Nutrition While Riding

thescouselander

Well, to report back I took a lot more care to make sure I ate more during the ride at the weekend. I didn't bother with the energy drink but a mixture a flapjack, energy gels and bacon butties for lunch seemed to do the trick. My legs were going strong even after 70 miles, which is about the longest distance I've done.

slowondefy2

Raffles wrote:

I have to come clean and state my lack of faith in the powdered drinks you can buy at a cycling store. I used to believe that I needed them if I was going to out and knock out 50 - 60 miles. Id place an order with wiggle or go to my LBS and get the big drum of powdered high 5 that you mix with water, id roll my eyes and take a deep breath as I made payments of £25 each time. Then I discovered that if I eat the right stuff pre-ride and bought the tesco own brand lucozade which I let go flat the night before a ride............I could get along just dandy and the drink cost me 89p for 1 litre bottle. I said never again to handing out a lot of money for a sports drink when a 90p soreen loaf and 89p drink did the job for me at a level I couldnt make a single complaint with.

Stopped buying the High5 last year , saved myself a fair amount of cash and am totally enjoying my cycling these days.

High5 Energy Source works out to £1.18 per litre at RRP (89p per litre at Wiggle's current price) - so it's not astronomically more than Tesco's own brand.

Muffintop

The electrolite/carb drinks and gel shots can be economical if you shop around, and I quite like them because stuff like soreens too much of a 'chew' to be pleasant to eat for me on the road - I also find that if I'm doing more than 20 miles without a break I loose my appitite so getting 80-100cals in one mouthful makes sense to me. I usually take 1 gel per hour that I'm out and sip from the drink. If it's going to be a long ride (40 miles +) then I'll boil up some baby potatoes and parmasan, as well as the gels and carb drink, though the potatoes are just really an incase and I usually end up only having 2-3 from the packet I've made up.

As to the squits - I seem to get them regardless over 20 miles which gets worse if I eat real food so I'm quite fond a dose of imodium if I'm going out and not intending to stop.

Mx

navrig

Muffintop wrote:

The electrolite/carb drinks and gel shots can be economical if you shop around,

Mx

Even more economical if you load up with the Zipfit freebies at the last food stop on the Etape. I crossed the finish line with a few gels in my pockets. Just a pity they are all caffeinated and not as smooth as the SIS gels.

jp1970

Soreen spread with nutella !!!!!
Yum yum :P

Muffintop

Navrig wrote:

Nickel wrote:

Regarding caffeinated gels, im not sure how much difference they make if you already consume a lot of caffeine, I like coffee, a lot, and caffeinated gels make bugger all difference compared to normal gels when I use them.

Oh and whilst I generally eat real food on long rides I do find a gel or two useful towards the end of the ride when I simply can't be bothered to chew real food like flapjack, I know it sounds silly but after 6 hours of flapjack, cereal bars etc a gel can be kind of refreshing.

I eventually get a craving for savoury. I had a ham and mustard roll half way round the Ken Laidlaw last year. If there had been pies or sausage rolls available..........

If I can manage anything I want a bowl of Cullen Skink. The creamier and saltier the better. I'm convinced it's the food of athletes.

simon_e

g00se wrote:

One difference with gels and jelly babies - is that most gels contain maltodextrins and not just glucose/sucrose/dextrose (same thing). Maltodextrin has a higher lower glicemic load than the simple sugars - it takes longer for your body to process so you don't get the sugar rush and low you do with sugary sweets/chocolate etc.

If you're expending enough energy I don't it is as big an issue, you still need to replace the energy you're burning. It's office workers and people sitting around that are more vulnerable to a sugar high/crash. And bear in mind that things like bread are high GI carbs so are converted to sugar relatively quickly.

Navrig wrote:

I eventually get a craving for savoury. I had a ham and mustard roll half way round the Ken Laidlaw last year. If there had been pies or sausage rolls available..........

Sometimes mini cheddars do the trick for me. But pies and sausage rolls? That's not mid-ride nutrition, it's junk. It is also laced with fat (which hugely slows digestion), and pork is the least digestible food I have ever encountered. Just what you don't want before attacking a big hill.

Anonymous

I always wonder about gels, I know last weekend in a charity race they got me through the last 4 miles, but sometimes I put this down to a placebo effect more than anything. I experianced this with a friend who could hardly cycle after a long run and eat a bannana but this had little effect, as soon as he had consumed a gel he was like Cav going for a sprint in the world champs. I can't see how the gel had this huge a boost, and put it down to a placebo effect.

Even so I always carry one with me just because I do sometimes struggle to eat solid food towards the end of a long run. That last hill on Arran almost had me last week.