Training & Nutrition - my pre-ride meal...

i've been riding 50-milers for my sunday ride.

my pre-ride meal has been mainly some peanut butter & bread and some yogurt.

i seem to get a little hungry on the last 10-12 miles of the ride. during my ride i may take in a gel pack and/or bar around the halfway mark, but that doesn't seem to curb my hunger.

i've searched on pre-ride meals and it seems having a pretty big (eggs, oatmeal, cereal, etc) breakfast is the way to go on longer rides???

i just don't want to feel real full when i'm about to get on the bike?? or should i just try to eat earlier??

thanks for your help!

-jason

I have a recipe for homemade energy bars that has been posted further down. They worked excellent on a recent mountain biking trip we took in Idaho where we biked 3-4 hours for 3 days. They did not feel like lead in your stomach, and were very tasty. They did their job.

I try to have an oatmeal, eggs, bacon breakfast before BIG rides. About 1 hour before I hit the trail if it's a big breakfast. And maybe some juice or fruit in the car on the way there. But if it's a ride after work that will last a little over an hour, I'll have an open faced PBJ, some nuts and OJ.

I would give warning about eating high fat meats before going on a hard ride. If I eat bacon before a ride I will be sorry. I find that oat meal, or baggels with some butter and a little honey work for me. Don't get me wrong, I eat meat, but your digestion slows down if you ride hard and most folks do better on easier to digest carbs if riding hard.

Yes, some people digest things differently than others.
I can handle 2-3 small lean cut pieces of bacon on a egg sandwich or something.

Shannon-UT, where can I find that recipe... I keep looking and I must be looking right past it :-/

It got bumped down to the next page.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?threadid=35391&highlight=recipe

Peanutty Energy Bars

I believe this is from the National Peanut Foundation’s website. I made 2 batches of these babies and they were great. No melting. We went on a 3 day, 57 miles of mountain biking and these along with jerky were our main fuel source on rides. They were great.

· 1/2 cup salted dry roasted peanuts a
· 1/2 cup roasted sunflower nuts (kernels)
· 1/4 cup toasted wheat germ
· 1/2 cup raisins
· 2 cups rolled oats
· 2 cups toasted rice cereal (Rice Crispies)
· 1/2 cup crunchy (or extra crunchy) peanut butter
· 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
· 1/2 cup light corn syrup
· 1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix together the first six ingredients in a BIG bowl. Set aside. Combine peanut butter, brown sugar and corn syrup in a large bowl. Microwave on high for 2 minutes. Add vanilla and stir until blended. Add dry ingredients from medium bowl. Stir until coated. Spoon mixture into an 8-inch square pan coated with non-stick spray. Press down firmly (It helps to spray fingers with nonstick spray). Let stand about 1 hour.
Cut into bars. Yield: 16-20 bars

I had to calculate the nutritional info. I think this is how it goes for the each batch:

Total Calories = 3908
Total Fat/Sat. Fat = 164g/26g
Total Sodium = 1914mg
Total Carbs = 522g
Total Fiber = 52g
Total Protien = 117g

**Divide each number by the number of servings you cut.**


So each of my batches made 16 bars. Here's for each bar:

Calories = 244
Fat/Sat. Fat = 10g/1.5g
Sodium = 120mg
Carbs = 32.5g
Fiber = 3+g
Protien = 7+g

This is pretty good nutritional wise, right? I certainly wouldn't sit around and eat them for a snack. They're quite "beefy."

ok...thanks for the replies.

i may try some oatmeal. :)

and i'm going to try that recipe for grins as well. :) may save me some $$$ on power bars. :D

That recipe is really good. I've several batches already myself.

I try to eat at least an hour and half before a big morning ride. Usually oatmeal with a banana/raisins mixed in or cereal with the same stuff mixed in with Oj and green tea. It helps.

Personally, I don't think peanut butter is very good pre-ride food... lots of fat which would make it difficult to digest. I'd look for something with less fat and more carbohydrate calories.

Eat more often! During the ride, like the advice above says, eat something every hour... fig bars, nutrigrain, homemade, gel, whatever.

Cool! Thanks for the recipe!

me and my fiance are way different than you guys... Before every Sunday morning ride, we make a pit stop by Waffle House for some serious chow. Bacon, eggs, hashbrowns, waffles, salsa and sodas. Then we head directly to the dirt for about three or four hours. Of course, we stop at least once so he can smoke and I can eat a snickers. Totally unhealthy, I know, but it's a lot of fun, and we haven't ever gotten sick.