cmktech

What is the best foods to eat before going on a ride (sandwichs?) etc. and what is the best 'recovery' food to eat after a ride.

pityr

I like bananas and PB&J sammiches.

RNS

I like a cup of steel cut oats, 1/4 cup raisins, and a scoop of protein powder about 90 minutes before lifting, I'll do the same once my bike comes in. For afterwards just focus on getting clean carbs and protein. Sugars aren't terrible, but I prefer low GI carbs over high GI at every meal. Mainly avoid fat right after biking.

WarrenG

Steel cut oats, much better than oatmeal! With dried blueberries...

ericgu

Before the ride, something with a good mix of carbs. Some sugar, some starch, and enough fluid.

After the ride, same thing, to get carbs back. You can also have that as part of a regular meal.

During the ride, a hydration drink and perhaps some food along with it.

ericgu

Before the ride, something with a good mix of carbs. Some sugar, some starch, and enough fluid.

After the ride, same thing, to get carbs back. You can also have that as part of a regular meal.

During the ride, a hydration drink and perhaps some food along with it.

RNS

Got a 25 lb bag of organic steel cut oats on my counter right now, slowly but surely chippin away They're so calorie and carb dense, I know bodybuilders love them, not sure if they're "in" in cycling but they definitely should be IMO.

bfloyd

Sorry for asking, but what are steel cut oats and what are the benefits from them? Thanks.

RNS

they're completely unprocessed oats and are very calorie and carb dense. 1 cup of "old fashioned rolled oats" has 300 calories and I think 54g of carbs, 1 cup of "steel cut oats" has 600 calories and something like 120g carbs. In-race high GI carbs, or carbs that are used quickly, are fine and actually preferred but for a pre-training or pre-race meal one would prefer low GI, or slow burning carbs. When lots of high GI carbs are taken in an insulin response occurs and can lead to light headedness and the typical "sugar crash". With low GI carbs there's much less if any insulin response and you won't crash. By pre-training meal I'm referring to whatever you eat 60-90 minutes before training.

www.bobsredmill.com has them.

WarrenG

Winco has them for 59 cents per pound. They have a decent amount of protein in them and to me, they taste better than rolled oats. 3:1 ratio of water to SCO in pan with some dired fruit (it will rehydrate) and let simmer for about 20 minutes. I have them most mornings and around 3 hours prior to races when I can, and then more easily-digested things closer to race time.

bfloyd

Thanks!!

Shaman

Before~ride food... POWER BREAKFAST! Ham~Eggs~Mushrooms on Toast
Fast energy; Lasting energy; And darn good

HillMut

This is what i've been doing , seems to work alright...
pre-ride(breakfast): oatmeal, banana, orange juice
post ride(right when I get home): low fat chocolate milk w/ added whey protien
2-3 hours later: whole wheat pasta , salad, nuts.

WarrenG

Best to add more sugars during that first two hours after riding. More fluids too.

RNS

the high GI/low GI debate may not ever end in the bodybuilding community, but from personal experience I don't like going over 30-40g of high GI carbs after a workout as a nap becomes inevitable if I do. Some argue that after a workout, and the state your body is in, an insulin response is unavoideable no matter what carb source is taken in. I personally have never taken in low GI carbs post workout, mainly because adding fat isn't an issue for me, building muscle is.

With the milk, and chocolate milk at that, that he's taking in I'd think he's fine as long as it's something like 2-3 cups. Long as there's adiquate carb intake throughout the 12 hour period before the ride and 12 hour period after the ride, I'm sure glycogen stores will be full.

WarrenG

You may feel differently once you start cycling on a regular basis. When you go over 8+ hours a week recovery foods become more important. At 12+ hours you'd better be doing lots of things right wrt nutrition if you want to optimize your performance. Some good info and guidelines here... https://www.velonews.com/train/articles/9885.0.html

RNS

you're probably right, I am a bit out of my element here in that I'm used to anaerobic training and trying to maintain as little body fat as possible for football. With a lot of cycling I could see where high GI carbs could help, though I still think steel cut oats are an optimal source for carbs for about 20 hours of the day.

JLauren

What works for me: a bag of seed/nut/raisin trail mix (I.E. bird food) to start out with, peanutbutter crackers during a long (> 1 hour) ride (I get about 6mpc (miles per cracker)), and ice cold chocolate milk afterwards (mmmmmm). All of that has a mix of carbs, fats, and protiens. And Lots and Lots o' water.

But there's a lot of trial and error in this. Try different things and see what works for you (and "works" includes "likes to eat" - with all the options, there's little reason not to eat something you like).

RNS

I just read the article, and though it sounds well written it finishes by saying this is all important if your workout is in the next 4-12 hours, and also doesn't mention anything wrt GI of the carbs being consumed. Obviously the milk and sports drink are high, but I would be very surprised if there was any difference in replenishing glycogen stores from using high or low GI after your recovery meal. My main concern with high GI carbs is insulin and fat storage, which may be a moot point for mosts cyclists because they can burn off anything they eat, but continuous insulin production can be problematic and for people trying to lose weight (and generally those with slow metabolisms) high GI carbs during the day will spike insulin and lead to fat storage.

WarrenG

After exercise the insulin spike is quite useful-to help drive the protein and carbs back into muscles as quickly as possible to enhance repair and recovery. So, high GI for that first 1-2 hours. Then low GI. If you have 24 hours of eating available then the 1-2 hours right after training isn't so critical, but many of us train late in the day. In this case it helps to get in what you can for foods because 4-5 hours after training you're going to fast for about 8 hours. If you train early in the day your only chance to refuel/reload is during the day because you will be training after fasting for about 8 hours.

Ideally you can train like a pro, get up at 7, eat lots of food, drink your coffee, and go ride at 9 or 10am and come back around 2-3pm and then eat for about 6 hours until you go to sleep again.

I have found the biggest problem for re-loading is after 3 hour rides during the week, and during 3-4 days in a row of rides of at least 2 hours, especially with lots of intensity fueled by glycogen. The times available for eating are limited and it's tough to nearly exhaust your glycogen each day and then have to reload it completely in just 20-24 hours. Studies show that it is in fact quite difficult to reload completely in such a short period of time. Now, if you're only riding 60-90 minutes a day, 3-4 times a week things are much simpler.

bfloyd

I posted another thread but perhaps it can also be posted here . . . how much is enough to replenish immediately after a medium to medium hard intensity ride of about 45 min. to 1 hour of riding? I don't want to put any extra pounds on but also want to be sure that I am refueling enough after.

Mothra

Fat-storage is only a problem if your muscular glycogen supply is already fully packed to the gills! Such as sedentary couch-potatoes eating too much without any kind of exercise. An athlete on the other hand is completely different. Eating 500-1000 calories of carbs/protein in the couple of hours right after a ride will use that insulin-spike to quickly replenish the glycogen stores. If you've ridden 2-3 hours, you'll have come close to depleting all 2000-calories of stored glycogen (assuming full replenishment from yesterday's ride). So pretty much ALL of the ingested food will go towards glycogen replenishment and none to fat stores... You really want as high-GI carbs for recovery as possible.

now eating those 500-1000 calories after having sat around all day watching TV and snacking on the other hand... insulin-resistance comes from trying to force glucose into cells that's already fully packed with glycogen...

RNS

I agree that high GI carbs have their place but outside of a workout they can lead to fat storage, plain and simple. Insulin CAN help at times, but even then I don't think I've come across anything saying the higher the GI the better for post workout. It's the same as the whey protein obsession, I don't think I've actually ever read anything saying that the sooner it's digester and absorbed the better, but people just assume.

For post workout they're probably fine, but again my inexperience and high metabolism gets in the way because I'm not thinking people are riding 2-3 hours daily. Even if this were the case, imagine riding in the AM and taking in sugars in the PM. You're not in a catbolic state and you're body simply won't want to create glycogen as much as say postworkout. At dinner time those fast digesting carbs will hit you and get stored. Mothra you threw out that 2000 calorie number, I have no clue how much glycogen a typical person has, but even then 500g isn't all that much. Maybe it's the fact that I stick in the 5000+ range but I know I can carb load with low GI carbs and still be adequately recovered.

Just because glycogen isn't full does not mean every gram of carb is going to glycogen replenishment, at least that's my understanding. I don't feel high GI carbs belong anywhere but during workout and 1-2 hours post. For me it's steel cut oats outside of that window.

Mothra

We might be talking about two difference scenarios. I'm talking about eating high-GI in the 2 hours immediately after a ride, not an AM ride with recovery-drink in the PM 12-hours later. And yes, 2000-2500 calories is the maximum amount of glycogen you can store in the muscles and liver. If you're eating 5000+ calories a day, then yes, regardless of high or low-GI, you should be worried about fat-storage...

Also glucose-to-glycogen conversion is extremely fast and efficient, about 98%. Rate of glucose-to-fat conversion is much slower and only 40% of glucose calories gets turned into fat, the rest is used to power the conversion pathway.

RNS

I just have an exremely fast metabolism and also carry about 210 lbs of lean body mass so fat storage isn't a worry for me As long as you're just saying high GI around the workout I can agree. Outside of that window I don't think it's such a good idea, especially over a long period of time because of problems like insulin sensitivity etc popping up.