nutrition for first 100 miler

Forget prescriptions of how much to drink. Simply drink when you're thirsty. "If you're thirsty it's too late" has no sense or science to back it up. Personally I take one bottle of water and one of electrolyte, simply because I like the taste.

As for the food, you won't come close to eating the amount of calories you're using so don't try. Just take things you have used on your 50 mile ride, but about twice as much. 

Best of luck!

Set something (computer phone watch) to beep every 20 mins or 5 miles or so. Have A sip of energy drink or a nibble of a bar or flapjack.

That works for me in IM distance.

If I drank as much as the first guy I'd need four toilet stops....

Little and often.

For 100 british weather miles, I'd consume about 2 litres of  drink, it depends on how often I planned to stop to what config this may take, typically two large (750ml) bidons which would be filled up on route or carry an extra 500ml bottle of water in my back pocket to refill a bidon at some point on route. 

Echo nutrition ideas above, real food is far better than 'purchased packet bars/food'  peanut butter sarnies, jam sarnies, flapjacks, one of the best things I've found for ease of eating and handy size are fig rolls, I have no idea their nutrition content, however they seem to work for me.. 

The issue I have fuelling on a ride is remembering to drink and eat.... someone once said that if you feel thirsty it's too late, same for food, although if you're up into threshold you're unlikely to feel hunger. If you have a garmin you can set a little beep to go off every few mins or miles.. can be handy as a reminder to take a sip of drink/eat. 

It's at the back end of a ride you'll know if you've fuelled right, keep a gel and some haribo back for when/if you feel you are getting low on energy, it'll give you a short term boost.

It's a personal thing of course, all of the above.. I find that caffine in gels or water bottles on a long ride makes me feel sick, and if I feel sick I can't stomach food, so I try and keep away from those.

My first 100 miler was the Manchester ride last year, I'd never ridden more than 50 miles before but had consistently ridden about 100 miles a week for 3/4 years.   I was 2 weeks off my 69th birthday.

My view is that there's a great deal of commercial hype about nutrition.   It's probably necessary for racers, but not for ordinary folk who just want to ride around comfortably.   

I got around on my normal breakfast, a banana at 20 miles, a 20 gramme chunk of flapjack every 10 miles, a small mackerel sandwich at half way and about 1.5 litres of water.

I felt great at the end and suffered no stiffness or fatigue next day.   I did the 2nd 50 miles faster than the first and my average speed was the same as on my 30/40 mile rides.

What have you been eating on your weekly 50-milers?   I'd suggest just taking more of that.

FWIW, I did my first 100-miler at RideLondon this year.  I managed on 2 bidons of electrolyte (I'd just take one and another of plain water if I did it again), a bar-top bag full of fruit pastilles and jelly babies, and jersey pockets stuffed with energy bars, gels and something savoury to break the sugary monotony (wasabi peas I think).  I was quite surprised how little I had eaten at the end. 

Remember to eat a good breakfast a couple of hours before start and pack some post-ride, protein-filled munchies in your car/kitbag to eat afterwards.

Good luck!

Not drinking enough and early enough is one of the easiest mistakes to make, also salt/sugar and calorific intake is hugely important even when using specific electrolyte drinks and energy gels (I've never bothered myself with them).

Have an idea as to how much you might burn over the 100 miles, for me I'd burn about 5-6,000 over a 100 miles. My flapjacks that I make are 350cals per piece for a large chunk. So the above as per CXR would leave me in serious calorie debt even by the halfway mark, electrolyte drinks generally don't have any calories in them and a banana is only between 90-110 kcals depending on size. That leaves a hell of a lot of gels even on top of having a sandwich or two.

For me a bag of wine gum type things or jelly babies is essential for a 50+mile ride, couple of home made sausage rolls as a treat/pick me up is usually what i take on an audax/long day out and/or make sure I know a place I can get something decent to eat along the route. I also take a full bottle of pure orange juice (or a carton if I'm pannier bagged up), a couple of salt sachets (you can blag these from takeaway/fast food places) plus small honey pots and/or sugar sachets.

Basically I make up my own electrolyte drinks which do have some calories in them. It's a bit more faff than just popping in a tablet and indeed more expensive but if you're not supported then you'll need to be carry a fair bit of your own kit anyway.

Pop a couple of wine gums/jelly babies in your gob every so often, think to drink BEFORE you get thirsty, eat small and often, don't forget sun screen even on cloudy days you'll catch the sun a lot.

Stop to use wipes around the nether regions halfway round and re-apply cream if that's your thing. Nicely fresh between your legs will make a difference come that last stretch.

Check the weather forcast, plan for the worst (it's the NW so bound to be pissing it down), however even on overcast days you will catch the sun this time of year being out so long,  think about re-applying sunscreen if you're sweating a lot.

Don't worry about only having got 50 milers in, just break the ride down into smaller chunks mentally. I certainly try not too think about the 100 miles as being one whole chunk.

good luck and enjoy.

Don't be too prescriptive on the amount to eat and drink - remember that no-one is average. Apart from anything else, fluid requirements are vastly dependent on the weather, and in typical Manchester weather the "average" requirements will probably be too high (I always assume that they are about right for the south of France in summer). Listen to your body, if you start to need to eat or drink then do so. Little and often is the trick, it is difficult to digest anything while cycling so keep the quantities down.

It's difficult to generalise, but over a 100 mile ride I would typically take a couple of bottles and some jersey rations. The bottles would be refilled on a hot day, may not be finished if cold or wet. Food should be something high-carbohydrate and readily edible - not too dry or it is difficult to get down. Bananas and flapjack are both classic cycling foods, I find muesli bars a convenient alternative. 100 miles would not be very pleasant on just energy gels, but isn't far enough to need any more than basic carbs.

General rule for average cyclist. 800mil of fluids/electrolyte drink per hour (1/4 bottle per 15 mins). Eat 0.5-1 gram for each Kilo you weigh-most can't tolerate more than 50grams per hour without feeling bloated.

I eat one 60g of flapjack first hour then one banana second hour then another flapjack and so on. If there are food stops, I eat a proper sandwich and miss one of my own refuels. So your first 100 miler will take around 6-7 hours (depending on terrain) 3flapjacks 3 banana, 6x 800mil electrolyte drinks