> McDonalds is a heart attack in a cardboard box, and half of the rest of your diet is eaither loaded with saturated fat or too much salt or both. Eating off a buffet is a big no-no unless your plan is to resemble Jabba the Hut. <

Well, I intend to enjoy my meals. I don't live at McDonalds, nor to I pile on the food at the buffet. I make exactly two trips. The first typically has less food on my plate than others I see and the second trip is down right spartan. And I look nothing like Jabba the Hut. I have a little gut, but that seems to be more a problem with the muscles than with weight. Regardless, it is less than before.

> You need to completely re-evaluate what you are eating and exercise portion control. As for pre-ride, you need to eat SOMETHING. <

Like I said, I do sometimes eat cereal, especially if I expect to ride pretty far.

> A multivitamin would be good too <

I do that as well.

As for water, I drink some before I ride, but strangely, I rarely - at least in the cool of the pre-sunrise (below 70 degrees and no sun) - get even a little thirsty. I do drink some anyway, usually stopping at an outside fountain at 17 miles and hitting it again coming back (about 35 miles). Then when I get to the breakfast place, I drink again.

I've sometimes wondered if drinking a lot more than I feel like drinking would help anything.

Bob