I have a notorious reputation when it comes to eating on rides. I've been known to chow down on a huge breakfast burrito at the Crystal Lake Cafe or a pastrami sandwich at Camp Williams in the middle of a long hot day. And you might have seen those 5 chili dogs I put down in one sitting on that training ride a few weeks back.

But there are times I've paid for that.

I think the best way to eat on a long ride is to eat a little at a time, and eat often ... even when you're not hungry. A typical long ride for me goes like this:

Breakfast: Oatmeal and a banana.
1-2 hr into the ride: Clif Bar
2-4 hr into the ride: Clif Bar #2
Lunch: One sandwich, burrito, etc. Well proportioned, but not huge. Stick another in my rear pocket.
4-6 hr into the ride: Have the other sandwich/burrito;
6-8 hr into the ride: Clif Bar #3 .

And I continue with that ... about every 1-2 hours, I have something else to eat ... about 200-500 calories.

Get up at 5:00 am for the 7:30 am ride . Breakfast shortly after 5 , consists of hot oakmeal , one boiled egg , apple . I bring 2 bottles of Hammer energy drink on every ride .

I eat a meal, whatever you like, I like a scrambled egg sandwich for breakfast, about an hour ahead of time. then just before I leave I have a small box of raisins. if it was a small meal (or much over an hour past) then I eat a banana right before leaving. the duration of the ride has something to do with nutrition too. that will hold me for an hour of intense riding. if I go 2 hours w/o more nutrition, then I made a mistake.

The only time I had a problem from eating too much was when I was riding with a much faster friend. I had a big sandwich, and felt a bit queasy after chasing that guy.

Before a double century I have a standard breakfast of a carton of yogurt, a couple of Pop-Tarts and a banana. Plus, I'll start the ride with Perpetuem in one of my bottles, so there's some nutrition from that early in the ride too.

Then I just eat a little real food at each checkpoint and keep refilling the one bottle with Perpetuem (Hammer products are available on most California doubles) and leaving the other with water, ice water on hot days.

Rick / OCRR

An English muffin or couple of slices of toast, one or two cups of coffee. I bring a couple granola bars and some powerade, some times I eat the granola bars, sometimes not. Depends on how I feel. Try to hydrate the night before.

The answers to your questions are here:
https://www.hammernutrition.com/downl...nghandbook.pdf
(warning, large PDF)
The answer to your pre-ride fueling problem starts on p.97. The recovery section is just before that.
You don't have to use Hammer products to follow their advice. Most anything that you like will work, but do observe their advice on timing, quantity, and macronutrient composition of fuels.

As they say, their advice may not be what you are used to hearing, but I can tell you that it's good advice. It's what I do and it works. So try it their way and see if it works for you. If it does work, you can experiment with deviating from their relatively exacting specifications and see if that works as well, which it might. Note that the length of a proposed ride makes a big difference in how one should fuel for it.

Thanks everyone for the insights. I'll just try it and see.
some of the stuff (Perpetuem?) I'll have to look up, never heard of.