eating on ride?

wnowak06 said:

I usually do rides of about 15-30 miles....the other day I went for a 50 mile ride and started to hurt at the end a little, however, it was more my stomach then my legs.....so, my question is, when would you reccomend eating during rides.........that is to say, how long of a ride would you think warrants eating any food...if I am riding 50-60 miles, should I be eating during the ride????

thanks for any help

I think the general rule is that for any ride over two hours, you need to eat. I've found it to be pretty accurate. I've had a few rides where I bonked right after two hours when I didn't have extra calories along. So the when is some time after one hour and as you are getting over two hours... The longer you are riding, the more calories you consume and will have to eat. I did one 150 mile ride last year and had several energy bars and other consumables with me. I also stopped at a grocery store for a major food stop about half way through. I still ran out of fuel before the end of the ride and the last number of miles were nasty.

I bike 50-60 miles on a daily basis, and I never eat. Not saying you shouldn't. Just saying that it's a pian for me and I don't like to mess with food when I'm biking.

However, I can't bike that far on just water. I bonk out after 40 miles or so. But I found that, (at least for me) Gatorade works wonders. I can go a freakin long ways on that stuff.

Good luck!

Drink a high calorie sports drink before you go and I like the powerade gelpacks for during long bike trips, there easier on the stomach but still give you that energy you need. I dont like to eat solid foods while working out/longer rides, in fact I have a hard time drinking during them too thats why I pre-load.

Powerbar, Clif bars, Smuckers PB&J sandwich, banana, oatmeal & raisin cakes, and perhaps a gel if my gut isn't up to a solid at the moment.

I like to eat an order of General Tso's chicken with chopsticks right out of the paper container while I ride.

Ok, just kidding. I usually feel myself start to bonk at about an hour and a half. My stomach cannot really handle solid food mid workout so I have been experimenting with gel packs.

I have found good results eating a decent meal a couple hours before my ride and then downing a gel pack 10 minutes before I start riding. I eat another gel pack every 40 minutes until I am down. This seems to keep my energy level fairly flat. I even have found myself spinning a few additional miles on my trainer once I get home.

tvanhuisen said:

I like to eat an order of General Tso's chicken with chopsticks right out of the paper container while I ride.

Would one drink red or white Gatorade with General Tso's chicken?

GOO type suckables are good on the go. I also like PowerBars. I found that if you unwrap it, take a bite or two, you can then put the PowerBar on your stem and it will stick there until you need another bite. And I've heard that this practice also makes people want to clean their bikes more often.(Or at least the stem.)

I tend to just take banana these days, maybe a stop along the way for coffee. Usually ride about 100km.

Daniel