Road Cycling - Breakfast

Amazing what a good breakfast pickles make, isn't it?

What do you eat on the morning of a race or before a long ride?

I eat a bowel (sic) full of Shreddies and 4 slices of toast. And bananas too if it's a long road race. .
Any ideas?Ummmmm ew.


I know a guy who has semolina
Sounds painful



:D I skip breakfast, but Iusually have Spaghetti the night before

I have found that Oatmeal, bannana, orange juice, and perhaps a muffin or bagel does me a lot of good.

Every Saturday and Sunday I like to ride 40+ miles. I either eat a bowl of cold cereal, like Cherrios, or a bowl of oatmeal, and a banana or two, plus two cups of coffee, or three scrambled eggs, Healthy Choice ham, two pieces of toast, fried 'taters, a banana and two cups of coffee. I used to put salsa on the eggs, but after having terminal heart burn, I stopped doing that!

That, and a Clif Bar or several gels along the way keep my engine running just fine. Of course, being 6'3", 240lbs, I probably need more fuel than someone not in the clydesdale category.

I'm a believer in Breakfast. I can't imagine skipping that meal, and know from experience I'm nowhere near my best if I do. I pretty much always just eat 2 eggs (scrambled) & 2 slices of toast (stone ground whole wheat) every day. If it's going to be race pace (i.e. anaerobic) ride, I eat 2 or 3 hours before starting. If it's going to be really intense, supplement leading up to the event with a powerbar 1 hr before and a gel 20 minutes before.

I expect a steak for breakfast would do me in. Too much work to digest. OTOH, I *would* eat a steak for supper two nights before (iron, protein), and focus on carbs the day before.

But that's just me.

I try to avoid eating anything that has come even close to a bowel..yuk!

I just eat what I normally eat, nothing special... I'll always snack on stuff during longer rides anyway...

Jay

I ride do about three 30mi rides during the week, and an 80miler on the weekend. For breakfast, either a powerbar or clifbar. I drink Accelerade during the ride. And tend to eat another bar plus a couple of gels during my long weekend ride.
Tyler Hamilton wrote in his online diary that his meal pack each morning during the tour de france consisted of "no fewer than four kinds of cereal, a large jar of Nutella, soy milk, sugar free jam, ketchup and mustard (for our eggs, rice and pasta), instant decaf coffee, honey, parmesan cheese, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, nuts, low sugar cookies, rice cakes, water and fruit."
Me thinks I should eat more.

My breakfast is usually a fruit shake.

Shreddies? Beans on toast?
Must be British.

How 'bout cold pizza? Order it the night before and put it in the fridge. You got your protein, you got your carbs and HEY, you are gonna burn it off right? What more could you ask for? :p

I eat pretty much what ever the $%#@ I want to before a long ride but am much more careful before a race eating whatever bland pile of carbs I can get my hands on (rice, potatoes, pasta, pancakes) two hours before start time. that way I won't hurl.

If Fruit Loops are good enough for Toucan Sam, they’re good enough for me. That and a banana usually, or some strawberries if they’re in season.

Before a long weekend ride I'll typically eat an orange, a pear, flax seed cereal with almond milk, mixed nuts or granola, black coffee, a cliff bar, and peanut butter. During the ride I try to go where I can stop and have a beer at a pub. :)

I have noticed a lot of SUGAR and FAT in many of the foods mentioned in some of these posts. My doctor has forbad many of these foods in any "real" quantity. I am type 2 diabetic and am training for a century next May. How the heck can a "T2" eat in preperation for such an event without blowing one's blood glucose levels? (perhaps this should have been a new post??)
I just eat my normal "T2" restrictive diet. (can you say bonk?)

Oatmeal, banana, OJ, and green tea every morning it;s the same thing regardless if I ride or not.

200 ml plain yogurt with fresh fruit, sprinkled with wheat germ and roasted soy nuts plus one peanut butter and jam sandwich. coffee. no juice.

Oatmeal (real) has the one of the best glycemic indexes. Always keeps me going. I add nuts and raisins or blueberries and skim milk.

Lasts me many miles!!

Breakfast:
Oatmeal
Apples
Water
Grapefruit
Micellar Casein
Glutamine peptides
Green Tea or Yerba Mate
r-ALA
Multivitamin

Pre-race:
Small amount of hydrolysed whey isolate
Maltodextrin
Dextrose
Banana
Maybe some MCT's depending on the length of the race
Plus buffers, expanders etc

breakfast for me means everything i eat in the morning. since i get up at 5am to ride, there isn't much time for a buffet. so high fiber cereal, OJ, yogurt, coffee, bagel, etc is my breakfast which stretches from 8am to noon.

On a related site someone mentioned Christmas cake as a carry along thing. This may or may not serve as a breakfast meal, but the composition of Christmas cake makes alot of sense for a snack that would beat the hell out of most of those expensive bars marketed for this purpose. Most Christmas cakes have: currants, nuts, other dried fruit, suet, some additional sugar, some flour; and it holds together, is compact, and a hell of alot cheaper than a bar for $2.50.

N7 - you don't have to bonk. Start a new thread and you will see what others do to balance their food intake with their blood sugar level.

N7, I'd think you could find a nutritionist that could help you avoid a major bonk on every ride. Have you gone that route?

i could help you not bonk - eat more and ride within yer limits. a nutritionist would charge you $30 for that.

Start a new thread and you will see what others do to balance their food intake with their blood sugar level.

Thanks, that is a good idea.


I'd think you could find a nutritonist that could help you avoid a major bonk on every ride. Have you gone that route?

Yea, when very first diagnosed. At that time the advise was to excercise and maintain the 1800 calorie low carb/fat diet. 30 min cardio every other day and resistance training 3 days a week. I guess its time to revisit the dietary needs.


i could help you not bonk - eat more and ride within yer limits. a nutritionist would charge you $30 for that.

It may be just that easy. I don't normally take my Glucose monitor on the bike with me but perhaps some detailed monitoring could shed some light.

Thanks, Bob

I have noticed a lot of SUGAR and FAT in many of the foods mentioned in some of these posts. My doctor has forbad many of these foods in any "real" quantity. I am type 2 diabetic and am training for a century next May. How the heck can a "T2" eat in preperation for such an event without blowing one's blood glucose levels? (perhaps this should have been a new post??)
I just eat my normal "T2" restrictive diet. (can you say bonk?)

I understand your problem, but a regular T2 diet is far different to a T2 that exercises regularly diet. Go back to your doctor and discuss the situation with them, no doubt the advise will change.

A T2 has to be very careful of glucose levels, but that does not mean going to the extent of ridding all sugar and fat from the diet. That is a good sweeping generalisation to make for an obese person that has driven themselves to that state. For someone wishing to do the amount of cycling you are, there are definitely options.

I won't give any direct advise as I think you should be revisiting your Dr. and discussing the problem. When you get back, post up what they said.

It may be just that easy. I don't normally take my Glucose monitor on the bike with me but perhaps some detailed monitoring could shed some light.

Thanks, Bob

Don't take the glucose monitor on the bike with you. Use a trainer and do a little self study. Take readings when you wake up, every hour there after, before commencing cycling on trainer, during (every 15 mins) and after. Note when you ate anything that day. Chart it up on excel or the like and take it with you to the Dr. to help explain the problem. They will appreciate your time and effort.

Spexy, you have it right. Cold leftover pizza is the breakfast of champions.

My breky every day is as follows;

Oatmeal cereal with skimmed milk. To this i sprinkle a spoon full of whey protein (not cheapy casein). 2 slices of toast and a cold glass of pure OJ. wakes me up! Also i'm in the habbit of takin a multi vit every morning. Dunno if it's just a placebo effect but i actually feel great when i do so.

So here we have complex carbs to last till lunch time, fibre and protien. A well balanced breakfast.

If i'm riding i'll slap in some scrammbled eggs and some bananas but i seem to have discovered the holy grail.......beans on toast before u ride.....it's power fuel!