daoswald

Let's say I'm planning to go 50-70 miles. How early/late should I eat before the ride, and what normal foods would be best as pre-ride preparation? (by normal, I mean I'm not looking for hammer shakes, i'm looking for grocery-store food).

Just wondering. As my miles creep up, it's getting harder to figure out exactly how to best prepare for the next long ride.

umd

Many people will tell you to not eat 3 hours before a ride, but I will generally eat right up to a ride as long as I keep my meals small. I usually eat something every hour or, so I am just in a constant feeding mode. Always small meals, easy to digest. The closer you get to a big ride, the more you want it to be carbs and the less fat the better. Remember complex carbs are better, don't be popping lots of pure sugar. I also have some pre-ride drinks such as Cytomax Preformance that I have found to work well. And I wouldn't have thought it a good idea, but I had a microwave burrito about 2 hours before my best performance on a short TT climb a few days ago... I had made it before a teammate emailed me to come out to the ride and I didn't think it would sit well but apparently it was fine.

umd

Also fruit. Lots of fruit. I was getting tons of oranges and tangerines when they were in season. Lately it is Pineapple, mango, and strawberries. Yum.

aham23

what works for me may not work for you. like UMD i am, or feel like at least, a constant feeding machine. generally i eat small meals every 3 hours. to your question i can up right up to rolling out for a ride. in the morning i get up a hour before to eat oatmeal and have coffee. at night i may have a light dinner before or just cliff bar. later.

TurboTurtle

https://www.velonews.com/article/7985

TF

telebianchi

One of my favorite pre-ride meals is peanut butter and jelly on whole-wheat waffles. Protein and fat in the PB, longer lasting carbs in the waffles, a little quick juice in the jelly. I'll have this about 30-45 minutes before I ride. All evidence to this being "good" is purely anecdotal.

Here's what I worked out for entering it in FitDay:

Amount Per 1 serving
Calories 404
Calories from Fat 171

Total Fat 19g
Saturated Fat 0g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0g
Monounsaturated Fat 0g
Cholesterol 5mg
Sodium 585mg
Potassium 276mg
Total Carbohydrate 47.5g
Dietary Fiber 3g
Protein 13g
Alcohol 0g

You have to watch your fat intake the rest of the day. Also, the sodium would probably be considered on the high side if you weren't about to go and sweat a bunch of it off.

Also, I think that how I feel on a ride is more related to my overall diet over the previous several days. If I've been eating like cr*p, no special pre-ride meal is going to make a difference. On the other hand, if I've been eating well then what exactly I eat pre-ride doesn't matter much as long as it doesn't upset my stomach.

snowdog650

2 cups rolled oats, mixed with 3/4 cup roasted (unsalted) almonds and 3/4 cup blueberries.

Machka 

Eat whatever you want to eat ... it really doesn't matter. With a few sensible exceptions such as ... pick items that sit well with you and don't go with something ultra spicy or ultra high in fat.

TurboTurtle

That's a LOT of fat for a pre-ride meal. - TF

Ryon

I usually have a nice bowl of oatmeal. The simple, 1 minute kind you get in a large, cheap cardboard cylinder. I sprinkle some brown sugar on top and I am good to go. Or, if I have strawberries or peaches I cut them up and put on top. I usually eat about 45 minutes to an hour before riding. The oatmeal settles reeealy easily in your stomach, or at least it does for me.

UmneyDurak

Instant oatmeal and then out of the door. If I followed the "no food three hours before the ride" thing, I would have to wake up 3 in the morning eat something then go back to sleep. As other mentioned just eat sensibly. On longer rides on bike nutrition plays a bigger roll anyway.

umd

My eating every few hours continues into the night as well. I regularly wake up in the middle of the night to eat.

caloso

Another vote for oatmeal. A big bowl of oatmeal with skim milk, honey, and fruit on top (whatever's fresh in season or dried cherries/cranberries/raisins in winter). And a big mug o' java. Good for 50 miles, no problem.

Once over 50, I need to refuel on the bike. Lots of threads on that topic too.

alanfleisig

I like drinkable yogurts, full fat variety, sometimes with a bagel, coffee and orange juice. I find having this about 30-60 minutes before riding, I can do a 50-60 mile ride with only a cereal or power bar a little after halfway.

But then again, I'm a weirdo, and typically have fresh-squeezed carrot juice in my bidons. Call me a big believer in "real" food.

urbanwhitetrash

1 hr before:
1 cup of steel cut oatmeal
6 almonds
1/2 cup 1% milk
Coffee

15mins before:
1/4 cup raisins (I was reading that 1/4 cup of raisins has the same nutritional benefits as many of the gels on the market, just more real.)

slickyricky

I have the exact same breakfast, I edited yours to match mine

liamo43

Right on the money slikeyrickey, good sustaining fare Liamo.

f4rrest

Why bother cooking the oatmeal? 2/3 cup raw rolled oats with some skim milk (and a tablespoon of granola for sweet). Yummy.

kidonabike

oatmeal and fruits for me.

Or sometimes I have unsweetened yogurt and granola. I know, I'm a monster.

slickyricky

Because it digests easier

bwunger

I don't eat breakfast in the morning before I ride in to work. I pack my lunch and head out the door. I just keep some oatmeal at my desk and usually bring in an apple besides my lunch. I just recently started bringing some food to munch on for the ride in though. Trying some of those energy bars and gu packs. I'll see how it goes. No "normal" foods before I get to work though.

MrCrassic 

I usually eat at most an hour before a ride. It's usually pretty well balanced with protein, carbs and fat. If I eat light for breakfast, I'm guaranteed to be super hungry when I get into the office (15 miles away), hence causing overeating.

My breakfast (as posted in the Road forum) consists of either:

1. four eggwhite omelet (protein), with turkey (protein) and cheese (fat/carbs), sided with waffles with syrup (fat/carbs) or whole wheat toast (mostly carbs) OR

2. Super smoothie: 6 frozen strawberries, 3/4 frozen banana, 1 or 2 scoops of whey protein, oatmeal (for fullness), flax seeds, vanilla yogurt, 1/4 cup 2% milk and 1/4 cup of apple or orange juice.

Either meal take care of me for about my entire ride. When I get to the office, I usually have to eat either a yogurt with banana (with coffee) or fruit with banana to hold me over for lunch.

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J.W.

Oats. Bagel w/ your jelly of choice (i prefer blackberry) ect.

Carbonfiberboy 

I'm one of those people who absolutely cannot eat anything with oats or milk before a ride or a climb, unless I want to spend time in the john or bagging it. I just drink my chemical breakfast, which I put in the fridge the night before. Quick, and nothing else works for me consistently.

So, whatever your guts will tolerate and which won't make you feel like barfing on the first long hill. Experiment. Everyone's different.

BostonRoadee

Hm, once again I find myself sitting on CFB's side of the table... I, too, have just recently begun pushing the mileage beyond 50 for the first time in decades, and I, too, have been having weird, variable results. Some days, I finish with a PR and am ready to ride more. Other days -- with the same nutrition routine (including even the day before) -- I get very different nutrition results, sometimes having blood sugar crashes (nothing like a bonk yet), sometimes just riding sluggish all day but feeling sure I have the power to do more (i.e., thinking that it's nutrition, not a training/rest issue).

I had been regularly doing a half-cup of oatmeal with a few almonds cut in, a banana, some milk, and maybe a second small snack on top of that -- all two hours before the ride. Then, 15 min. before, a gel with a little caffeine. During the ride, snacking on small bites of a Clif bar every 15 min. or so, along with a mouthful of electrolyte drink.

All the way up to 45 miles or so, this was golden. On my last couple of long rides (btw. 45-56 miles in length), that failed me pretty badly, even though I'd done fine with it so far.

I think I might try CFB's approach this weekend -- I might pare down the breakfast to a more liquidy deal, and then -- just to limit the variables -- stick for the moment with the snacking on the bars during the ride (even though they are a pain while riding).

Long story short, each body is different, and each general length of ride seems to require new approaches, too.