Nutrition for long rides

[Mamil]

9 hours ago, buckstopper said:

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. 

I agree with that. I am 93kg and I believe eating more than the 70 per hour would benefit me as the ride gets longer. Hard to do without stopping for a meal I find....

[Blue Monster]

The Trainer Road Pod Cast team have done many episodes on what and how much to eat when racing/riding.

From memory, most people can tolerate about 60 to 70 g of carbs an hour. They have found that you can train your gut to handle a hell of a lot more, up to about 130g per hour. NOTE: - train your gut.

70g of carbs is only about 280 Cal. Most people will burn over 500 Cal per hour. You will land up in a world of hurt id you do not consume enough.

During this years Dischem Ride For Sight I effectively burned 666 Cal per hour, for three hours.

There is a lot of research out there, and some relatively easy gains from nutrition only.

[Shaheedalex]

On 4/25/2022 at 9:07 PM, Mamil said:

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.

 

Hi would a RedBull not send ones heartrate through the roof...let alone when exerting ones self drive it higher? 

Edited April 28, 2022 by Shaheedalex

[Mamil]

I also find, in line with what the various channels and podcasts say, that a mix of low GI and high GI carbs is good particularly when going very long. I find a whack of simple sugars at about 6 hours can be a real pick me up. 

 

[buckstopper]

12 minutes ago, Blue Monster said:

70g of carbs is only about 280 Cal. Most people will burn over 500 Cal per hour. You will land up in a world of hurt id you do not consume enough.

Remember you do store about 500g of available carbs and you also are not burning 100% of carbs as fuel. The harder you go, the more carbs you'll burn. For lsd rides the 1g/kg thing is plenty. But don't not eat. Having said that I do a weekly fasted 90min to 2hr z2

[Ed-Zulu]

5 minutes ago, Mamil said:

I also find, in line with what the various channels and podcasts say, that a mix of low GI and high GI carbs is good particularly when going very long. I find a whack of simple sugars at about 6 hours can be a real pick me up. 

 

That then explains the efficacy of my PB and Honey on Brown Bread sarmies on long rides!

[Job]

10 hours ago, Frosty said:

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. 

With a good breakfast of oats+banana or +- 100g carbs breakfast you don't need to eat in the first hour of the ride if it is not a race. 240g should be enough to last for the next 4 hours especially for a newbie who will not ride at threshold he should be able to utilize some fat stores as energy as well. It's a totally different ball game in a race or for a seasoned rider...I for one at the moment I need about 90g per hour when racing but for a zone 2-3 training ride around 60g/hr.

 

 

[Jakkals.]

Sjoe, yes, you will get a lot of opinions here...albeit it all good, you need to find what works for you and you seem to have sorted it out on ride 2...

I cannot stomach oats, so I have pronutro a good few hours before I "race" and then 30min before I have a bar of sorts and another one 1hr in.

 

generally I do not eat before a "ride" but have 2 bottles of cadence energy drink, but then its either less than 2hrs or very low intensity.

[Pikey]

I have found that a double shot of this all natural biogen sweet potato recovery / endurance shake before a ride has seemed to help me. Have done a few longer rides than usual of late and I took this before . I obviously also eat my usual muesli . 

Also use a single shot of 250ml for recovery as well. 

Not sure if it’s the placebo effect but a 90 km mtb ( Longish mtb ride for me) ride on Sunday and felt fairly strong ( for me) throughout . Oh and it tastes sh#te . Did use 2 gels and a cheap  energy bar whilst riding , endurade raw from spar. Find them easy to digest. Had  32Gi sport chew bar with me but didn’t need it,which was surprising to say the least.

Riding time was just over 4hrs so something is helping me thinks.

oh and the biogen sweet potato shake is cheap in comparison to other makes.

just my 2c.

And I am not a vegan or vegetarian. 

Edited April 26, 2022 by Pikey

[NotSoBigBen]

8 minutes ago, Pikey said:

I have found that a double shot of this all natural biogen sweet potato recovery / endurance shake before a ride has seemed to help me. Have done a few longer rides than usual of late and I took this before . I obviously also eat my usual muesli . 

Also use a single shot of 250ml for recovery as well. 

Not sure if it’s the placebo effect but a 90 km mtb ride on Sunday and felt fairly strong ( for me) throughout . Oh and it tastes sh#te . Did use 2 gels and a cheap  energy bar whilst riding , endurade raw from spar. Find them easy to digest. Had  32Gi sport chew bar with me but didn’t need it,which was surprising to say the least.

Riding time was just over 4hrs so something is helping me thinks.

oh and the biogen sweet potato shake is cheap in comparison to other makes.

just my 2c.

And I am not a vegan or vegetarian. 

"I'm not a vegan" 🤣🤣

[Pikey]

1 minute ago, NotSoBigBen said:

"I'm not a vegan" 🤣🤣

I love a good bit of rump 😁

[bleedToWin]

11 hours ago, Titleist said:

25g of carbs per hour on long rides

Definitely not enough. Not by a long shot. Unless you do long rides in the recovery zone of intensity with your heart rate at 95bpm.

[bleedToWin]

10 hours ago, Frosty said:

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. 

For everyone that's only half of what they need.

[bleedToWin]

56 minutes ago, Blue Monster said:

70g of carbs is only about 280 Cal. Most people will burn over 500 Cal per hour. You will land up in a world of hurt id you do not consume enough.

Absolutely this.
So many people try to find the minimum the can consume. Even newbies and summer only recreational riders will burn more calories than they can possibly consume. You have reserves, but no matter how much you eat you are going into your reserves from km zero.

If you are knackered for the rest of the day after a long ride, it's not because you pushed really hard or were unfit, it's because you underfueled. Just because you didn't bonk doesn't mean you ate enough.

 

[bleedToWin]

1 hour ago, Mamil said:

I agree with that. I am 93kg and I believe eating more than the 70 per hour would benefit me as the ride gets longer. Hard to do without stopping for a meal I find....

Not easy, but I normally manage with just a water stop. This covers about 4 hours of consumption and I normally start while still digesting breakfast.

2 x 90g bottles
1 x 90g carb mix in a ziplock
2 x 22g gels
3 x 18g farbar
1 x 20g banana

I normally manage about 150g - 200g for breakfast on long days.
90g carb mix too sweet? Get some Maltodextrin (flavourless carbs) and boost your normal carb mix.

Edited April 26, 2022 by bleedToWin

[Baracuda]

Did some research on the highest carb & energy food per unit weight and dates are quite hard to beat. They also pretty cheap if you get a 1kg block in the baking section or at a spice shop. If you mix almonds into the date ball mix, all the better. Also high energy per unit weight / volume.

I then have a date ball and half a banana per hour. With some isotonic drink that has salt in it to deal with cramps.

Keep a gel in back pocket for the last 30 mins of a >3hr ride. Just for that last umph.

Edited April 26, 2022 by Baracuda