Nutrition for long rides

[Op1]

Hi Guys,

So I have made it to the 60km mark twice,😁 first time was a horrible experience and felt drained out, second time was much better ( granted im fitter than I used to when I did my first 60km)...now I am planning an 80km ride on Wednesday.

I averaged my calories over 3 rides and its roughly 200 -270Kcal per hour depending on the effort... do I need to fuel avg calories_x_hours im going to ride ?

My current eating plan on rides is as follows :

Breakfast  - future life cereal and some dates

60min - fast bar

90min - 150ml hammer perpetuem( equivalent to 1scoop)

every hour after that I take 150ml pepetuem and 30min later 1xfast bar.

On an 80km ride,which will take me 5hours+- , that's alot of fast-bars and pepetuem to stomach. 

I would like to hear your nutrition strategies on long rides. What do you use, how you use, when and how much.

Thanks in advance gents.

 

[Super Sywurm]

I don't  eat much while I'm  riding, but Futurelife does not work for me before a ride.  Every other day I eat Futurelife.  Before I ride, I eat Pronutro.

Sometimes I eat an apple on a ride.

[Zebra]

My eating strategy is only PARTLY tongue-in-cheek, but you might see the humour in it….and there is a good deal of truth to it.

usually I do not eat before a MORNING ride. Ride, not race.

if I feel hungry, say after 50-odd Km or so, then I have a banana.

I take a 500ml water-only bottle, and drink that. I OCCASIONALLY refill the bottle, 

the end.🙃

 

[100Tours]

Firstly congratulations. You slowly build a pyramid - 80 built on a few 60's, and then 100's built on a few 80's. One day when you look back you it is marvellous to see how these come together.

For nutrition, my personal secret weapon is taking a enduro shake from pace and power the night before. That helps keep your blood sugar pretty stable, and keeps you fuelled well into the ride. If you start hungry/empty then there's never enough time to catch up.

On ride day have a light breakfast, and eat something familiar to you. For me this is usually yoghurt/muesli or oats. But go with something that you'd usually eat in the mornings.

On the ride a few fast bars, fruit cake, maybe a gel. just to keep the bonking at bay. My other fall back is brown rolls with chicken mayo (when I get tired of bars), or cheese and jam. Just something thats not too dry so you can munch it with a dry mouth.

 

Edited April 25, 2022 by 100Tours

[Kameel]

15 minutes ago, Op1 said:

Hi Guys,

So I have made it to the 60km mark twice,😁 first time was a horrible experience and felt drained out, second time was much better ( granted im fitter than I used to when I did my first 60km)...now I am planning an 80km ride on Wednesday.

I averaged my calories over 3 rides and its roughly 200 -270Kcal per hour depending on the effort... do I need to fuel avg calories_x_hours im going to ride ?

My current eating plan on rides is as follows :

Breakfast  - future life cereal and some dates

60min - fast bar

90min - 150ml hammer perpetuem( equivalent to 1scoop)

every hour after that I take 150ml pepetuem and 30min later 1xfast bar.

On an 80km ride,which will take me 5hours+- , that's alot of fast-bars and pepetuem to stomach. 

I would like to hear your nutrition strategies on long rides. What do you use, how you use, when and how much.

Thanks in advance gents.

 

Ooooff. You're going to get so many varying opinions in this one.

And yes I'm going to give you mine as well of course - I believe it's something each person has to 'work out' for him or herself. What works for one person will not necessarily work for another. We're all built different (i.e. metabolisms). Some of my mates get by on a single fast bar on a long ride, whereas I've gone as far as occasionally stuffing a PB sandwich in my back pocket....

That said - keep on experimenting and remember: 'eat now for later'. In other words when you eat only by the time you get hungry on a ride, it's a bit too late.

Also agree with @Super Sywurm. Ditch the future life as a pre-ride breakfast and go for a proper meusli / oats with bananas and some honey. One of my favourites.

[Super Sywurm]

1 minute ago, Kameel said:

Ooooff. You're going to get so many varying opinions in this one.

And yes I'm going to give you mine as well of course - I believe it's something each person has to 'work out' for him or herself. What works for one person will not necessarily work for another. We're all built different (i.e. metabolisms). Some of my mates get by on a single fast bar on a long ride, whereas I've gone as far as occasionally stuffing a PB sandwich in my back pocket....

That said - keep on experimenting and remember: 'eat now for later'. In other words when you eat only by the time you get hungry on a ride, it's a bit too late.

Also agree with @Super Sywurm. Ditch the future life as a pre-ride breakfast and go for a proper meusli / oats with bananas and some honey. One of my favourites.

Yes, Meusli also works.  Just need more time to eat it (chew vs shipping diluted Pronutro).

[ChrisF]

11 minutes ago, Super Sywurm said:

I don't  eat much while I'm  riding, but Futurelife does not work for me before a ride.  Every other day I eat Futurelife.  Before I ride, I eat Pronutro.

Sometimes I eat an apple on a ride.

 

I also find Pronutro the best pre.ride food.  It seems to keep me going longer.  Of the foods I have tried it is also the least bloaty in that first 30 minutes.

 

 

Over.fueling .... I think we all go through this phase .... and this comes up in all these threads.

 

 

Op1 most of these suppliers have specialists that will guide YOU ... your situation is vastly different from the next person.   Doing 1 long ride a week requires different fuel to those doing hard training 5 times a week.

[Grant Prince]

I eat raw oats in the morning before the ride with bit of sugar and milk. Then 1 bottle with isotonic game (mixed half recomended) and one bottle of water. To eat I take 1 far bar and 1 energy bar eat whenever i have a gap. After a 60+ km ride at least 500ml of proteïen shake for recovery. 

[Job]

2x energy bars, 2xbananas,peanut butter +honey on white bread and 14 teaspoons of sugar in a 500ml water bottle with a pinch of salt and you good for the whole 5hr+ ride.

[Titleist]

25g of carbs per hour on long rides

[Mamil]

Baby spuds cooked in very salty water. 1 per hour if the ride is longer than 3 or 4 hours.

Bananas 

Hammer perpetuem 6 scoops in a 710ml bottle and another 6 scoops in a bag in my pocket in addition to this on rides longer than 6 hours. Usually finish the last of this at about 8 hours.

Hammer gel in a little bottle that they give you with the jugs when you buy them.

Water depending on the heat. Electrolyte tablets esp on very hot days.

I might also smash a red bull at about hour 6 or 7 on very long rides.

Eat little and often... Once every 20 or 30 minutes a nibble of something or a sip of perpetuem or a pull on the gel bottle.

Raw oats with honey and almond milk and a banana for breakfast nutribulletted. Add peanutbutter if it's going to be a big day out.

I used to eat a lot less but have learned that if I don't consume about 70 g of carbs per hour getting past 7 hours becomes very very tough. 

Hammer recoverite when I get home helps stave off cramps I find.

A beer after that.

 

Edited April 25, 2022 by Mamil

[Frosty]

36 minutes ago, Titleist said:

25g of carbs per hour on long rides

Depending on intensity, 25g will be insufficient. 

[buckstopper]

The more carbs you can stomach the better you'll perform and recover on long rides. Try for 1g/kg per hour as a start, ie 70g per hour if you weigh 70kg. Not easy, particularly on long rides if you're not used to it. Afterwards, even more carbs for recovery. A recovery drink will help. Eat simple high gi carbs on your ride. You can obviously also drink carbs on the ride. Be sure to take a sip of water while eating. You can train your body to take in more, up to say 1.5g/kg/ hour. 

[buckstopper]

I use Carbofuel by Cadence. 1:0.8 ratio of maltodextrin to fructose. The uptake is super quick which is what you need. 

[Frosty]

48 minutes ago, Job said:

2x energy bars, 2xbananas,peanut butter +honey on white bread and 14 teaspoons of sugar in a 500ml water bottle with a pinch of salt and you good for the whole 5hr+ ride.

there are 4.2g of carbs/tsp, so 14*4.2=58.8g.

Bananas have about 15-23g/100g, so depending on size you’re not guaranteed 23g each time. Let’s call it 20g.

Energy bars, depending on brands have about 70g of carbs/100g bar. Many bars vary in size from 40-80g.

Excluding the sarmie, you’re only getting about 200-240g on a 5hr ride. For me, that would be about half of what I need to have a comfortable 5 hour ride. 

[RobbyB]

My nutrition starts the night before. I like a large portion of Chicken breast with brown rice/sweet potato and veg.

Wake and eat some fruit - Pineapple/apple and berries - then a medium bowl of rolled Oats porridge mixed with two tablespoons of Future Life. Low carb and a relatively high carb together, about 3 hrs (min of 2 hours) before I ride. I can eat quite late but it can give you a bit of a stitch if you start your ride at pace (eg. in a Race).

An hour later a BM (only to reduce weight🤣 ). 

An hour before I ride I start sipping 32Gi/ or Hammer Perpetuem - mixed with rooibos tea (stomach seems to handle the sugar load better when mixed with rooibos (can add green tea if some caffeine is required)).

Some studies say that Potatoes act in a very similar way to Energy Drinks, so a few boiled baby potatoes could be a good substitute if your stomach complains about high (carb) sugar drinks.

Gels work well for me as well as bananas and dates and oats energy bars.

I tried Creatine and found that this works well for me prior and during a race/ Spirulina is also an optional nutritional supplement.

My most important aspect is to HYDRATE extremely well after (any) ride along with rehydrate tabs.  I keep a full large glass next to the bed overnight and drink (a lot) early the following morning. This seems to work well, to stop fatigue setting in, for me.