Food Glourious Food

torturedsoul

Hi all,

I am really struggling with my food intake while cycling. I have a number of issues which I am sure have been discussed on numerous occasions but the specifics elude me.

I really feel that I am not eating enough on the bike and even when I do it doesn't seem to work.

Firstly, eat before your hungry, thats the mantra, and something i need to remember more. But lets say for a 90-100 K cycle. How much per hour should you eat?

My first hour should be fuelled by my pre-ride intake. which is:

Half a bowl of Whole wheat rice
One potateo
Ceral

Then what? do I wait a full hour before eating again or should I be eating every half hour?

What kind of food too? I am intolerant to Sugar, gluten and eggs so Jam is out of the question.

I have noticed the post of baked rice, bacon and cheese squares. I must try them out but wondering has anyone done so yet?
Maybe i need to strengthen up the ould legs but I think I have done that already.

The food issue is the real thing. It is always after 80K my energy just disappears. I need to change this quick.

What are ye're food intakes like on a 80K plus ride?

ROK ON

If I am doing an 80km ride I tend to have my breakfast (wheetabix + banana).
Other than that I bring 2 bidons (one with water and one with water + elctrolyte). I bring a cereal bar (Natures Way) or gel just in case but would rarely use them.

On a longer ride I would have a similar breakfast but it would be larger. So bread and maybe 2 bananas as well as cereal.

In terms of food I bring 1 cereal bar and a packet of gel shots. This time I would usually take a gel shot (Clif shot bloks) avery 20 mins or so after 90+ minutes. Either that or eat the ceral bar at the top of a climb).

But on 100km + rides I would usually stop for a quick coffee and maybe a pastry/scone.

I cant advise you much more in that I would tend to eat exactly the types of food that you are intolerant to.

torturedsoul

Christ, I mean looking at your list, thats what I would expect to eat but it doesn't seem to be enough for me.

Even though I have the ideal body for cycling (i.e rake like) and hence not having to waste energy carrying extra poundage, after all the above which may even include a turkey,cheese sandwich, my legs just die come 80K.

Is it a lack of water maybe?
I know ye can't answer these questions for me, but Im just looking for comparison.

Its a bit deflating knowing that what you eat Rok on is enough to get you through an 80K+ ride. Or maybe you conserve energy better and/or I am just a person that burns quicker.

Who knows!

Tenzor07

As Rok On says, for me on long spins up to and around 100k..

Breakfast: I would have porridge.. And 4 slices of McCambridge bread and a coffee...

On the bike:1 bottle with a carb mix drink and one plain..

a couple of energy gels and a power/cereal bar as a backup...

Lucifer-0

Hey, I'm also allergic to gluten so often have similar issues.
At the moment for me it's a bowl of gluten free muesli and some coffee and toast before the long cycle. Then during it I would have a banana and a crunchie (obviously you can't have these because of the sugar). I do get hungry towards the end so I was thinking of bringing a gel now aswell, these are meant to be gluten free, not sure about the sugar though...http://www.powerbar.com/products/36/powerbar-gel.aspx

Also, during the summer I made a few batches of these, gonna do it again soon, they were very tasty, again not sure about sugar in any of the ingredients, easy to make though....http://glutenfreecooking.about.com/od/glutenfreesnackrecipes/r/glutenfreeenergybars.htm

ROK ON

torturedsoul wrote: »

Christ, I mean looking at your list, thats what I would expect to eat but it doesn't seem to be enough for me.

Even though I have the ideal body for cycling (i.e rake like) and hence not having to waste energy carrying extra poundage, after all the above which may even include a turkey,cheese sandwich, my legs just die come 80K.

Is it a lack of water maybe?
I know ye can't answer these questions for me, but Im just looking for comparison.

Its a bit deflating knowing that what you eat Rok on is enough to get you through an 80K+ ride. Or maybe you conserve energy better and/or I am just a person that burns quicker.

Who knows!

When I started cycling I used to eat continuously on the bike. But I just stopped. If you are eating all of that plus say a sandwich then IMHO you shoouldnt be losing so much energy unless you are absolutely hammering it on every ride.
You cold just train yourself to ride on less fuel, in that it would be better for you. Now I possibly have a lot more fat reserves than you in that I am much heavier.

Water may be an issue as you point out. On rides where I dont drink enough or run out and get get a refill quickly enough I usually die a slow painful death by 80-100km.
In 100km I usually get thru 3*500ml bidons unless it is very hot. Before I go out I try to drink between 0.5L and 1L of water. Hydration is every bit as improtant as calories. Maybe try and experiment with less food and more drink and see how you get on.

Hmmzis

I'd add an electrolyte drink to the food intake you have already. Electrolytes are as important as glycogen for your muscles to work properly under load.

AstraMonti

I don't think there is one answer that works for all of us.

For example I went for a 120k spin on Sunday. I had two slices of brown bread with butter and a bowl of porridge with a spoon of Nutella in it. I got hungry in the first 30k so I had the banana I had with me. In the 55k mark I had one granola bar and at the 80k I had the other one. When I arrived home I was hungry enough so I downed 3 steaks (they were small!) and some mash. If I had to do 40-60k more then I would have to bring at least double the amount of food I had or stop and have a sandwich ( i don't really like stopping, it gets me out of rythm).

I would also have to bring something salty, I can't stand eating sugary stuff for 4-5 hours, I may bring a small bag of peanuts or a small sambo. Again it really depends on the intensity of the ride, if you go steady I think your body lets you know in time what it needs, if you go eyeballs out though that will be a different story.

byebye

torturedsoul wrote: »

Christ, I mean looking at your list, thats what I would expect to eat but it doesn't seem to be enough for me.

Even though I have the ideal body for cycling (i.e rake like) and hence not having to waste energy carrying extra poundage, after all the above which may even include a turkey,cheese sandwich, my legs just die come 80K.

Is it a lack of water maybe?
I know ye can't answer these questions for me, but Im just looking for comparison.

Its a bit deflating knowing that what you eat Rok on is enough to get you through an 80K+ ride. Or maybe you conserve energy better and/or I am just a person that burns quicker.

Who knows!

How much do you drink in 80k? and what?

you need to keep drinking little and often and also maybe use energy drink for the last 40k

i know i could get trough about 1.3L over 100k so a little less on 80k

torturedsoul

Cheers for all the above lads,

I wish I was full gas all the way but I have an AVG Speed of about 28-30KPH.
After reading some the responses I think hydration may have a huge thing to do with it.

I would go out with two bottles and honestly, come back with one full on many occasions. Maybe a bit niavee of me not to drink, but because I am so light i generally don't get thirsty much. but maybe thats whats causing my legs to loose strenght. also i never include anything other than pure water, this may need to change.

re-thinking it, thats what happens most, I have the willingness to continue but my legs blow out.

torturedsoul

Lucifer-0 wrote: »

Hey, I'm also allergic to gluten so often have similar issues.
At the moment for me it's a bowl of gluten free muesli and some coffee and toast before the long cycle. Then during it I would have a banana and a crunchie (obviously you can't have these because of the sugar). I do get hungry towards the end so I was thinking of bringing a gel now aswell, these are meant to be gluten free, not sure about the sugar though...http://www.powerbar.com/products/36/powerbar-gel.aspx

Also, during the summer I made a few batches of these, gonna do it again soon, they were very tasty, again not sure about sugar in any of the ingredients, easy to make though....http://glutenfreecooking.about.com/od/glutenfreesnackrecipes/r/glutenfreeenergybars.htm

that is some nice links there Lucifer. those energy bars look the bomb!

I have a great gluten free energy bar receipe also. I will send it on to you. I find them amazing and not too far away from your own.

kenmc

Can you take honey?
With that list of intolerant foods, you're relying on slow-release carbs to get your sugar rush; ideally you need a combination of slow-release (e.g. muesli) for a long, sustained energy source combined with something more instantaneous, which is where the energy gels or jellys or similar would come in. If you could take honey, that's one of the best sugars available, it's very easy to digest. You can get a squeezy bottle that runners would wear in a belt, it's about 100ml or so, and you could use that as a "gel", possibly adding mollasses or simialar to give you some salts also.

manwithaplan

I usually ride about 130k on a saturday morning. I eat a bowl of muesli and drink a pint of water before I go out. I bring one 750m bidon of orange squash (thinking of changing this - it's cheap but it can't be good for the teeth to be sucking this out of a bidon), a banana and three fig rolls.

I don't eat for the first two hours or so. I eat the banana around then and space the fig rolls out over the rest of the time, usually eating the last one close enough to home. I drink most of the bottle. I would probably bring a second bottle in the summer.

I am generally pretty hungry by the time I get home but I wouldn't have run out of energy.

marketty

torturedsoul wrote: »

I would go out with two bottles and honestly, come back with one full on many occasions. Maybe a bit niavee of me not to drink, but because I am so light i generally don't get thirsty much. but maybe thats whats causing my legs to loose strenght. also i never include anything other than pure water, this may need to change

I'm no expert but I'd say this could be your problem. The most important lesson I've learnt while starting out in cycling is to eat and drink little and often. For me a banana and a few jellies is enough to eat up to about 80km, 100km+ I'd stop for lunch, but the fluids make all the difference. I try get a berocca or similar and a litre of water in before i head out. I bring a litre of water and a bottle of lucozade sport or electrolyte drink and alternate sipping both every 15km or so and a good slug when I'm eating. If I neglect keeping hydrated I can really tell the difference after 50km. I find a good rule of thumb is if I'm going out for 3/4 hours I should be stopping for a pee once or twice, if I'm 3 hours into a ride and haven't stopped I reckon I'm dehydrated. As with hunger, if you wait til you feel thirsty it's already too late.

maloner

Anything up to 2 hours I don't eat anything on the road, just a slightly bigger breakfast (porridge or cereal with a few bonus toast slices). I'd bring an energy bar to be on the safe side. I eat high 5 bars these days and find them good.

In winter I'd bring 1 1liter bottle, 2 in summer. Both with a nuun tablet. Nuun is just salts and the like; no energy.

Longer than 2 hours I change things. I'd eat one bar at the end of each hour (or there abouts). That might sound like a lot, but each one has around 200kcals and I reckon I get through maybe 700-800 / hour. There's only so many of these you can take though (they get pretty mank after 3-4 of them) so sambo stop is probably warranted after that.

I've had a few times where I've run out of energy and "crashed" needing chocolate pronto (sweats, shaking etc) but the above scheme works for me. Like voting, eat early, eat often.

On a long trip in summer (4 hours?) I'd probably need to refill my bottles.

Your dietry requirements do complicate things. Home made energy bars I reckon are the way to go for you. google some recipies and experiment.

Lucifer-0

torturedsoul wrote: »

that is some nice links there Lucifer. those energy bars look the bomb!

I have a great gluten free energy bar receipe also. I will send it on to you. I find them amazing and not too far away from your own.

Sound, sure send it on, look forward to making some more, they were yummy, but the last batch I made I didn't have much honey left so they didn't stick well, kept falling apart in my pocket, it was a bit messy!

greenmat

I always have 2 full 750ml bottles with me on every ride no matter how far I'm planning on going, sometimes you may extend your distance so I know I have enough. I was told when I started cycling that 1 small bar and 1 bottle (500ml) per hour is a good starting point. I would regularly drink 1 750ml bottle per hour so often have to refill. I have suffered headaches often after cycling over 3 hours when I started due mainly to not drinking enough. I drink either just plain ould water, High5 4:1 Carbohydrate/protein or a bidon with a High5 Zero X-Treme Electrolyte tablet. The electrolyte tablets seem to have sorted out the headache problem. High5 4:1 is great when on a long tough cycle but unsure if it's suitable for your diet. I find not drinking enough to be a greater problem for me that not eating enough.

Caroline_ie

Am I right in saying that whatever breakfast you have before you leave will not fuel your 1st hour on the bike unless it was eaten over 2 hours before the start of your ride?

Meaning if you're only going for a 2 to 3 hrs ride, your breakfast won't have kicked in before you come home anyway?

AstraMonti

Caroline_ie wrote: »

Am I right in saying that whatever breakfast you have before you leave will not fuel your 1st hour on the bike unless it was eaten over 2 hours before the start of your ride?

Meaning if you're only going for a 2 to 3 hrs ride, your breakfast won't have kicked in before you come home anyway?

I think it really goes down to the metabolism. I can eat a whole cow and be hungry again in 3 hours. While working I can barely get from breakfast (9 oclock) to lunch (12) without starving, I usually have to grab an apple or something in between. While exercising a breakfast lasts about an hour or so for me.

Lucifer-0

Another thing that could be worth mentioning is the dinner from the night before? I think this is also important, have a big dinner with plenty of carbs? You don't want to wake up in the morning before your cycle starving.

Caroline_ie

I was told that carbo loading was a myth. It broke my heart.

Tenzor07

Lucifer-0 wrote: »

Another thing that could be worth mentioning is the dinner from the night before? I think this is also important, have a big dinner with plenty of carbs? You don't want to wake up in the morning before your cycle starving.

Yup:

Over-consuming food the night before a race or workout in the hopes of “carbo loading” – It would be nice if you could maximize muscle glycogen stores the night before a race or tough workout; unfortunately, human physiology doesn’t work that way. Increasing and maximizing muscle glycogen stores takes many weeks of consistent training and post-workout fuel replenishment. Excess consumed carbohydrates the night before will only be eliminated or stored as body fat (dead weight).

NeedMoreGears

For 80k I would typically take 3 hours or so.

To keep me going I would have

- bowl of porridge with honey/sultanas about 1/2hr before I leave
- 2 or 3 bananas every 40mins or so ; especially after the first 40mins
- 1 or 2 packets of jelly tots or similar for the last hour.
- every bit of food in the house when i get back, starting with a tin of tuna and some brown bread.

I generally wouldn't bother with an electrolyte drink but I'd get through between 2 and 3 750ml bottles of water or dilute orange squash.

Sr. Assumpta

Caroline_ie wrote: »

I was told that carbo loading was a myth. It broke my heart.

Do not despair Caroline_ie !!!

Interesting article here...

http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/nutrition-got-enough-on-your-plate

including.... " In the days leading up to an event, when nutrition is of utmost importance, you should shift your dietary balance to incorporate more carbohydrate for more muscle fuel.
"In the 24-48 hours that lead up to a race or a sportive, a cyclist could benefit from an even steeper ratio of 70 percent carbohydrate, 20 percent protein and 10 percent fat," advises McGregor [Dietician, Renee McGregor]. "This will ensure that as much muscle fuel as possible is available on the event day."

monkey 456

Just wonderin are the jelly chews any good energy wise and if so what do they taste like??