Musing for Mussettes & Drink

A 1928 Tour de France cheers!...

Andre Leducq toasts Nicolas Frantz.

Inside today's mussettes are by far science base than their fore fathers ever had. Here's a look at some gourmet choices today & years past.

The revolutionary brothers Pelissiers...

Henri, Charles & Francis.

For the feed zone, (here) the Garmin Transitions Team has these choice morsels in their mussettes. Loaded with the essentials for their riders; electrolyte, Cliff bar/block/gels, rice/egg cake & ham, cream cheese sandwhich & of course a can of Coke.

In times of old, well before science intervened, the mussette was as basic; lumps of sugar, a cooked chicken leg or fruit.

The Pelissiers were amazing riders. In the twenties; Henri, Charles & Francis won many races. In fact, Henri won the 1923 Tour de France. They developed new ways of training that was ahead of the time. I'm not saying scientific but plain smart.  While their colleagues would try to train for many kilometres per day. The Pelissiers derived that short, intense workouts worked better.

When it came to nutrition, the brothers knew how to eat ... less. Back then, races often lasted for many hours and riders had to have enough food to supply them the needed energy. Before the start riders would gorge meals of eggs, cutlets and bananas or anything heavy to sustain them. The problem was too much food to digest would stop a rider from riding off the front. The Pelissiers went for a light breakfast, enabling an early race attack.

They never drank alcohol during a race. A huge advantage over the other riders as they drank themselves silly. Alcohol was one of the longest used artificial stimulants in cycling. The 'happy' Alcyon team drank cognac, white wine, port, and champagne during Bordeaux-Paris. Right up to the 60s and 70s, some riders believed that a shot of eau de vie (fruit brandy) would help them.

Drinking on the job...

Georges Speicher at the 1933 Tour.