basically, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, especially on a ride where you need fuel.

That's what I meant to say, word for word.

+1

I've ridden a few races that are 100+ miles without taking any protein.

I can deal with no meat, but I just gotta have cheese on my Pizza.

Psst. You cheese has protein.

That would be his "fault" though, not the ride's.

True.

As usual the politically, socially, and environmentally charged issues tend to take on a life of their own. I think the OP realized his own mistake and understands what to do next time. I don't think he was out to criticize the organization of the ride or vegans in general. I think he was simply looking for information from experienced vegans who complete long rides. What works for them on long rides? I think that was the question.

Yes, but I don't eat Pizza in the middle of a ride.

I agreed that a lot of top athletes are vegan and that we dont need animal protein, but I just love cheese on my pizza, so the chances of me going vegan are slim.

I'm not a vegan (I'm an ovo- lacto- pesce- pollo- vegetarian ), but I never, ever eat protein during a ride. I used to when I didn't know any better, but it would give me a belly ache.

I've noticed a marked dietary difference between less experienced and more experienced riders. The less experienced ones stop for lunch and eat just about anything: deli sandwiches, cheeseburgers, corn dogs, etc. More experienced riders eat constantly, but only small amounts (energy bars, gels, fruit, cookies, etc.).

My advice is to save the "real food" for the end of the ride.

My fave sports drink, Accelerade, has protein in it. Some seem to think that the protein helps with carb absorption.

Otherwise, I'm with you 100%.