Road Cycling - What do you eat while riding?

What do you carry with you to eat on long rides? How do you carry to make it easily accessible?

A fuji apple (juicy and high in sugar), an Oatbar Whole Grain Energy Bar, a Power Gel caffeinated chocolate gel pack. Make sure to open the energy bar packaging before you start. Sometimes I cut the bar into bite-size pieces and put them into an open, small ziplock bag. That way I can just reach back, grab a piece and eat it without messing with the wrapper at all.

Rich

Twinkies! Old habits die hard!

PB sandwiches, payday candy bars and trail mix. I know that it doesn't make sense to dieticians, but I have a tendency to go hypoglycemic and payday's work quicker than anything else on the "bonk", at least on me anyway.

Gu. Preferably vanilla bean or just plain.

I have a friend that played semi-pro soccer, and he used to keep a Snickers in the waist ban of his shorts. The habit carried right over to the bike. Candy bars, while short on vitamins and protein, give you more caloric bang for your buck than energy bars.

Bananas, Gu or Powergel, bagels.

I get great results from fig newtons, prunes, gel packs, and a balanced energy bar...I remember an old article asking pros this question...in the days of Hinault,Lemond etc...almost 80% chose a form of figs or prunes....try it!

Calso, do you realize the Acronym for your diseases?

Anyone know of a good way to put honey in a container that would be useable on a bike?

Originally posted by William Karsten
Calso, do you realize the Acronym for your diseases?



I'm surprised it's taken this long for anybody to notice. (Okay. Gotta come up with something else now....)

What: I usually just go the standard Powerbar/Cliff Bar route. I'm just too lazy to make my own! Sometimes I'll substitue some Fig Newtons or rice crispy treats! My body can manage these, so I'm sticking with them for now.

Where: I put my food in the mesh outside of my Camelbak. When not using a hydration system, I use the back pocket of my jersey. I can generally get to both on the fly, but I usually stop to pop them open.

Originally posted by Bean Counter
How do you carry to make it easily accessible?

Several people have mentioned candy bars with chocolate coating. Even on a fairly cool day my body would melt the chocolate on the bar. Seems real inconvenient and messy to eat it while riding. Then you'd have to put a chocolaty mess back into the jersey. Even if you eat the whole thing, what do you do with the messy wrapper? One experience with a chocolate coated Clif bar was enough for me.

Rich

couple of fig newtons, maybe a powerbar (but not
the original rip your fillings out kind), banana, and
always carry a gel pack or two (vanilla bean or
espresso flavoured).

Caloso, what diseases? Am I missing something here?
(it could happen).

William K, use a Gel flask for the honey.

Marty

William Karsten, back when I used to wrestle in high school I used to put honey in a plastic squeeze clear tarter sauce bottle with a small cap on the tip , like a ketchup or mustard bottle that was more poular years ago. It would fit right in your jersey pocket and would not leak with the liitle cap on the end.

Originally posted by William Karsten
Anyone know of a good way to put honey in a container that would be useable on a bike?

Actually, somebody packages honey as an energy booster...

http://www.bwear.com/honeystinger.shtml

To package your own would probably be messy, unless you just bring along the teddy-bear bottle and suck out of it. :D

Hmmm, what I take depends on the length of the trip. If it's short, I might just have a banana or granola bar in the pannier for emergencies. For longer trips I have taken stuff like Clif bars, grapes, pre-popped microwave popcorn, a sandwich, pretzels, can of pull-tab soup and a roll, jello jigglers, and/or even foil-packed tuna and crackers.

Originally posted by lotek


Caloso, what diseases? Am I missing something here?
(it could happen).


Marty

Lotek: For several months, my sig has been "I suffer from Traffic Induced Tourette's Syndrome. Please help." I stole the line from a post in the Commuting thread. I've been thinking of retiring it for awhile and people have begun to notice that its acronym is TITS. So now I've retired it.

Okay, back to the topic: I can't imagine a bigger mess than trying to eat a Snickers that's been in your waistband. That's why I like Clif bars. They stay pretty solid.

And I forgot about prunes. They're great.

I still go the banana route occasionally. I mostly rely on power gel or something similar for shorter rides, and harvest bars for longer ones. It's just the convenience factor.

As for opening the wrapper before you leave for a ride, that's a good way to avoid a crash. But, keeping it wrapped up will force you to work on your no hands riding, which is a nice skill to have for a variety of reasons.

All of that assuming that you ride on roads with not a lot of traffic occasionally. I'm blessed with roads that are pretty wide open, so this is a good option for me.

My first choice is a clif bar, 2nd would be a banana. I like the gels too, but not the cost. I've been meaning to try pbj and fig newtons I see that alot of folks like them. The pbj might get a little messy but the fig newtons would be easy to manage in a ziplock baggy.

I've been known to pick up an extra packet or 5 of honey from the local Chick-fil-a... nice little dose of the stuff in a tidy package. Slightly unethical, yes, but I spent a LOT of money there (hence the need to lose 100 lbs), so I don't feel bad.

Interesting thread. I go for bananas, Pria bars sometimes. I stop to eat though. I may try out some fig newtons. Nice and bland, and not pure junk.

I found something new (to me) that I like to eat on a ride. Sun Maid Fruit Bits. They are raisins, cherries, bits of apples, apricots and peaches. All the bits (pieces) are about the size of a raisin. Tastes great and comes in a nice zip lock bag.

Anyone tried them?

I have been eating the Sun Maid Fruit Bits on salads for about a month. Thought to myself the other day that I would try them on my next long ride. They are delicious.

Anything that is mostly carbs, complex if possible.

Rice Krispy treats make awesome energy food IMO, plus the are cheapo. If you make them at home, go light on the butter. I've been using RK treats on my rides lately and have had no problems.

PBJ sandwiches, bananas, rice krispie bars, Quaker/granola bars, peanut butter pretzels, ClifShot. Gonna check out those Fruit Bits. Sounds yummy!

Originally posted by Bean Counter
I have been eating the Sun Maid Fruit Bits on salads for about a month. Thought to myself the other day that I would try them on my next long ride. They are delicious. Sometimes I add some sunflower seeds and/or soy nuts to the bag.

Bananas and slurpees. A slurpee/slush isn't exactly food but waving a 1l slurpee in your left hand while signalling will catch most motorists attention. I realized this when someone asked, jokingly, if I was going to drop that on his car.

I put Fruit Bits in my oatmeal cookies. Best cookies ever.

Yesterday, I ate a leftover porkchop on my ride. It was fine, except for getting applesauce all over my jersey. :)

On a long ride I'll take some sandwitches filled with cheese, ham, marmite and lettice, anything edible.
Bananas, tuned with the optimum ratio of quick-hit sugars to slow-release complex carbohydrates (thats is black, spotty ones ).
Cereal bars are convenient and don't melt. Fig newtons (UK fig rolls) are good.

I met one guy with a bag of chips (US French Fries) in his bar bag.

Caloso - leftover porkchop........now that's a ride snack.

PB sandwitch and Pop Tarts.

Actually, I will eat a candy bar and drink a regular coca cola on during my "normal" ride break. I like to get the coke in the small 8 oz bottle if I can find them. Candy bar is typically a Snickers or a Payday. Baby Ruths are also good on occasion. :)

power bars, and often times cliff bars (if they are provided at organized rides) I rarely use gels because they cost so much!
but I don't have too much trouble with wrappers because I can ride my bike without hands ;)

Originally posted by MadCat
Bananas and slurpees. A slurpee/slush isn't exactly food but waving a 1l slurpee in your left hand while signalling will catch most motorists attention. I realized this when someone asked, jokingly, if I was going to drop that on his car.


Originally posted by caloso
I put Fruit Bits in my oatmeal cookies. Best cookies ever.

Yesterday, I ate a leftover porkchop on my ride. It was fine, except for getting applesauce all over my jersey. :)

:lol:

Try a taking a baggie of salted peanuts along. Highprotien, low cost, filling, and most important, salt to keep the electrlights up during hot weather.:beer:

unless i step up my training schedule a bit, i end up eating the other guy's dust.

date newtons are the only way to go!