Long distance fueling

Brian B

Looking for some advice or tips from people for long distance fueling. I can eat solid food like energy bars, flapjack for ride up to 100-120 miles but if I am doing 175miles or so I really suffer in the last couple of hours due to stomach grumbling and complaining and can only tolerate water to drink and either gels or sweets like wine gums to eat.

I would like to know what others do to fuel their rides.

marcusjb

Keep it real.

Food wise.

Depending on the style of cycling you are doing the distance in, real food is far easier on the stomach than gels etc

But it takes quite a while to work out what works for you.

Stomachs stopping working is very common in long distance cycling. I have found hydration to be key to keeping the stomach going. I use nuun tablets in one bottle and plain water in the other.

These days, I know what I can handle in terms of food and what I can't. I generally keep it fairly simple, but I can equally eat a curry from a takeaway 2 or 3 days into a long event.

ut_och_cykla

I've never ridden that far but ridden for 12 hours or so and find that as the ride progresses I feel happiest eating food that is easier and easier to digest. i.e start with real food, then bars, then gels then carb drinks.

twotyred

only tolerate water to drink and either gels or sweets like wine gums to eat.

Not quite sure what your problem is. If you can tolerate gels and water for the last couple of hours isn't that sufficient? One gel every 30 mins or so should keep you going fine.

ut_och_cykla

Should have added that it is possible to overeat too! Especially when the rest of the body is working hard the digestive system struggles. If you fill yourself up with stuff that just stays undigested in gut you will feel poorly after a while. Most people can't take up more than 60g carbs an hour - 240kcal of easily digetsed pasta/rice/bread and not much else. So stuffing in more than that might cause trouble!

Brian B

twotyred wrote:

only tolerate water to drink and either gels or sweets like wine gums to eat.

Not quite sure what your problem is. If you can tolerate gels and water for the last couple of hours isn't that sufficient? One gel every 30 mins or so should keep you going fine.

Should have said also its not just during the ride but can suffer an upset tum occasionally after long distance rides. Not very often but has happened twice this year and quite unpleasant.

Brian B

ut_och_cykla wrote:

Should have added that it is possible to overeat too! Especially when the rest of the body is working hard the digestive system struggles. If you fill yourself up with stuff that just stays undigested in gut you will feel poorly after a while. Most people can't take up more than 60g carbs an hour - 240kcal of easily digetsed pasta/rice/bread and not much else. So stuffing in more than that might cause trouble!

Think you could be onto something here as I tend to try and eat more if I was targeting large miles (150 plus) and may be trying to consume too much to avoid the hunger knock.