During my weekend morning rides (~40 miles), I often feel like riding is so much harder for the first half than it is for the second. I usually wake up, cook myself an omelette (eggs + veggies) with toast, and then get myself and bike ready while I wait 30 minutes to digest. For the first hour of my ride, I always feel like I'm working hard without much energy. After I pop a Gu at the 45min - 1hr mark, I start feeling a bit better until I'm eventually feeling great 1.5 hours into the ride. Once I'm at this point, it feels like it takes much less effort for me to maintain an even higher average speed and I feel like I have tons of energy compared to when I first started. In fact, after popping a second Gu, I usually get home and feel like I can do another 20 miles easy. Time constraints have prevented me from trying my first metric century, but it will be done at some point.

Is Gu really that powerful, or should I be eating a better breakfast? I'd like to start my rides feeling full of energy without having to wait for or rely on Gu. Am I doing something wrong, or do a lot of you guys experience something like this? I live in the Northeast, so I realize that my body needs to warm up before it really gets going, but an hour + seems excessive.