fish and chips versus energy bars

Zero calorie drinks and tabs contain no energy, by definition. Obvs. Though the water and electrolytes might help you access stores of energy already in your body or help you digest other food better/quicker. 

I go with "real food" every time, but chips are usually a bit heavy. Beans on toast is good though. I like quiche too, but I guess it's not for everyone. And cake of course. And tea, lots of tea. If I need some instantaneous energy I'll have a bit of Kendal Mint Cake if I happen to have any on me, or chocolate or even nuts and raisins. Chocolate-coated coffee beans are good too. 

All I'm seeing is that a man rode for 7 odd hours on a banana, an energy bar and some gels, drank zero calorie "energy drinks" and then bonked.  Go figure!

Love your Merckx though, Stanley.  Lovely!

Last 100-miler I did included a lunch stop for fish & chips and a pint of cider. Probably one of the easiest I've done - solid, savoury food always wins over gels, and the cider was perfect for speedy glycogen replenishment.

Well as I understand it energy bars have very low fat, high carb/sugar. So you get plenty of carbs but no fat. Fish and chips is usually pretty fatty, though usually poly-unsaturated fat (unless done in beef dripping as you sometimes still find in Yorkshire).

I think a reasonable balance of real food, bananas and organic bars isn't too bad.

All those little 6-for-£1 breakfast snack bars in the supermarket, plus malt loaf, fig rolls and bananas. Energy bars just taste like premium-priced cardboard.

Electrolyte drinks though, are ace. If I don't get my fill of salts, the cramps and headache are awful. Although this can mean that I treat myself to crisps instead.

There's definitely something in the 'real food' argument -(though just fish and chips perhaps a bit too heavy) -I had my first proper bout of cramps and muscle spasms on a very long, hilly ride last month - cereal bars, gels, chocolate, isotonic drinks and hi five, caffeine etc and yet the lack of salt plus hard efforts over hills really screwed me up! I couldn't stomach any more gels or bloks/ sugary water and only got better after pork pies, peanuts, sandwiches and massage!

Moral of the story -you need a good range of salty, savoury food as well as carbs and quickly absorbed gels etc for fast endurance riding

did a 200 miler over 2 days at the weekend over yorkshire dales, fuelled by water, ale, cereal bars and chips. Tasted awsom, felt awsom.

+ 1 for the nature valley. I couldn't ride on fish and chips and as a former runner i find gels pretty repulsive. Someone gave me a clif shot blok when I was all in at the end of a hot race and it may have been psychological but I'm sure it got me home. I prefer muesli before the ride and lots of it.

If the scientists could only make an energy bar smell or taste like fish and chips,now that would be a winner.

I reckon a pint of water and a washing-up bowl of porridge with sultanas before I set off, would keep me going for 81 miles.

Breakfast: Omelette on toast and a pint of tea .
For the journey: A whole loaf of Soreen. Couple of Nature Valley bars. Two water bottles of squash. Ideally, stop en-route for cake and coffee.
Good for about 100 miles

While I generally agree that proper food is better, I find fish and chips are too heavy to digest while riding.

I would usually stop at noon, 6 o'clock and breakfast, eat normally and then ride at a slow pace for 30 minutes after to aid digestion

Oh, and you mention high 5 zero tabs. These have no food value, they are electrolytes. They are great for hot days

I'd rather not. But whatever you're used to I suppose

Do they still sell "John Bull's" in North East Lancashire?

They would keep you going.

It's salt n sauce for Chris Hoy and a deep fried mars bar for vegetarian Robert Millar.

I've got an image in my head of soigneurs in the feed zone handing out parcels of fish n chips to the professional peloton.

GCN should make a spoof video of this.

Matt Stephens: "So tell us, what's in the Team Sky grease-proof musettes?"

Sky Soigneur: "Well, er, fish n chips, mushy peas and a can of coke or maybe Fanta. Froomey likes curry sauce instead of peas, um, Vas Kiryienka prefers a special coz he's got a big engine. And Eddy Boss will have a battered sausage."

Silly as it seems (what with eating energy bars and energy gels) you probably ran out of energy the first time round - and given your description of the symptoms you may have bonked. Add up the total calorific value in the two rides and I bet you'll see a huge difference.

A full english is probably pushing a thousand calories, as is a fish and chip dinner with coke, bread, tea cake, crisps etc. A standard 51g Mars bar is 229 cal, so eating four of them is nearly another thousand. Looking at the High 5 stuff, energy gels are under 100 calories and energy bars are under 200, so your going to need to eat at least ten bars and ten gels for the same amount of calories.

The gels and bars are meant as a *supplement* to give you instant energy for eg a touch climb. They are not meant to replace your basic calorie intake from normal food. Also the "zero cal drinks" are likely electolytes and are nothing to do with energy or getting you up hills, they are for replacing salt lost though sweat.

I personally favour a strategy involving carb loading the night before, two breakfasts on the day, a pocket full of bite-size flapjack pieces, honey sandwiches and not forgetting several tea and cake stops.

Aye, look at the Froome lad, all skin and bones, he needs to eat a few meat pies, he'd get up them mountains much faster if he did.
And what's wrong with riding steel bikes with downtube shifters? While we're at it, fuel those riders with brandy and amphetamines, like our Tommy Simpson did.

Possibly the best post ever on road.cc. I agree entirely, all that science guff just makes you feel sickly. Fig rolls are my fuel of choice wherever possible, or if I stop mid ride I'm all about a rotisserie chicken where possible!!

Keep it up Stanley.