For distances in the 75-125 mile range. I've heard 300 cal/hr is a good rule of thumb. What works for you?

are you talking intake or expenditure?

are you talking intake or expenditure?

Intake.

I think the "rule of thumb" is 300/calories an hour intake is all you can absorb, no matter what the length of the exercise is. This is person-specific as well - I can't eat that much, and I'm a smaller person. I on saturday's ride, about 6 hours, i ate about 900 calories of food (gu, granola bar, candy, pastry, chips), and 300 of liquid (heed), and felt really good.

It doesn't matter as much on shorter rides, but if you try to eat more than that per hour on longer rides, you end up with more food in you than you can process, and it upsets your stomach. It took me a lot of centuries with tummy-aches at the end to realize I was eating too much at a time.

I'm a big guy, and can't eat that much while I'm riding either. I don't eat anything at all, unless the ride is over 2.5 hours, and do a lot of 3+ hour rides with no calories while I'm on the bike. My stomach sours easily. If I do consume anything, I've found that I have the best luck with simple and real food (fig bar, banana, oatmeal-based energy bar, etc.), or gu-gels. Unless I'm on a very long and hot ride, I prefer to drink only water. I probably drink less than 3-4 sports drinks per year, and usually at a gas station in the middle of no-where on a hot day.

250 - 300 works for me. If I aim any lower (200/hr) then I end up running out of steam after 5 hours. At 6'6" and 240 pounds, there's a bit more of me to keep fueled than the average rider I see on my century rides.

I break my calories up between Accelerade, Accel Gel and Clif Bars (or bananas/fig newtons, other "real" food at rest stations). Clif Bars are good, but eventually I crave something other than a slab of press-formed oats, and that's when I'm glad for things like boiled potatoes or peanut butter and bananas at the rest stops.

I haven't actually tallied it up, but my intake while riding probably comes to around 200 cal/hr, between Cytomax and Clif Shot Bloks. Since most of my long rides are brevets, I'm also stopping every 50-100k (usually at some kind of mini-mart) to get my card signed, and take that opportunity to grab an additional 200-500 cal "snack": cheeseburger, strawberry milk, breakfast burrito, chips, v-8 - whatever I can find on the shelves.

Scott P