Originally Posted by
berner
This is an interesting situation that seems to apply to myself. When I began cycling about 7 years ago, I got hungry during a 2-3 hour ride. These days I do not get hungry on the bike even though temps are cooler here than N. Carolina. I'm wondering if once one becomes adapted to cycling if the body is burning more fat than usual, the hunger response is suppressed. For me, I am entirely satisfied for many hours, (actually for an all day ride) with Hammer Perpeteum in the water bottles.
Same here. How much one needs to eat on a long ride depends on the intensity one maintains. Fat burning is a big help, but once one reaches max burn, everything else is either glycogen or food. So to keep going hard, you need to eat or you'll bonk eventually.
Both heat and high effort reduce blood flow to the stomach, which makes it more difficult to digest. The response is to eat simpler food. Perpetuem is a good example of a simpler food. It's mostly maltodextrin and soy protein. I make my own powder mix of maltodextrin and whey protein. I can drink that all day no matter the effort or temperature. I do try to drink a bolus on the flat if there is one, or at the tops of climbs, at pee stops, etc. Do whatever you need to do to make it easy on your stomach. I also find that taking Endurolytes, about 1 an hour in hot weather, improves stomach emptying.