At what point do you start to consider extra food/nutrition?

Cliveyp

OK, so my rides are short at the moment (12-15 miles generally, once or twice a week over the darker months), but into the new year i'm looking to start to increase these as a way of training towards next years London-Brighton run.

At what sort of mileage/cycling time do you start to thing about more than water? Should I start to throw a banana in if I start to head over 20 miles, or what?

Cheers!

SBezza

Distance is not the thing to measure needs by, it is time really. For me 12-15 miles wouldn't need anything, and again up to 40/50 miles I will just use water with no food, but no doubt speeds will be different between beginners and more experienced riders.

I would say anything up to 2 hours you should be able to do on fluids alone, just make sure you have eaten at least a snack 1 to 2 hours prior to riding. Perhaps take a banana or energy/breakfast bar as a back up.

Only you know how you manage, each person will give a completely different response based on what they need. If you eat a normal diet and your glycogen is realitively topped up, you shouldn't need a great deal until you start riding for durations greater than 2 hours.

Cliveyp

Thats about the sort of reply I was expecting!

If i'm honest, i'm probably a bad advert for cycling at the moment as I don't tend to have a snack of any kind before heading out (its all part of a weight loss programme that I started at the beginning of the year, finally feeling I wanted to get on the bike a few months back). Even at 12-15 miles, is it worth grabbing something quick an hour before heading out? I currently eat my (varied) lunch around 12.30-13.00, get home from work and put the daughter to bed, then head out around 19.45-20.00. I then sit down for my evening meal when I get back. Might this explain my lack of drive to go that extra few miles??

Duncanandthemachine

When you're just starting out I'd work on the basis that if you feel low on energy you should eat something, take a banana or an energy gel with you for emergencies.

As you get to grips with training a little more I'd suggest you type 'Cycling Nutrition' in to Google, there's loads of useful information out there, you just need to read a few websites to put it all together because they all seem to give you 75% of the story.

There is benefit long term in not eating when you ride, this trains your body to burn fat as a fuel rather than carbs, but i wouldn't worry about this for a year.

SBezza

Cliveyp wrote:

Thats about the sort of reply I was expecting!

If i'm honest, i'm probably a bad advert for cycling at the moment as I don't tend to have a snack of any kind before heading out (its all part of a weight loss programme that I started at the beginning of the year, finally feeling I wanted to get on the bike a few months back). Even at 12-15 miles, is it worth grabbing something quick an hour before heading out? I currently eat my (varied) lunch around 12.30-13.00, get home from work and put the daughter to bed, then head out around 19.45-20.00. I then sit down for my evening meal when I get back. Might this explain my lack of drive to go that extra few miles??

Well this is far from ideal, and to be honest you will be heading out on a ride with low energy stores, and conscently you may struggle alot earlier. I persoanlly would try to eat just a small snack of fruit, or a quick sandwich when you get home, that will help you no end. There is no way I could do my longer rides without eating since 13:00.

As to weight loss, try to eat several smaller meals throughout the day rather then the standard 3 meals a day. Do not cut out calories drastically to be honest, just cut down by 500-750 a day, and with exercise you will lose weight.

mrwibble

When you ride for more that an hour... You have about an hour and a bit of stored energy in your muscles

Omar Little

2 hours for me. Can go on a bit longer but start to flag a bit if all i have had is water.

However if it is a long ride then i dont wait until 2 hours before i eat anything i prefer to have a banana or bar after about an hour or so and then try and keep to a "a little, often" after that just to keep my energy levels up.

SBezza

mrwibble wrote:

When you ride for more that an hour... You have about an hour and a bit of stored energy in your muscles

You have about 2 hours worth fully stocked up, but depending on the intensity you will be burning fat as well as glycogen. If you are riding at an intensity that burns nearly 100% glycogen, you wouldn't be riding for more than an hour or 2 anyhow, as you would be fatigued a fair amount and probably couldn't manage much more even if you did eat along the way.

Bobbinogs

When I eat depends on how far I am going, e.g., nothing for a 90min ride but a banana or flapjack after an hour if the ride is 2 hours. For a 3 hour ride then I eat every 20-30 minutes between a hour and 2.5 hours, similar for longer rides, etc.

I defiinitely agree with the posts about changing your pre-ride regime. When I go out with my club straight after getting home at 7, I make sure I take a nice tub of cold pasta/pesto and munch it before leaving the office. I arrive home feeling fuelled up and raring to get out.

careful

Omar Little said:

However if it is a long ride then i dont wait until 2 hours before i eat anything

+1 I am also generally ok without food for 2 hours, but if I plan to be out longer I eat a bar or similar after an hour and about every 40 mins after.

Evil Laugh

About 40 miles.

I regularly do a <40 mile loop on water and the day's food. Much more and I'd mix some carb drink and take some bars with me.

Jim Will Fixie It

If doing a ride of up to 50 miles (2.5-3hrs) I won't take any food, just water and squash. However, if doing anything more then I will eat every 1.5-2hrs (just something small like an energy bar/flapjack/packet of dried fruit).

At the end of the day you kind of learn through your own mistakes, learning how far your body can go on X-amount of food. Hope that helps the OP.