Food For 100 Mile Ride

carl_p

I plan to do my first ever 100 miler in June. How much and what type of food and drink should I take? Probably looking at abot 6.5 hours of cycling plus a good hour for rests and hanging around. Would like to travel as light as possible but equally don't want to bonk.

I realise it's not until a while off yet but I need to start considering food and drink in my training rides and start to build up. Would really like to know what works for you and what to avoid. Cheers.

markos1963

Hi Carl, I to am in training for the Norwich 100(I presume thats what you're doing). My plan for the ride is to start with 1x 500ml of PSP energy and 1x 500ml of electrolyte and carrying sachets of both to top up at the half way point, Food wise I will probably carry 8 fig rolls and a couple of bananas and a couple of gels. Should be enough for what is a fairly easy course. Just done 60 miles today and used about half of the above with no bonk problems at all.

carl_p

markos1963 wrote:

Hi Carl, I to am in training for the Norwich 100(I presume thats what you're doing). My plan for the ride is to start with 1x 500ml of PSP energy and 1x 500ml of electrolyte and carrying sachets of both to top up at the half way point, Food wise I will probably carry 8 fig rolls and a couple of bananas and a couple of gels. Should be enough for what is a fairly easy course. Just done 60 miles today and used about half of the above with no bonk problems at all.

Hi Markos, yes it is the Norwich 100. A litre of fluid doesn't sound much, will you be taking plain water in addition? Loving the fig rolls though, so will have to make sure I don't eat them all at once.

Slightly off topic, but what mileage do you reckon I need to be up to before I tackle a 100? I was thinking about 75 and then winging the additional 25 on the day.

markos1963

Carl_P wrote:

markos1963 wrote:

Hi Carl, I to am in training for the Norwich 100(I presume thats what you're doing). My plan for the ride is to start with 1x 500ml of PSP energy and 1x 500ml of electrolyte and carrying sachets of both to top up at the half way point, Food wise I will probably carry 8 fig rolls and a couple of bananas and a couple of gels. Should be enough for what is a fairly easy course. Just done 60 miles today and used about half of the above with no bonk problems at all.

Hi Markos, yes it is the Norwich 100. A litre of fluid doesn't sound much, will you be taking plain water in addition? Loving the fig rolls though, so will have to make sure I don't eat them all at once.

Slightly off topic, but what mileage do you reckon I need to be up to before I tackle a 100? I was thinking about 75 and then winging the additional 25 on the day.

I was planning to restock on water at the halfway stop point, hence the sachets of powder carried.

I reckon you're just about right for milage, 75-80 miles as your max about 2 weeks before the ride should be fine with just a 40 miler the week before the ride is my plan. Next week I shall be doing some hill training on the course, Telegraph Hill near Holt and West Runton to Roman Camp with maybe Sheringham to Pretty Corner to finish off the work out. These are the main hills on the ride so it shouldn't be too bad.

fastcat

For that sort of distance, and if I was going to take all my food with me (rather than stopping at a cafe), then I'd start the day with a large bowl of pasta at least an hour before. Can be odd having pasta for breakfast, but I find it really works for me. Porridge is an alternative.

That tends to keep me going for the first couple of hours.

I'd take a couple of banana's and a couple energy bars (I find I need something about every hour once the benefit of the pasta has worn off .....)

I'd take 2 bidons of energy drink and plan on refilling both with water.

But we all differ a bit. On your training rides experiment a bit with fuelling to see what works for you ....

dave milne

I did 113 yesterday and managed it with only a tiny bonk in the middle on the following

2 bottles of psp22
1 bottle of lucozade sport bought halfway round

for food
2 maxim enery bars
1 go bar
1 jordans cereal bar
that took me to about 90 miles, at that point I really didn't want to eat anything else so I had 2 torq gels to help me over the last climbs and arrived home safely. Apart from a bleak moment cycling into a vicous headwind in Ashdown Forest at about 70 miles I was fine

phreak

On my gel sachet it suggests having one of those every 15 minutes of cycling. So if you're spending 6 hours in the saddle you'd get through 24 of the buggers

Frank the tank

Three/four litres of nuun.

A mixture of energy gels, bananas, malt loaf, energy bars.

A couple of slices of cheese/tom pizza makes a nics taste change.

stjohnswell

phreak wrote:

On my gel sachet it suggests having one of those every 15 minutes of cycling. So if you're spending 6 hours in the saddle you'd get through 24 of the buggers

a box full of gel sachets for a long sunday ride. i wonder if they also sell dental insurance?

Doobz

what are you eating now when you are training and how far + fast are you training?

e2a: also try and remember that you dont put normal fuel in a race car. If you want to ride hard, fast and far then stick to the stuff that works.. Energy bars, drinks etc -

If you put crap in then you will get crap out

fnegroni

Carl_P wrote:

I plan to do my first ever 100 miler in June. How much and what type of food and drink should I take? Probably looking at abot 6.5 hours of cycling plus a good hour for rests and hanging around.

I don't usually stop for food or rest, I just keep cycling. Maybe slower but I know that if I stop, especially in the second half of the distance, I am more likely to get cramps later on when I push hard.

So I tend to carry all my food with me in the back pocket. Admittedly I am no Lance Livestrong so I don't use as much energy. A Mars bar every 20 miles is what I usually eat on the ride, plus about 1 litre of isotonic drink every 50. Otherwise I would be dying for a pee.

As I said, I am not aiming for fame, I am just riding for pleasure so would keep a moderate speed around 16-18mph average (depending on route).

eh

Some plain sandwiches are always good IMO, all the sugar from the energy bars etc. for me gets too much. Personally I try and stay away from gels unless absolutely necessary as they are minging. So bananas, energy bars, cereal bars and sandwiches for me, then maybe 1 bottle of weak isotonic drink and 1 water.

Anonymous

You know those sachets of porridge? Well would taking one of those with you and eating it dry give you energy? Seems abit odd I know, just I have no bars, don't have time to go to shop and am planning on going on a 60ish mile ride very soon.

Slow1972

Will, I reckon you should give it a go and report back.

You may want to take some water with you though!

TomF

Will - you'll need hot water and a spoon.

Stick the spoon in your jersey pocket, and some boiling water into one of your water bottles before you go out. Should do the trick.

Mog Uk

You might aswell gulp down a bag of wallpaper paste, you'll end up with the same consistency in your mouth...

redddraggon

Mog Uk wrote:

You might aswell gulp down a bag of wallpaper paste, you'll end up with the same consistency in your mouth...

But would wallpaper paste give him a higher average speed than a packet of porridge?

Mog Uk

No idea, but if he comes round mine he could help me decorate just by licking the walls....

skavanagh.bikeradar

I polish off a 750ml water bottle roughly every hour in mild to warm temperatures and use Hammer electrolyte capsules so I can take water on the bike and not use up a bidon with electrolyte drink. I've got 4 bottle cages (two hanging off the saddle). The capsules work for me. I tried Hammer Perpetuum for 'food' but it gets a bit much and in the end I can't stomach it. I get through a lot of gels too but I quite like them, weird I know...

However in a recent thread of similar content lots of opinion for something savoury to break the monotony has convinced me to start steering away from all the gloop quite so much in future.

At food stops on Sportives I eat bannanas if available and have a drink. If energy bars are available I'll pick one up for later. So currently I set off on sportives loaded with food and drink.

mk_118

Breaking from the above slightly, I eat Haribo (carbs) and electrolyte drink in two 500ml water bottles.

The biggest differences to your ride in terms of energy tend to come before you even get on a bike. Take a big plate of carbs and just maintain your energy with 1g carbohydrate/kilo/hour (about 70g carbs/hour of riding) and you should be fine as well as drinking regularly!!

Another important factor, which tends to get ignored, is to eat what tastes good. Whilst I acknowledge there are better things out there, forcing yourself to eat something unappetising because it has 'everything you need' might just not work for you.

bahzob

mk_118 wrote:

Breaking from the above slightly, I eat Haribo (carbs) and electrolyte drink in two 500ml water bottles.

The biggest differences to your ride in terms of energy tend to come before you even get on a bike. Take a big plate of carbs and just maintain your energy with 1g carbohydrate/kilo/hour (about 70g carbs/hour of riding) and you should be fine as well as drinking regularly!!

Another important factor, which tends to get ignored, is to eat what tastes good. Whilst I acknowledge there are better things out there, forcing yourself to eat something unappetising because it has 'everything you need' might just not work for you.

Seconded above. Key thing in planning for longer than 2 hour ride is to look at carb grams of food, not calories, and aim to eat 60-90g per hour regular and often from the off. Aim to avoid foods with high fat content but otherwise choose foods you like to eat and are convenient to carry.