The Penguin takes on his longest race ever...what should he bring to eat?
 

Tomorrow I'm doing a 75 mile RR. There is a feed zone, but I don't have anyone to hand me stuff, so I have to carry everything I need with me. Reccommended low gear is 39/21, a couple of climbs per lap (8 laps @ ~9.5mi/lap) weather should be in the high 60s/low 70s, most likely cloudy with a chance of showers. My longest race this year was 55 miles, and I barely got by with 2 bottles, a gel, and a bar. My longest rides of the year have been around 60-65 miles, and each time I only brought 2 water bottles with me and still felt pretty decent afterwards. Then again, I wasn't racing.

I weigh 169lbs, and I'm 74.5'' tall. I'm thinking that even though it'll be a lot of extra weight, I should carry 3 24oz bottles, one filled with water, one with gatorade, one a mixture of the two, 2 gels, and a couple of bars. The course doesn't sound too hilly and I climb really well, so I don't think it'll be extremely detrimental. Before the race I figure I'll eat a clif bar an hour or so before and scarf a third gel when lining up. Sound like enough for 75mi at race pace?

Find someone at the race who would be willing to hand you stuff at the feed zone.

Bob

Take the Extra Fluids, Hauling the extra weight up the hills will cost you a few seconds.... Dehydrating out on the course will cost much more.

Most of us have about 2 hours of glycogen in our system at race pace if you eat a good breakfast, since you will be racing for almost twice this, your going to have to eat during the course if you want to finish strong.

Gels will be fine, but I prefer something a bit more substantial, clif bars etc..

Eating mucho pasta as I type, gonna eat eggs for breakfast and give myself 3 hours to digest it, and drink until the race starts. I can only find 2 of my 3 bottles :eek: so it looks like I'm going to have to stop at a gas station and buy a a poland spring sports bottle.

Should I hold off on eating at the beginning? Would it be wrong to start eating 30 minutes into the race at regular intervals?

definitely go with 3 bottles. You can toss the first one after it's empty. I'd add a couple more gels. General rule of thumb is a gel every 45 mintues.They really do give you a boost, but once you start on them they're like crack, you gotta keep doing em.
Personally, I find bars hard to deal with in a race. Good thing about gels, is that you can get them open and down even when things are lighted up.

make sure you eat before the 1:45 mark.

Well, thanks anyway. The race was shortened to 57mi due to cold pouring rain. Wasn't a good day for me. Threw my chain 17 miles into it and had to stop to get it back on, couldn't catch the peloton again because some Cat2s were driving the pace and I had already been hanging on for dear life. Dropped out at mile 30 because my knee was hurting and it had tendonitis earlier in the year so I didn't want to risk another injury. And I adjusted my brakes wrong before the race so my front brake was dragging the whole time without me knowing it. Still was fun though, and my teammate took the win.