Originally Posted by roadbuzz
I disagree!!
Heh. Not really. Keeping in mind the advice above, I find that it helps most to eat more the night before. Not necessarily anything special, just more of it. And eat early, like before 6 or so, so you'll have time to digest and, um, unload it before the start.
Pasta is especially good. Higher carbs ratio than normal. And eat breakfast 3 hours before the start. Seriously. If I'm sleeping near the start, I'll make a breakfast drink the night before, set my alarm, wake and drink it and go back to sleep. You want to have eaten but be starting to feel hunger pangs at the start, so eat a bar right then.
As for on-the-bike bars, my fav is Clif Bars. Get 'em at Trader Joe's. Start the tear in the wrappers before the start. I can't get a Balance Bar down my throat while riding, though they eat easily at home. As others say, Fig Newtons are good. Big cookies are good, like chocolate chip. I don't like gels because of the gooey package. Must be a personal problem. Many people like Hammer Gel carried in the 6oz. flask. Bananas are good, but please don't leave the peel on the road. I sometimes see whole bananas on the road on charity rides.
Canuck, you hang around here, you'll be doing centuries in June. If you can do 50k without eating, you can probably do a mile century now - or maybe with a little more butt toughening.