Potatoes are high in electrolytes--probably more so with the skins on. Don't know if it's true with sweet potatoes, but I guess Dr. Google can answer that one for me.

Pre-ride: a shot of pickle juice.

Love pickles, but ew. ew, ew, ew.

Trying to picture someone pulling a greasy buttered potato out from their jersey pocket and chomping on it during a ride... lol.

Dr. Gabe Mirkin claims there's nothing better than salted peanuts. Plus lots of water

I'll swap you pickles for juice. I'm strung out on the stuff.

+1 for chocolate milk as a recovery drink.

I'm an adherent of the Zone Diet that recommends protein be taken with carbohydrates, unlike many of the suggestions on this thread, including Twinkies. My current combo is GU for carbs, and a yogurt-based drink called Kefir for protein.

I only eat Oatmeal Creme Pie's on the bike. A little high in fat, but has a fairly netural combo of calories, fat, carbs, and protein.

Costs about $2 for 12 pie's at Walmart, so that's 12 hours worth of bike food for $2. Hard. To. Beat.

Here's a nutrition secret that involves real food: the Indian restaurant in Fremont will let you lean your bike against the wall at your table, if you use their outdoor seating. Nothing like some vegetable kofta most of the way through a long ride.

I can't believe I grew up in Idaho and never heard of taking a potato on a ride. I guess I should have ridden more growing up.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...L._AA1500_.jpg
They sell these at walmart. Kosher applesauce, that's it. Combined with Honey Stinger Waffles, you can prepare a unique sandwich without getting off the bike.

This is my routine for medium-fast group rides and/or centuries. Two hours before the ride, I eat a PB&J sandwich. During the ride, I drink sweet tea. On shorter rides, I don't need any nutrition until afterwards. But if the ride is longer than 40 or so miles, I start reaching for the Gatorade as well as Odwalla superfood smoothies at the rest stops. For some reason I prefer to be on a liquid diet until after the ride. But if I can't get any smoothies (e.g., if the ride doesn't make any stops), I bring my own Snickers bars to snack on. After the ride I usually get food with the guys (usually unhealthy, unfortunately), but otherwise I would go for a milk shake or chocolate milk for recovery. Sometimes on a group ride I sway from my routine and eat with the group if we decide to stop somewhere, but I try to be consistent about having a PB&J sandwich before every ride and a milk shake/chocolate milk after every ride. I don't really race but if I do, it'll be the PB&J pre and shake/chocolate milk post and that's it (for crits and short ITTs; I'm too fat/slow for road races).

Gummi bears or gummi anything. I buy it in bulk and put it in ziplock bags. Payday peanut bars are also excellent.

Potatoes and butter sounds good. But if you're riding long and fast, there's little time to fuss with a potentially messy situation. Also if its a fast ride, I figure the demands put on the body would make digestion a tug of war with your system. Digestion takes energy. Potatoes with skin on seems like the digestion system has to work harder than other stuff.

But if its a long ride with no care as to speed, then stop and eat and let 15-20 minutes go by to get that potato and skins to digest, at least a little.

@ Daytrip - Wes Montgomery?!!

Man I used to love those things as a kid. Thanks for the idea...

Chocolate milk immediately post ride, beer (usually Belgian-style) after I've taken a shower. No reason you can't have it both ways.

Some sweets if its a non-stop ride. They work as a mental booster. A mix of raisins and salted nuts. If its a more relaxed ride with planned stops, ice cream sure does for me.

I love Wes Montgomery. Ever since I was 12 years old, in fact. I'm 53 now.

...just not together!

Wes Montgomery rocks...or swings, or whatever it is that he did. He was unique - acid jazz?

fixed

:love:

Not sure this is a "secret" but I used to be bothered by terrible diffuse muscle cramps around mile 60 or 65 of a hard ride...this in spite of drinking electrolyte drinks (cytomax etc).

Now I pop a few Tums (for calcium) around mile 40 or 50 and it seems to have solved the problem.

I can't guarantee it works for everyone but it works for me.

Same age...my parents were huge fans...i learned to love him. Along with Oscar Peterson.

OK...back OT. This thread is timely. I fried on Sunday's ride and I attribute it to not replacing electrolytes. It was my longest of the year at 63 miles with scorching temps...finishing in 100 degree heat and 18% humidity. I drank nothing but water in the second half after finishing my gatorade before the turnaround. One clif bar at the turnaround was all I ate.

So...for this week (hopefully 69 miles with slightly cooler temps) I'm going to try some endurolytes or Nunn for electrolyte replacement. I'll probably stick with clif bars for nutrition but plan to eat one outbound and one inbound, stretched out over each leg instead of all at once.

Yay :) Sounds good.
Gotta get myself some chocolate milk.