nesdog

Good foggy morning (at least at the moment here in Socal)

I'm riding my first Century in May. I've been trying different drinks, gel, foods, etc. and I have a pretty good idea what the calorie, carb and electrolyte requirements are. Now the hard part is trying to figure out how to balance stuff out, carry a reasonable amount of items and still do okay.

Items in my fuel basket at the moment: Hammer Sustained Energy, Gel, Cliff Bars, Endurolyte capsules, Sharkies Energy Fruit Chews and good ole Fig Newtons. It's a mix and match of products, to be sure and each contributes a bit to the overall picture.

So, I'd like to know how you balanced your fuel requirements. For example, in the first hour, I might have just a nibble of Cliff and some water. 2nd hour start hitting the gel and SE. maybe a fig. This is a supported ride so there will be other items available.

Did you have one bar, or two but lots of sports drink? Or just gel and the figs, that kind of thing.

Thanks for the help!

Sheldon

Doctor Morbius

Not enough. I bonked. Happened around the 80 mile mark. Somehow in the last 5 miles I was able to pull through. Free advice being what it is... eat more than you think you'll need.

Good luck on your century. I'm training for a century in May also. This will be my first one ... on a trainer! Going to attempt one on the ol' CycleOps Fluid 2. A couple weeks after that I'm going to do one solo outdoors on a closed course at a local park. It should be interesting to see the differences between the two. At present I expect the trainer to be much more difficult.

surfncycling

I'd start out with something that has a high ratio of complex to simple carbs, and gradually start eating more and more simple sugars the longer the ride goes. Also make sure that whatever it is you're eating it has some electrolytes if you're prone to cramping. Good luck!

nesdog

I'm updating this in case it's helpful to anyone else.

Update: I just completed a 50 mile ride. I had breakfast about an hour before leaving, oatmeal and bagel.
I rode easily, in fact trying to imagine that starting too quickly on century day, I'll burn out in a hurry. That strategy worked well and I was very strong through the first two hours.

During the first two hours, I consumed water, about 1/2 Cliff Bar and 1/2 bottle of Sustained Energy. Had a couple of Sharkies and one serving of gel. At 2-1/2 hours, I had my PBJ, more Cliff.
At 3 hours, I finished the Cliff, had more gel, destroyed the rest of the Sharkies, more gel. Was still sucking on the SE and killed that bottle off.

My conclusion: still not enough. The numbers seem to add up okay, but I was definately feeling a low energy condition when I rolled up to my driveway at the 3-1/2 hr mark. I guess the next ride, I going to make the SE a bit stronger and be sure to drink more of it earlier on. Although the gel is terribly sweet, I can see I'll need to be a bit more diligent on this as well.

I never had any of the endurolyte tabs as I figured I was doing okay there.

Sheldon

Machka 

Especially when you are starting out, it is a good idea to eat a bit more than you think you might need. Aim for at least 250 calories per hour (including energy bars, real food, and your beverages). Note that most energy bars are about 250 calories ... one per hour is good.

After you've done a few centuries (or longer rides) you'll become more aware of what your body needs to make it through in comfort, and of course that will change as you age, get fitter, or as you experience different climates, terrain, and other environmental conditions.


I've been doing these things for years now, and so on my last century (which took 9 hours to complete, including breaks) I ate:

Breakfast = 400 calories
2.5 Peak Bars (300 calories each) = 750 calories
2 bananas = 160 calories
1 cheeseburger = 480 calories
1 french fries = 310 calories
1 bottle of Gatorade = 180 calories
1 Root Beer = 110 calories

TOTAL: 2390 = 265 calories per hour ... pretty good!

BloomBikeShop

6 or 7 Powerbars, Gatorade, and water.

supcom

My last century (last week - solo) I took a stack of fig newtons, a box of wheat thins crackers, and a flask of honey. Halfway I stopped for a cheeseburger and fries for lunch.

I only ate half the fig newtons and crackers.

Real food tastes better than power bars, Gu, and the like.

surfncycling

I have got to be a freak of nature. My last century I did had about 4K feet of climbing and a steady 5-7mph cross wind. I did it solo and ended up with an average speed of 19.8mph on my computer, I was doing 22-23 on the flats to get that average speed.
Breakfast: Bagel, Jam & Banana
Ride: 1/2 peanut butter, honey and banana sandwich. 1 Gel.
Total: Probably about 400 calories.

I guess my body just stores an insane amount of glycogen.

Machka 

After you've become fit and have done a number of centuries, you can get away with that. Your body learns how to handle it. I've done some centuries (in the summer, not in the winter) with a similar amount of food. But if you're new to that distance, it's better to keep eating all the way through the ride.

sm266

I did a century on oranges, apples, sugar cookies, and Tang. Eat what tastes good and eat often.

forum*rider

Cytomax
Water
4-5 Bananas
Saltine crackers
PBJ sandwich(with natural peanut butter)
Powerbars

nesdog

[complete, Breakfast = 400 calories
2.5 Peak Bars (300 calories each) = 750 calories
2 bananas = 160 calories
1 cheeseburger = 480 calories
1 french fries = 310 calories
1 bottle of Gatorade = 180 calories
1 Root Beer = 110 calories"]



Burgers? You ate burgers on your Century? Now there is an idea. First, I'll get some turkey meat, make up some patties, grab some tin foil and make a little solar grill.......


I added up yesterday's fuel as you did above. I came out with a total calorie per hour count of 280-300, which isn't bad. The thing is that I depended fairly heavily on breakfast carrying me through the first 90 minutes. I really wasn't hitting much extra fuel prior to that.

I realize that I ate breakfast about 1 hr before I even got on the bike so some loss there. Even though I was probably getting enough calories loaded in during the second and third hours, I was probably too deeply into deficit to overcome it. I will take the advice to start hitting the gel et al much earlier, even if I don't think I need to.

This is great information I'm learning here. Thanks, everyone!


Sheldon
OCR2

Machka 

Yep! I often eat burgers or other real food on my centuries. I usually plan my centuries to include a stop at about the 50 mile point where I can pick up something to eat other than energy bars - A&W, Subway, Robin's Donuts, or whatever. (In the example above, I stopped at A&W) I'll do some centuries straight through on just energy bars and stuff like that if I'm going for a fast time, but when I want to do a nice relaxed, fun century, I make a stop somewhere. It gives me a chance to rest, replenish, and chat with the locals.


280-300 calories is good, but you do have to have some calories in storage before you start the ride to do that. In other words, you should have eaten a decent supper the night before, and a good breakfast.

I also start nibbling the energy bars at about 45 minutes into the ride. I use a bento bag so my food is right in front of me, and I take a bite about every 10 or 15 minutes throughout the ride, rather than trying to eat a whole energy bar all at once.

I leave the gel until the very end in case I need an extra boost. I find gel isn't long lasting enough - energy bars (and real food) are much more substantial.

spindog

Cookies n' Cream Cliff Bars

Turkey Jerkey (protein for sustained energy and sodium to boot) Jerky won't freeze, won't melt , and won't spoil. Plus you can use a thin piece as a tire boot when you pick up a nail

Twizzlers

Red bull mixes nicely with lemon-lime gatorade, mountain dew and water.... really.

Hey, it works for me.

nesdog

[QUOTE=spindog]Cookies n' Cream Cliff Bars

Turkey Jerkey (protein for sustained energy and sodium to boot) Jerky won't freeze, won't melt , and won't ]


I like the Cliff Bars, had a great Apricot one yesterday. Does anyone have any issues with gas after eating these things? I think I asked this a couple of weeks ago? I note the Cliff Bars have one more gram of fiber than the Powerbar. Gawd knows that it will be like eating 3 or 4 of these!


Sheldon

Machka 

[QUOTE=nesdog]
Another reason to eat real food partway through your ride!!

terrymorse 

I know this is totally personal, but here goes. I don't like to eat much while riding, since it gives me stomach pains and shoots up my heart rate. I just finished the Solvang Century on Saturday, taking about 5 hours. From memory, here's what I ate/drank:

Hour drink/food
0-1: 1 bottle of Cytomax, no food
1-2: 3/4-bottle water, 1 Clif Shot, 1/2 banana
2-3: 1/2 bottle water, 1/2 bottle Cytomax, 1/2 banana
3-4: 1/2 bottle Cytomax, 1/2 banada, 1 Endurolyte
4-5: 3/4 bottle water, 2 orange wedges, 1 Clif Shot

It was a moderate effort ride, averaging 75% of max heart rate. Had I been working harder, I probably would have needed to eat more. The lunch at the finish tasted really good, and I couldn't eat it fast enough. I was well hydrated, as I had to take a natural break at all the rest stops except the first.

andygates

I'll agree with surfncycling in starting on complex food and ending up on simple stuff. My last centruy (125 overnight) was preloaded with a nice large Chinese and a couple of pints. Go, gadget sports nutrition! The first 60 were fuelled on flapjacks, then there was a meal and rest break. After that, it was power bars, Mars bars, and eventually strawberry bootlaces (thanks Charlotte) and a gel for the final push.

The maltloaf I was expecting to eat on the second leg was too foodlike for me to want - couldn't face it. Let's not even mention the jerky.

Seems that as I get further along, I get less able to process (and stomach) complex food.

nesdog

[QUOTE=terrymorse]I know this is totally personal, but here goes. I don't like to eat much while riding, since it gives me stomach pains and shoots up my heart rate. I just finished the Solvang Century on Saturday, taking about 5 hours. From memory, here's what I ate/drank:

Hour drink/food
0-1: 1 bottle of Cytomax, no food
1-2: 3/4-bottle water, 1 Clif Shot, 1/2 banana
2-3QUOTE]

This is exactly the kind of information that I'm looking for, kind of an hour by hour breakdown. This also gives me some kind of baseline to work from, even though our levels of fitness vary. I notice you were already hitting the cyto in the first hour. I believe this is part of what I did wrong on Saturday, not having any Sustained Energy drink until at least 75 minutes into my ride.

Thanks.

Sheldon
OCR2

Artmo 

This what has worked for me on several centuries - courtesy of "Bicycling" mag:

EATING FOR A CENTURY RIDE

2 DAYS BEFORE
LOAD UP ON CARBS: MEALS INCLUDING PASTAS, WHOLE GRAIN CEREALS, OAT BRAN, COUSCOUS, BROWN RICE, WHOLE GRAIN BREAD, BEANS BANANAS, SWEET POTATOES.

NIGHT BEFORE
EAT AN EASILY DIGESTED PASTA MEAL THAT YOU‘VE HAD A MILLION TIMES. DON’T EXPERIMENT WITH NEW STUFF OR SPICY FOOD. FINISH BY 9.00PM.

MORNING OF THE RIDE
TWO HOURS BEFORE THE START, EAT A BOWL OF OATMEAL WITH A BANANA AND SOME ORANGE JUICE.

REST STOP #1, 20 MILES
HALF AN ENERGY BAR AND SPORTS DRINK. KEEP SPARE BARS WITH YOU.

REST STOP #2, LUNCH, 45 MILES
PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY SANDWICH WITH CHIPS, FIG BARS AND JUICE, TO REPLENISH GLYCOGEN. ALSO GOOD ARE TURKEY SUB, HUMMUS WRAPS AND BAGEL SANDWICHES.

REST STOP #3, 65 MILES
NO-MAN’S LAND! PSYCHOLOGICAL TIREDNESS! EAT CHOCOLATE. A MILKY WAY IS GOOD. FREEZE IT THE NIGHT BEFORE.

REST STOP # 4, 85 MILES
HYDRATION IS YOUR PRIORITY. PACK SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE ENERGY DRINK POWDER IN A ZIPLOC BAG AND MIX IT AT THIS STOP. THIS WILL REPLENISH YOU FOR THE FINAL MILES.

FINISH, 100 MILES
STRETCH OUT. WITHIN 20 MINUTES OF FINISHING, EAT CHICKEN WITH LINGUINI TO RESTOCK YOUR GLYCOGEN STORES WHILE YOUR MUSCLES ARE AT THEIR HUNGRIEST.


I also take on a Gu gel every 45 minutes or so. And don't forget to drink every 30 min or so. It's easy to forget.

Good luck.

jslopez

Did a Century 2 weeks ago and the Solvang Century this weekend. Long story short, was ill prepared for the first and did much better for the second

Nutrition for the first century:
- Soup the night before
- Banana chips during the ride
- Water
- 1 cliff shot (from a co rider after I bonked at around mile 60)
Time in saddle 5:55


Solvang Century
- Lots of pasta the night before
- Clif shot Gu gel every 20 miles
- CLiff bar (about 1 every 20 miles)
- Cytomax to drink (about 1 bottle per hour)
- 1/2 bannanas every sag stop (20 miles)
Total saddle time 5:40

Also something noteworthy is the solvang century is supposed to be the harder century of the two and I took it easy for the last 10 miles after an accident caused a lot of riders to wait and start from a narrow part of the course.

nesdog

[QUOTE=jslopez]Did a Century 2 weeks ago and the Solvang Century this weekend. Long story short, was ill prepared for the first and did much better for the second


I would have liked to have done Solvang but my wife and I never got it together. I briefly considered driving up the 100 miles that morning. I did 50 miles locally in tribute to you guys and paid myself the $$ I saved!

Thanks for your fuel breakdown. The Century I'm hoping to do is Crusing the Conejo. 6000 feet of climbing right in my backyard..otherwise I'd have been scared off and tried an easier one!


Sheldon
OCR2

bpohl

I make my own granola mixture that is perfect for centuries. I've done several now, and this stuff has never let me down. I always have one bottle of Cytomax and one bottle of water on my century rides, taking extra cytomax powder with me to make more along the way. I think a century is fairly easy, if you know how to eat and drink correctly. Always eat and drink for the next thirty minutes. If you start feeling thirsty, you're already dehydrated (yes, I know it's common advice, but it's true). When you think you've drank too much, drink more. Oh, yeah, and drink. Just drink, okay?




Drink! (and eat)