Mango Tuesday

I love mangoes, among other fruit. Today I got such a smile on my face while lining up my fruit selection for today: 2 mangoes, a banana and an avocado (avocado yet to be eaten). Good stuff! When I eat mangoes, I cut the skin off thickly, then cut the flesh into a bowl, and then suck on the hard pit thing (or whatever it is) over the sink to get all that great juice. Then I eat the flesh off the skin (the same way you'd eat artichoke leaves, which if you have never done, you are missing another real treat), toss the skin, and finally use a fork to eat the remaining flesh in the bowl.

I swear I can eat 3-4 mangoes at a pop, at least normal sized ones. I have had mangoes while in Hawaii that were monstrous, and the same with avocados. I once bought an avocado in Kona that must have weighed 5 lbs.! It was delicious, too. God, I miss the fruit stand in Kona, and all the different flavors of bananas--apple, pear, strawberry and even ice cream flavors. Dragon fruit, fresh lychee (in season), papaya, lilikoi (passion fruit), guava and even the ubiquitous pineapple.

Today's mangoes were so ripe and luscious I almost ate the skin! But I figured I was getting plenty o' fiber without it, so I only ate a tiny bit of it just to prove to myself that it would taste good on a piece of fruit so ripe.

Our basic Chiquita bananas taste better after eating a mango, too. Writing about this makes me want to make one of my (in)famous Hawaiian smoothies--throw fruit (whatever you have, including some frozen strawberries) into a blender, add 1 can Cream of Coconut, maybe 1/2 can of guava or lilikoi juice, about 1/4 to 1/2 bottle of rum (cheap is fine--it's all sugar, anyway), a bit of ice, blend until slushy, and then try not to drink the entire blender full by yourself! Or, as in my pre-endurance sports days of going to Hawaii just to spend time at a bunch of different beaches laying around and snorkeling, drink until you fall pleasantly asleep!

The weather was still nice today, so I rode LGL outside again. Wednesday through Friday are supposed to be cool and rainy, and that's fine by me--I have no issues with treadmill running, but I am officially on a trainer strike!

For some reason, I chose mango Gatorade to take with me. About :45 minutes into the ride, I was feeling hungry (despite the 2 mangoes and a banana and 1/2 bottle of Coke and my usual 250 calorie breakfast), and remembered I had Clif Shot with me. What flavor? Mango, of course! I laughed to myself that I was on some sort of mango binge, but you know what? I rode like a freaking maniac today!

So next time you want to put some zing into your riding, chow down on some mangoes about 2 hours before you ride (follow my eating instructions above), chug about 12 oz. of Coke right before you leave, and have at it! You won't see THAT in any of your sports nutrition books!