Cyclist's breakfast

Pancakes! Whole wheat with bananas, blueberries, a little vanilla extract, real maple syrup, and I'm good to go! I do ride stronger and longer with them, but honestly I only get them once a week. Usually it's oatmeal or perhaps cereal with berries.

J.G said:

[font=Tahoma]Hi....been cycling just short of a year (from zero), rides now hitting between 50-60miles (130+ miles a week) - during the ride, I snack on homemade power bars, but short of a bowl of cereals & toast, have not changed breakfast!

What do you guys reckon is the ultimate cyclist's breakfast....??

Cheers
jg
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Would think everyone's different here. A good bit of CHO, some protein, low fat and low sugar are what works for me. Pancakes without syrup are my favorite if I'm eating at a restaurant before an event.

At home, usually just make an egg, toast, and a bowl of oatmeal with a little milk. That with a double espresso does it for me.

Well......I can't tell you the ultimate breakfast, but I can say what I'm eating now. I have this before I go on any long ride, where long means 50 - 100+ miles.

I actually start the night before with a big pasta meal. The morning of the ride, I get up early and eat two toasted bagels with jam, a bowl of muesly (with a little milk), and a banana. This is a lot of food for me (I don't usually eat breakfast at all if I'm not riding). I've been experimenting with food this year in an attempt to keep my energy levels up, and so far this seems to be working well.

I'm also forcing myself to eat more while riding. Again, this has helped to increase my energy levels.

J.G said:

[font=Tahoma]Hi....been cycling just short of a year (from zero), rides now hitting between 50-60miles (130+ miles a week) - during the ride, I snack on homemade power bars, but short of a bowl of cereals & toast, have not changed breakfast!

What do you guys reckon is the ultimate cyclist's breakfast....??

Cheers
jg
[/font]

Well let's see.... for breakfast this morning, I had a big ol' bowl of succotash with a teaspoon of Smart Balance.

Good fiber, good slow carbs with some fast carbs in the corn sugars, and just a little mono-unsat fat to flavor it up.

I'm also a big fan of grits 🙂

any kind of cereal is good, but its a good time to get a couple of treats in just before you can guarantee buring the calories.

i read an article about sean yates in which he claimed to often eat a dozen creamcakes before one of his 4-5 hour endurance rides.

robkit said:

any kind of cereal is good, but its a good time to get a couple of treats in just before you can guarantee buring the calories.

i read an article about sean yates in which he claimed to often eat a dozen creamcakes before one of his 4-5 hour endurance rides.

Funny, I know what grits are, but have never heard of "creamcakes". Are these what we call doughnuts, ie, fried cake batter with lots of sugar and oil?

dhk said:

Funny, I know what grits are, but have never heard of "creamcakes". Are these what we call doughnuts, ie, fried cake batter with lots of sugar and oil?

cream cakes is (presumably) a UK expression covering all types of cakes that have 'cream' in them (usually buttercream - which is a buttery fondant type filling, as well as real cream filling, or a synthetic cream filling). Additionally, people will sometimes use the expression cream cakes to mean other types of cakes as well. Typically, at least in the parts of the UK i've lived in no one would call a doughnut a cream cake.

Ric

Ah. What to have for breakfast!!!!!
Depends if it is race day or not.
Race Day.
Have had a good meal the evening the day prior to the event. Heavy on carbs.
Morning of the race. If time permits, cereal, followed by toast with banana/honey. Have a power bar or such about 2 hours before start. Nothing heavy form then on or it all may come up during heavy breathing and gasping.
Jelly Beans just prior to race. Oh, nearly forgot as it is automatically added to breakfast........coffee.
If start time too early for all of the above to happen, then it is fruit and coffee.
Non race day.
Same as above but evening meal lighter.
And again.......coffee, before the start and of course this gives you the excuse to stop at your favourite coffee shop for coffee and pasties on the way home.

these are cream cakes...

http://www.totalfoodservice.co.uk/Totally%20Delicious.htm

basicly an assortment of pastry, fresh dairy cream (or cheap substitue), icing, sugar, chocolate, all things bad.

im not advocating emulating sean yates, its kindof a point of humour.

i believe conventional wisdom says to eat "cleaning burning" foods - ie mostly carbs, which these certainly aent due to the high fat content!

that said, if ever youre in england or france you must try them!

robkit said:

these are cream cakes...

http://www.totalfoodservice.co.uk/Totally%20Delicious.htm

basicly an assortment of pastry, fresh dairy cream (or cheap substitue), icing, sugar, chocolate, all things bad.

im not advocating emulating sean yates, its kindof a point of humour.

i believe conventional wisdom says to eat "cleaning burning" foods - ie mostly carbs, which these certainly aent due to the high fat content!

that said, if ever youre in england or france you must try them!

while i can't vouch for the tastiness of the cakes in the link provided, the usual sort of cream cake we get in the UK, shouldn't be mentioned in the same sentence as a similar cake from France or Italy. I think the people in those countries would be horrified when they see or taste some of the UK's usual cream cake direness.

Ric

what about rice pudding for breakfast - plenty of quick release carbs...??

I have a preference for protein for breakfast, normally bacon and scrambled eggs in a roll with a good coffee🙂 . For long endurance rides and race days it is creamed rice with fresh fruit and coffee.

Bear

robkit said:

these are cream cakes...

http://www.totalfoodservice.co.uk/Totally%20Delicious.htm

basicly an assortment of pastry, fresh dairy cream (or cheap substitue), icing, sugar, chocolate, all things bad.

im not advocating emulating sean yates, its kindof a point of humour.

i believe conventional wisdom says to eat "cleaning burning" foods - ie mostly carbs, which these certainly aent due to the high fat content!

that said, if ever youre in england or france you must try them!

I just wanted to go on record as calling you a SADIST for posting a link with pictures of delicious pastries in it.... :p I'm Freaking STARVING!!! 😄

I was riding fasted. But have since gotten on the "eat before I ride" bandwagon and have more power and energy.

Lately, I've been trying to eat things that aren't just Carb heavy, but also electrolyte heavy. At least for me I find I'm trying to find foods a bit heavier in Sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium. A lot of the pre-packaged diet foods are not bad in these areas. (I'll spend 2-3 hours in the grocery stores reading labels, looking for cool ideas or different foods). Not right or wrong, just what I'm trying.

In fact, check the label on this slimfast product. I just bought a bunch of these I'm gonna try for an energy/breakfast drink. (I'd love to hear what some of our forum nutrionists think about it from a cycling standpoint)
http://www.slim-fast.com/products/product_info.asp?product_id=270

Breakfast ride that is going to be 2 hours is gonna get me 1 HUGE banana, 1 power bar, and about 16 ounces of an endurance drink. Maybe 12 potato chips on the way out the door.

Race day, I'll try and eat a BIG 500-600 calorie muffin about 2 hours before the race starts, toss in a banana and a power bar closer to race time.