tmass

I'm never one for the country boy hardy breakfast before a ride. Usually about 60 to 45 minute before; a scrambled egg; whole wheat toast with local honey, half a banana and cup of coffee.

flex1493

Wow there or so many diffrent advise on this. Im will start with some light and see how it goes. I'm not ridding hard but I do have my momments where if I'm ridding grout I try to hang in there.

Guys thanks for all the advise.

MegaTom

I also don't eat before my morning ride. If I know that I'm doing over an hour I'll mix up some powdered sports drank to get my calories, but otherwise I have breakfast when done. To do otherwise will likely result in pukeage. Longer weekend rides are different as I can afford to eat and then mill about the house for an hour or two before getting on the bike.

znomit

Skipping breakfast is often advocated as a method for training your body to burn fat.

Then theres this:
"Training is all about putting the body under stress, not going faster,” Dr Stannard says. “So by starting out with less fuel, you will reach the point where you really begin to stress the body quicker. This means you will spend longer under stress and ultimately the training will be more beneficial.

However, eating before an actual race – as opposed to training for one – remains important, says Dr Stannard, the head of the University's new School of Sport and Exercise.”

https://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/about...A-70FEDF55DAC9

big john

[QUOTE=flex1493;13736955]Wow there or so many diffrent advise on this. Im will start with some light and see how it goes. I'm not ridding hard but I do have my momments where if I'm ridding grout I try to hang in there. QUOTE]

That's what you have to do, try things and find out what works for you. Your body can store enough for a couple hours but you need to keep eating during longer rides especially when you're working hard and it's cold.

I have cereal and a banana before a long ride and eat small amounts during the ride, sometimes larger amounts. When touring, I can eat huge amounts of just about anything all day.

p2templin

When my wife starting riding, I told her that she should ask lots of folks what they eat to gather ideas. I warned her that half of them eat half a whole wheat bagel with peanut butter. Except that they will all say it as "a whole wheat bagel with peanut butter, actually half a bagel". Sure enough, half the folks eat exactly that, and say it exactly that way. I have a bottled Frappucino and either cinnamon toast, a bag of PowerBar Bites, or 1-2 Stinger Waffles. My wife has oatmeal with milk.

jamesdak 

Huh??? On my long weekend rides I have a huge bowl of steel cut oats with flax seed, chopped apple, cinnamon, wheat germ, raisins, pecan bits, and a touch of honey. I eat as much of it as I can and once finished put on my gear and head out. Can ride anywhere from 40-70 miles right after eating this with an average cadence in the 90s and most of the time spent in HR zone 4. Can even put in a 12 mile climb at an average grade of 8 % and with the HR mainly in zone 5 ( I suck at climbing) and yet have no ill-effect from the heavy meal. If I do these rides without the large meal I will be "flat" the whole ride and my time will suffer. So my vote is emphatically for a good breakfast prior to a hard ride.

Nachoman

For my typical one hour, 20 mile rides that start at 6:30 a.m., I force down a half bowl of cereal and a half cup of coffee about a half hour prior.

kstephens

On early morning rides if I am planning on doing 25 +, I will eat something like oatmeal with some fruit. Anything shorter I will just eat a gel.

Juan Foote

I try not to eat anything spicy, or greasy before I ride. It always seems to come back to haunt me. My typical breakfast before a 40~ mile ride is a couple of boiled or poached eggs with grits, a bagel with some cream cheese, a bit of fruit, and some oj.
On longer rides I like to try and find places that carry banannas or some kind of fruit and I also carry a cashew bar or whatnot with.

nathan.johnson

Assuming you can average 12mph up an 8% grade, that's an hour climb in zone 5. Didn't happen.

OP, for what it's worth, I had a bowl of oatmeal and a banana before today's ride of 90 miles and 8400 ft of climbing with 4 ClifBars during the ride.

alexaschwanden

i usually have cereal or a power bar before i ride. i had 4 powerbars and 3 refills of water for today's 70+ mile ride.

LOGICK ONE

Pre-ride: Oatmeal, toast, and if it's cold out a cup of tea/coffee to warm me up.
Post ride: Anything that's in my fridge and tickles my fancy.

jamesdak 

LOL, I wish I could maintain 12 mph up Trappers loop! That said, it does happen routinely for me, just at around 6 -7 mph. Oh and just looking at my recorded stats from the last trip you are right. 19 mins and 51 secs of the ride were in zone 5. The rest in zone 4. I just always have an impression that I am in a higher zone because I suck at climbing and it always seems like my HR is up and busting out of my chest! For me that actually is pretty good as it's the first time I took the Lemond with it's standard double up the road vs my Madone with the compact double I've used for all the other rides. Oh, and you can come join me anytime you'd like if you to see if it's really happening, LOL!! Just not this week. We've got about 8 inches of snow so far today and it is still coming. No way I'm taking a road bike up that road anytime soon.

echotraveler

EAT MAN!

For my weight i eat
2 slices of whole grain bread
1 egg
2 lean hams
A bit of butter
Water
Milk
Fruit

I cant imagine riding without fuel! You'd bite the dust within the hour without breakfast!!
Were all different but be carefull with your fuel tank!

thehammerdog

I also eat breakfast first thing in the am, I am enjoying coffee and a bowl of Specisal K vanilla almond. Yummy. I once read that if you plan on a short ride say under 20 miles if you eat well and are rested your body has plenty of energy first thing inthe morning sans food. I have gone out on rides with out eating and felt fine.

STP

There's lots of crap advise and good advise here. Good luck differentiating!

Regarding whether you should eat breakfast:

You haven't eating anything for 6-8 hours prior, of course you should eat.
You need to fuel your body. Do some research and figure it out.
If you're really serious, get a nutritionist. Period. If you're not, do whatever you want.
Learn two things from the 41: Nobody is right. Everybody is right.

Trucker Dan

Roger De Vlaeminck would eat a rare ribeye steak before races. He won Paris-Roubaix 4 times and got 2nd 4 times.
Go to 14:28 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4IDCkcnnHg

ColinL

two whole hams.. you have quite the appetite.

echotraveler

Hahahaha i do! Viking breakfast!

2 96% lean slices of turkey ham. Yummy!

surgeonstone

This.^^^
Food is obviously important and going out for a long ride on an empty stomach is much like trying to mow the lawn with an empty gas tank. That said it would be unwise to stuff yourself before a ride. If I am going out for an early ride of 1.5 hours than I will just bring along a water bottle of OJ and maybe eat a slice of whole wheat bread. This will keep me from crashing with shorter rides. If it is a long ride I will start with coffee and granola with low-fat milk, bring a water bottle of H2O and one of OJ. If over 3-4 hours I will bring a PB and J sandwich as well and eat half at 2 hours and the other half at three hours. I never eat to the point of being full or stuffed so riding in this situation does not occur for me.

rotti

I think this thread points out the obvious fact that everyone is different. It takes a lot of trial and error.

Personally, I can't stand feeling empty. I also don't want to feel bloated either, but I'll take a slight bloat over an empty stomach anyday. It's a balancing act that took me a while to figure out.

My preride/ race:
(2-2.5 hours prior) 1 cup oatmeal cooked with 1 bananna, 1/2 cup blueberries, sugar free maples syrup, and splash of skim milk and a dash of splenda. This is so good that it taste like a desert. I drink 3 egg whites.

(20 minutes prior) 2 powerbars. I have ate as many as 4 powerbars before long rides or races.

(during) Water and cytomax for racing. For long training rides 1 powerbar or 2 granola bars, plus cytomax

(After) 3 Cups of Chex Cereal, 1 bananna, 1/2 cup blueberries, 1/2 strawberries, 25g whey protein, 5g bcaa's

This is only for longer weekend rides or races. When I have a quick 1 hour after work I usually eat 1 powerbar before and have a bottle of cytomax during.

Yeah..... I have an obsession with powerbars. I eat vanilla crisp or peanut butter for they're lower in fiber.

surgeonstone

I would have to disagree. Everything you have said here is clearly and unmistakably wrong.

jamesdak 

?? How can you say that? If it works for him how is it wrong? I eat a huge breakfast right before I start my long rides and then keep the fluids and food going periodically during my rides. I have tried all sorts of food methods and the big breakfast with routine intakes of water and power bar/food every 30 minutes work best for me. I used to do less food when in the loss weight mode but now that I am trying to maintain I find lots of fuel going in gives me the fastest times and leaves me able to knock out another fast long ride the next day.

surgeonstone

I was JK