View Single Post
Old 05-09-13, 02:34 PM
  #13  
Chitown_Mike
That guy from the Chi
 
Chitown_Mike's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Chicago
Posts: 1,000

Bikes: 88 Trek 800 - gone to new cheeks; '14 Trek 1.2 - aka The X1 Advanced; '13 Trek 3500 Disc

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 13 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 3 Times in 2 Posts
I usually go for "spirited" rides in the morning that last 45-60 minutes depending on how much time I have. I never eat before I go and only bring something about 100-150 calories with me and eat it only if I feel necessary. And by spirited I mean 16-18 MPH average moving speeds on a 30 year old steel frame.

And when I go for longer rides, several hours or 20 miles plus, I usually eat something light and bring stuff with me. Recently I have been training my body to rely on it currently stores versus what is in my stomach. My wife is amazed at how I can ride for 40+ miles and eat very little before and after. I usually don't get hungry until about an hour after a long ride and then my body just wants to rest, that is when I replenish the stores, and then go about my day.

I do know if I eat heavy either right before I leave, or the night before, I feel sluggish and heavy on my rides. For instance, this week I had pizza (probably too much) the night before I planned on riding. So I got up and did a spirited 13 mile ride about 5-6 hours after I had eaten (didn't sleep a lot I know) and felt and rode sluggish. Nothing incredible about the ride other than I was up and moving with such little sleep and operated throughout the day normally.

However 2 mornings later I was up and in the same amount of time, so about an hour, I did 15 miles afterward and felt great. I had no breakfast, a small 100 calorie snack on the ride about 30 minutes in, and had a healthy dinner the night before. Same thing the following day morning ride, in fact I was on par to do more miles in the hour window I was riding but I got up 15 minutes too late so I was limited to 45 minutes.

And I commute to work on a bike about 10 miles round trip.

But I agree with everyone else, its up to your body. I have never been big on breakfast at all.
Chitown_Mike is offline