teachme

Yep; Hamburger on a whole wheat bun, usually from Whataburger. Wash it down with sweet tea. I don't drink sodas at all anymore.

Retro Grouch 

I'm a restaurant-to-restaurant rider.

I do better with a complete breakfast in the morning eggs, bacon, hashbrowns and toast. If I try to get by with something like motel waffles or pancakes I get real light headed and shaky feeling after a couple of hours or so. I don't usually eat anything additional till lunch when I'll eat whatever I can find locally. If I can find a roadside place that has some kind of specialty, I'll order that. If nothing else, deli sandwiches are usually findable in small towns.

PatW

I don't eat anything on a ride of less than 60 miles. Above that distance, the ride is usually a supported event and I eat anything I see that appeals to me: apples, oranges, peanut butter and jelly, cookies etc. On longer rides, I will also carry some salt for sodium replacement.

sknhgy 

I can't ride very long unless I've had a good breakfast with some kind of meat. Ham or sausage seem to work well. And eggs. Then something sweet.

jdon

Under 2 hours, just water. Beyond 2 hours, dried fruit, Pop Tarts, Beef Jerky (homemade). Over 4 hours I will take a bottle of Perpetuem as well.

GFish

Any problems with the chocolate melting?

I've tried a chocolate covered bar once in the rear jersey pocket during the summer, came out a gooey mess, not good. Are you doing something different?

tony2v

That's why I eat Paydays in the summer, yes the chocolate melts but I don't care taste so good!

Bikey Mikey

I haven't gotten into really long rides yet, but before I start my 23 mile ride, I eat a banana and half a slice of rye bread, drink 16 oz of water and bring a water bottle along for riding. I don't always drink out of the water bottle--it depends on the temperature. Usually, if it's 70°F or more, I do drink during the ride--lower than 66, I generally don't. The one time I ended up doing about 36 or 38 miles because I also did test rides on various bikes at the LBS, I did bring and eat a Kashi bar and drink water around the 26/28 mile point.

goldfinch

My first long ride was a 50 mile charity ride, with rest stops every 10 miles with lots of food. I ate so much my stomach hurt. Learned my lesson!

downtube42

Bagel sandwich with a mixture of peanut butter, honey, and raisins. Bagels are durable. I'll carry 1-4 of these depending on how far I'm riding.
One water bottle is made with a mixture of nonfat dry milk and Ovaltine.
Gu for emergencies.
On longer rides like 300 km or more, I'll eat whatever strikes my fancy at a convenience store. Some of my favorites are:
- Rice crispy treats
- Pecan pie
- Hostess Cherry Fruit Pies

Rick@OCRR

I'm easy to please so if it's an organized ride; century or double century usually, I eat a light breakfast at the motel (a couple cartons of yogurt and a pack of Pop-Tarts), then add whatever I like that's available at the checkpoints.

If it's a double century with over about 8,000 feet of climbing, I find Hammer products work best. My favorite is Caffe Latte Perpetuem, but I'm easy to please so whatever flavor they have is fine with me.

I'll add some flavor with Hammer Gel if all they have is Sustained Energy (which is not flavored). Or . . . I'm good with Spiz, Gatorade, or whatever. My stomach doesn't protest (hasn't yet!).

Note: The dark chocolate covered espresso beans are indeed a wonderful treat; I just don't see them too often (rather, often enough).

Rick / OCRR

ericm979

You're lucky. My stomach gets unhappy for all sorts of reasons. I also have food allergies so I can't eat many flavors of bars. I wind up carrying a lot of food with me, or on centuries, eating things that I know are safe without having to read the ingredients list. I do carry fast acting antihistamines in case I eat the wrong thing but I haven't needed them yet.

Even without the allergies a lot of the commercial foods will make me ill, or just taste plain nasty. I don't know why they have to make things so sweet. When I have been on the bike for 4 or 5 hours, sweet stuff is disgusting. And who needs all that chocolate? Chocolate mint with chocolate chips is dessert, not ride food.

The last few years I have been experimenting with more real food. Here's what I brought for an 80 mile ride with 6500' of climbing last month. I didn't eat the Lara bar, it was backup. The white rice cakes are basically like sushi rice, the round muffins are made with brown rice (from a recipe in Allen Lim's book). The bagel is kind of bulky and would be hard to eat during a race.

bigbadwullf

Chocolate is nasty to me. It likes to come back up in the form of acid reflux. But that is just me. Now a PayDay....now we're talking. They hold up good in heat and have about all you need. Sugar, salt, protein and ton of calories.

rck

Like many others on shorter rides I bring no food. On longer rides, routes are determined by which diner whose pie I'm in the mood to eat. In addition I'll bring some shot blocks and a clif bar or two.

Pamestique 

typical morning ride... have tea and peanut butter on toast for breakfast. I carry a Balance Bar and Shock Blocs and if going some distance, may carry fig cookies, plus nuts and the occasional PayDay. Then I eat lunch after. If on an event ride (usually a century) I eat at the rest stops and try to get in orange slices, fig cookies and pretzels. Just my physical system, I can't have too much in my system before a ride and I can't eat too much during... I just have to get by with small, frequent snacks otherwise my system goes all bad! Late afternoon rides, which generally are shorter, I am OK just having lunch and then a light snack before, only water during. Where I suffer is a ride that starts between noon and say 3 or 4pm. Still haven't got the nutrition down properly for that.

Pamestique 

you and me both! Which is why I have to eat the way I do. Pretty much I stick to what I know doesn't make me ill - I usually never deviant from my usual fuels. I have been able to tolerate Balance Bars for some reason but admit, they taste nasty. Good thing; it forces me to drink lots of water. I like Shock Blocs but can barely do one package - too much sweet for me. But all natural fig cookies or bars seem to be OK; not too sweet but with plenty of sugar and salt to ride on.

mprelaw

I always eat breakfast before a long weekend ride. If it's more than 2 hours, I'll stop at a convenience store and have a breakfast sandwich (egg/cheese and maybe Canadian bacon on an English muffin).

During the week, I ride after work. I have lunch around noon and an afternoon snack about 3-3:30 PM. It's always a 2 hour or slightly shorter ride. I'll have dinner afterwards.

az_cyclist

Not to hijack the thread, but, this is along the same lines. Many times after our Saturday club ride, I want to eat all Saturday afternoon. A couple of years ago I started taking Cliff Shot Bloks with me. If I eat 3 of them (half a pack) it does help ... but I still fight the hunger.

Cassave

Payday bar, water and maybe a few endurolytes. That's good for up to about 75 miles.
After that it's time to stop for a Snickers and a Coke.

Shifty

A riding friend was given a case (must have been 1000 bars) of the Payday Pro bars, she gave me a couple boxes. I usually have one of those, a couple GU Energy Gels and sometimes a banana if I have them in the kitchen. If I want more than that I'll stop at a market during the ride and get a cookie or an orange juice.

I like the GU Mandarin Orange flavor, it has a bit of caffeine.

Yen

And fat. I know! fat is OK, I'm not afraid of it. But how much fat is too much fat on a long-distance ride? It digests more slowly. I would like to take Larabars but some of them contain 10g of fat, others only 5g. How much is enough, and how much is too much? Does it depend on the pace of the ride?

Also - I've read to consume 200-300 calories/hour on long rides. Most of the suggestions listed above wouldn't amount to that.

I prefer eating real food but I like Clif Bloks and Honey Stinger chews and honey.

bkaapcke

Yogurt and hard boiled egg, for longer rides, I'll add a banana & pineapple chunks. Real food. bk

jppe

I have so much stored fat around my waist I eat very little. On yesterday's 5+ hour century I had a banana, 4 Lance peanut butter crackers and a 7 ounce can of Coke. They had ice at the 70 mile stop so I put the ice and Coke in a cup. All the other riders started bidding on my Coke!

david58

Learned a new food on yesterday's century - a plain old chocolate chip cookie. They fit very well in the jersey pocket, don't melt (much), and are actually pleasant to eat.

Have found that GU gel is nasty, Heed gel is nastier. Powerbar gels are good in the proper flavors, as are the Powerbar "candies".

Breakfast depends - peanut butter and jelly on toast and coffee, cinnamon rolls and coffee, oatmeal and coffee, bacon and eggs and toast and coffee....all depends on how I feel. But always coffee...

gregf83 

Yesterday - 120k hard group ride: 2 bottles with 300 Cal of maltoextrin each and a little gatorade for flavour. 5 dates to eat as needed.
Today - 100k easy ride: water plus some dates if needed.