what do you eat when out on a ride?

mudcow007

as per title really

i can never seem to eat anything when i'm out an about, i have my first century this Sunday an i'm worried i will flake out from not eating

i've never ridden that far before (i have done 70's & 80's)

so what do you all take with you on rides?

also how much fluid would you take onboard, ok i know this will depend on heat an how hard your riding..

tgotb

Races up to 1 hour - nothing
Longer races - 1 or 2 bottles of weak SIS, Torq gels, jelly babies
Other rides - 2 bottles (for anything more than ~30 miles), Fruesli bars, Torq gels, jelly babies
For anything approaching a century, I expect to refill my bottles at least once, and most rides over a century feature a sit down lunch and often a pub stop too :-)

TheStone

Looks warm, so you'll need two bottles this weekend. I put the energy powder (SIS/High5) in, but not sure if it makes much difference.

Carry some food that you'll actually want to eat, rather than the horrible energy bars. I use normal cereal bars.

And I normally carry a couple of emergency gels, but don't often use them.

notsoblue

Is it an organised ride with feed stops? When I'm on one of those I usually just bring some emergency bonk food, like fruesli bars or sweets. Just a couple, I've brought too much before and ended up just taking it home. For a ride that long I try to take two bottles and refill whenever I can. Important to remain hydrated. I ran out of water on a ride in the Brecon Beacons a few weeks ago and spent the last 15 miles in agony from intercostal muscle cramps, which I suspect were caused in part by dehydration.

tl;dr, I try to eat and drink little and often. But I don't bring much with me if there are feed stops.

mudcow007

aye, its the help for heros ride to london thingy

supposedly there are feed stations every 25 miles i think which should be cool

im looking forward to it, but worried you have to get the end by a certain time, i dont want to bonk but i dont really eat when riding

argh!!

willy b

+ 1 for cereal bars.

For a 100 mile ride i'll tak:

- 2 x 750ml bottles (I do drink a lot) full of water and some hydrating tablet things.
- 4/5 energy gels (in reality i'll probably only have 3)
- 2 x cereal bars
- Some gummy sweets - Midget gems are good as you can just snack on them if they're loose in your pocket.

notsoblue

mudcow007 wrote:

aye, its the help for heros ride to london thingy

supposedly there are feed stations every 25 miles i think which should be cool

im looking forward to it, but worried you have to get the end by a certain time, i dont want to bonk but i dont really eat when riding

argh!!

If you're a regular cycle commuter I doubt you'll be one of the slower ones!

Feltup

Bananas are great, easy to eat and lots of energy plus they help against that empty feeling you get with gels etc.

willy b

Feltup wrote:

Bananas are great, easy to eat and lots of energy plus they help against that empty feeling you get with gels etc.

Ahhh how did I forget these. I usually take about 3 on a ride!

cyclingprop

Hate bananas. My other suggestions similar to other people, plus nakd bars - munged up dried fruit/nuts.

SteppenHerring

You do have to get your body used to eating while riding.

Fig rolls in a tri-bag are good. Small, easy to eat and loads of calories - and much cheaper than energy bars.

I find the flavoured energy drinks often too sweet so these days I just mix maltodextrine (e.g. SIS Original) with a little squash. Maybe lob one of them salt/mineral tablets in too if it's a hot day.

mudcow007

i cant do gels, they are rank, its like someone is squirting "baby gravy" down in my mouth - no thanks

bananas sound a winner,

im i best to alternate with hydrating stuff an plain old water? im worried about getting a dodgy stomach?

ive been using them "high 5 zero" tablets, mic two tabs in 750mls of water

iPete

bananas usually and an emergency gel. slice of cold pizza was the fuel of choice on the last club run

stick with what you are used to, i wouldn't want to try anything different in my drink on the day

edds

I am usually a banana or kelloggs elevenses bar kind of person (I find them moist enough unlike some breakfast bars which are really dry).

Though I have been meaning to try some home made rice cake things for my next long ride, which you can see in this video: http://www.bicycling.com/video/man-feed ... /video/all with instructions here:
http://bicycling.com/blogs/theleadinged ... real-food/

vermin

You can do a lot worse, for a lot more money, than these:



Individually wrap a few in scraps of paper and throw then in a pocket.

bobbygloss

Malt loaf or plum loaf are still my favourites. Make some cuts lengthways and spread butter in, then cut into 3 or 4 pieces.
To drink, half orange juice and half water, with a bit of salt added. Think I read that on here somewhere, and it seems to work.

Kieran_Burns

Bobbygloss wrote:

Malt loaf or plum loaf are still my favourites. Make some cuts lengthways and spread butter in, then cut into 3 or 4 pieces.
To drink, half orange juice and half water, with a bit of salt added. Think I read that on here somewhere, and it seems to work.

I thought the fat in the butter means it gets absorbed more slowly. I spread jam on mine. Instant hit and slower hit all in one scrummy bite

bobbygloss

Kieran_Burns wrote:

I thought the fat in the butter means it gets absorbed more slowly. I spread jam on mine. Instant hit and slower hit all in one scrummy bite

Could be. I haven't really thought about it, just know that it can be a bit dry without butter. Maybe chocolate spread? There was a thread about that a while back.

Widgey

Flapjack...

t4tomo

Cornish pasty - ideal shape for your centre jersey pocket - miles tastier than any energy bars too.

Kieran_Burns

t4tomo wrote:

Cornish pasty - ideal shape for your centre jersey pocket - miles tastier than any energy bars too.

My poo tastes better than most energy bars, so that's not much of a recommendation.

itboffin

Nothing for 60 miles or less unless its in the mountains then something like a banana or ham & cheese sandwich every 20 miles but always an electrolyte tab and plenty of water.

I've tried just about everything but really unless I'm travelling huge distances I would choose normal food over gels.

meanredspider

Last couple of rides: too many flies :shock: :roll:

Seriously though - just more of what you might eat on a normal ride. You really don't want to start experimenting on your first century.

Half the battle is eating well BEFORE the ride - making sure you get a good breakfast - especially if you're away from home. I really struggled with this each morning on my L2E ride. Can't emphasise that enough

As others have said, drink well. If you use High 5 tabs, you can just mix them up at each rest stop. I find coffee and a muffin is my secret energy hit but normally I like the ZipVit ZV8 bars - they're fab. Bananas are awesome. But, seriously, eat what you know. And keep eating. Also, pace yourself. I can ride all day at 140bpm - several days in a row.

kelsen

Kieran_Burns wrote:

My poo tastes better than most energy bars, so that's not much of a recommendation.

You eat your own poo during long rides??? :shock:

il_principe

Mule or Clif Bars - both are good and easy to eat on the go.
2 x 750 ml bottles with High5 4:1 mix
2 x emergency gels - Mule's Cafe Cortado is great. Coffee flavour and not too sweet. Gels are good for the last 20 miles or so when you will be flagging.

daddy0

I normally ride 60 miles, but for rides this length this is what eat.

Breakfast before ride:
2 slices of brown toast with strawberry jam (think I saw that this was Bradley Wiggins favorite pre ride breakfast)
1 banana
1 satsuma
big cup of tea, 1 sugar not much milk
2 pints of water

During ride:
750ml water
1 banana

I sometimes take a chocolate bar, but hardly ever eat it. If I was riding longer then I'd fill up my water bottle somewhere with more water and take another banana. I'd also make sure I ate some pasta the night before.

CiB

MRS has it right. Have the biggest breakfast + coffee you can stomach and hydrate yourself properly with water or squash, well before you set off, and that'll see you though the first 60-70 miles without issue as long as you keep topping up the fluids when you're moving. And instead of carrying foods that are a compromise of what you can carry in your pockets for 5 hours before you eat them, I stuff a fiver in and stop at a handy shop at about the time you need to - 60, 70 miles - and buy something that's still pleasant and hasn't weighed me down and jammed into my kidneys for the last few hours. A pint or 2 of milk, something savoury and filling with a side order of Walkers Cheese & Onion crisps followed by your chocolate bar of choice will see you though to the end without problem. The emergency gel bars might come in handy over the last 10-15 miles, as long as you banish Kieran's taste analogy from your mind first.

A good breakfast is > 2 weetabix with supermarket own-brand porridge oats straight of the bag strewn about on top & round the sides, liberally dowsed with milk & sugar.

UndercoverElephant

I go for flapjacks, the sweetest, gooiest ones I can find. Taste a whole heap better than the power bar type things, and probably work just as well.

meanredspider

Daddy0 wrote:

big cup of tea, 1 sugar not much milk
2 pints of water

:shock: Does that not go straight through you, D0?

Half the trick of hydrating is to drink it over a long period of time. I might get a pint down me but only if I start sipping it the moment I wake up. Keeping at least a pint next to the bed to sip overnight is useful too.

mudcow007

probably i have got with the breaksfast is the ride starts at 2am sunday morning

i arrive at the ride (after starting to travel at 20:00 on Saturday) in Wiltshire at 1am

i think breakfast will be coffee by the gallon

meanredspider

Ah - then a good tea

Daft time to start a long ride. I thought starting the Moonriders ride at 11.30pm was a bit silly - I'd finished by 3.30am though. You'll finish around 10.30 - 11.00am I guess -depending upon breaks en-route

Caffeine will be your friend but only near the beginning. Careful you don't overdo it so you can't sleep when you've finished.