I'm just curious to know of all you roadies in training what time you eat dinner. I usually get out of work at 5:00 commute home (sometimes drive) and get on the bike at 5:30 - 6:00. I am inching my way closer to a mid season training schedule which puts me on the bike 150 - 200 miles a week. So I get done riding at 8:30 shower and by the time I eat dinner it's 10:00 oclock. Is that bad? To just eat do nothing the rest of the nite and go to sleep? I just don't have the time after work to have dinner like most 'normal' people not only that but riding with a big lump in my stomach is uncomfortable. Anyone care to share?

i get home from work at 6:30 or 7:00. i have to sit down and chill out for a bit before i get on the bike. so, i usually eat a sandwich and a banana or something lite while i'm unwinding from the day. sometimes i take a 20-30 minute nap. then i get on the bike, usually around 8:30, but sometimes it's after 9:00. i usually ride 2 hours, and get home before 11:00pm. then i have dinner, shower, and hit the sack at about 12:30 or so. Then i do it again the next day. it's hard to keep this up, so i need to have a couple days off during the week.

i leave to ride straight form work (5pm) and on the road by 5.15 and finish riding aroung 6.30 or so (MWTF) then home shower and start dinner 7ish or so. my wife is in bed by 9pm.

I'm still trying to work that out. You don't mention family, but if you have one, it gets a lot easier when your kids are older (mine are in college). Don't neglect that part of your life just to ride faster.
Otherwise, I have about the same schedule you do. I hate to lose that summer evening riding time, but I'm HUNGRY when I get home, and sometimes if I sit down to eat, I lose the Mo and have to force myself out for what turns out to be about half the ride I'd planned.
These aren't answers, but maybe they're useful suggestions:
My late meal, if it comes after about 8, has to be pretty small or it keeps me awake. I do better if I have a biggish lunch around 1:30 or 2, maybe a snack when I get home, then after the ride, a snack-sized dinner. That also seems to help me cut back on total calories a little, too, because I never get so hungry I pig out. The older you get, the more important that will be.
I'm not doing a lot of miles yet, about 100 a week, and my commute is 23 round trip. If I can do that two or three three days a week and find time for one longer ride on the weekend, I'm good for now (it will get harder in July and August, of course). But I know people who won't consider commuting part of their training, and I've never understood that. I don't have to deal with much traffic, but even if you do, you can use it for intervals and sprints.
I don't much like to ride in the very early morning, but it's not impossible this time of year. It's light enough to go at 5:30 where I live, and if I can force myself out the door, I can get in two good hours before I get to work. Fortunately, we have showers and lockers, which makes it MUCH easier.

Evening rides are tough to time, especially during the work week. Fatigue is always a factor for me, as well as hunger. Usually, a quick snack does it for me when I get home and before I get on my bike -- just enough to stave off the hunger. The fatigue usually drops before I finish my first mile on the bike. A light meal when I get home usually does it. I learned these habits the first year I started riding a midweek group ride. I would leave work at 4:30, rush home, change clothes, load up the bike, grab a snack, and run out to the start of the ride.

Now, I commute by bike almost every day. Fatigue is always a factor -- except now I'm almost always too hungry for just a light snack before getting on the bike!

At the moment I have no family commitments. I figure this is my last hard core year of riding and I'd love to get to cat 3 though to be honest I don't see it happening

I would definitely consider commuting as part of training, in fact I've heard though don't know if it is true, that getting in two workouts a day can be more beneficial then just one given equal miles and such. My commute is a perfect 5 miles. So in the morning it is a great wake up and recovery and in the afternoon it is a great warm up for a longer ride or intensity training. I count those 10 miles/day in my regimen. I am a night owl too rarely getting to bed b4 12:00.

/opinion

I don't like to eat meals that late. In fact nothing after 8 30 except either a protein shake or some cottage cheese right before bed ... and I'm usually asleep around midnight. Have you tried "halving" the meal? That is, have dinner prepared, eat half of it, go on your ride and eat the other half when you get back?

Also, is weight/metabolism an issue for you? If so then I'd really try and cut out eating that late, if not it's probably not a big deal. Either way you want that last meal to be as low in carbs/fat as possible.

... That all sounds really disjointed but hopefully it makes sense to someone else

When I get home from work I have to ride immediately,because if I sit down, I'm down for the evening.

Home by 5pm. While wife is cooking supper, I will do a 30k ride. Leave at 5:30-6pm back by 6:30-7pm. If hungry I will eat something to do me until after the ride.

I also, sometimes do as Moistfly suggested, eat half before and half after.

Tuesdays and Wednesdays, she and I leave for work at 1130am. Hence, I do a 30-40k ride in the morning.

Digger

P.s. I wasn't being chauvinistic by the way. My wife cooks the supper, and I clean up after. She's better at the cookin, I'm better at the cleain'. Hence, that's the deal.

Usually 7:30. However, if we go out for a late day ride, which isn't unusual at this time of year,it's sometimes 8.

I eat at 6:30 before work, then go to dunkin doughnuts at around 9:30, lunch at 12, again at 3, snack at 5pm before leaving work, get home, dinner with gf at around 8pm, once she leaves, dinner again at 10pm, snack at 12am before bedtime.

I ride to and from work (20 miles each way) 4 times a week to get the miles in. It's a great, somewhat hilly training ride, though a bit short. Takes an hour and only adds 20 minutes (each way) to what I'd spend driving. Usually home by 7 for dinner and evening with wife and 2 boys.

55/Rad

I usually get home from work around 5pm or so, and I usually have a piece of fruit or a power bar about an hour before I'm going to ride. When I get back from riding, and shower, it's usually 8pm or later. At that time of night, I'll eat a small dinner (about half what I would normally eat.) A couple of combinations work for me:

ride, shower, light dinner
ride earlier, R4 recovery drink, shower, work around the yard, shower, light dinner

Eating an hour-90 minutes before the ride really seems to help me out; not only on the ride, but after as well. The best lunch I've found to power my evening rides? Peanut butter snadwiches. But that's just me.

Seems like the only time I eat "big" dinners anymore is when I go out on the weekends, or BBQ at home on the weekends.