Lamabb

So, I am a fast rider, I explode right out of the gate and crawl to the finish line at the end. This is the case in my long rides > 140miles. I don't eat and drink only the 2 water bottles of Gatorade I start with. I don't take breaks unless I have to for directions, traffic or something outside my control ( road work, drop something).

Maybe the guru's here on the rando forum could enlighten me to how I should eat/drink and when to take breaks.

From what I hear, ride with 1 or multiple cliff bars and bite a piece off it every few miles, then stuff it back in your pocket.

Drink before you're thirsty and either fill them up again quickly at a gas station/deli or bring around 3-4 bottles using an aquarack, hydration pack, camel back or jersey pocket.

and for breaks.... here I have no clue. When I take breaks, i feel like when I get back on the bike my legs are slightly sore and need to warm-up again. I hate this feeling and don't know why breaks are necessary unless it's a double century or longer.

Finally: I seem to be the only one like this, but when I'm riding it feels like I have a bottomless gut. I drink gatorade/water and eat cliff bars but never feel the need to use the bathroom.... is this typical?

I appreciate any information, I really would like to get into long distance cycling, but I need to know how the pros do it.

bobbycorno

SP
Bend, OR

lonesomesteve

Eating and drinking is important. It's also a very personal thing. Different foods work for different people. Start with 200-300 calories per hour as bobbycorno suggests (best done by constantly nibbling) and adjust up if your stomach can handle it. If you're riding fast, you're burning several hundred calories per hour, so even if you can consume 300 per hour you're still runnning at a deficit.

As far as what to eat, do some searching in this forum and you'll see a lot of discussions about that topic. Like I said, it's a very personal thing. You name it, someone here eats it.

Whether or not you take breaks is entirely up to you. You shouldn't have to take a break in a 140 mile ride. If you don't feel the need, then don't do it. I've ridden 400k rides without any real breaks other than to get a control card signed and refill water bottles. I've also done 200k rides with maybe 2 - 3 hours worth of breaks along the way. It depends on who I'm riding with and what they want to do. Generally when I'm riding alone I'll take time (15 - 20 minutes) to sit and eat some "real" food once every 200k or so.

unterhausen

Your problem is with eating/hydration and not breaks.
A fit rider doesn't have to take breaks on a 140 mile ride. If you are riding through the night, a sleep break of some multiple of 90 minutes will probably make your overall time faster.

Bacciagalupe

I generally concur with the above. You are not consuming anywhere near enough calories or liquid.

As others stated, the general rule of thumb is around 250 calories per hour (mostly carbs) and 500+ml of liquid per hour. Energy drinks help in that they consistently supply you with calories.

You may also want to carbo-load in the week before the event, so you pack as much glucose into your bloodstream as possible.

Take a break at some point and get some real solid food -- e.g. a sandwich, some fruit. If you're out there long enough, your mind and body expect a real meal at the usual time.

Last but not least, try a "negative split." Ride easy on the first half, and ride harder on the 2nd half. It isn't beneficial to burn through all your blood glucose in the first section.

Lamabb

Great info here. When it stops raining around here and my new bike light arrives, i'll be giving a long ride a shot. Don't know how long, I'll just start at around 8 am and see how long I can go using these tips. Hopefully I will be able to go much farther since I never ate like you suggested before.

brianogilvie 

The only thing I'll add to the above is that you should start eating soon, well before you get hungry. I usually start about an hour into the ride, unless I ate a meal just before the ride, in which case I might start about 2 hours in. That will start getting glucose into your blood before you run out of stored glycogen.

When Harriet Fell rode PBP in 1975, she had a roast chicken in her bag for the outbound leg.

Richard Cranium

Usually people learn their fueling and drinking habits from their own ride experience.

Increasing your exercise performance goes hand in hand with increasing your ability to correctly guess your fuel and hydration needs.

Since there are so many situations - and just as many unique ride/riding goals - the best advice may be to build on what you know works for you by continuing to pay close attention to what you already can do successfully.

Too much of what goes on in advice forums simply creates more chance for mistakes. Exercise performance beyond the basics tenets is based upon incremental increases both performance and nutritional support.

Mayday.JP

all this information has been so helpful! This is why i love BF!

lhbernhardt

The last 600 km brevet I rode, I had a 12" ham Subway stuffed into a back jersey pocket. I think I ate it at around km 150 or so. Sure beat the heck out of energy bars and gels. One quickly gets tired of Power Bars and Clif Bars. My current favorite is Honey Stinger gummies.

For long rides, you can also eat what the pro's eat. One useful snack is slices of bread dipped in red wine, made into ham sandwiches. You can substitute jam for the wine. I think protein is useful on longer rides, and for me, ham seems to digest easier than other meats.

L.

AsanaCycles

ensure, boost, carnation instant breakfast, hammer nutrition perpeteum
etc...

just start dosing your nutrition

time vs nutrition vs distance vs effort

Richard Cranium

This is the type of advice that causes problems. The products listed above would cause digestive issues in some one attempting to maintain really high levels of intense exercise. However, with this being an LD forum, and most riders keeping a much lower level of effort - they are likely to be tolerated.

Still, none of these products should be used by themselves during exercise.

chasm54

Another advocate of real food here. I find energy bars, gels, sugary drinks etc. are poor for the digestionand also sufficiently disgusting to deter me from eating enough. So while I use them from time to time, most of my intake consists of bananas, dried fruit, maybe a sandwich, a couple of handfuls of nuts etc. How much varies from rider to rider. Personally my performance is very sensitive to eating properly: if my blood sugar drops it's like taking my batteries out. So I start nibbling early - certainly long before I'm hungry - and keep it up throughout.

CHAS

Anyone not taking P breaks when they need to is setting themselves up for an infection.

skiffrun

Go to the UltraMarathonCyclingAssociation website, and read.
Go to the PacTour website, and read.

Or, continue as you have , ... and die.

echotraveler

hey guys!

i love distance cycling, doing 2 centurys a month.... this thread got some great tips! thanx. NOW i would like to change a bit the aproach...im a fatty, and im loosing weight fast!! or so my wife and friends say.

And thats the difference between me and OP, i want to be safe and still loose 20 pounds!

my century rides have an average speed of 16mph (cyclocomputer),using the average ain't very good, but we do go fast. it takes us 6 hours to complete the ride.

I relate to OP in some ways, my 3 man cell stops 3 times on a 110 mile ride. First is our acostumed stop to refill and eat cliff bars or gel(25 miles in, 10 minute break) after this we ride 35 miles and stop for a sandwich and refill the bottles (30-45 mintue). 35 miles more and stop to refill and not eat then we head home as fast as possible.

Im going to use the tip 200-300 cal every hour...but i wonder if this will decrese my weight loss...