When I Was Vegan

Check out this little blast from the past, sent along by Gary David. It's a scanned article written by Ben Hewitt from Outside Magazine in March of 2003. It came out just as I was starting my first year as a pro, at 30 years old, with 14 or so years of bike racing (and one retirement) under my belt already. Funny how things go.

I managed to make it 2 or 3 more years as a vegan and a pro, before the pressure of always putting my teammates out, putting so much energy into planning meals on the road, and eating a lot of salad got the better of me. From there it devolved into being vegan at home, but just vegetarian when I was traveling, and then finally to just plain old vegetarian most of the time.

I still don't buy leather or milk or eggs, but when Janice is eating ice cream, it's been known to pass my lips here and there.

*Updated to include a link to the original article, thanks to my friend Jason Sullivan:

http://outsideonline.com/outside/bodywork/200303/200303_bodywork_1.html