Nutrition on the Bike

foxydan

Does anyone have a guide as to eating and drinking on the bike?

Am riding up to around 40 miles at the moment but obviosuly looking to extend that this month. I want to know what the correct eating/drinking cycle should be say on a 50 to 60 mile ride. I'd assume if you were to ride further then it would just mean you continue the cycle as aiming to do a 100 miler in august so am slowy building up to it.

I do not take to gels particulary as find them pretty horrid so would want to aviod them. I feel have used a bottle of water, carbohydrate drink, bananas and oat bars on rides but do not really know when i should be taking them e.g. something every 15mins or bottle of water every hour etc.

If anyone could rough out a plan for me I'd appreciate it. I also realise it may be different for each person.

Thanks

Mikey41

From what I've picked up here, if you are going to ride beyond about 2 hours, you should eat about every hour. Take a mouthfull of fluid every 15-20mins or so. I haven't been out long enough to need to eat on the bike yet, though I will be soon. (well, I have been once, but had no food with me, it was nearly a disaster)

It's easy to make up some flapjack at home very cheaply. I made some up as a test and threw in some nuts and currants, which is really nice as it turns out! Another favourite is fruit cake, both work well for cycling. I cut the flapjack into bite size squares, so one of those every 45mins to 1 hour may be all that is needed.

I will no doubt try a gel sometime, but I think of them as an emergency measure, proper food is always preferable to me. Useful to keep a couple with you just in case.

My usual drink is simply fresh orange juice mixed with water, but I've tried a High5 Zero tablet (free sample from Evans), which tasted OK and seemed to work well.

TakeTurns

It depends mainly on the intensity of your ride. Also, each persons consumption will differ slightly, therefore there is no 'correct' time to eat.

You should be looking to get 500ml+ water in you by the hour. Eating wise, it's important you fuel yourself before you feel hungry or 'weak'. This will only work with trial and error - you'll need to learn how your body responds to specific work loads.

On a tempo 50miler (z2-3), I'd take 1 banana with an 2 litres of water. One bottle will have some energy powder included.

It's possible to do 50miles simply on water, however, that's counter productive against your training. You need to be fueled so that you feel strong throughout the ride in order to be able to train well.

Gels and such are for convenience, they're a quick shot of energy which the body can easily absorb. Save them for racing. You don't need a gel if you're doing a social ride along the canal with a mate talking about cows. Just eat a banana.

Ultimately, eating before the ride is one of the major important factors. You should eat properly 1-2 hours before the ride.

foxydan

Guess it is a lttle trail and error. When you say 500ml of water an hour, is that on top of a sports drink or just on it's own? I can imagine the urge to pee often which I havent encountered really yet.

simon_e

A couple of recent discussions:
viewtopic.php?f=40020&t=12902538
viewtopic.php?f=40011&t=12900756

foxydan

Thanks, have just checked those out.

I guess it equates to eating/drinking something every so often making sure I get between 30-60g of carbs every hour.
I assume I take on additonal water as well so that hydration levels remain constant?

TakeTurns

foxydan wrote:

I assume I take on additonal water as well so that hydration levels remain constant?

Yes, otherwise you'll dehydrate. I hope you aren't getting confused between water and energy drinks.

An energy drink is just water with additives. If you choose to do so, you can drink an energy drink instead of plain water. It will still hydrate you.

I only said I'll have one bottle with additives and the other with plain water because I do not require two bottles of energy drink for a ride of that length at that intensity.

foxydan

TakeTurns wrote:

foxydan wrote:

I assume I take on additonal water as well so that hydration levels remain constant?

Yes, otherwise you'll dehydrate. I hope you aren't getting confused between water and energy drinks.

An energy drink is just water with additives. If you choose to do so, you can drink an energy drink instead of plain water. It will still hydrate you.

I only said I'll have one bottle with additives and the other with plain water because I do not require two bottles of energy drink for a ride of that length at that intensity.

Yeh that is what I thought. So for example I may just take water on for the first hour and then start on the energy drink as well as eating something small every say 15 mins.

g00se

Personally, especially in the heat, I use the carb-free tabs that you add to water that contain salts and electrolytes you loose through sweating - stuff like Nunn and high5 Zero. The reason being that if I use sports drinks I can end up consuming more calories than I need if it's a hot, thirsty day.

Your body can only process about 60 grams of carbs an hour (one a minute). That's not muscles processing the blood sugar - that's your guts turning carbs into bloody sugar. So consuming more than that on the bike could just make you end up feeling sick with all that sweet sports drink, bars and gels sloshing about. Me, I get gut ache and trapped wind - not nice on a bike - and worse if you're behind me in the group

Another thing to consider is pace. If you have a look at training zones, you'll see that if you keep your power and heart rate down, your body will get a lot if it's fuel from fat burning. The more effort you put in, the more you rely on blood sugar levels from carb intake.

The best thing to do is make sure you've eaten enough complex carbs the day before and had a good breakfast (porridge etc). That'll get your bloody sugar levels up before you head out. if I'm doing an hour or two at a reasonable pace (someone mentioned 'tempo' above which is where you body is no longer relying of fat burning - but not so much effort as it's not comfortable) I'll just drink water/salts and have a snack or a gel with me just in case.

Anything more than two hours, I'll start taking on food - I find little and often is easier. Gels do have their place - if you're in a group going at a reasonable pace and not stopping - then they're easy to get into you. But have a mind to the amount of carbs you're consuming.