pre ride eating/drinking

gavlaaa9
gavlaaa9 Posts: 6
edited May 2013 in Road beginners
hey guys, went out on my first ride yesterday, nothing too major but got round 14miles in 57minutes and really enjoyed it! quickly realized just how much of a pain a headwind is, and my arse is a little on the tender side today :cry: but overall it was a positive start! just interested on what the best foods and fluids are to take on board before a ride and when exactly to take them? my ride yesterday was a bit spur of the moment and i hadn't time to prepare as such, but only noticed it a little towards the end.

Comments

  • Porridge is good - Slow release energy throughout your ride - maybe a banana mixed with your porridge and some honey too..

    Take one bottle of just water and another with an isotonic type tablet etc dissolved in it.

    If your going on a longer ride then a flap jack or i like a protein bar

    Everyone has there own thing they do - just eat when riding when your body tells you and keep hydrated.
  • Grill
    Grill Posts: 5,610
    For an hour you shouldn't need any food... at any point in the day... or the day before...

    Water/drink is essential and if anything you probably didn't drink enough.
    English Cycles V3 | Cervelo P5 | Cervelo T4 | Trek Domane Koppenberg
  • Neil_aky
    Neil_aky Posts: 211
    Well done!

    I was at your stage last summer and asking the same questions. At 14 miles / 1 hour you don't really need extra food as long as you are eating enough normally. It is actually easy to over compensate and eat too much; however, when you start doing more miles than this (20+) and more that 1.5 hours you need to start thinking about eating carbs during the ride.

    I know this from experience (bad) but still trying to find the right combination for me and have asked a separate question on here.

    Good luck and continue enjoying your cycling - it's addictive!
  • Wirral_paul
    Wirral_paul Posts: 2,476
    As Grill says - if you have eaten properly then you shouldnt need any extra for an hour ride. It may sound excessive but you should be drinking 500 - 750ml per hour of fluids.

    The distances will build as you ride more and your muscles get used to it - without needing any extra real dietary requirements. Once you get over 90 mins, then you will likely want to start thinking more about taking some food out with you - but eating propely the evening / morning before is more important
  • If you are going to exercise hard more often then a bowl of porridge in the morning gives you everything you need.

    But don't get to wound up about it. You are not racing. The army send you out on a minimum of an hours PTE before breakfast.
  • designman
    designman Posts: 405
    Once you get over 90 mins, then you will likely want to start thinking more about taking some food out with you - but eating propely the evening / morning before is more important

    What would be an ideal evening meal before a ride next day?
  • hairy_boy
    hairy_boy Posts: 345
    Something carb rich the night before works for me - a decent bowl of pasta in a tasty sauce with a skinless chicken breast dabbed on the top is a meal fit for a cycling king and rather tasty (my mouth is watering as I type this).

    Porridge on the morning of a ride works well for me also.
  • Wirral_paul
    Wirral_paul Posts: 2,476
    Hairy Boy wrote:
    Something carb rich the night before works for me - a decent bowl of pasta in a tasty sauce with a skinless chicken breast dabbed on the top is a meal fit for a cycling king and rather tasty (my mouth is watering as I type this).

    Porridge on the morning of a ride works well for me also.

    As above....... and plenty of protein afterwards to help the muscle recovery (recovery drink / chicken / fish etc)
  • markos1963
    markos1963 Posts: 3,724
    Without being rude to previous posters most of you are going overboard with this. The OP is only riding for an hour, he will need only what is in his system for this. He should in fact be able to ride fasted for up to an hour without drama if he takes it easy. Most TTers will race a 25mTT without food or water for around an hour to put this into perspective. Just eat three healthy meals a day, plenty of good quality proteins, keep off refined foods, plenty of fruit and veg and not as many carbs as some would have you believe. Carry a bidon of water or squash if you get thirsty but you shouldn't need much else. If going for a ride longer than two hours then things start to change then.
  • Wirral_paul
    Wirral_paul Posts: 2,476
    markos1963 wrote:
    Without being rude to previous posters most of you are going overboard with this. The OP is only riding for an hour, he will need only what is in his system for this. He should in fact be able to ride fasted for up to an hour without drama if he takes it easy. Most TTers will race a 25mTT without food or water for around an hour to put this into perspective. Just eat three healthy meals a day, plenty of good quality proteins, keep off refined foods, plenty of fruit and veg and not as many carbs as some would have you believe. Carry a bidon of water or squash if you get thirsty but you shouldn't need much else. If going for a ride longer than two hours then things start to change then.

    Without being rude to you - i think you managed to make something out of virtually nothing there. Every poster has said pretty much the same to the original question - just to stay hydrated on the ride, and porridge suggested as a healthy breakfast beforehand.

    The OP then had a 2nd question which was answered in nothing more than very general terms which will give him the basis for building the miles - and can be done as you say by having three healthy meals a day - this being key to your sentence. As I see it - this is road beginners, and there are so many gains that most newbies can get from really thinking about their diet - and while an hour may be nothing more than a leg loosener / warm-up to some of us, if you're not used to cycling then it does become more important to eat properly and give your body the best chance to have the energy required / repair the muscle tissue afterwards / maybe lose a bit (or a lot :D ) of weight etc.

    While it might only be an hour's ride now, i would imagine the OP will be looking to build that up, and to do that might just need some thought on how to get the basics of diet right. This is surely the basis of this thread really
  • gavlaaa9
    gavlaaa9 Posts: 6
    cheers guys for the responses! didnt mean to create quite as much of a mini drama as there is above and as the previous poster has pretty much mentioned, as a total beginner to road cycling and having just completed my first ride, it was more beginners general advice i was after! i do intend to build up the miles as i go and was just after some general advice, nothing too heavy and i aint gonna go racing the TDF anytime soon.

    seems a good ole bit of porridge and plenty of fluids is the way forward until then!! :D
  • Chris87
    Chris87 Posts: 224
    porridge all the way! and have you tried it with soya milk? seriously its the shit! changed my outlook on porridge completely! throw in some golden syrup and dried apples? Hell yes! breakfast of champions!
  • team47b
    team47b Posts: 6,424
    small point but when you first take up exercise your body is conditioned to use mainly carbs as fuel so you need to have some in your system, as your body gets use to exercise the proportions of carbs to fat burning changes in favour of fat, so the more experienced people here are exercising to a level where they can run on their fat reserves more than carbs.

    Eat carbs before a ride and eat a small amount of carbs once an hour.

    When you get more experience, you can eat less carbs and rely on your fat stores more.

    Always drink water wether you get thirsty or not.
    my isetta is a 300cc bike