Nutrition on longer rides

secretsam

I'm sure someone's posted on here how many grammes of Carbs that you need to consume per Kg of weight per hour, but need to do something about my nutrition - at the weekend was really struggling, then had a munch of some flapjack and all was fine and dandy again (although I was still tired) - I think I'm not eating enough.

Tips?

chrisaonabike

SecretSam wrote:

...but need to do something about my nutrition - at the weekend was really struggling, then had a munch of some flapjack and all was fine and dandy again ... - I think I'm not eating enough.

See how simple the problem becomes when it's called 'eating', not 'nutrition'?

kajjal

Charts and calculations are really for average people so at best give you a guide to start from as no one is average

The best guide is experience and to listen to your body. I ran out of food at the weekend riding and spent the last hour dragging my self back. Just forgot to take my muesli bars with me.

littledove44

SecretSam wrote:

I'm sure someone's posted on here how many grammes of Carbs that you need to consume per Kg of weight per hour, but need to do something about my nutrition - at the weekend was really struggling, then had a munch of some flapjack and all was fine and dandy again (although I was still tired) - I think I'm not eating enough.

Tips?

How much do you weigh?
How long was your ride?
How fast was your ride?
Do you wear a HRM?
Do you have any other power or effort data?
Were you fed and rested the night before?
What did you have for breakfast?
How long before breakfast and riding?

Bobbinogs

I agree with Littledove's post (or at least the sentiment) in that you need to stop dropping into pseudo-science. In order for us to answer the grams of carb then all the questions need answering whereas what you really need to be saying is..."what should I eat for longer rides".

So, first off, eat a balanced diet. Then, eat a decent breakfast without eating too much or anything too fatty. Then, if you are riding for a couple of hours, IME, eat a banana or something similar after about 90 minutes.

If you are riding hard and plan to go longer than 2 hours then after about 90-120 mins you will get depleted so think about replacing energy before that. Eat regularly and try to eat a mixture of foods. For me, after 90 mins on a long ride (anything from 3 to 10 hours) I will eat 2 or 3 things an hour whether that is flapjacks, energy bars (Zipvit work well for me), Nakd bars, Nutrigrain, bananas, etc. To help with food boredom, I will also have the odd carb drink in my bottles (sorts out hydration and fuel at the same time but I also eat). The odd gel is for when I am suffering, particularly on a long ride with a big climb coming up or a caffeine gel if I have had an early start on an audax, etc., and can feel tiredness creeping in (an obvious sign being missing a left or right turn ).

Proper food can work wonders too, like baked beans on toast at a cafe stop and a big mug of tea

ForumNewbie

If I eat something like a cereal bar every hour on a long ride, that usually keeps my energy up. Also you should eat before you get hungry.

secretsam

ForumNewbie wrote:

If I eat something like a cereal bar every hour on a long ride, that usually keeps my energy up. Also you should eat before you get hungry.

I think that's where I go wrong!

Sorry about the comments about pseudo-science and all that - really I'm just not sure how much I should be eating, and how much of my tiredness on longer rides (2hrs+) is due to fitness and how much to lack of fuel

In answer to other Qs: 175cm tall, and a magnificent 90kg :oops: :oops: :oops: :oops:

This weekend's little jaunt is meant to be 75 miles

littledove44

SecretSam wrote:

ForumNewbie wrote:

If I eat something like a cereal bar every hour on a long ride, that usually keeps my energy up. Also you should eat before you get hungry.

I think that's where I go wrong!

Sorry about the comments about pseudo-science and all that - really I'm just not sure how much I should be eating, and how much of my tiredness on longer rides (2hrs+) is due to fitness and how much to lack of fuel

In answer to other Qs: 175cm tall, and a magnificent 90kg :oops: :oops: :oops: :oops:

This weekend's little jaunt is meant to be 75 miles

Ok, you are almost identical to me at 174 cm and 88kg.
For rides up to 1.5 hours I take nothing but water. Anything longer I take food and drink.
Assuming I am rested and had a good breakfast a few hours previously (like porridge and then egg on toast) I will start eating after an hour. Normally home made muesli bar or similar, or a banana. I will eat one of those every hour.
If the pace is high for me (like the four hour ride I did recently at 25km/h) I will also have some quick energy (like a gel or a few dates or a handful of jelly beans) every hour, normally on the half hour between the muesli bars.
Drink wise I take diluted pineapple or cherry juice, or an electrolyte mix if it is hot, or an electrolyte/energy drink such as gatorade if the ride is three hours or more.

All of that is still probably less than I burn off in the ride, but I am still losing weight thankfully.

For a 75 mile ride, assuming I couldn't pick anything up along the way, I would probably carry all of this apart from the Snickers and the Power bars and I would choose between either the Nakd bars or the homemade one in the box..

drlodge

Eat little and often, say every 40-60 minutes or so. I use flapjack, fig rolls, jelly babies or granola bar sold by Sainsburys - £1.50 for 4.

For a 75 miler, have some porridge with apples and/or banana for breafast, then I would aim for some flapjack or similar every 15 miles or so. That's 4 feeds which should keep you going. And don't forget to drink (isotonic or those zero cal tabs). For long rides I carry a couple of gels just in case, but they're quite sickly.

drlodge

littledove44 wrote:

For a 75 mile ride, assuming I couldn't pick anything up along the way, I would probably carry all of this apart from the Snickers and the Power bars.

:shock: :shock: :shock:

Blimey, that's quite a lot!! Did 68 miles on Sunday on a coffe and slice of carrot cake.

secretsam

drlodge wrote:

littledove44 wrote:

For a 75 mile ride, assuming I couldn't pick anything up along the way, I would probably carry all of this apart from the Snickers and the Power bars.

:shock: :shock: :shock:

Blimey, that's quite a lot!! Did 68 miles on Sunday on a coffe and slice of carrot cake.

Pfft, that's nothing, I did the distance from earth to the moon on nothing but a slice of carrot

cougie

Do you have a picnic basket on the front ? That does seem a fair amount. I'm with the coffee and cake stop.

Maybe some energy drink and an emergency energy bar for the way home that never gets used. Oh and I dont have breakfast before either. Bad I know.

Bobbinogs

drlodge wrote:

Blimey, that's quite a lot!! Did 68 miles on Sunday on a coffe and slice of carrot cake.

Yeah, but how big was the slice fatboy!

drlodge

Bobbinogs wrote:

drlodge wrote:

Blimey, that's quite a lot!! Did 68 miles on Sunday on a coffe and slice of carrot cake.

Yeah, but how big was the slice fatboy!

Large enough

Grill

littledove44 wrote:

For a 75 mile ride, assuming I couldn't pick anything up along the way, I would probably carry all of this apart from the Snickers and the Power bars and I would choose between either the Nakd bars or the homemade one in the box..

That's about what I ate on my last 600k...

Just goes to show that nutrition is personal. I did a 217k ride with a buddy a year ago and it was night and day between the two of us. Whereas I was fine with a couple bars and a gel, he was in a bad way less than halfway through after 5 gels and 4 bars. We stopped so he could shovel as much cake and pasta in him as possible but he never really recovered.

The way I see it, if it's not a race or a difficult multi-day event then there is no need to constantly shovel food down your throat.

cougie

One of my mates struggles on rides - I think part of the reason is that he eats too much. His body is busy digesting all the time, when really he has enough energy to get round without it.

littledove44

drlodge wrote:

littledove44 wrote:

For a 75 mile ride, assuming I couldn't pick anything up along the way, I would probably carry all of this apart from the Snickers and the Power bars.

:shock: :shock: :shock:

Blimey, that's quite a lot!! Did 68 miles on Sunday on a coffe and slice of carrot cake.

Did you not read the bit where I said I didn't take 8 of the bars.
And I gave the fruit to a Marshall at the start, as well as my jumper. He was well chuffed.

Grill

Your club rides have marshals?

littledove44

Grill wrote:

Your club rides have marshals?

Did I say club ride?
This would have been hard without marshalls.

esdel

It always makes me chuckle when I see " cyclists" talking about nutrition.

It depends what your wanting from your riding but if your doing a sportive, race or just a club run where it's going to get a tad competitive, you should be consuming 600-750 ml of energy drink every hour.


If your training take 1 bottle of either water or electrolyte if your riding for an hour and add 1 bottle of energy drink for anything over 1 hour.

If I'm sportive riding I will also have 1 gel or 1 bar every 30/40 minutes.

Essex Rouleur

As a couple of people have said, fueling is individual. There is no right or wrong and you will have to experiment over a couple of rides.

Im a big guy, 6ft 3, about 18 stone and average about 16-17mph on any given ride. If im riding for an hour i take 2 water bottles, one with a Zero tab in and no food.
if im riding for 2 hours i'll take the 2 bottles and a single gel and a bar. The gel is more a backup, as i eat the bar at the hour mark and this will be about 25gms of carbs. I only take the gel if im having a bad bad energy wise ie: lack of sleep, overly busy at work.
Anything over 2 hours then i take the bottles and 2 gels and 2 bars and then just consume earlier in the ride to keep the energy up. So probably every 45 mins.

I would say though, that the biggest thing isnt so much the volume of what you eat, but when you eat it. Its no good taking gels or bars if you ride to near collapse before taking a gel or bar, you need to be in front of the energy slump so it doesnt kick in and then keep on top of it. Because thats hard to do or remember, i wear a cheap Casio watch that i have to beep every 45mins on a loop, that way i dont forget to eat, which is easily done when youre concentrating on the road.

I would go for a ride for 2 hours with nothing but water and watch your body signs, and then make a note of them for next time, like when the energy started to fade and at what time. That way you can get a basic food bag ready for the next ride and try it out.