Few questions for a novice

boredatwork82

Hi folks, hopefully you guys might be able to guide me in whats best.
I have a thread documenting my cycles, but I reckon I will get more answers by posting in the main forum.

I have 2 questions:

1. Do you warm up before you get on the bike? or do you just tog out and go, and start slowly and build it up?

2. Eating - do you eat on the bike, how often, and what?

Thanks guys,

Brian

Raam

boredatwork82 wrote: »

Hi folks, hopefully you guys might be able to guide me in whats best.
I have a thread documenting my cycles, but I reckon I will get more answers by posting in the main forum.

I have 2 questions:

1. Do you warm up before you get on the bike? or do you just tog out and go, and start slowly and build it up?

2. Eating - do you eat on the bike, how often, and what?

Thanks guys,

Brian

Warm up: no, unless it is a race.
Eating: this depends on how trained you are.

boredatwork82

I am not very trained.

Raam

boredatwork82 wrote: »

I am not very trained.

In that case, take a sip of water every 15 or 20 minutes or so. Take a nibble on a cereal bar after about 30 minutes. It depends on how long your cycle is and how hard you are going.

boredatwork82

Ok that's really good to know. I was kind of doing 2 hours with just water.
and for the longer spins I was stopping at 2 hours and eating something.

So it look like I need to eat a little bit, more frequently.

AstraMonti

It depends on your diet if you have to eat or not. 2h is a handy enough spin to do without food unless you are starving or going flat out. Generally I follow eat when hungry and not the common thing said in cycling, eat before getting hungry. But it's each to their own, try it out and see what it works for you.

mirrormatrix

I found that when starting long spins I couldn't figure out when to eat either. My solution was tp go out for a few spins and not eat anything until I suddenly bonked and had no energy at all. While I probably wouldn't recommend this method for everyone, I'm now fairly aware of the warning signs that i'm running out of energy and also have a rough system for when I need to eat based on my usual effort.

As a guide, generally I start eating after an hour and a half. A banana will generally do me for about an hour while a gel would only give me about half that time. I have little experience with more substantial foods as my max cycles are about 4-5 hours at the minute.


The only way to know what works for you is to experiment in training. If your planning on sportifs or racing, make sure you trial a nutrition plan at least once in training. Race day is not the time to have gastro issues.

Max_Charger

After an hour, 1 fig roll every half hour or half a banana every half hour. I can generally go for 2 hours tempo pace or maybe 2.5 easy with just water but any longer than that and performance noticeably dips. As said, everybody is different so you'll have to do trial and error for yourself to see what works best for you.

Raam

If I am going for a 2 hour spin, I probably won't eat anything, but if I am going for a 4/5 hour spin then I won't wait 2 hours till I eat something.

boredatwork82

Thanks guys, I am not planning any sportifs or races. I don't even know what a sportif is!!!
Just doing the ring of Kerry as part of my get fit and healthy goal. I get bored of exercise so I reckon if I keep changing sports and choosing goals I w
After that no idea what I will do as regards cycling.

ford2600

Listen to your body, keep hydrated and if hungry eat.

For first few years I cycled I was always scared of running out of food; 40km spin would only be undertaken if I had eaten in previous 2-3 hrs, longer spins up to 160km would normally involve very big breakfast and normal food, like sandwich etc, half way around. Cereal bars work well for people. You'll know best what suits yourself a lot of lads have trouble with a lot of gels/sugar so keep that in mind

As you cycle more, you should get more mechanically efficient and you'll get fitter, so at same speed you should be able to go longer on same food.

I can now cycle 7hrs plus without any food but that taken a lot of deliberate adaptation and not relevant if you are just starting

07Lapierre

boredatwork82 wrote: »

Thanks guys, I am not planning any sportifs or races. I don't even know what a sportif is!!!
Just doing the ring of Kerry as part of my get fit and healthy goal. I get bored of exercise so I reckon if I keep changing sports and choosing goals I w
After that no idea what I will do as regards cycling.

The Food on the ROK is the best part of the Day!

ZiabR

The one rule when it comes to cycling and water/food intake is:

If you feel thirsty then it is too late and your body is already on its way to being dehydrated.

If you feel hungry then it is too late and your body is already starved of sugars and your muscles will suffer from cramp etc.

The trick is to eat and drink little and often so that you never get to a stage where you have gone too far and the damage is done. Even if you are not thirst or hungry, just take a sip or a bite and keep going.

ford2600

logik wrote: »

The one rule when it comes to cycling and water/food intake is:

If you feel thirsty then it is too late and your body is already on its way to being dehydrated.

If you feel hungry then it is too late and your body is already starved of sugars and your muscles will suffer from cramp etc.

The trick is to eat and drink little and often so that you never get to a stage where you have gone too far and the damage is done. Even if you are not thirst or hungry, just take a sip or a bite and keep going.

I drink to thirst, without issue. Drink companies love to push that line about it being too late if your thirsty.


I cycled 180km last Saturday morning drank about 2.25L on bike. Cycled a very hilly 100km in Canaries two weeks ago and drank 5L on bike.

If thirst is too late one would have to wonder how we ever evolved out of much hotter climates than NW Europe.

Tim Noakes has some interesting Youtube clips on drinking too much, especially for slow marathon runners

Even on high carb diet your body will call for food a long time before you bonk(i.e. start burning blood sugar).