how long does a ride have to be before you will bring a snack along? 20 miles? 40 miles? 50.46 miles?

I always take something with me. I never plan rides so if I'm feeling good I will ride longer. So I want to make sure I have something.

Anything over an hour

More than 30 miles I'd probably bring something along. Depends on the route as well. If I'm going to do a lot of climbing I'll be more likely to bring something along. If I'm doing a long ride I may just plan on stopping somewhere for lunch so won't bother to bring anything. If I'm doing a relatively flat 40 mile ride I may not bother to bring something... It all depends.

Anything over 80kms (48 miles) and I take a Cliff bar & Skratch labs in my water.

It depends on a lot of factors. Your body can store about 1500 calories in the muscles and liver with a decent pre workout carb load. I burn about 1300 calories over a 2.5 hr ride so in that case I wouldn't need anything for my normal ride - though If you're lashing away at hills, you'll pour through calories faster and need replacement sooner.
The general rule of thumb i've heard is that for strenuous activity, anything over 2-3 hrs and you start needing supplemental nutrition.

Depends on how lazy I am or if I have anything available. Longest I've ridden with just plain water and no snacks is 60 miles. Was a group ride so easier than riding alone. But anything over 50 miles and I'll try to bring something.

Usually 30-40 mile rides and I'll have a 200 calories of simple carbs. On 40-50 mile rides I bring a protein bar since I find them more filling than simple carbs (they have carbs too though.)

Anything over an hour, which means 80 miles or more.

Joking aside, I live in the city, I never go more than a few miles without being able to procure some kind of snack.

I always bring a Cliff Bar. Many times it remains unopened, to be used on another ride. At the very least, I have two twenty dollar bills stored away in my saddlebag to be used in any kind of emergency.

Obviously everybody's different. But for me, anything over 2 hours.

Anything over 2 hours and most of the time I might not eat until the 3 hour mark. If I know the ride will be 100miles+ or really hard 60+ then I will eat every hour about 200cals.

usually if i'm riding over 40 miles i'll eat a snack at some point. On the weekend i always bring some stingers just in case i feel good and just want to keep riding.

If I'm going on a ride of over 40 miles or so, I'll usually plan to stop at a convenience store halfway to replenish my water and at that time get a snack. If that's not logistically possible then I would probably bring a snack with me, although if it's particularly hot and I can't get more water I'm probably in trouble anyway! I'm planning on going on a 90+ mile ride soon and I'll stop halfway for lunch but also bring a bag of raisins with me for intermittent snacking.

If I'm going on a ride over three hours I bring calories. That is with a decent breakfast before the ride.

However what other people do is not important. You need to do what you need.

on all rides : I always carry a little cash, just in case
under 40 mi. : I might have a banana along
over 40 mi. and under 65 : will also carry a small bar, like the Cliff Z-bar for kids (120 cal, just enough if I get lightheaded), and a gelpac just in case.
All Hammerfests 40+ : start with a banana and eat just before getting to start of hammerfest, carry and eat the Z-bar at some convenient point around , carry the gel just in case...
over 65 - 1 Z-bar, 1 full bar, and carry gelpac just in case

recently tried the stingers in both the Honey and the lemon flavors - I wasn;t excited, a bit heavy on sweet... clif bar/powerbar seems a better value, more my taste

I'm hypoglycemic and I've bonked on 25 mile rides. Lesson learned. I pretty much always carry food.

Everyone is different. Here is what I do:

Less than 2 hours: Just water.

2-3 hours : cytomax (or whatever I have on hand, gatorade, etc).

>3 hours: above plus a snack (cliff bar, fig newtons, whatever tastes good)

I think about this in terms of hours not miles. At two hours if I'm not done, I eat something, cliff bar, banana, whatever. Every two hours I eat something, or drink something (With calories, not just water) or both.
I have bonked almost immediately in the past. Blood sugar was no doubt too low before I even left, worked all day, didn't eat much of anything. Working for a living makes a bit of a difference. It was extremely unpleasant, so I take precautions even though they probably aren't all necessary anymore.

2-3 hrs. I have quite enjoyed the Feed Zone portables cookbook. You need less than you think.

Just water for every ride. Normally ride 30-40 miles.

Usually eat a decent amount before I ride.

Why base it solely on need? I usually bring and enjoy a banana (or similar) 1 hr into my rides, whether I need it or not. Bottles usually have 100 cal of fruit juice diluted to 24 oz cuz I like the taste. If I'll be sweating a lot, I'll add 1/8 level tsp of salt or "lite" salt to the bottle.

Wow, that is a long ride, for me.

I always take snacks, fruit and nuts- for cramping and endurance and Vegan, who eats a lot and must eat a lot. With that being posted I do sometimes, depending upon what time I leave and how hungry I am, I will have eaten my lunch before leaving. What might be interesting to some, and relates to this topic, I drink 9 or more-cups of fluids (Green Tea, Water Down Juices, Water and Etc.) before I leave and have 44-Ounces of water while I ride.Biking in South Florida for at leat 45-minutes is the reason.

I almost always have a granola bar or two in my handlebar bag ... it doesn't matter if the ride is 30 minutes around town or several hours.

If I know that the ride is going to be more than 2 hours, I'll make sure I've got something in my handlebar bag.

If the ride is going to be more than 3 hours, I'll make sure I've got approx. 1 granola bar per hour ... and I'll also be thinking about the route and whether or not there will be food available.

If the ride is going to be more than 6 hours, not only will I have approx. 1 granola bar per hour with me, I'll also have an idea where we might stop for lunch.



The general recommendation is to consume 200-300 calories per hour on rides of 2 hours or more. But when rides go over 6 hours, then it's good to consume "meals" of 500 calories or more once every 4-6 hours.

Wow. 3.5 litres of fluids for 45 minutes. Are you hyperglycemic?