Powered by Plants

The Madison-based vegan chef and owner of The Vibrant Veg joined forces with Beth Skogen, founder of Powered by Plants Cycling, in 2022 to fuel the vegan cycling team as they embarked on RAGBRAI, the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa.

For years, prior to the formation of Powered by Plants, Skogen had participated in RAGBRAI, a seven-day bicycle ride that takes you from the western to the eastern border of Iowa. The ride started in 1973 and is the oldest, largest and longest recreational bicycle touring event in the world. “It’s a bike ride across Iowa with 20,000 cyclists,” says Skogen. “You ride all day, go through towns, support local communities and then camp in host towns along the way.”

During Skogen’s first RAGBRAI in 2016, she was vegetarian and struggling to find options to eat. “I remember eating at a burrito cart for a few days and on day three thought, ‘Maybe I should see if they use chicken stock in their rice.’” They did, and the same happened as Skogen was about to enjoy a piece of pie only to realize it had been made with lard. “So I learned a lot that first year,” Skogen reflects.

As thousands of riders travel across the largest pork-producing state in the country, much of the food available to them from vendors along the route is, unsurprisingly, not vegan-friendly. “It’s a lot of deep fried, heavy food … not really designed with your health in mind,” Montelbano says.

Initially Skogen thought it would be a dream come true if she could find just four people to join her and have a chef cook them vegan meals along the ride. The first year they had 18 people join. The following year, for RAGBRAI’s 50th anniversary, they had 44 riders on the team. There was strong interest in creating a vegan cycling team, but now they needed a chef willing to cook plant-based meals on the go while also traveling and camping for seven days in the middle of pork country.

“My dream chef was Lauren Montelbano,” says Skogen, but she never imagined the busy chef would be interested in such a wild production. However, it was an immediate “yes” from Montelbano who had a passion for bikes, feeding athletes and outrageous adventures.

Montelbano, along with chef and husband Kyle Julius, have since 2022 followed the 450-mile RABGRAI route, hauling the team’s supplies while preparing breakfast and dinner for the vegan athletes. With riders cycling all day in peak July heat, Montelbano takes great care in crafting her menus. “When I design meals, I’m following the ‘food is medicine’ model,” says Montelbano.

“The first thing I take into consideration is protein and carbs—when I’m giving them each of those and how much,” Montelbano shares. “In the morning, I want to carb-load them, but I want to carb-load them with things that are dense, have a lot of fiber and also have some protein so they're not going to get hungry right away.” Overnight oats made with chia seeds and pea milk are a protein-packed staple along with golden milk overnight oats that include turmeric and ginger to combat inflammation.

“In the evening they get protein-loaded. I’m always working the meal to match the mileage that they do each day. So, if they have a lower mileage day, they're only riding 40 miles, I might be able to get away with a dinner that has 50 grams of protein. If they’ve got one of their 80 to 100- mile days, they’re getting tons of it because you need protein to repair your muscles.”

Even dessert carries a protein punch, whether it's silken tofu to make a sauce or protein powder in baked goods. “I call it dessert with benefits,” says Montelbano with a smirk.

“I want people to feel good,” she says, which is a tall order when the Powered by Plants team, at times, is biking 40 to 100 miles a day in a grueling heat index of 115. Skogen bashfully laughs when called a vegan athlete, but the feat she and her cycling team are accomplishing is Olympic-level inspiring.

“It’s so much more impactful than just a bike ride,” Skogen reflects. The impact of Powered by Plants is felt by more than just members of the team, coming together around a shared challenge. Their impact is felt by the local farms they buy countless pounds of produce from, the farm animal sanctuaries they generously donate to, and the fellow riders they inspire as they cycle past with high energy and high spirits—proving the power of a plant-based lifestyle.