Originally Posted by ksryder

Casey's pizza.

For all the non-midwesterners, Casey's General Store is a convenience store primarily in small towns throughout the midwest. They have good donuts and pizza and they are typically tolerant of cyclists refilling water bottles and using restrooms, etc. Casey's is also frequently the only choice for any kind of resupply on a long ride in some of these towns, especially in areas where towns might be 15-20 miles apart.

In 2015 I entered (and completed) my first Dirty Kanza -- 200 miles through gravel and dirt roads through open range grassland. It was an infamously muddy year and involved several miles of hike-a-bike. You're only allowed crew support at designated checkpoints, which were 75 miles apart that year. I was shooting for a 15-hour finish, but with the adverse conditions I came in just under 18 hours.

Energy gels and Clif bars get real old after 12 hours on the bike. When I rolled into the second checkpoint at mile 150, it had already been 14 hours and I had another 50 miles to go. I was in pretty rough shape.

My support crew -- aka my wife and my dad -- had got some Casey's pizza for themselves. As I was refilling water bottles and such my wife said "Do you want some pizza?" Yes. Yes I did.

It was the most glorious thing I have ever tasted in my life, before or since. I wolfed down 4 slices in about 30 seconds. (In hindsight, the 4th slice might've been overkill and I very nearly yakked it back up a few miles down the road, but I digress).

Granted, the tastiness of the pizza was undoubtedly influenced by the fact that I had just biked 150 miles. However, I have had Casey's pizza at other times and it is pretty tasty on its own merits, as far as gas station pizzas go. And I will always have a fond place in my heart for it.