OrganicAthlete: Why did you choose to stop eating animal products? When?

This choice did not happen overnight. It was a 6-year progression from age 14 through 20. (I am now 34) Pork was the first to go after a mandatory pig dissection in junior high school. It was then that I realized where my bacon and pork chops came from. Wilbur the Pig was tortured and killed for my BLT. One by one, I eliminated the various two-eyed creatures from my menu as each moral dilemma arose. I could no longer carry the burden of knowing I am responsible for the relentless torture of predominantly docile creatures.

The old saying, "You are what you eat" confirmed my choice; by removing lowering myself a few notches from the highest level of food chain, I no longer have to concern myself with the latest, greatest human-inspired antibiotic/disease/strain/illness associated with animal consumption.

And on a final note, I enjoy knowing that if everyone were vegetarian we could feed the world four times over.

OA: Describe your current diet.

My meals yesterday were as follows: Breakfast: vegan blueberry pancakes with banana slices, oatmeal with flax seed, apple, banana, and almonds. Ethiopian Fancy Peet's coffee - black.

Lunch (on the bike): 3 energy bars and 2 energy gels

Post-ride snack: Mill Valley's Punjabi Indian burrito with blackened mixed vegetables and tofu - extra habaneros.

Pre-dinner snack: Tortilla chips with guacamole, handful of Fig Newmans, and a mango.

Dinner: Whole wheat pasta with broccoli rabe in a garlic olive oil sauce and homemade olive rosemary bread. Mammoth mesclun salad with Bunny Luv carrots, tomatoes, avocado and homemade salad dressing (mustard is my secret ingredient.)

Dessert: Vegan brownies. It is always fun to share my desserts with uninitiated vegans and watch their surprise when I let them in on the list of ingredients.

OA: What has been your experience as a vegan athlete? Have you noticed any performance or health benefits or problems?

I am not a physiologist, but I feel like this is a very healthy way to live. I rarely get sick, my bones are good, I build muscle easily, and I recover quickly from hard training and racing. I even recover from routine injuries much faster than animal-consuming co-workers. I have come to the top of my discipline of my profession on a non-animal diet seemingly without any negative effects. I don't feel that comfortable being a proselytizer, but I can certainly recommend it. The foods are much easier on my body; more easily digestible and fewer exogenous toxins, to name a few examples. photo by Sabine Dukes @ velobella.org

OA: Have teammates and other athletes been supportive or critical?

My current Velo Bella teammates as well as many other competitors of mine are very supportive of my diet.

In fact, the public would be amazed by how many of us athletes are vegetarian and even vegan. There is a lot of pressure put on athletes to conform to what is the most accepted version of diet, especially when this is known to be such a critical factor in performance. Athletes who are considering this type of diet typically worry that their conditioning will suffer by not getting their full array of essential amino acids and other nutrients, iron and calcium, and so on, that are traditionally come by in animal products. This can easily be taken care of with a sensible vegetable-based diet. In fact, my coach tries to promote a vegetarian diet for all of his clients. He sees animal products as a real obstacle to physiological improvement.

OA: What advice would you give athletes who want to stop eating animal products?

For athletes who are not yet past the moral question, I recommend they watch a video called "Peaceable Kingdom" produced by Tribe of Heart.

Those athletes who are beyond this point need to keep in mind that your new diet is like a new habit. And like any good habit, it may be difficult to acquire. You have to change rote behavior with a concentrated effort. It may take a bit of training but once you're up and running, it's as easy as vegan apple pie.