Nutrition on the bike??
 

I'm just curious to see what you all are eating while riding. I've never been good about eating on the bike and since I'll be riding A LOT more this year I wanna be prepared.

I can't seem to find anything convenient/easy to consume while on the bike. Lately I've just been eating a Clif bar during a long ride or just snacking before and after.
What do y'all eat while training on 35-50 mile rides???
What do you change/add when riding 50-75 miles or more????


As for hydration I usually put water in my 20oz bottle and 1 scoop of Accelerade + water in my 24oz bottle and if i drink both i'll refill with just water.


Just curious to see what you all consume in the saddle to keep you going on those longer rides. Thanks.

Welcome to BF. There are probably 1000+ threads on "what to eat" already, so I bet you can use search & find enough reading to keep you busy for a long time.

Nothing for shorter rides. For long rides I usually bring bananas and/or snack bars like Nutrigrain or other brand.

I usually only eat if I'm going to be on the bike 2.5 or 3+ hours. I like to eat pop-tarts, high in calories and quick digesting sugar carbs, sometimes clif-bars if I'm going to be on the bike over 5 hours, and bananas. That's usually it for me as far as eating. As far as drinks, it's almost always powerbar refuel mix for me.

Nothing.

gu packs.

+1 and I like to throw in a cliff bar or a PB&J sandwich.

It has all been said before, but general consensus is that for a ride less than say 40 miles you can probably eat nothing and just drink water.

For rides >40 miles it probably makes sense to use an energy drink in your bottle, as you are already doing.

Up to you, but I find that for >60 miles I like to eat a cliff bar at the halfway point....but you can eat whatever agrees with your body the best.

I make my own sports drink... Pretty much salt sugar and flavoring packet that has vitamins and a bit of caffeine. I usually don't bring anything to eat unless it's going to be more than a 2 hour ride. I'll bring PB crackers, poptarts, fig newtons, drink mix when I refill, and usually some money in case I want some more food than I have.

power bars during the ride, anything I can find after the ride

Gels every 45 minutes no matter how long the ride is. drink Endurox for the first 2 1/2 hours or so, then refill the bottles with water along the way.

As you can see from the previous posts, everyone varies widely - you need to find what works for you. So - get out and experiment.

Nothing if I'm going out 2 hours or less (i.e., less than 35 miles). For me, water and gatorade is enough; although I usually bring a gu packet with me just in case. For rides around 3 hours I usually end up consuming a clif bar, along with a bottle of water and gatorade.

That said, it took me a while to learn this about myself. Everyone is different. Just experiment a bit and you'll figure out your best nutrition regimen.

I like Clif bars. I can only do half of one at a time when it's warm though. Lots of water. I had some Perpetuem by Hammer on the only century I have done. It worked well. I coupled that with Clif shot recovery drink at the end and felt like I normally do after a 50 mile ride without. Carrots are a good, natural, packable food too.

Usually a power bar or similar for rides over 2 hours. If it's hot I'll bring Gatorade as well as water. Fig newtons are pretty easy to deal with while riding too.

Gatorade
Salty peanuts
Cinnamon rolls
Peanut butter crackers
Bananas

Some of these responses sound pretty light--nothing, or only one cliff bar on a 50 mile ride? I think I need more than that.

I would be afraid of choking on cracker crumbs.

Cinnamon rolls in jersey pocket? Messy!

Bananas. Lots and lots of bananas.

Freds.

I just wanna add that the search function on this site, AND other sites, is pretty much useless unless you get the exact words. I just typed in 'nutrition on the bike' and the first page of queries isn't even close except for this 1 thread. The best way to do a search is with google. I was using that for the longest time and finally decided to join this forum and bug people into submission only after it kept showing mostly archived bikeforums answers.

User error.

For rides over 2 hours (over 50 km), a Soyjoy bar and 20 oz. of Aquarius (sports drink) every hour starting at 1:30 into the ride. Works for rides up to 80 km. Any farther and I get sick of the taste of Aquarius (all Japanese sports drinks taste like grapefruit, and I hate grapefruit) and feel malnourished toward the end of the ride.

Granola bar

Wrong.

thanks everyone for your input. sounds like i'm pretty normal (only eating on 2+ hr rides). for some reason i was thinking i was weird and didn't eat often enough.

exactly what i was gonna say. search is good if you're looking for something specific (a certain bike part for example) but sometimes it can be useless for more generic questions.

correct.

correct.

people are obsessed with eating on bike rides. it's amazing how long you can ride without eating.