Waiting for spring. Waiting for the open road and the sights, smells, and sounds of new places. Waiting to follow the sun with a house on my rack. Waiting, impatiently, as snow falls day after day after day…

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We love our bikes, right? And we never tire of looking at them. At least I don’t, and if I’m to judge from what others tell me, I’m not alone. So each Monday I’ll publish a bike-related picture. Most of the time it will be a photo, but don’t be surprised if a few drawings and paintings get added to the mix from time to time. I might even include a sculpture or two. (OK. A photo of a sculpture.) Anything, in short, that evokes the world on two wheels. And don’t be shy. If you have a picture you’d like to share, just email it to me. I’ll do the rest.

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As a famous general—variously identified as either Frederick the Great or Napoleon—famously observed, an army marches on its stomach. And so do I. In fact, it doesn’t matter whether I’m tramping, snowshoeing, paddling, or cycling. If I’m relying on my limbs to move me from place to place, I do my utmost to make sure I’m never far from food. This is a practical matter. Running on empty is a recipe for accelerated fatigue, at best. At worst, it culminates in the unhappy state of bone-tiredness that cyclists have lovingly christened the bonk.

The upshot? Any outing involving more than a walk around the block becomes a moveable feast. Fig Newtons and Hundred-Mile Bars figure prominently in my traveling menus, as do nuts, dried fruit, and small amounts of chocolate. (Large helpings of chocolate are too fat-rich for eating on the go.) But that doesn’t mean I’m not always looking for something new, and I recently found just that on the shelves of the local Walmart. My discovery goes by the name of Tropical Trail Mix, and the packaging bears the reassuring boast that it’s a “Great Value.” (Readers who don’t often set foot in Walmart will need to know that Great Value is Walmart’s house brand.) And for once this claim isn’t pure hyperbole. While Tropical Trail Mix may not be everyone’s idea of a great value, it’s unquestionably a good one.

It also marks a welcome departure from the legion of overfatted, overfortified, and overpriced boutique trail foods. Check out the Nutrition Facts on the label for yourself:

Heavy on carbs, but light on sugars, fat, and salt. And much of the fat that is present is the “healthy” fat from the nuts—cashews, macadamia nuts, and almonds—that make up a large part of Tropical Trail Mix. All in all, the nutrition labeling is reassuring, rather than off-putting. It makes a nice change.

Now let’s open a bag and see what we can see:

But first, spare a moment for the bag itself. It’s made of heavy-duty plastic with a ziplock closure, ideally suited to life in a pack—though at 28 ounces, it is a bit on the large size for a pocket, even the big pockets of a cycling jersey. Of course, well-designed packaging is one thing. Good nosh is something else altogether. Luckily, Tropical Trail Mix doesn’t disappoint here, either: dried papaya and pineapple, banana chips and golden raisins, apricots and dried cranberries, not to mention the aforementioned almonds and cashews and macadamia nuts. Here’s a close-up:

Unless you have a nut allergy, there’s nothing not to like. And Walmart got the balance right, too. The mix is sweet without being cloying, and there’s just enough salt to bring out the flavor of the nuts. I’d fault Tropical Trail Mix on just two points: The nuts are a bit soggy, and the banana chips are as tough as old boot leather. But both these failings are commonplace. Any nuts left for long in a mixture with dried fruit—fruit which, despite the “dried” tag, still holds significant quantities of moisture—will inevitably lose some of their nutty crunch. I’ve seen this in my own, homemade mixes. And banana chips are notoriously obdurate, though this is no problem for folks with sound teeth. Having doubts? Then just tuck any hard chips between gum and cheek for a few seconds. The chips soften up a treat.

Bottom line? If you often need to fuel your engine on the go, Walmart’s Tropical Trail Mix is well worth considering. But is it really a Great Value, as advertised? Well, at less than five bucks for a 28-oz bag, this works out to something like 20 cents a handful, and a handful makes a pretty fair 140-calorie snack. Say three bucks to fuel a century ride. Sounds like a great value to me!

Looking for something to keep the bonk at bay? Don’t want to go to the trouble of making your own road (or trail) food? Then try a bag of Walmart’s Tropical Trail Mix. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

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OK. I’ve known colder days. Much colder days, in fact. But 22 below (Fahrenheit, not Celsius) is plenty cold. And just how cold is “plenty cold”? Cold enough to frost a bird’s eyelashes, that’s how cold “plenty cold” is. Of course, birds don’t really have eyelashes. Eyelashes are little hairs, and birds don’t have hairs of any description. Their eyes are framed by tiny feathers, though—and 22 below is more than cold enough to cloak those down-like plumules in frost.

As these three hearty folks can all attest. A chickadee, a jay, and a goldfinch wait patiently for the sun to rise above the treetops and begin unlocking the frozen world. And so do I.

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