How Do You Know What To Cook For Pro Cyclits?

Hey,

Well that's kind of an easy question, for me - because I raced on the road and track years ago and understand the world of cycling. The ups the downs, the potential issues or unforeseen things that crop up, meat creep, coffee high, gas, sugared out, hitting the wall..

Cyclists eat a lot, this is for sure. It's funny because working with pro cyclists has warped my serving sizes for normal people somewhat, and, cyclists are always hungry (well it seems that way).

Let's look at some of the finer details. So in my other life I work as a soigneur - this is a person who looks after cyclists on the road or track - massage, first aid, laundry, hotel rooms, food, race food, feed zone hydration and food, driving (depending on which continent you're in, at races in Asia you get given a driver) and general organiser. The aim at a race is for riders to get out of their bedrooms, do their job (race) and then relax again - everything else is the finer details that they're not involved with. Yes, it"s busy!

But, I'm going to keep this food related. I've cooked for an awesome domestic team in Australia (Budget Forklifts) at their training camp one year, and then during National Series Tours if I needed to. I worked with Australian Track Cycling at the Oceania Games one year in Invercargill New Zealand - and I did that with two electric pans and two rice cookers, in a small hotel room. Legend! I have worked with a Women's team for one of the Belgian Classics (oh no, I've done so many European races, I forget specifics) but I was also doing massage - those are busy days indeed!

In weird and whackier places (Iran, Indonesia and France when it comes to the coffee) those organised riders who know their particular likes will sort out their own things for breakfast. In most instances, races are fully catered for with hotels we stay in providing buffets. In parts of remote China for eg, Iv seen teams with their own rice cookers so they can bulk up on food they know, like and are involved in the preparation thereof, but generally, you're going to be ok in most instances.

At races I will take care of pre race, race and immediate post race food options. Cakes, more cakes, cakes things, with more savoury stuff for afterwards. It's not all cakes, but it also depends where you are, trust me. And at least cake like products are easy to eat, quick to digest and travel reasonably well on the bike in any weather.

When I can I make killer rice cakes. I really got into these in Australia and perfected some awesome flavours like pear and espresso, vanilla and blueberry, cheese and ham, trio of apricot.. you have to keep in mind that someone racing a bike needs easy access to food too, rice cakes are easy to eat and quick to digest and theres an option to rip the wrapping in one corner (with a bite) and squeeze the rice out of it.

So if I am doing the catering, then every day, or every second day, I will go early morning to the local supermarket for supplies. The team has generally gone training fairly early in the morning with a bit of cereal / toast and coffee as fuel. Lunches and dinners are always colourful, fresh, different, maybe themed to a particular cuisine, look pretty and served on time! Timing and presentation are just as important as the execution of the food itself. When any of your clients come in to eat your food, you want them to drink in what's on offer first, while they're deciding what to eat. And cyclists are always ready for a feed, so be on time!

So if I might normally have one starch option, for athletes I will do two. One might be a straight up starch, for eg potato and the second option will be quite different, whether its a salad done with starches or a pasta dish.. Proteins tend to be on the leaner side with white meat most popular and beef mince a close second. Steaks and hearty big meat dishes tend to feel heavy in the gut and don't sit well. The meals and menu plan takes into account what's on the agenda for the next day, how long we have, if they're racing or not.. With cycling as my background in sport, I understand factoring these nuances into the end product.

Vegetables, lots of them! So they're always really varied too, salads, steamed, stir fried etc. Theres so many ways to prepare both fruits and vegetables, and Im never short on creating something. Its the same with desserts actually which I can make them on the healthier side too.

I noticed a big movement in pro cycling a few years back favouring low carb(ish) and gluten free, so that's something else I utilise also. Plus, most of what's available as 'sports fuel' is sweet, or sweet tasting. It does get a little much for athletes so I purposefully steer away from anything really sweet when Im catering.

I have to be honest, I have yet to cook for a pro team and Im dying to! It is completely up my alley and something I know I'd thrive doing, and although I have come close in the past, it hasn't eventuated, yet. I'll be sure to publicise it when it happens (no 'if' here)

Where would be a country I'd love to be cooking for cyclists in? France, for sure! I got to the point from so many races in France, where I felt I could be blind-folded and put into any Carrefour supermarche and I'd manage to find my way around, that's how used to the layout I am! I do recall once, working with Australian Women's cycling and being at a race in France, and I did a supermarket dash (to Carrefour) for some pre race and post race food - one thing I got was baguettes, and because I had put them into my trolley first, they were under everything else when I got to the check out, a slight over sight on my behalf but I did my best to protect them. (To be fair, they were also at the front of the store as i entered) However, they were broken in places and as I pulled them out to get them scanned it was like in a movie where the whole room stops because of something completely outrageous that someone says or does, it felt just like that because I had committed the ultimate crime, I hadn't baby sat my baguettes. Sorry! Lesson learnt!

Happy eating guys!

What Now? Cooking for a Helicopter Company

 Yes, you read it right and it does sound cool, I know.  Especially if you're into helicopters, which I am.  

How did I get this job?  I was cooking on a cattle station last year, I met some of the pilots during the year when they came mustering at my station, asked them about their base and the company and decided 'I want to work for them next year' - and as so often happens in my life, the planets aligned and the cooks position became vacant - I was going to cook for Heli Muster. 

Our season runs parallel to the Territory cattle season which makes sense, given the majority of our flying somehow involves a cattle station - from mustering (predominantly) to fire fighting and all the other jobs that come along the way.  I don't always ask where a pilot is going or has been, or what they did - I don't often see them as they come and go but also, I appreciate just how many stations there are in the NT or just over the border into WA, they all sort of roll into one after a while. 

My 2021 season started very early in March after a break in Darwin, then a house sit in Katherine followed by 6 weeks cooking at Manbulloo station just outside of Katherine.  I flew out to HM in one of our fixed wings, landed and was like 'oh yeah, straight back to the heat and the flies. Here we go again!' 

We're based at VRD station and as you enter the property you'll see helicopters and a hangar immediately on the left hand side.  The runway is on the right hand side, there's a hangar on that also.  The kitchen is right next to the main heli hangar, and that main hangar also has offices and workshop storage.  

The bulk of us are housed on 'the back row' which, according to my apple watch, is 200 metres from the main kitchen.  There was a few old bikes lying around that are free to use, so I resurrected myself a pretty decent mountain bike to use as my chosen mode of transport.  

The majority of houses on the back row are identical 2 bedroom set ups, each with its own yard, kitchen, laundry and lounge room.  Completely unheard of on a station but VRD itself, although I don't know all the history, has an old hospital on its grounds (and two or three cemeteries) and I believe our houses once accommodated workers for the local surrounds.  

I have good wifi, kettle bells, yoga mats (plus all the props) which is all I need to feel at home.  Christmas lights and the odd picture here and there and my house is complete.  I have a good view from the kitchen windows too, of who is coming and going down this neck of the woods and what they may be up to.  

There seems to be a growing trend on cattle stations to forego breakfast in favour of a decent  smoko instead - which I think makes sense, and it's what happens at HM.  My day starts whenever I need it to to get my smoko sorted for 9.30am, but pilots and engineers will start moving around between 5 and 6am.  Not unlike myself. In winter I love an early morning decent walk, when its hotter I do more movement in my house, in the air con away from the flies.

My kitchens about the size of a shipping container - one end of it has a tv and 3 comfy chairs, the other end is working kitchen area.  Its a good, user friendly space to work in, and I have a store room at my end of the kitchen.  There is a sliding door at the television end and my end has a regular door, both of which open out onto a large deck space where the tables and seating are.  On the left end of deck (the kitchen end) is a the cold room, the other end has the barbecue.  It's a good set up with everything so close by.  

Food deliveries come by road train once a fortnight which is fairly standard practice for the outback.  The benefit of working for a helicopter company and with having an office in Katherine, and 3 fixed wing pilots is, if I ever need anything outside of an order, it doesn't take long for it to get delivered!  It will wing its way out to be on first available flight.  

So what do we eat?  Similar to a cattle station, our predominant protein is beef - when we need a new animal (a killer) one or two choppers will go to get an animal and then reappear a couple of hours later laden with beef cuts.  We hang it in the cool room and then process it after a week or so. 

This time around, Im cooking differently - my smoko's are usually a choice of at least 5 different options, including smoothies, smoothie bowls, vegetarian options and always some form of egg dish - anything else can be the likes of quiches, spanakopita, crepes, wraps (done any which way) and pies.  Lunches are left overs, or if we are low on those I will create something, it could be a pasta dish, sushi or steak sandwiches.. Generally with dinner, I will do two protein options - they might both be beef but I will have two different styles / flavours, always vegetable choices and one or two starches.  

As the temperatures get up into the 40s again, people are eating less during the day, and when its cold (that term is almost laughable when winter stays in double digits in the NT) they'll eat lunch. 

My weeks are regular - Monday to Friday, half a day Saturday and Sunday off.  No way do i miss the cattle station days of weeks on at a time, 4-5am starts etc.. those can be some long days. 

So, this is how my pandemic life is going!  Big change for me to not be living out of a suitcase in some country Iv never been to.  For now though, I am grateful to have a job, the job that I wanted, a roof over my head, to be working with nice people and to have my double vaxxed health.  

Stay safe peeps!