Fuelling...

liversedge

nasahapley wrote:

My general rules when deciding how much to take on a ride, arrived at after extensive research (i.e. bonking many times on routes of varying length):

Up to 1.5 hours: nowt

Up to 2.5 hours: gel/banana which probably won't get eaten

Up to 4 hours: plan to eat every hour (bananas do the trick), plus a small pack of jelly sweets just in case

Much over 4 hours: still plan to eat roughly every hour but take a few extras too, including savoury stuff.

I'd usually eat something reasonably substantial before doing anything over a couple of hours, too. God knows how some of you can knock out 70 odd miles on two fruit bars though!

+1 yes yes that sums me up too, esp. the gel that doesn't get eaten on a 2.5hr ride LOL!

Gav888

Ive not reached big miles yet, 30 is my max which was 2 hrs to complete. For this I consumed porridge for breakfast and a pint of water, then an hour later out on the bike, whilst riding I had 500ml of OJ / Water mix and 1 hr into the ride a granola bar.

Most of the ride I was suffering energy wise, and I almost had 3 lots of calf cramps, but then when I was on the last 5 miles from home I was full of energy doing 21mph on the flat, when normally im doing 16mph on the same road at a struggle, so I dont know what happened there!! Does a granola bar take an hour to start producing energy, maybe it was that?

mclarent

I'm very suprised people are eating so much - I never take out more than a couple of bananas, with 1 bottle (usually 800ml, sometimes 1L). That will do me for 4 hours solo riding. Out on a chain gang this weekend, prob 60miles(?) so will report back if I bonk!

mackdaddy

Bloody hell. I now know how crap I've been. In the past, up to 3 hours I've never taken any food and about 750ml of energy drink, which I'd probably drink a max of 500ml.
My last 4 hour, which was about 65miles, I drank the 750ml of psp22, wished I had more, and had two energy gels.
I flagged a bit and did wonder if this was fuel. Obviously from reading the posts it was. I'm going to have to get myself trained to take on fuel properly (and fit another bottle cage) before weekend.
Doh! :oops:

chrisw12

Ok, just to wind it up a bit. :oops:

Lot's of people blaming poor performance on a lack of fuelling but could the real problem be a lack of specific fitness?

I mean if you're (only) doing a few hours in the week then what do you really expect to be like on a three/four hour, weekend, hard training ride?

mclarent

chrisw12 wrote:

Ok, just to wind it up a bit. :oops:

Lot's of people blaming poor performance on a lack of fuelling but could the real problem be a lack of specific fitness?

I mean if you're (only) doing a few hours in the week then what do you really expect to be like on a three/four hour, weekend, hard training ride?

Also, don't know if anyone's mentioned intensity, but yeah, intensity.

Slow1972

redddraggon wrote:

Hmm, most of you seem to be consuming the same or less than me. I'm definitely bonking though........

....could it just be that I don't eat right before (night before)? I normally have only have weetabix or cornflakes :?

The weird thing is that non of my habits have changed since the summer, and I never bonked during the summer - now I seem to be doing it on a lot of my rides....... :?

You make a good point here though, how much you need on your ride will also depend on how much you've taken on before your ride.

On a longer weekend ride I tend too have a large bowl of porridge with dried fruit and some nuts in about 1-2 hours before I ride. I reckon that provides a decent amount of energy which gets topped up with energy from my bottles. Personally, I've tried cornflakes / cereal and I seem to get hungry quicker with that than when I have porridge (or lots of brown bread toast)

I do a 3/4 hour daily commute without eating before hand and can ride that hard without feeling any ill effect. But then I will usually have had a decent meal with a reasonable amount ofcarbs in the night before.

Compare that with my commute home, if I haven't had something at 4ish, I find my energy levels are low when I start my commute home at 6 and I dont get the best out of the ride.

On a ride of 2-3 hours I usually have a couple of bottles with carbs in, I carry a few gels and/or cereal bars but dont tend to use them unless its a higher intensity ride or I know I'm going to be out 3hrs+, when I start fuelling earlier. I think the main point here is if you are going to be fuelling do it early enough, when you start to suffer you've left it too late imho. And anyway, other than not losing as much weight, arent you better playing a bit safe and fuelling than take the risk of bonking (or even just not performing as well as you could fully fuelled)? I bonked big style once last summer and frankly after that I'd rather be having a bit too much carbs going in during a long ride than take the risk of a repeat.

pbracing

mclarent wrote:

chrisw12 wrote:

Ok, just to wind it up a bit. :oops:

Lot's of people blaming poor performance on a lack of fuelling but could the real problem be a lack of specific fitness?

I mean if you're (only) doing a few hours in the week then what do you really expect to be like on a three/four hour, weekend, hard training ride?

Also, don't know if anyone's mentioned intensity, but yeah, intensity.

I reckon most people know what they should be capable of even if the intensity changes. It's when you find yourself felling empty I guess you look around for reasons like food intake. Could it just be a bad day at the office? It happens, but I want to know when that really good (Floyd Landis type) day is going to happen? Maybe 750ml of 90% psp22 :shock:

Anonymous

For anythig under 65 miles I dont usually need anything providing I eat something in the morning.

Other day I did 55miles lumpy route, I had a 750ml bottle, had about 65% of that, and had no food and was doing it at quite a fast pace too.

Anything over 65, like 65-70 I can go down hill extreamly quick so I usually get some of those tracker bars or whatever they are called, I take about 6 of them with me and 2 750ml bottles of water, someone told me to have orange juice and maybe put a pinch of salt in because when you sweat you loose salt so the salt in the drink replenishes that.

I'd like to drink propor stuff for cyclists and propor bars but they are far too expensive compared to normal snack bars

DomPro

For a 2 hr high intensity ride I consistently have 750ml of water (w/ isotonic). I drink this progressively throughout the ride and it works a treat.

Some of you have weird fuelling strategy btw.

Gav888

Is it worth testing yourself to see how far you can go before you bonk?

Say for example each Saturday, get up at x o clock have x to eat for breakfast and ride for x hours and only drink x ml of water to see when you bonk, say its 2 hours into the ride. Then do exactly the same the following week (providing the weather is the same) but change water for a energy drink and see how far you go then, and repeat again the following week but use water and a energy bar instead of energy drink, and again see how far that goes, then try both energy drink and food, and so on....

softlad

I suppose you could do that, but you would have to ask yourself what the point would be. It would be much better just to learn to recognise the early symptoms, so you could catch it early...

mclarent

pbracing wrote:

I reckon most people know what they should be capable of even if the intensity changes. It's when you find yourself felling empty I guess you look around for reasons like food intake. Could it just be a bad day at the office? It happens, but I want to know when that really good (Floyd Landis type) day is going to happen? Maybe 750ml of 90% psp22 :shock:

Try eating it straight out of the tub

I'm sure you are right (to a point) that people have an idea of what they are capable of in "normal conditions", but when are conditions ever normal? And when does your body react accordingly? IIRC Chavenel bonked in a race at the end of last season.

Reason I mention intensity is it's one of the determinants of glycogen usage (exhaustion of glycogen being "the bonk"). Low intensity, low glycogen usage, lower fuelling requirements...

redddraggon

UPDATE:

I've finally discovered why I've been "bonking". This week with the increased day length I've been going out later, after lunch, but still doing the same routes/relative intensity etc as I've always done. I've been experiencing nothing bad, like I have all winter.

So it's either with my lunch I'm properly fuelled compared to just a bowl of cereal or that it doesn't suit me going out early. But I'm willing to bet it's the food....

I think I was too worried about eating during the ride, (and the night before) rather than what I ate before I go out.

I guess I'll try having a bigger breakfast tomorrow :P

Bhima

Mate, just have a whole pan (3KG) of porridge (weight is when it's fully made) 3hrs before you go out.Stick a MASSIVE spoon of honey in it and make it with ONLY milk - don't dilute with water. I can guarantee you wont bonk within two hours, even if sprinting.

I've started taking out flapjacks more and more. 150g each - 110g of that being slow-release carbs - it's probably the best thing you can have for long distance stuff.

softlad

redddraggon wrote:

So it's either with my lunch I'm properly fuelled compared to just a bowl of cereal or that it doesn't suit me going out early. But I'm willing to bet it's the food....

could be the food - but maybe not.

Two weeks ago, I was up early most days doing two hours (ie 8-10am), with only a bottle to get me round and having only had a small breakfast before going out. Felt strong all the way round on every ride..

Last week, I went out on the same route, but mostly in the lafe afternoon, not early morning. Big difference - I didn't feel nearly as strong and on a couple of rides I was glad to get home.

I'm starting to think that time of the day makes a big difference....

cm59

ive only been riding a month did 70 miles yesterday in 4 hrs 15 had 3 weetabix about 3 hrs before fried egg on toast about an hour before
on the ride 2 litres of 4:1 a litre of water 2 energy and protein brs 2 gels and a cereal bar
didnt get tired at any point

sampras38

Slow1972 wrote:

redddraggon wrote:

Hmm, most of you seem to be consuming the same or less than me. I'm definitely bonking though........

....could it just be that I don't eat right before (night before)? I normally have only have weetabix or cornflakes :?

The weird thing is that non of my habits have changed since the summer, and I never bonked during the summer - now I seem to be doing it on a lot of my rides....... :?

You make a good point here though, how much you need on your ride will also depend on how much you've taken on before your ride.

On a longer weekend ride I tend too have a large bowl of porridge with dried fruit and some nuts in about 1-2 hours before I ride. I reckon that provides a decent amount of energy which gets topped up with energy from my bottles. Personally, I've tried cornflakes / cereal and I seem to get hungry quicker with that than when I have porridge (or lots of brown bread toast)

I do a 3/4 hour daily commute without eating before hand and can ride that hard without feeling any ill effect. But then I will usually have had a decent meal with a reasonable amount ofcarbs in the night before.

Compare that with my commute home, if I haven't had something at 4ish, I find my energy levels are low when I start my commute home at 6 and I dont get the best out of the ride.

On a ride of 2-3 hours I usually have a couple of bottles with carbs in, I carry a few gels and/or cereal bars but dont tend to use them unless its a higher intensity ride or I know I'm going to be out 3hrs+, when I start fuelling earlier. I think the main point here is if you are going to be fuelling do it early enough, when you start to suffer you've left it too late imho. And anyway, other than not losing as much weight, arent you better playing a bit safe and fuelling than take the risk of bonking (or even just not performing as well as you could fully fuelled)? I bonked big style once last summer and frankly after that I'd rather be having a bit too much carbs going in during a long ride than take the risk of a repeat.

I'll second using porridge before a ride. I switched to it a few weeks ago and have noticed a definate improvement. I did a 55 miler at the weekend with a handful of average climbs and had bowl of porridge oats with currents and a little honey for breakfast, plus a pint of water. Then on the ride I took 2 750ml bottles, one with powerbar isotonic and the other with a home made isotonic (squash, water, pinch of salt), one banana and a giff bar. Felt good for the whole ride.

6ft and 81kg.