Bike Lunch

Throughout my proceedings I have made reference to what I am now dubbing "bike lunch". Bike lunch is something I eat when I am on the bike and feeling particularly cheap. It is most often procured in a grocery store, although your bigger convince stores will do the trick too.

People's exhibit A: "Bike Lunch A." The sandwich was a foot long turkey and cheese for $2.19, the 3/4 pound of potato salad came in at $.80. Water is free. So for $3.00 I fed my rather large appetite. In the absence of a proper bench or seat, use bike.

Fresh local fruit is mostly cheap and also fair game. Besides, I hear scurvy is none to pleasant. Anything in a can is good; travels well if needed. That is if you can stomach it cold. I have taken to a can of chili and a can of sliced new potatoes as an acceptable lunch. Be sure you can operate a Swiss Army Knife can opener before attempting the can bit. No room on the bike for a conventional can opener.

My favorite bike lunch is a roadwich. Buy whatever is on special at the deli counter and a big hoagie bun. If they have any other good deals, like an avocado, giddy-up. Slap it together and you have yourself a roadwich. A proper sandwich should have fixins in my mind: mayo, mustard, cheese, lettuce, etc. A roadwich is usually devoid of these amenities. If you steal your fixins in single serving form from a gas station or fast food joint it is still a roadwich, as the ingredients were derived from the road. A roadwich means twice the mass at half the cost.

Perhaps the best part about a bike lunch, roadwich or not, is that it draws a curious eye from the locals. Every once and a while you will get somebody that walks by and cocks their head like a confused Jack Russell Terrier trying to figure out what on earth you are doing.

Addendum: Garlic and Cheese

Although not really a meal, garlic and cheese gets the nod for a creative snack that packs well. I learned this one form Tom in Big Bend.

Now I love garlic. In a year I go through several of the giant bottles of minced garlic. However I have never thought to actually consume straight raw garlic. Here is how it is done.

Take a bite of cheese (the sharper the better), then take a nibble of garlic, and chew. That's it. Find the right ratio of garlic to cheese and you're golden. Careful not to take too much garlic, or let it sit for one spot in your mouth too long, unless you get off on that sort of thing.

Addendum: The Salad Side of the Deli

After visiting the salad side of the deli, it is time to update the definition of Roadwich. The salad counter contains numerous juicy and easy additions to the other wise dry bike lunch repertoire. Case in point: marinated mushrooms with bleu cheese crumbles. Normally I would pass these right over, but the price was right, and the gal behind the counter was insistent.

This specific purchase was a pound of Braunswiger, 3/4 pound marinated mushrooms, and a roll of french bread. Totaling about $5, it fed me for 2 meals and then some. Plus, the marinade lubed up my roadwich nicely. Side note: a pound of Braunswiger is a hell of a lot of Braunswiger- even for me.

The beauty of salads is that there is no peeling, pitting, or gutting involved- just dump it on. No fuss, no muss. Also getting an honorable mention were marinated red peppers and a premixed caesar salad.

So what have we learned today? A roadwich doesn't necessarily have to be dry and completely utilitarian. After all, the most important characteristic of a bike lunch or roadwich is that they are cheap and filling.