This email is actually coming to you from a van in Quito Ecuador after a day of mountain biking on some SUPER FUN local trails!!
There have been protests in the country, and the protesters have closed (via roadblocks) a lot of the roads out of Quito, so we’ve had to adjust our itinerary to ride trails within Quito. This has still been super fun, and the protests just ended due to an agreement with the indigenous people (protesters) and the government. We are told the roads will reopened within hours.
If you are interested in learning more about the protests… you should read non-US news, as it is inaccurate.
Here’s what I’ve found fun, interesting, or noteworthy this week…
[inf_infusionsoft_inline optin_id=optin_4]
CAAARAZIEST mountain bike trail I’ve ridden –
El Infiernillo Trail that is north west of Quito in Ecuador.
This is an old horse trail that’s been converted into a VERY steep and muddy mountain bike trail that ends into a river crossing.
If you checkout my recent Instagram Reel you can see a clip of the trail where we cross the river. Crazy!
Unfortunately you cannot tell how steep the trail is from the GoPro, but my butt was basically sitting on my rear tire for all of the switchback turns!
Airport pat down –
So… almost every single time we travel via plane our supplements/food bag gets pulled by the airport security. Then they swab a few things with the bomb material checker, we get cleared, and are on our way.
Well, this time (in the Denver airport) we got our bag pulled (as per usual), but the first supplement they checked got the red alert from the bomb material sensor.
That meant they had to check every single thing in our supplement/food bag. All the 36 individual protein bars, the inside of the powdered supplement bins, everything!
And then, the best part… they gave me a FULL body pat down right then and there while they checked with the bomb expert. It was a new experience for me. Fortunately we got to keep all our goods, and were early to the airport.
I’m very happy that the airport security takes their job so seriously! It’s just funny how this played out.
Travel essentials –
Since I talked about how I was patted down at the Denver airport, I thought it would be a good idea to talk about everything we put into our food bag (yes it’s separate bag, always) to make sure we aren’t finding ourselves hungry, and then making poor food choices while traveling. Now I am not telling you to not enjoy the local foods where you are traveling, but I’m guessing that 100% of you can relate to not being able to find good food to eat while traveling, and either feeling bad physically or emotionally.
This strategy is TOTALLY worth the trouble of one carry on food bag. And I’d be willing to have the pat down every time!
For 2 people who want to feel good, perform good, and look good for 14 days.
- 4 healthy sandwiches of your choice (for the plane). Try to avoid eating plane food. Most of it is garbage with WAY too many preservatives. Which make you even more dehydrated than flying. READ ALL LABELS before eating!!!
- 36 NoCow protein bars. 1.5 per person, per day.
- 29 servings of Garden of Life Sport plant based protein powder. This stuff includes probiotics which can be a game changer when traveling to countries with strange foods. And most people will find themselves low on protein when traveling.
- 30 servings of Ucan energy carbohydrates. This one might seem weird to you, but these provide you with a steady stream of non-fat storing energy for hours. So, when it’s easy to grab a sugary snack… grab a protein shake and some Ucan and you’ll feel awesome!
- 2 large bags of mixed nuts that don’t have any mind numbing vegetable oils, and include Brazil nuts. Mix and match if you have to. Vegetable oils do cause brain fog, and Brazil nuts are great for keeping positive sex hormones active. And nuts are filling with good fats and protein, which will make you feel satisfied and not making bad food choices.
- A FULL bottle of papaya (or your favorite digestive enzymes).
- 30 servings of Beam Dream sleep supplement. We don’t take this every night, but it’s ready to be deployed if we are feeling wired at night. Sleep should be one of your highest priorities at home and when traveling!
- Lastly, our regular daily supplements, like multivitamins and whatever else we take because of personal blood testing.
From there, the first thing we do is find the closest grocery store, so we don’t have to rely on eating out every meal.
Last pro tip for traveling! One of the best ways to avoid jet lag is to eat on the time schedule of the place you are traveling to. So DO NOT eat on the plane if it’s the middle of the night where you are going. Even if you are starved. Then workout and get direct sunlight on your eyes as close to the new time zone morning as possible. This will spike your stress hormones and get your circadian rhythm setup to sleep well that night.
I hope this gives you a new perspective on how to travel and feel awesome. If you have any questions you know where to find me! 😉
—
That’s what I have for you this week. We are off to mountain bike down Cotopaxi mountain tomorrow. Yeehaw!!!
Cheers!
Joe
