Eating for England

It’s the end of my first week on site and I’m loving being able to use my bike as transport. Not content with the direct 15 mile daily commute I’ve been throwing in a few early morning detours to avoid main roads and increase my mileage. However, by the end of the working day I normally just want to head straight home which is itself a challenge due to a living at the top of a big hill.

My current workplace basically consists of a converted shipping container. It has a toilet, a sink, a fridge, a few tables and chairs and a cupboard which is apparently the site office. Space is at a premium but I’m not complaining – the container’s a fantastic piece of kit. It has a generator and water and waste tanks so is fully self-contained and allowed me to hit the ground running for the first few weeks while I organise the more permanent site compound with connected mains power, water and waste.

Probably the world's smallest office

High-vis heaven. There are an alarming number of similarities between my work and cycle gear

With all the miles I’ve been putting in on the bike I’ve been eating like a champion. I had two breakfasts, a brunch and then two lunches yesterday before getting home and making a hearty dinner (plus a bottle of beer and a glass of red wine but purely for the necessary calories)

I’m not normally one for calorie-counting but thought I’d work out roughly what I consumed yesterday:

Breakfast 1 (pre-cycle to work)
1 bowl Alpen (400 cal)
1 black espresso

Breakfast 2
1 banana (200 cal)
1 orange (70 cal)
1 black coffee

Brunch
Ham & mustard sandwich (450 cal)

Lunch 1
Tuna & cheese jacket potato with salad (600 cal)
Cup of tea with milk (25 cal)

Lunch 2
Chicken pasta with pesto and broccoli (650 cal)

Dinner
Curry (lentils, onion, chicken, spices) with rice (800 cal)
Bottle of ale (200 cal)
Glass red wine (120 cal)

Total = 3500 cal

Lunch 1 was taken at a café in town. Breakfast 2, Brunch & Lunch 2 were all carried in my backpack along with my laptop which is a fair weight to be lugging for 30 miles – 6kg (13lbs) to be precise when I weighed it. No wonder I’m so bloody hungry – my bag alone weighs about  the same as a professional racing bike!

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