Long Distance Competition/Ultracycling, Randonneuring and Endurance Cycling - training for Cream Puff, food for long rides?

I really didn't know where to put this thread. My goal is a long mountain bike ride, but I'll probably spend most of my training time on a fixed gear. The mtb forum isn't bad, but long rides isn't their specialty and I'm not doing my fixed rides in stretchy lady jeans, so the fixed forum won't have anything to do with me. While you folks seem to have a different focus for your long rides, I figure lots of time on a bike is lots of time on a bike.

My ultimate goal is the Cream Puff 100 (http://www.cascadecreampuff.com/) on July 8. Secondary goals are a fixed century, riding from sun up to sun down, and maybe a geared double century. So far in my cycling life I've completed a couple geared road centuries (about 6:30 saddle time, or less) and mtb rides up to 55 miles and about 7 hours saddle time. I figure the Cream Puff could take me 12 hours, so I hope to doing at least 8-10 hour rides before hand.

The reason I'm posting this today is because I got my registration confirmation this week and I did my first "long" training ride today. I spent 5:07hrs, 77.7miles, or 23,712 pedal strokes (yeah, I'm a dork, I did the math) on my Langster fixed gear and it hurt me good. It's the longest ride I've ever done on that bike and my longest ride in general in about a year. I plan to add an hour every 2 weeks until July.

According to my heart rate montior I burned about 3300 calories today. I only ate 3 bananas on the ride, but I loaded up alright before. I still don't think it was enough food. What do you all recommend eating for long days in the saddle? What do you carry with you? I would like to keep my food load to jersey pockets. I'm in Oregon, so one pocket is always saved for a jacket and I carry a cell phone with me just in case. The rest of my pocket space can go to food. High calories in small packages would be good. I'm also a barely employeed student, so the more/better calories per dollar, the better. Any recomendations other than energy bars?

Also, I might as well ask, is any one else out there doing the Cream Puff?

According to my heart rate montior I burned about 3300 calories today. I only ate 3 bananas on the ride, but I loaded up alright before. I still don't think it was enough food. What do you all recommend eating for long days in the saddle? my rule of thumb is 250 - 300 calories per hour. Can be a combination of fruit, energy bars, gels or whatever, but the idea is that you should be eating regularly and you should be eating before you feel hungry.


What do you carry with you? I would like to keep my food load to jersey pockets. I'm in Oregon, so one pocket is always saved for a jacket and I carry a cell phone with me just in case. The rest of my pocket space can go to food. High calories in small packages would be good. I'm also a barely employeed student, so the more/better calories per dollar, the better. Any recomendations other than energy bars? for either a century or a double, there's no way that I'd be able to carry everything in just jersey pockets. If you're really a diehard about minimizing your load on the bike, I'd also plan on buying food and water along your route. V-8 vegetable juice is a great two-fer substitute for Gatorade. You get calories and electrolytes without the sugar crash. Doesn't travel well, but it's usually my first pull when I stop in a convenience store or gas station. Buy a bottle, drain and go. Also, keep an eye out for Fig Newtons as they're a good backup if the local store isn't stocking Cliff Bars.

For budget eating, there's also DIY'ing your own energy bar. Pour a four or six cups of oats into a roasting or baking pan. Bake at 300 degrees for 30 minutes, stirring occassionally. Stir in honey or maple syrup after 10 minutes. Mix in nuts, fruit and whatever else. Stir in a couple cups of peanut butter, then pour out onto a baking sheet and let cool. Then, cut it up into easy to handle bars.

According to my heart rate montior I burned about 3300 calories today. I only ate 3 bananas on the ride, but I loaded up alright before. I still don't think it was enough food. What do you all recommend eating for long days in the saddle? What do you carry with you? I would like to keep my food load to jersey pockets. I'm in Oregon, so one pocket is always saved for a jacket and I carry a cell phone with me just in case. The rest of my pocket space can go to food. High calories in small packages would be good. I'm also a barely employeed student, so the more/better calories per dollar, the better. Any recomendations other than energy bars?

Also, I might as well ask, is any one else out there doing the Cream Puff?

At 250 (ish) calories per hour, you should have had around 1250 calories during the ride. At about 150 calories each, you had perhaps 450 calories from the bananas, which is pretty light. My guess it that you were fairly close to bonking at the end of the ride.

I drink Accelerade (which works well for me, but isn't cheap), and supplement with fig newtons (easy to carry), and for longer rides, I like to carry a bagel or two. I'll also carry extra accelerade powder so that I can mix up more, and I usually have a bottle of water as well.

At the intensity levels you will be riding at in the Cream Puff, the foundation of your nutrition should be liquid. I really like Hammer Nutritions Hammer Gel and Perpetuem. I only eat something solid (banana, granola bar, power bar, doughnut) every other hour or so. I agree that 250-300 calories per hour is about right.

The calorie per hour is good to know. That's the kind of info I need. I knew the bananas wouldn't be enough food, but I also knew they'd get me by. It was what I had that day. I pretty much did bonk, but luckily I don't bonk as hard as I used too. The last hour hurt and I rode about 2-3 mph slower than the 4 before it.

The DIY energy bars sound pretty easy and tasty, I'll definytely give that a try. Does anyone know of any DIY tricks for energy drinks or gels? Would adding a little sugar and salt to my water help at all, or is there more to it than that?

These tips are great, keep them coming.

At 250 (ish) calories per hour, you should have had around 1250 calories during the ride. At about 150 calories each, you had perhaps 450 calories from the bananas, which is pretty light. My guess it that you were fairly close to bonking at the end of the ride.



Bananas are actually around 100 calories.
http://www.nutritiondata.com/

They are great for variety and for a bit of extra potassium, but not something that should be counted on as a main food source for long distance riding.

On rides over about 8 hours, I like to stop for a meal half way through the ride if possible. I do the 250-300 calories per hour, but when we're burning about 500 calories per hour, and only have about 2000 calories in storage, by the time we reach 5-6 hours, we're out of calories. A good meal with 1000 calories or so can boost the calories we have available to use ... and can often boost our energy levels.

As for stuff I carry with me, I tend to go for stuff like large cookies and pastries. I have come to dislike energy bars.

I hate energy bars more and more. I like fruit of all kinds, eat the soft ones first.....bananas, pears, apples....not very dense calories but good and easy to get, dried fruit should be better but I never seem to get much of a energy boost from it. When we do ski marathons I like jelly beans, lots of rush in a small package and if you buy the good jelly belly kind you can pedal away the day with a new flavor every mile!

High calories in small packages would be good. I'm also a barely employeed student, so the more/better calories per dollar, the better. Any recomendations other than energy bars?
Everything you need can be found in a grocery store.

Use off-brand nutrition bars. Otherwise do the honey/pancake syrup route.....check out Knott's Berry Farm syrups.... emmmmmmm!

If you really ride a lot, here's what you do: Go down to your local homebrew supply store and buy a 50 lb. bag of maltodextrin. I'm not kidding. I pay $22 for 50 lbs! That's the main ingredient in most endurance food powders, like Sustained Energy, etc. For flavor, you can mix in some squirts of Hammer Gel (no other) or add some flavored soy protein (I like Optimum Nutrition's) in a 7 (malto) to 1 (soy) ratio. I mix up about 5 lb. of malto/soy mix at a time. Then I put 400cc or so of the mix into a water bottle, fill and shake. That gives you about 750 kcal./bottle or enough for 3 hours. I carry more mix in my saddle bag in ziplocs. Be sure to drink plain water, too! Machka is right on. You'll still have to supplement at the mini-market or fast-food horrorshow from time to time. I've been drinking this stuff for a long time, and haven't barfed it up yet. 'Nuff said.

+1 Machka!

Real tourists eat lunch:p

Seriously, try stuff, see what works for you. I like chocolate Gu, those little bottles
of Starbucks Frappucino you can get at gas stations, nuts, fruit, cookies, burgers,
sandwiches, soups, bagels, and protein shakes. Did I forget anything?

I tend to avoid big meals and fried stuff. I always keep some Gu on the bike (great bonk cure) and on a long day, if we go past a DQ, or even better a frozen custard place, you can bet I'll be in line for my cone.

The malt from the brew store is a good idea. Homebrewing is my second favorite activity, so I'm pretty familar with the malts out there. I never thought of that. Good to hear it stays down too, I'm a big fan of not barfing.

I picked up some fig newtons today. They started making whole grain newtons (news to me), so I'm giving those a try. as a bonus they were even on sale.

On the way to to grocery store I ran into a friend of a friend who has done the Cream Puff before. He's registered again this year and has started training with some other guys. I should be able to get in on some of those training rides, so it was a good chance meeting.

I went out for 3 hours today and it was the coldest ride I've had so far. I broke out some cold weather clothes I haven't worn since I lived in Spokane. I had 6 layers on my chest, 3 on my arms, and 2 on my legs... I was still cold at times, but I have more layers and Eugene doesn't get much colder than it was today.

While energy replacement is important (bars, gels, drinks), you might also consider that during training your body is getting more efficient at dealing with the increased need for calories. To completely replenish every calorie burned with these gels and goos while out on the road deminishes the imporvement in the body's ability to turn fat into energy. Finding the right balance in how much to replenish during training is the key.

In the UK there is an offroad ride called the South Downs Way. 100 miles and 10,000ft of climbing- Forget the fit bu**ers that do it in 8 hours as the bulk of the riders come in at 8 pm from a 6 am start. I can assure you that 100 miles offroad is hard as I have attempted this ride 10 times and completed it 8 times.


I start Energy training two weeks before with every meal being carbo-hydrate loaded. Pasta- rice- Potatoes- Sandwiches- Sticky buns etc. Night before I have a good meal, normally of pasta at around 10 pm. Early morning and I get a good Cooked breakfast about an hour before the ride. I do not exaggerate when I say that I put on 5 or 6 lbs before this ride. On the ride- Start eating snacks. I do not like the Lumps of cardboard called "Powerbars" but will be carrying cereal bars- dried fruit- cake and Cheese(For protein). I snack from about 1 hour onwards and I am always chewing on something. At 6 hours I stop for a meal and this is with my back up crew. It is all prepared beforehand and I eat a rice dish and my Co- pilot has Pasta. (We ride Tandem by the way). From here on I make certain that each of us has a gel- pack or two if required as these will give energy about 20 minutes after eating but we don't take more than 2 on a ride. I will also be changing snacks to something less crunchy than Cereal bars as By this time My throat get a bit tight and the stomach is getting full. I carry Chocolate and even a tin of creamed Rice has been known to be in the camelback. Main thing is to keep eating something about every 15 minutes.

More important is water. I use a camelbak and water bottles- We drink at least 1 litre of water per hour and no we don't have to find many bushes. Carry two bottles by the way- or 1 bottle and a camelbak as if you only have one bottle and you lose it- You are in trouble.

On your training- Get frequent hard hilly rides in and they do not have to be long- We do a hilly 30 mile ride in 2 1/2 hours twice a week and probably a 50 miler at weekends starting about 4 months before this ride. To me it is pointless doing 100 miles training for a 100 mile ride. 50/ 60 miles is quite enough on a hilly course but get the rides in often.

Good luck on the ride and the only other advise I can offer is do not attack the hills. Take them at a good pace and push on the flat bits. Downhill is up to you but We have achieved 53.8 on an admittedly smoothish grass covered slope, so you can see where we gain out speed . Attached is a pic of us at the 55 mile mark last year and this was one of our failure years- we dropped out after 9 hours at the 65 mile mark as The winds had got up to 50mph- riders were being blown off the bikes and rain was coming in.

For ar eport on last years ride- follow the link

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=197532

stapfam, you are insane the best possible way.

The eating advice is good. Two weeks of carbo loading is about a week and a half more than I would have figured. I'll look into that. This ride works people, it seems only a little more than half finish each year.

After reading some stuff on this forum and talking to my dad (he's doing it with me), I've slightly altered my training plan. I've been thinking in terms of time and still am. I expect the ride to take me 12 hours (could be upwards of 15). My original plan was to get 12 hours saddle time, at least on the road bike. Now I'm more concerned with time and power. I think the new approach will be at least 8, but maybe 10-12 if I can... it'll depend on time. I started around 4 hours and was going to add an hour every 2 weeks. Looking at the time frame, I think I can shoot more for 45 minutes every 2 weeks and mix in more shorter, intense rides. I don't want to burn myself out. I don't think I'll really hit the dirt until April, it's just too wet here, so most of my riding is done on a fixed gear (rain bike), with some on a geared road bike.

Today was one of my long days. It was a beautiful day here in Eugene, so it was just right for it. I rode 5 hours 38 minutes and did a lot of climbing. I ate much better today than on my last long ride. I packed 24 fig newtons and a pbj on a bagel. It was just right. I ate about 300-350 calories an hour and, while certainly tired, never felt close to bonking.