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Cake (CC BY 2.0 scaredykat|Flickr).jpgPeople's Choice: Your top 10 favourite cycling foods revealed
When we asked how you keep fuelled up when riding we got a wide range of answers, some obvious, some not so much. Here are your top ten choices.
9= Dripping sandwiches — 5%
Earl of Sandwich (CC BY 2.0 Rusty Clark|Flickr)
Get dripping from the bottom of the tray, with all the tasty bits from the roast in it, and make yourself a classic Yorkshire mucky tucky sandwich — beefy yumminess!
9= Jam sandwiches — 5%
Jam sandwich (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 jpellgen|Flickr)
A Proustian reminder of childhood Sunday nights and one of the cheapest sources of portable calories. Posh it up with crusty bread and fruit spread or go the full Warbutons and Robertsons combination.
8 Maltodextrin — 7%
When we asked about ride fuel we were thinking of things you eat, but a few of you told us you like to make your own liquid fuel based on maltodextrin, the main ingredient of most commercial energy drinks. You can find it for a bit under £2.50 per kilogram.
6= Caramel Stroopwafels — 8% (£17.57 for 36)
Reader unclebadger says these are “compact, tasty, packed with energy-boosting calories, taste delicious and non-artificial.” He addd: “They also get more gooey when out for a long ride but don’t get sticky because the waffly bits stop the caramel leaking out, well, mostly.”
6= Fig rolls — 8% (£10.20 for 12x200g packs)
Another satisfying combination of crunch and sweet, with some handy fibre from the figs to keep things, er, moving.
5 Finely sliced medium-rare Chateaubriand in a sourdough roll with peppercorn sauce — 9%
Yess, thank you, VonPinkhoffen, also known as my old mucker Gareth who clearly has more refined tastes than most of us. “It’s Not the easiest to eat on the move, but a gentleman should dine on nothing less,” he says, and recommends the fare at Hawksmoor for his fellow steak lovers.
3= Flapjack — 11%
One of the easiest portable foods to make at hose, flapjacks are a rich source of calories thanks to all that butter, sugar and syrup, held together with oats. Question is, do you buy them, or make your own?
3= Bananas — 11%
The classic cyclist’s portable snack: , cheap, tasty, filling, full of energy and packaged in its own bio-degradable wrapper.
2 Malt loaf — 12%
There’s a definite trend of ‘sticky’ running through this list. Taking the number two slot, malt loaf, that uniquely British chewy confection that can’t quite decide whether it’s cake or bread. Either way it’s delicious with cheese or thickly spread with butter.
1 Cake — 13%
Coffee and cake (CC BY-SA 2.0 Max Braun:flickr)
Taking the top spot, though not by as much as some predicted, the cafe stop staple. ‘Cake’ covers a huge range of sweet treats, though, from Victoria sponge to carrot cake and from chocolate brownies to Black Forest gateau. Tell us your favourite in the comments!
John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.
He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.
Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.
John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.
He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.
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17 comments
If ive got a malt loaf at home there is nothing better than slicing that bad boy up toasting it and buttering it, soooooo good
...and whilst we're at it. Who a) slices and b) butters malt loaf????
Put the packet in your jersey pocket. Gnaw a chunk off when needed. Don't try to get all poncey with knives or add unnecessary spread thingies.
(see also: butter on croissants. They're MADE of butter. Dunk 'em in your espresso).
Yours,
andyp, DeBrett's cycling correspondent.
No jelly babies? A travesty, I tell you...
Are Jaffa Cakes really cakes? Or more of a biscuit?
If you know, please tell HMRC
They're cakes.
Cake goes hard when its old, biscuits go soft.
What about those soft American style cookies? They seem to go hard.
Ah, that old chestnut.
Before pointing out the obvious flaw in that argument, allow me to point out the updated laws on biscuit/cake classification.
1) If you get more than one in a packet, it's likely to be a biscuit.
2) If it's smaller than your fist, it's a biscuit.
and
3) If it is improved by dunking in tea, it's a biscuit.
Slam dunk on all three. Jaffa cakes are biscuits. 100% of fact.
Now then, the other thing. Whether 'legally' a biscuit or a cake... who lets jaffa cakes become 'old'? Sociopathic behaviour, that.
Cheers dude, I might give that a try tommorrow. I've told my work buddies I won't inflict my experimental flapjacks on them until I get it right
.
Hey Kenyond, Do you have a decent recipe? I've set myself a project of making flapjacks, bought a scales and everything. My first batch was a disaster through an oven temperature error on my behalf. The second batch was much better but not chewy, more like really tasty oaty biscuits.
I used honey instead of syrup which may be a cause. Also, I keep baking for 30-40 minutes at 150c like all the recipes suggest but tht sounds too long to me.
Care to share your wisdom
?
(sorry for jumping in)
I use this recipe http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/honeyflapjacks_73203 but add a banana (ripe and mashed) and cook lower and slower (ovens are very different) until golden on the edges only and this keeps them moist and chewy.
Just to add to this, i do the following
250g butter
250g Soft Brown Sugar
2-3 tablespoons honey/syrup
500g porridge oats
handfuls of dried fruit, raisins/apricots etc. Sometimes Chocolate chips too!
Melt the Butter/Sugar together in the microwave at 1min bursts. pour over oats and mix together, add fruit, spoon into lined baking tray. cook at 180oc for 10-15mins or until golden. let cool. cut up and stuff in that back pocket!!
I use dark brown muscavado sugar instead or regular sugar add in some golden syrup and butter or veg oil. Mix together on a low heat then add in dried fruit, oats, pinapple juice and cinnamon. Mix well and remove from heat, spread in an oven tray and pop in the oven. If you like them crunchy spread thin and raise the temperature, if you like them gooey spread it thicker cook slower.
As for weights and measurements ive no idea and do it by eye and adjust the oats and fruit accordingly.
Another thing I have done in the past that worked out nice was add some protien powder in to the mix, ive also added marshmallow fluff and chocolate drops (that was nice).
I do have a few riding buddies that want them on all our rides
Hey John, in my defence, it was you who first recommended I eat "real food" whilst riding.
If only silver service was more aero...
mmm stroopwafles i need some now...... As for flapjacks I always make my own, its hit and miss with store bought ones. Mine should never be eaten if your not riding I worked out the numbers and was around 600cal per slice!
Stroopwafles are amazing, but for maximum amazingness, warm them over a coffee.
Everything looks so tasty (except the one thing I put my name to). Want to try that stroopwafle. Looks awesome