Essential Roadtrip Skills

As Australia moves from crit season to road season, and as the rest of the world moves from no season to road season, we all have one thing in common:  The Roadtrip! You gotta love packing up all your gear, throwing it in your car, calling in sick on Friday afternoon, and bonding with your mates to one of the far-off races of the season.  How much better does it get?!

Many of us in Australia are off to the Tour of Canberra this weekend. It’s a great race because it’s located in-between Sydney and Melbourne, so it brings out the masses and always has one of the most competitive fields in the calendar.   It’s gonna be a W00T!

Whenever we go on a roadtrip we always try to get a place that has a kitchen so we can cook our own meals.  This obviously saves a heap of cash and it also gives you some better options for the race food you’re putting into your body.  I’m not 18 anymore and I’ve grown to appreciate the finer things in life and I view my food as more than just “fuel” now days.  I’m a complete SPAZ when I step into the kitchen, but my wife showed me this simple recipe.  I pull it out every time we’re on a road trip that gives my mates the impression that I’m Jamie Oliver (little do they know I’m a one-trick pony).   It’s simple, delicious, cheap and you don’t need to buy heaps of special condiments from the grocery store.  After eating this you’ll ride the next day’s race like Davide Rebellion rode in Beijing.

Stuff You Need  (serves 4 hungry cyclists):

• 1 lemon
• 1 avocado
• cherry tomatoes
• salt/pepper
• olive oil
• parmesan cheese
• a couple sundried tomatoes (optional)
• 2 chicken breasts
• some sort of seasoning for the chicken (I like Cajun, Moroccan or Portuguese)
• fettuccine or linguine pasta

Directions

Cut the tomato and avocado and throw some seasoning on the chicken

2. Start boiling a mountain of pasta

3. Grill, fry or BBQ the chicken (I cut the breasts horizontally so they grill or fry better)

4. Once the pasta is done throw all avocado and tomato into the pot and mix up with a bit of olive oil

5. Once the chicken is done, cut it up into strips if you wanna get fancy

6. Put pasta into a bowl and then put chicken on top.  Squeeze on some lemon for flavor, some salt & pepper, and put some parmesan cheese on top

7. A baguette to go along with this is always a hit

8. Chow time!  Don’t forget the vino

This will cost you about $20 to buy all the ingredients which works out to $5 per person that it serves.  It’s delicious, so easy that even I can do it, and you’ll feel better for the big race the next day than going out and eating a restaurant meal.  Bring on the roadtrip!