What Mike at at McDonald's
Before I answer that question, a bit of background on how I ended up at McDonald's. I was away for the weekend at Mudgee bike racing, having raced 88k on Saturday and 84k on Sunday, the day I visited McDonald's. With that kinda' energy burn, food requirements are a little different. Combine that with the need to drive back to Sydney and no familiarity with local options made McDonald's at Lithglow an attractive option. McDonald's understand the importance of location and are often positioned accordingly.I walked in with no idea as to what I wanted, I was aware that most of my meals for the weekend consisted of purchased food and regardless of source it is not the same as food you prepare yourself. Now you know how I poke fun at the concept of 'meal', being the addition of hot chips and soft drink. Well that was the case, however they are now offering options, you can change the chips for a salad and the soft drink for a coffee and probably water, but I didn't check that one. So I got a big mac with salad and cappuccino (if I was perfect it would of been water, but if I was perfect, I'd be perfectly boring). The salad was a pretty standard green salad and tasted fresh, it came with a choice of dressings, so I picked one, however if you didn't want a dressing, you could leave it off. I also got to compare the salad with the chips, as the guy I was with ordered the chips and I ate a few, the salad won hands down. As for the burger, how of earth does it get the word 'big' in the name?
What you should do
There's a simple strategy to follow;- Avoid. Where possible eat food you have prepared yourself.
- Select [1]. Choose to eat at businesses that have food closer to what you would of prepared yourself .
- Select [2]. Don't be suckered in by price, ultimately you get what you pay for.
- Make your own decision. Buy what you want, don't be a sheep and buy whatever others are buying, its there problem if they want to eat poor quality food.
What if you did nothing
Do you really want your health to be determined by the retail vendors? Are they focusing on your health or their profits?Riding
As mentioned above, I raced at Mudgee;
Saturday: Mudgee 90km Mark Dwyer Handicap - 88k (by my measurement)
Disaster
Historically I'd never done well at this race and this year was no different, heading into disaster straight away, dropped by my bunch on 3k from the start, I evaluated what the problem was, took an energy gel and did some maths on what I needed to do, which was make it to the top of the upcoming hill at the 14k mark, so I needed to ride 11k at just the right pace to be caught by the next bunch and I did that perfectly. However about 10k on I lost focus and got dropped by that group. Up the next hill, I powered up trying to get back on and I was gaining, but once I caught, it wasn't the group but some riders dropped by that group. We worked together and picked up another rider, we could see the bunch ahead and weren't loosing distance, but we also weren't gaining. The route turned from North West to South West, straight into a headwind and we were caught by a big group from behind.
Success
The big group was working well and we were gaining of the bunch in front. We made excellent progress into the head wind The route turned to South East as we caught that bunch plus another at the same time, resulting in a big bunch.
Solo
Then I made the next mistake of this race, at about 65k the bunch split and I was near the back, I had broken a cardinal rule of handicap racing, that been that when you catch a bunch, you power straight past it, so not to get trapped by slower riders. I jumped out of my group and powered across the gap to the bunch ahead, but didn't quite make it. A couple of K's later I tried again up a hill, but to no success. So with my energy expended, I pretty much soloed the last 20 k home, coming home 101st on handicap and 87th on time in 2h29m (out of 148 finishers). Continuing my ability to do badly at this particular event.
Sunday: Mudgee Peter van Gent Graded Scratch Race - 84k (by my measurement)
Not wanting to repeat the problems of yesterday, I was keen to be competitive from the start, dressed warmer and took an energy gel before the start. The pace going out wasn't as hot as yesterday and I wasn't having any problems and was able to easily respond to any attacks. 30k in I had a minor mishap, as the road seal suddenly narrowed and 3 riders including myself found ourselves on the dirt, the other 2 managed to get straight back on, but I ended heading into the ditch, but held it together and got back on the road, chased and caught the bunch. At the 70k mark my energy was done and I dropped off the back, riding the 14k solo, to finish 24th out of 29 in 2:22:06, about 3m40s behind the winner.
Classes
Fitness First
Rockdale Mon 6.00am Ride Pitt st Mon 11.30am RPM
Pitt st Mon 1.10pm Ride30
Five Dock Mon 5.45pm RPM
Rockdale Tue 6.30pm RPM
Top Ryde Wed 5.45pm Ride
YMCA
