Originally Posted by
Mithrandir
I'm going to be honest here. Under 30 miles, you do not need food. You may feel like you do, but you should be able to wait it out until the end; especially if you're only going 10mph average.
I've been doing my 35 mile rides this year with nothing but water. Haven't bonked on one of those yet. It gets tough, for sure. Your body screams for food, most definitely. But you'll make it just fine without. I've found, at least for myself, that eating food is greatly counterproductive to my goal of burning fat.
I don't bother to bring food unless it's a 35+ mile ride. I don't bother eating any of it unless it's 50+ miles (bring on 35's in case I have a major mechanical and lose lots of time fixing it)
+1
From what I have read, most of your fuel will come from food eaten well before your ride. Your body just doesn't have the time to process food properly in a short period before your ride. Focus on eating well the day before or in the hours before a ride.
For me personally, I don't do long k's and if I do a longer ride, it is usually at a higher pace but still only around 50-60km. I get by with a muesli bar about an hour or so before a longer ride, but nothing if I'm doing 40kmor less. I would stay away from gatorade, etc, as you really don't need it. More specialised additives less the sugar are much better, and I would then only use something like that on a long ride in hot conditions where you would be sweating a lot.