When to eat on long rides

cheaperholidays

Hi all - Can you advise the best time to eat on a long run of Say 70 to 80 miles, or is it a case of continuous eating on the go.. Would you say stop after 40 miles and wolf down a few sarnies..

Regards

SBezza

Have a decent breakfast before going out, and eat a bar or something of that ilk every hour or so.

Most of my long rides are on my own, so would never stop at all, just eat on the move. If I needed to top bottles up I will stop to refill them, and then carry on. If you prefer to stop, then judge it best to your needs.

ShutUpLegs

I'd stop for a big fry up somewhere

jibberjim

All the time...

And yes of course you should stop half way for some food - what's the point of a club run without a tea stop?

But in performance terms, a little and often is what you need so you're never trying to digest more than you can. Which will depend on how hard you're working.

Brian B

For long rides I tend to snack at regular intervals but keep on the move if for instance I am doing a sportive and break up my food in small bitesize pieces to make it easier.

If doing a long run on my own its usually in some scenic place and dont mind stopping to take a decent view and a snack.

If doing 100miles or so I have to fill up my bottles and usually have a bigger snack then and tend to stop around the 50mile mark.


Malt Lof, flap jacks, energy bars work for me.

badly_dubbed

for a century i would just nibble a bit flapjack or so every hour ish....theres no set rule of time really...fluid is also important!!

a nice meal the night before and a decent breaky are paramount IMO

8)

rick_chasey

I noticed on club runs it varies massively.

For me, after the first hour, it's every 20 minutes, and then it's something proper like a frusli bar or half a small pack of haribo, and even then, I had a big breakfast.

Then again, guys on my club would go without for 2hrs before needing anything, even without breakfast.

They were big, and perhaps a little on the heavy side, and i'm very small and very skinny, so perhaps there's a correlation there.

Either way, it's best to find out yourself.

kingderham

I find eating good food days before a ride is just as important as the food you consume on the evening and breakfast before a long ride.
Doing my first 100mile ride a friend who is far more experienced cyclist than me was eating about every 45minutes and drinking even more regulaly.
The mistake i made was i had been using high5 energy food and drinks in the build up to my 100miler and on the day i used the products provided they did not taste as nice i found them sickly(gels,energy bars and drinks) so did not eat or drink as much as i should have.

ceeque

to Rick: I believe if you`re a larger person wanting to lose weight then riding on an empty stomach for an hour after waking up is one of the best ways of doing it ... I don`t know the science of that but a cycling training program I had suggested it .....

furrag

I think the science behind it is that by doing aerobic exercise predominantly at around 60-70% MHR for as short as 30 minutes raises your basal metabolic rate for 16 hours or so.

I can't see size being a primary factor in the intake of food, but more so to rest, glycogen stores, and the type of riding - I'm 5'10" and 10.6 stone. I went out today after only a bowl of cornflakes to do some power intervals, which when complete became a half-century with no further food and only 750mL water. My glycogen stores would have been near full capacity as the past week or so my diet has been fairly high GI.

I don't eat or drink nowhere near enough on rides though and I really feel it after 3 hours or so. Eating little and regularly is probably more beneficial, but I just can't resist pigging out at cafe stops with some nice warm food.

chill123

as the others have said i eat something (flapjack, fig rolls, energy bar, banana) every hour, whether i feel hungry or not. give it a go and find out what works for you. i have club mates that can easily do a 70 miler with no food - we're all different!

Headhuunter

Figs, bananas, flapjacks, energy bars every now and then. I also make up my own energy drinks with maltodextrin, salts (if it's hot), protein.

Monty Dog

Scientific view is that you only have about 2 hours of fuel on-tap stored as blood glycogen and therefore if planning to ride for longer, taking on energy is necessary to avoid the 'bonk' or 'knock' when the glycogen runs out - regardless of whether you had a fry-up or not. Guideline is you need to consume 1g of carbs per kilo of bodyweight for every hour of exercise - either through energy drink or solids. Training does improve your economy, hence some people getting away with less. For longer rides, suggest snacking every 20-30 minutes throughout the ride rather than waiting for a couple of hours.

edhornby

as the others have said, eating properly and making sure you're hydrated the night before is useful

bear in mind if you are doing a sportive, the gap between eating breakfast and actually starting the ride can be significant (think about driving time and pre-ride registration) so you may need some food earlier on in the ride than you think (I've made this mistake previously)