Food & Drink

Road Red

Newbie on the road: training is going well with my first 20+ miles last Sunday.

Should I be thinking about eating and drinking at this stage?
What type of bars/fruit/gels should I be using? How much and how often?
Are there any 'ordinary' snacks that can be used other than the specialist energy bars?

As always, many thanks.

jimycooper

i think at that distance you should eat 1 (or if you suffer 2) nutrigrain bars or the like. and as for drink about 500ml-750ml will do you. a enery powder would be better but not that important.
a lot of it is personal though, thats about average for a newbie but you could be differnt

happy ridding

pbt150

Probably not, during this sort of shortish ride you should be able to get by on your body stores, then have a protein + carbs snack when you get home to help your muscles recover.

Probably a good idea to take a water bottle with you though, and when you start doing longer rides start using energy drink powders (I Iike High5 SuperCarbs, the citrus flavour is yummy!).

Nick6891

ye just make sure you have something to eat before you set off and when you get home but that can be anything that has energy in it

Mettan

1 x 750 ml (or possibly 800ml) drinks bottle should be sufficient for a 20 - 30 mile ride - as a novice doing training rides you can use basic orange squash or similar in your bottle - its cheap, and perfectly adequate. Regards eating - its not "vital" on a 20 mile ride - however, on a 30 mile ride you might want to bring a banana or similar in addition to 750-800 ml drink.

Wiggle are doing SIS 800ml bottles for £3.50 at the moment (I use them).

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/Cycle/7/Scien ... 110000435/

Infamous

For me, any ride less than 2 hours should be water only. For further distances I will have my 2nd bottle filled with orange squash.

Food should only be for rides of 3+ hours in my opinion. It's more about what you eat before and after the rides.

Nick6891

Infamous wrote:

For me, any ride less than 2 hours should be water only. For further distances I will have my 2nd bottle filled with orange squash.

Food should only be for rides of 3+ hours in my opinion. It's more about what you eat before and after the rides.

I would agree with that unless its really hard terrain

Road Red

Thanks for that guys.

What would you eat in preparation for a 2/3 hour ride and how long before?

Nick6891

ye i would probably eat something which i know gives me energy about 20mins before i plan on going, if it was only a 1 hours ride i would probably only leave 10mins

Infamous

I try to leave at least an hour to 2 hours after eating before riding.

simon_e

Road Red wrote:

What would you eat in preparation for a 2/3 hour ride and how long before?

Porridge or muesli early, then (if there's time) a snack e.g. banana or toast and honey. Unless your ride is hard climbing/sprinting from the off you'd be fine eating these half an hour ahead.

Water or a mix of apple juice & water for variety. Have considered energy drink in one bottle with plain water or juice+water in the other on long hilly rides.

Mid-ride I like snacking on raisins and, if it's a long ride, these bars - they contain no junk or 'sports science' additives and are cheaper. I've seen malt loaf and fig rolls recommended for during a ride but if your 2-3 hours includes a cake stop then no need.

Chocolate milk shake apparently works as post-ride protein+carb mix. Tuna & pasta is very satisfying.

AaronH

I'm not too sure there are any hard and fast rules when it comes to food and drink and rather than the distance you need to roughly gauge how long you'll be out for like a few of the others have mentioned. Then you'll still have factors like your build, weather and intensity of training to consider.

The best piece of advice I ever had was to take a few sips out of your bottle every 5-10 mins (I usually use orange squash for training) and half a small musilli / energy bar every 30 mins, mind you I usually take an extra bar just for emergencies or if someone else gets the knock. After a while you'll get a feel for what you need to take with you.

Sometimes eating before I'll just have a bowl of cereal 30mins - 1hr before leaving for anything under 3 hrs, if it's a race or a big run I'll eat something a lot more substantial 2hrs before.

Just don't wait for your body to tell you it's hungry / thirsty, by then it's usually too late.