Nutrition and 4+ hrs rides

[Paul Hunter]

Hi All

 

I would like some advise about long rides and eating vs drinking?

 

I'm not a big eater while on the bike, maybe a banana or apple and mostly just drink water but this causes me to be fatigued towards the end of the ride which is obvious.

 

As I'm not a big eater what would you suggest as a supplement to drink?

 

Thanks

Paul

[nazmo]

I did a 120km yesterday, one bottle 32GI, one water.

one banana, one fruit bar and half a packet of woolies baby potatoes that you microwave.

 

I finished em all!

[jcza]

Easiest to digest is gu or gels but not always pleasant.

Higher the nutrinional value the longer it will take to digest.

 

In order to benefit from what you eat you need to start eating almost immediately as you can never fully replenish.

 

Will try find extract from Joe Friels book that explains it properly.

[jcza]

Eating during events lasting 4 - 12 hours

[jcza]

Part 2

[KaKa]

i use USn epic pro, with pepto pro, this gives the protein, banana- cards

 

pepto pro can be added to ur normal drink

 

I don't use gels any more and find i don't suffer from blood sugar spikes.

[jcza]

Sugar in banana & gel is roughly the same

[Paul Hunter]

Thanks for the info guys

[nazmo]

Is GU considered food?

i.e. Can you do a 5 hour ride with a big bottle of water, bottle of energy drink, and a GU for each 45 mins and nothing else?

[jcza]

Is GU considered food?

i.e. Can you do a 5 hour ride with a big bottle of water, bottle of energy drink, and a GU for each 45 mins and nothing else?

 

The extracts above are for between 4 - 12 hours. Best is liquid like GU or other performance drinks. Rough formula is GU + bottle every hour & water when thirsty.

[Cyclewizz]

I do 120km rides with bottle of GAME and a Jungle Bar(or similar)

[Lexx]

I also found that those small baby potatoes thats full of salt or aromat work wonders.

[Metzet]

one thing to remember - keep your hydration and nutrition needs separate.

 

for me ..

2-4hr rides - usually 32GI bottle over 2hrs + jungle oats bar every hr

4-6hr - add in a chicken sandwich.

 

just my 2c

[Wyatt Earp]

Is GU considered food?

i.e. Can you do a 5 hour ride with a big bottle of water, bottle of energy drink, and a GU for each 45 mins and nothing else?

 

No, it's not food.

If you want to be up and down like a jo-jo take a GU every hour and see the detriment of it's effects.

 

The body needs to be trained and it needs to learn how to use it's storage of carbohydrates during a ride.

We all have a huge amount of stored carbohydrates that we can turn in to energy.

 

The one key secret here is also not to ride the the anaerobic zone too much and too often, this is the one mistake most people make and then they think it's because they eat wrong or not enough.

Go anaerobic and you will start taking energy from the kidneys and hit the dreaded wall with an absolute bang.

 

For long rides, lot's of fluid, and fluid with as little sugar as possible.

I personally like to eat protein based food during a ride.

I carry some fruit dainties for when I feel really hungry, these sustain my hunger and the sugar stabilises me a little, but only one or two every three hours.

 

I also like to take nougat along in case I don't have the pallet for the dainties.

Other than that a drink that contains a good mix of all that the body needs and even this I tend to dilute rather heavily.

[Mads]

I believe this is my big mistake and the reason why my training does not reflect in my results.

[Sniffie]

No, it's not food.

If you want to be up and down like a jo-jo take a GU every hour and see the detriment of it's effects.

 

The body needs to be trained and it needs to learn how to use it's storage of carbohydrates during a ride.

We all have a huge amount of stored carbohydrates that we can turn in to energy.

 

The one key secret here is also not to ride the the anaerobic zone too much and too often, this is the one mistake most people make and then they think it's because they eat wrong or not enough.

Go anaerobic and you will start taking energy from the kidneys and hit the dreaded wall with an absolute bang.

 

For long rides, lot's of fluid, and fluid with as little sugar as possible.

I personally like to eat protein based food during a ride.

I carry some fruit dainties for when I feel really hungry, these sustain my hunger and the sugar stabilises me a little, but only one or two every three hours.

 

I also like to take nougat along in case I don't have the pallet for the dainties.

Other than that a drink that contains a good mix of all that the body needs and even this I tend to dilute rather heavily.

Energy from the kidneys? You will have to explain that please.

Humans also don't have "huge amount of stored carbohydrates". Riding at anything approaching race pace, even trained and conditioned athlete's carbohydrate stores will be depleted after about 2 hours.