What to eat the morning of a big ride?

Poppa Wheelie

I’m shortly going to be doing a 5 to 6 hour ride and I’ll be leaving the cheap hotel very early in the morning, well before any sort of food will be available.

I won’t have access to cooking facilities thus porridge is a non-starter. I know you can get porridge pots that you just add boiling water to but I don’t like their taste. I’ll take a cool bag with me so I’m currently planning to take few Muller rice pots.

You guys must have some far better suggestions though.

TheGardenGnome

Porridge and peanut butter... Yummy.

alabn53281

flap jacks and or fruit

dstev55

Take a couple of boiled eggs with you.

supermurph09

Just have cereals with a banana? What do you normally have for breakfast?

Poppa Wheelie

Supermurph09 wrote:

What do you normally have for breakfast?

Good point, I should have said.

There are probably only two foods I hate. Eggs and bananas. Doh!

I normally eat toast and cereal, both of which I think are fine for a shorter ride, say 50 miles but as this is further and with much more climbing than I normally ride I thought I should be eating something more substantial. Hence the question.

shirley_basso

Big bowl of cereal, plenty to drink then stick some bars in your pocket.

milemuncher1

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eRBOgtp0Hac

photonic69

For any Sunday ride I do I'll have a cup of reduced sugar Swiss style muesli with a handful of jumbo oats and topped with Fruit and Fibre. Dowsed in milk. Left to stand for 10 mins whilst having first cuppa tea. I'll eat this 1 hour before going out. Keeps me going for hours.

milemuncher1

To cut a long story short, lots of easily digestible slow release carbs, with not too much fibre, and something sweet, to give you a metaphoric kick start.

itboffin

for all day events i try and have the biggest ham & cheese baguette I can make the night before and basically start chomping as soon as i wake finishing at the start line

crescent

Just take some milk and stick with your normal cereal. If you can't make toast in the hotel then just untoasted bread will surely provide the same nutritional value, with your spread of choice. Personally, I'm a big fan of Nutella, but jam or peanut butter are good substitutes.
Something else worth pointing out when you're on an early start or operating in a different timeframe from normal is taking care of business with respect to the other end of the digestive process. It's no fun needing to 'go' in the middle of a ride if you haven't had a chance before you leave the hotel. Seriously, don't underestimate the importance of this.

redvision

Get yourself a couple of pots of porridge (which you just add hot water to). Or go for a big bowl of cereal.

Also make sure you carb load the night before.

figbat

For longer rides I'll have a bowl of granola-type stuff with dried fruits and nuts in it and then take on-board food with me. I've settled on Nutri-Grain bars - whilst I like fig rolls they are a bit cloying in the mouth; NG bars are softer and easier to get down. I usually take a gel with me for a last push pep-up, but often don't use it.

photonic69

Crescent wrote:

....... taking care of business with respect to the other end of the digestive process. .......Seriously, don't underestimate the importance of this.

Absolutely bang on! Toilets in start areas are foul with long queues. Plus you'll wipe away all your chamois cream. Sometimes its a good idea to use mild laxatives or "Yakult" type supplements for a day or two leading up to the day. They can make me more than regular! Eat your evening meal a few hours earlier than normal can help too.

sloppyschleckonds

Captain Scott prepared less for his trips to the South Pole

surfercyclist

SloppySchleckonds wrote:

Captain Scott prepared less for his trips to the South Pole

Yeah and that turned out well didn't it, maybe a bit more prep would have helped.

Poppa Wheelie

Thanks for all the replies, there's some good nutritional advice here.

Crescent wrote:

It's no fun needing to 'go' in the middle of a ride if you haven't had a chance before you leave the hotel. Seriously, don't underestimate the importance of this.

Too true, that last thing I want to be doing is looking in the bottom of hedgerows looking for paper. I understand crisp packets and Mars bar wrappers are a poor substitute. :oops:

drlodge

Try the Flahavan's Quick Oats porridge sachets and add milk instead of water.

barongreenback

Overnight oats. Soak some oats in apple juice, mix with a yoghurt and some fruit in the morning. Will be good for your stomach (go lactose free if you're sensitive to that sort of thing and want to avoid a Dumoulin) and give you plenty of energy.

Failing that, just eat a massive flapjack.

dannyjames1

People can respond differently to different foods but my breakfast day in day out, riding or no riding consists of 4x weetabix with a generous amount of unrefined sugar on top and a nice amount of semi-skimmed milk along. If I'm not feeling completely full after that I'll have a banana. Many cereals esp. ones containing oats/wheat are always a good choice of meal for breakfast. Avoid fry ups.

Combined with some small snacks (usually take 2 bananas but often forget to eat them) on the bike and a cafe stop this always works well for me when I'm riding. My training rides to tend to be around 60-80 hilly miles in 3-4 or so hours. Cafe stop half way which usually consists of beans on toast and 1/2 poached eggs washed down with a cappucino.

Works well for me and I don't always feel like stuffing my face when I get home but I do top up on some sweet hard hitting drinks. I'm only 140 lbs so of course many people would need to eat more for proportionately more calories burned.

weetabix/shredded wheat and uht milk you can leave out of the fridge could be an option for you.

secretsqizz

Combined with some small snacks (usually take 2 bananas but often forget to eat them) on the bike and a cafe stop this always works well for me when I'm riding. My training rides to tend to be around 60-80 hilly miles in 3-4 or so hours. Cafe stop half way which usually consists of beans on toast and 1/2 poached eggs washed down with a cappucino.

Training ride , my arse

dannyjames1

secretsqizz wrote:

Combined with some small snacks (usually take 2 bananas but often forget to eat them) on the bike and a cafe stop this always works well for me when I'm riding. My training rides to tend to be around 60-80 hilly miles in 3-4 or so hours. Cafe stop half way which usually consists of beans on toast and 1/2 poached eggs washed down with a cappucino.

Training ride , my ars*

Elaborate. Are you actually here to give some input on what the op is asking or are you just a troll or something?

webboo

Training ride is one when one goes training. A cafe ride is one when one stops for beans on toast.

dannyjames1

Webboo wrote:

Training ride is one when one goes training. A cafe ride is one when one stops for beans on toast.

And because I'm stopping at a cafe that means I'm not training? I ride it at tempo ish, and throw in a few intervals and hills. I get plenty of training and have seen results from this. Works for me. Started on chaingangs when for when I want a quick blast without food.

webboo

The last time I did some intervals if I’d eaten anything in the last two hours, I would have been seeing it again.

pilot_pete

Yea, but everyone’s different aren’t they? I can have a full meal and keep it down even if I go up to max heart rate... :roll:

PP

mamil314

Webbo, assuming no team car and not full pockets of food, what should one eat before 4hour 3k kcal burner without a stop?

navrig2

Muesli and a banana. More calories than porridge and slow release.

Dorset cereals are the best.

webboo

Why no food in your pockets.
Yesterday I did my first ride over 3 hours since March 6th. I recently have had shoulder surgery so it’s been the turbo and walking. I was out for 3 hrs 53 mins, I had a bowl of Sainsbury’s tropical granola with semi skimmed milk before my ride and had an eat me grain bar and one cliff bar jellie whilst out on the bike.
According to my heart rate monitor I used 2,490 cals.
I tend just have a bowl of cereal of some sort, the same as I would even if wasn’t going for ride. Then just eat grain bars, gels or I might have some energy drink in my bottles rather than no cal squash.

buckles

Bacon sarnie with loads of butter, and a cappuccino with no sugar.