Loudoun 1725 Gravel Grinder -- Great Ride, Terrible Rice Cakes
June 9, 2019

On June 9, several Proteus Velo Club members and friends hit the gravel roads of western Loudoun county. Rain was predicted. Rice cakes were prepared the night before (more on that later).

However, all was dry at the start. This wasn't a race, and the riders were spread out at the start so the roads wouldn't feel crowded.

This was a pretty typical view. The roads were basically straight, with occasional well-marked turns.

Those of us who rode the 40 mile course got back before the rain.

More adventurous riders on the 60 mile and 80 mile courses returned a bit wetter.

Everything about this ride was well done, the course routing, the rest stops, and the start/finish services.

However, about those rice cakes.  So I'm usually pretty good at them. You make sushi rice, mix with some finely chopped scrambled eggs and/or bits of meat, a splash of soy sauce for salt and a sprinkle of brown sugar for sweet, let them cool, cut into squares, and you have a perfect ride snack for long rides.  Usually.

Rice cake fail. This time I didn't have any meat so I put in some chopped veggies for some more nutrition. But they tasted bland so tried adding peanut butter for more protein. The combo of eggs and peanut butter seemed a little off, so I figured I'd add some brown sugar to sweeten up the mix. But we were out or sugar, so I substituted molasses, which is sort of like sugar, right? Anyway, all the peanut butter and molasses made the rice cakes taste pretty, well, interesting, but their consistency got way too mushy, and the color was totally disgusting. Result was an interesting tasting, highly nutritious, glob of stuff with the consistency of dog poo, which then sogged through the wrappers and exploded in our pockets on the bumpy ride. Lessons learned. Back to the tried and true recipe for the next gravel ride.