A common practice on the weekend group rides in this area is to leave early (8:00am or so) and do 30-40 miles by riding to restaurants 15-20 miles away, sitting down for a full breakfast (bacon, eggs, pancakes) and then riding back. This doesn't work well for me because: 1) I get cold and stiff sitting that long in cycling clothes wet with the sweat from an hour+ of riding; 2) I can't get up from the table after a full meal and get on the bike immediately and ride 15-20 miles--my food needs time to digest; and 3) I usually eat breakfast before the ride so I have enough energy to avoid bonking. I tried to join the group once, eating my energy bar and ordering OJ while everyone else ate breakfast, but from sitting in the restaurant with the AC on (it's summer, and who has windows?) I was really stiff and uncomfortable on the ride back.

While this is not a major issue, and I can ride on my own or find like-minded others, I'm curious: Is this sort of thing common in your area? What do you think of it?

I enjoy a "Breakfast Ride" on my days off. I eat something light, ride the 20 miles or so, enjoy a nice breakfast and ride nice and easy back home. Sometimes I'll go a longer way home than I came. I have always done this on my own, only once in a group. I would love to have a group to do this with. I find it enjoyable and it works well for me.

If there's any food involved, typically the groups with which I ride wait until after the ride. I share your sentiments about the cold legs. Also, getting up and immediately riding off on a full stomach doesn't sound appealing.

eating a meal promotes digestion, and that requires diverting blood flow to the stomach. That blood is not available to channel nutrients to the muscles and to support high respiration, so riding is slower after a meal. I don't like it.

Eat before and after, but not during (energy bars etc notwithstanding), is common on rides of 40-60 miles. Sounds like this group is more into bacon than riding. Join in, or find another group to ride with. Not that there is anything wrong with bacon.....it's meat candy!

Not common. If we stop, it's usually at the end of a ride like that, and for all the reasons you mention.

But I like the notion of making the meal the destination. Sharing a meal together with friends is always a good thing. As long as the riding after the meal was casual, I'd be OK with it.

Almost every morning - weil, maybe 4 times per week, I leave the house, ride for an hour and one-half+, stop at McD's for a fruit and yogurt parfait and a burrito with hot sauce, ride to the outdoor pool, swim for 45 minutes, and ride back home - or perhaps do another loop if I have time. If I do ride another loop, then I generally ride directly to a restaurant somewhere and meet my wife for lunch (while I am riding, she has been doing her swimming lessons and aquaerobics).

It works great for me.

(When I start out about 7 am, around here it is chilly, and I usually use arm warmers and sometimes a light wind breaker, both of which I shed along the way)

I can't handle the cool temps and get stiff too. Pack a backpack or rack back with a spare long sleeve jersey or maybe a lightweight warmup suit to slip in to. Duck in the restroom, strip out of the wet jersey and wipe off with paper towels and slip into the sweats / long sleeve jersey. Walk back to the bike and pull the wet jersey over your handlebars to dry out during the meal. Go and enjoy your company. Maybe order toast or something with an OJ if you get dirty looks for not ordering anything.

there was a time when I never would do such a thing, but now that I am randonneuring, I don't mind as much. It does take a bit of getting used to sitting in sweaty clothes, and eating too much is a problem. Get something light. You will warm up again, and your compatriots also have the problem of having eaten, so the will not be as fast on the way back.

So second day of STP it was 86 F and toasty. We rolled into St Helen's about noon and instead of the very hot and open official food stop at the school we opted for Burgerville. After an hour of air conditioned comfort, fresh raspberry shakes and a few burgers (small original) we were ready to blow into Portland which we did. We were still laughing about it hours later...best idea ever. The trick is to eat in moderation, eat slowly, spend some time relaxing...then get on the bike and cruise..not jam.

Reminds me of the time my local club decided to do our own double century ride. Just a small group of us but we had a SAG vehicle stocked with food and drinks we'd all agreed about and it stopped at designated spots along the route. Worked out well, but at the 160-mile point the SAG car was in the parking lot of a Stuckey's restaurant. We all rolled right by it and headed into the restaurant instead for burgers and chocolate shakes. Picked up our spirits and we were ready for the final stretch of the ride.

Our club makes eating a required part of the Tuesday Thursday rides. It is a lot of fun and people enjoy it. It is often a sandwich style stop, but sometimes Mexican food finds its way in. There are a couple of us that do the stops but just munch on the stuff in our jersey pockets, dried fruit, nuts, sometimes 1/2 a PB&J.

When we get back on the road again it takes awhile before my legs come back and loosen up again. It is not my preferred ride style; however, it makes for a lot of fun and a very close knit group of riders who like each other a lot.

A Tuesday AM ride is called First Watch since at mid point the eatery of choice is a First Watch restaurant. Rode it a few times but it's just not my thing.

Not a common thing, but it does happen occasionally. I am fine with a full meal mid ride once in a while. That after-meal part will turn out to be at a casual pace, at least for a while. Variety, et al.

There are two schools of thought...

The ride-breakfast/meal-ride approach is fine for casual riding with family or non-cycling friends. That way, the meal is the enticement to get them out on their bikes. I'll do that for the company, and to be an encouragement to the others to remain/become active. The point is the comraderie foremost.

The other approach, which I take with buddies who ride, is to only snack or eat enough to maintain riding energy. Maybe a stop at a distant supermarket to pick up some fig bars or a sandwhich, and then onward. I typically carry enough food/snacks for four or five hours on the bike. More, and I'll have to stop to get something. The point is riding first, and then socializing second.

Both are fine. I lean more toward number two rather than number one. My hope is to drag everyone eventually into number two...

Mrs. Grouch and I used to do that almost every Sunday. Occasionally we'd invite some other tandem couples to ride with us and everybody seemed to enjoy it. We haven't done a breakfast ride in quite a long time. The biggest barrier has been finding a breakfast spot that we like that's also a convenient ride from our condo.

I never worried about the digestion while riding thing mostly because I seldom ride that hard. We used to do some 50 mile Sunday rides with the same folks that were sandwiched around some really major dinner stops.

Thanks for the memory.

Ride/eat/ride. Does it get any better?

Sometimes the goal is to ride 100 miles, sometimes it's to climb a lot of hills, sometimes it's to ride, eat a big meal and ride back. None are easy. I just HTFU and do it.

From a health standpoint I think that's just about the worst, only exceeded by having a Bloody Mary with brunch and smoking on the ride back. But, I ride to breakfast with my spouse on Sundays and it's delightful. One day a week is about all I could handle.

I am a morning person and usually start my weekend long ride long before the wife gets up. Shorter rides, 30 miles or so, I meet her for breakfast at one of the mom and pop's she likes-She grew up in the town and went to high school with a couple of the owners. This meetup is usually very near the end of the ride, five miles or so of easy to moderate hills to get home, or I put the bike in my car. (she drives my car to these meets because mine is the bike carrier).

Longer rides of 50-60 miles we meet for lunch.

It's VERY common in my club. Most daytime and weekend rides go to a restaurant somewhere. I dislike stopping for an hour, sometimes more, that a restaurant takes; so I'll often forge on ahead or at least find someplace quicker. For instance, this past Saturday's ride was 102 miles and the destination was a restaurant. Really? It's like the ride itself wasn't long enough already? I went to Subway and was back on the road in 20 minutes.

Needless to say, the last half of the ride was done on my own. That could be a 'plus' or a 'minus' depending on how you look at it.

My Saturday century rides had a brief stop at a country bakery for an espresso and a chocolate croissant then pushed on. That gave everyone the option of joining in on a late breakfast at a local English pub afterwards.

It really depends on what your trying to do.... If your rides are all attempting to be 40MPH hammerfests, then a mid-ride break of an hour for a huge breakfast, you need to remember that eggs, bacon, sausage will solidify in your stomach, and leave you craving the bonk. A casual ride (10-15MPH) with a nice stack of pancakes with Canadian Maple Syrup in the middle, and a good half hour after eating before getting on the bike, you should be fine. Oh and another thing, avoid coffee at breakfast. Coffee is a diuretic, it dries you out, you want to be well hydrated for the ride home, so order a couple of glasses of ice water, put the leftover ice water into a bike bottle for the ride home.

I've found them to be common in the clubs I've belonged to over the years. The Saturday Morning Breakfast Ride is a long and venerable tradition. Sure, your muscles get cold and a little stiff while you're eating, but that clears up the first few minutes after resuming the ride. As far as breakfast sitting on your stomach as you begin the return trip, well, we're all grownups, and we're responsible for what we eat. If you know your body can't handle riding with a three-egg omelet, hash browns and a short stack in your gut, don't eat it. Get some oatmeal, fruit and juice instead. Or don't go.

And as far as these rides being more social or non-performance oriented, that's not been my experience. With the club I belonged to in central Illinois, the only riders who showed up for these were relatively hard-core. And here, the breakfast ride on my side of town is routinely done by two well-attended groups - a slower one on a short route and a faster one on a long route, meeting up for the meal at the same time. Then returning accordingly.

I have never done it but it sure sounds like fun. I can't find anybody to ride with around here anyway. I always ride alone. My bride can't do the miles I do because of health issues. We used to do that on snowmobiles years ago and that was alot of fun. We called it "supper on the run" and we had designated about 4 stops on an evenings ride at which appetizers and drinks were available at each stop and then a pot luck dinner on the final leg. That would be fun to do on bicycles.