Physical setbacks a k a coughing and snoring

 

Yes, it’s that time if the year when getting hit by various bugs and viruses is unavoidable(?).
So the plan to work on some basic fitness have been forced to be put back a couple of weeks. (Even the blogging has suffered the last two weeks.)

But STILL! The commuting by bicycle is ongoing despite this!
Every day, today was day 70 (well, almost every day, unfortuntely had to use the car to work for 3 days since August).

Creating a habit of just get up and ride the bike despite what the body tells you, whatever the weather throws at you, will be vital once the big ride across the USA is underway. This idea of creating habits is also scientifically proved:

Old Habits Die Hard. This is because the area of the brain where many habits are formed, called the basal ganglia, remembers pathways that nerves fire on. ... This is one reason why habits can be so difficult to break: even after years, the right trigger will set a broken habitpattern into motion.

Hunger flat/Hungerhammare...

Do as Bauke Mollema and my brother, eat regularly
to avoid getting hunger flat.

...is another name for getting very VERY hungry while out (or indoors for that matter) cycling.
Today it happened to me when I instructed a cycling class at the gym.
It´s not pleasant at all to feel all the power you have in your legs and body disappear in just a few seconds and sometimes almost getting dizzy.

I imagine while riding 5000 km across America there will be plenty of opportunities to have hungerflats if we don´t eat and drink properly. 

If that happens here at home, the proper way to deal with it is to turn around and go back home as quickly as possible and refill on energy.
Or...if you´re not very close to home, stop at the nearest store and buy a fair amount of Coca-Cola and candy and just eat like there is no tomorrow.
Or..as today, if you´re indoors I got rescued by a kind participant who handed me a bar right after the class ended. THANK YOU!

BUT, what if it happens in the middle of....let´s say Nebraska...what the heck do we do??
Well, we will for sure carry food on our bikes and a lot of snacks (with a lot of sugar in it), just to avoid those scary moments when you feel all your strength just fade away.
So to just stop and have a feast of whatever we can put in our mouths will be top priority.

And from what I´ve learnt about our route through the US so far, there won´t be many parts where food and snacks will be unaivalable. The areas we will ride through will be populated, maybe not like here in Sweden but we will (I think) pass cities or villages almost every day.
Otherwise we´ll just carry enough until next opportunity to re-stock.

Though, even if we carry enough food, eating it on a regular basis is also (of course) a priority.
Waiting until you feel hungry and...BOOOM....the hunger flat might be coming.