[JaredP91]

I’ve been cycling for the last three/four months, averaging between 20-30 miles for each ride. This has largely been done without a great deal of consideration to fuelling, aside from the obvious water and banana/s to keep me going.

However, I’m looking to build up the lengths of my rides with my initial goal to reach 50 miles. How much and how often should I be eating on such rides?

Topic

[hawkinspeter]

All this talk of fig rolls

All this talk of fig rolls makes me hungry. I’m going to have to find a decent gluten-free fig roll recipe and make some.

[mdavidford]

Thanks to Drg and Welsh boy

Thanks to Drg and Welsh boy for putting the fig roll idea in my head – they worked out very nicely, and I’ll definitely be making them again.

[jacknorell]

One thing not mentioned in
One thing not mentioned in all the good fuelling tips already mentioned:

It’s a good idea to know how you bonk.

Some people can barely turn the pedals, others just get a bit slower.

Doesn’t seem overly related to body shape, diet, or fitness either.

Find out how well/badly you cope and let it inform your energy intake on bigger rides, together with ride profile and speed.

[rob39]

Another real food fan here,

Another real food fan here, anything under 2hrs tends to be water with some diluting juice, living in a very hilly area I also take a banana just in case and dependant on route. Anything longer 21/2hrs + then fig rolls, fruseli bars, home made flap jacks some jelly beans etc do the trick. I have used specific drinks here and there but I really dont get on with them. Water diluting juice and a pinch of salt makes an effective electrolite drink.

Again little n often, every 45 mins is generally a standard rule, and on average 30g + carbs per hour

Start of with some porridge then every 45mins or so take some food, fig rolls ave 11g per roll, flap jack ave 20g per portion, Banana 22g ave, tesco chocolate filled crepe ave 20g each (delicious) Soreen lunchbox bars ave 17g per bar (can be a bit stodgy so usually eat them early) Snickers bar is great when your feeling a bit done, 26g ave sweet, tasty and hits the spot, And drink often

 

[Judge dreadful]

It depends on the effort

It depends on the effort level as well as the distance. If you’re smashing stuff the entire time, you’ll need more feeding, than if you’re bimbling about. I use power meters to judge it with real numbers, you can do it by feel, after a while, but I find that the biggest problem with doing it by feel, is that adrenaline / endorphins can mask any running out of fuel feelings. A simple rule to stick with is eat little and often, drink little and often, don’t wait until you feel hungry / thirsty because it’s too late then.

[nniff]

My latest, and most inspired,

My latest, and most inspired, answer to this is Sainsbury’s rich fruit cake with marzipan and icing.  £2.50 for a big block.  Cut up into 14 two bite pieces, each wrapped in greaseproof paper.  Fuelled me for 220 miles on Sunday, with a ham and salami baguette, a pot of couscous, a couple of gels and some bits of flapjack.  Unlike most energy bars, it’s easy to eat, moist and tasty. During the course of the day, I ate about 3/4 of the cake.  The plan is eat every 45 minutes at least, drink with food and in between as well.  Currnet favourite gel is Clif Mocha.  The lemon one is vile though. 

[Jimmy Ray Will]

I’d second the comments

I’d second the comments around changing from looking at distance and instead focusing on time. Your body can only work to a certain level, this is a constant; the distance you achieve against that constant is affected by all manner of variables. 

Depending on your fitness / physiology, you are likely to have 1,500 – 2,500k/cals of readily available glycogen to fuel you starting out (someone with proper knowledge can correct me on actual numbers / terms but I don’t think I’m too far off). You can realistically intake and absorb ~400k/cals of carbohydrates per hour.

Supporting the above, your body will have effectively limitless stores of fat, to fuel low intensity exercise.

The intensity that you ride at will determine not only how many calories you burn in total, but what percentage of that burn is glycogen and what is fat. I like to over simplify these things, so I look at energy use as being like a hybrid car. Cruising along you are happily powered by the electric engine (fat), but as soon as you press on at all, you engage the petrol engine (glycogen).

The point of all the above is to say that your fueling should replicate the effort you are making. If you are going out hard, you are likely burn through all readily available glycogen in a very short time, so you’ll need to be fueling equally hard from early in the ride to cope. In this scenario, gels, energy drinks and other simple, readily absorbed fuels are best.

If you are going slightly easier, which I’d argue would be the case for any ride over say 2 hours, you can enjoy more complex, ‘real’ foods as to your personal preference. Bananas are not a huge step away from gels and energy drinks from a fueling perspective, but as already mentioned, fig rolls are a great balance between readily available fuel, and reasonable eating experience. I also love a good cereal bar. 

As also mentioned, a good caffeine gel / espresso is a great way to kick things along deeper in to a ride. I believe the caffeine helps your body access and use fat as an energy source at (slightly) higher intensities (which is rather useful when glycogen stores are skidding on empty), as well as being a general stimulant. 

[Pilot Pete]

It all comes it all comes

It all comes down to what works for you individually.

I eat porridge for breakfast and drink a pint of beetroot juice before anything longer than 50 miles. Some hate the taste of beetroot juice, I love it, which is handy because blind testing showed it had a very positive effect on endurance due to its nitrate concentration.

I won’t eat anything on a 50 mile ride, just one 600ml bottle with Bulk Powders Complete Hydration powder (which is tasty and has a great balance of energy and electrolytes). When bought online you can always get at least 40% off the full price, sometimes up to 70% off. The last lot I got 40% off and it worked out at 20p per bidon. That is cheaper than plain orange juice mixed 50/50 with water which is what most advocate as a ‘cheaper’ version of an energy drink. I also take a 600ml bidon of plain water.

Any ride over 50 miles I will take the same above, plus a small ziplock bag with another scoop of energy drink powder to top up. I will carry a few Naked bars and start munching on them from about 25 miles in. If doing 70+ miles I usually plan a cafe stop and have some real food and a coffee.

Today we did 80 miles, with a cafe stop (limited COVID-19 menu) so had a ham and cheese toasty and a cappuccino. I took three Naked bars but didn’t touch them, just the energy drink and water. Topped up at the cafe stop and didn’t need anything else. Average speed 18.5mph, so not dawdling and could have carried on and done much more. So it really is horses for courses.

What I do when I get home though is make my own protein smoothie immediately. Today that was a scoop of Bulk Powders pure protein powder (salted caramel flavour, hhmmmmnnn), a handful of frozen mixed berries, three scoops of Greek yoghurt, a scoop of rolled oats, milk and a dash of honey, all blended up. Delicious and a great start to muscle recovery and carb replacement, which meant I didn’t need to eat again until dinner at 7pm (finished ride at 1.30pm)

Top tip is a can of coke and a mars bar if you do bonk – that has got me back firing on all cylinders within 15mins of crawling into a convenience store/ petrol station on one of those days where everything just goes to pot…!

PP

[Pilot Pete]

Church graveyards often have

Church graveyards often have a tap, even in villages with no shop. Otherwise, if empty I wouldn’t carry on, just knock on someone’s door and explain – people are generally nice and wouldn’t hesitate to fill your bottles when you have explained that you have run out of water and are suffering…

PP

[Secret_squirrel]

This.  Although I wish more

This.  Although I wish more of the trendy cafe’s that appeal to us cyclists would do a good old fashioned bacon sarnie.

(Still unfairly holding a grudge against the otherwise excellent Velolife for that!)

[ktache]

I like real food myself,

I like real food myself, bananas in BananaGuards, homemade flapjacks and brownies, for the longer ride a cheese and pickle sarnie, with mayo and spring onion if I’m feeling flash.  On an especially long day I might have a bacon and brie sarnie before I set off, mmmm.

A coldish can of coke, kept in a neoprene coozie is a wonderful pick me up.

And jelly babies for emergency energy.

I only ever put water in my bottles.  A couple of them are insulated.  Filled with cold water and left in the fridge for a few hours or overnight really makes a difference on the very hot days.

Of course you want to be drinking and eating before you really need to…

[Chris Hayes]

It’s interesting that there’s

It’s interesting that there’s a clear split here between those (like me) who use bananas, fig rolls and a mix of juice and water and those who prefer / use specialist nutrition. 

I wonder if it’s an age thing?  My cycling pre-dates Veloforte, TORQ, Lucho Dilittos and the like – though I do use them for longer rides (100+ – and miles not km).  I don’t eat at all on morning rides of up to two hours…  

Perhaps there should be an age icon next to our names… adding some context to people’s point of view.

Chris 54 and 1/4. 

[peted76]

Big fan of the humble fig-us

Big fan of the humble fig-us roll-us over here!

You won’t find a better carb/£ ratio, they are stocked everywhere and there’s naff all difference between ‘branded’ and own brands too. 

Of course if you’re feeling flush.. my very fav cycling bars would be VeloForte ones.. which everyone should try (get a mixed bag of them as they come in handy sized chunks).

 

 

 

 

 

[Welsh boy]

Daveyraveygravey wrote:

… although I think fig rolls are ace, especially the pastry/biscuity bit! 

There is something wrong with your taste buds 

 

[mdavidford]

My standard 75m+ supplies are

My standard 75m+ supplies are:

• banana
• bagel (broken into pieces for easier storage and portioning out)
• scotch egg
• couple of flapjack / energy bar / fruit bar etc.
• emergency gel which I never use and is probably well past its use-by date

Recently for centuries I’ve started adding in homemade ricecakes, which you can switch up the flavours in with whatever comes to hand and takes your fancy.

For my next outing, though, I’m definitely going to try making some sourdough fig rolls now. :o)

[Author]

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