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Community Corner

Spicin' It Up

Christy Coppola shares stories from the road of her Give a Bike: 50 State Tour with her husband, Adam.

Original recipe:

Start with 1 Adam and 1 Christy in large bowl.

Mix in 2 bikes and set aside.

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In medium bowl, combine oatmeal, tuna, and pasta.

Slowly stir ingredients into large bowl.

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Shake and let marinate.

Top with a camera and voilà! Give a Bike: 50 State Tour!

Now, what happens when you add in five other touring cyclists? It's an interesting medley having a cyclist biking for Christ, two friends on a two-week bike vacation, a man spending the first year of his retirement on a bike, a couple on an 18-month honeymoon adventure through numerous countries, and the two of us all sharing the same campsite.

At first, the thought of riding with others worried me. Would we all want to leave at the same time? Do we ride at the same pace? Would they be ok with stopping around every corner for a photo op? But what a perfect opportunity it was to shake up our routine and add a little spice to our tour.

Saturday morning we woke up with a crew of bike tourists in Zion National Park. There was a total of 7 of us, sharing one small campsite and one small picnic table for breakfast. You would think after eight months on the road we'd have a pretty good idea of how to make it work, but to an outsider, it may have looked like it was our first morning on the road.

We couldn't help ourselves but peek into others' pots, check out the plethora of camping stoves, and taste each others' meals. Out of the seven of us, there were three different coffee methods: a perk-o-later, a one cup drip coffee filter, and a Starbucks Via instant coffee packet.

The perk-o-later won the taste test, but it was also the heaviest. Possibly worth it if Adam would indulge in a good cup of coffee each morning with me, but until I succeed in bringing him over to the coffee side, I'm sticking to my one cup drip coffee filter.

But we have learned a bit from these other cyclists and intend to use some of what we've learned throughout the rest of our tour. Hoarding condiments like crushed red pepper packets, honey, and crackers from gas stations. Adding peanut butter to oatmeal. Taking the time to build a fire instead of retreating to the tent as soon as the sun goes down.

Our original recipe worked well and it really was good. But how much fun it is to throw in that extra ingredient and help to spice things up.

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