When to eat

secretsam

Hi all

Am a lardy noob-ish who's been riding his 'road' bike for one year (I've been a regular commuter far longer)

I'm trying to lose weight but at the same time working up to ride the Ride to the Horns 97 mile route in July

I'm still not sure about the whole 'eating' thing - I tend to do my main ride on a Sunday AM, have some sort of cereal (usually something granola/muesli type) an hour or so before heading out - but if I'm out for 2hrs+, when do I need to eat? I know the sort of things that I can eat without yakking - not a big fan of gels, energy bars, etc but am OK with PSP22, flapjack, PB and jam sarnies, fig rolls, etc (can't imagine why I'm so lardy )

Anyway, if I'm out for 3 hours, what's your advice on fooding up? I usually ride around 14mph average

Thanks in advance

ilm_zero7

I dont eat before I go out, but can put away a chocolate bar after about an hour. Also if you want to lose weight avoid gels and stick to fig rolls and bananas. if youre doing 3 hours I would start snacking after 1 hour then eat bits every 30 minutes.

a good shot of coffee wouldn't come amiss before your last hour's push, but I really dislike stopping longer than necessary

Bobbinogs

This comes up a few times so worth having a poke around using the search tool.

FWIW, I think the general concensus that we usually come to is that we are all different!

IME, for short (20-35 mile) or rides that will take up to 2 hours then I don't bother with taking food with me but I might eat a banana or something light whilst thinking about the ride. For longer rides, then I make sure I have the right meal at least an hour or so beforehand (like breakfast or lunch but I won't have a midmorning lunch, if you see what I mean) and then I eat on the ride after ~90 mins and then ensure I am kept topped up from there on. A hard ride is supposed to burn your weight in kg as g of carbs per hour (so if you want to maintain energy levels then a 65kg rider should eat/drink 65g of carbs an hour) after your initial stock has been used up (which is about 90 mins). So, from 90mins to 150mins I will eat a banana, a flapjack and a small museli bar.

Obviously, I don't usually bother eating anything in the last 30 mins of a ride but ensure a good high protein recovery snack/drink/meal soon afterwards.

Oh, a banana is about 20g of carbs, a flapjack will be about 25g, etc.

I take a mixture of foods to keep me interested and try not to fret too much or be too rigid (for instance, after 6 hours on the bike on Saturday, I couldn't face anymore food but needed something so I gulped a gel as I headed for home).

Bear in mind that I am not trying to lose weight as my 65kg is OK for me. Hence, what I do works for me.

redvision

http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/fitness/ar ... ing-30327/

pottssteve

Try out different routines and find what works for you. I went through a phase of getting bad headaches late in a ride or after getting home. Eventually worked out that I probably wasn't eating enough. I've noticed that if I don't eat much the night before a ride I tend to get more hungry (obvious, really!)

Nowadays, before my Sunday ride I have a couple of Weetabix and a banana an hour before going out. On a 2 - 3 hour ride I'll stop about half way for a cereal bar/rice krispies bar or similar (about 150 cals), two if I feel hungry. When I get home I try to eat within about half an hour.

I'm 77kg so maybe I need a bit more fuel than others. However, a 2.5 hour ride will burn around 1600 calories and by riding I'll be eating maybe 500 calories more than on a "normal" day.

Steve