Originally Posted by
Heathpack
I also find the calorie reccs of @
Machka and @
hamster very interesting. I weigh 135 pounds and I eat nothing special for a ride of less than 2hrs, about 100 cal/hr for a normal intensity 2-4 hr ride and 160 cal/hr for a 4+ hour ride or a very intense ride. For example, I rode 85 mi this weekend, a very difficult for me climbing ride in 6.25 hours and ate 1000 cal on the ride. I recently asked an ultra endurance rider I know what she eats, and she eats similar to @
Machka reccs, on anything greater than 50 mi. So I think it might really depend on your physiology and conditioning.
H
The better shape you're in, the less you need to eat. As you get into shape, your body improves its processing methods of whatever fuel it has.
Also ...
The theory is that if you are eating normally, you should have about 2000 calories in storage in your liver and muscle cells. Assuming that you're burning approx. 500 calories per hour, theoretically you should be able to ride for 4 hours before you've used up those 2000 calories. I can cover about 68 km in 4 hours right now, but back in the day when I was fast, I could cover 100 km in 4 hours.
Eat a 500 calorie breakfast before you go out, and you might be able to ride for 5 hours without food.
However, if you're still building up your fitness, and if your body doesn't process fuel efficiently, you'll probably manage about 2 hours before you start to feel it ... the early stages of a bonk.
Therefore, we recommend that people consume approx. half what they burn if they are on rides longer than 2 hours ... 200-300 calories per hour. If they eat that much, they won't bonk, and they will have the energy to complete the ride. Later, after having done many longer rides and feeling comfortable with longer distances people may discover that they can get away with less food ... and that's OK. After you're comfortable with longer distances, you can adjust your fuel as you see fit.
However, it is a good idea to have 200-300 calories available on a ride, whether you eat it or not. You just never know when you're going to encounter a bigger hill or stronger winds ... or maybe you're just not feeling particularly energetic. I've gone into the early stages of a bonk at some really odd places and times ... and thank goodness I had a granola bar on board.
As for riding
long distances (ultra endurance stuff), it can be very important to start eating 200-300 calories right at the beginning and keep eating it as long as you can. Back to the 2000 calories you have in storage. Over a 4-hour period if you consume nothing, your 2000 calories is gone. But if you are eating 250 calories per hour, at the end of 4 hours you should still have 1000 calories to work with. In my ultra endurance days, I found that breakfast + approx. 250 calories per hour worked up to about 6-7 hours, and then I needed to stop for a meal. I was OK again (still eating 250 calories per hour) for about 4-5 hours, and then I needed to eat another meal, and so on until the end of the ride.