I am new to cycling but not new to endurance exercise. In my experience, Cliff Bars have been my favorite easy to pack and sustainable source of energy. Are they commonly used by cyclists? I am planning a 290 mile ride and don't want to get caught with an upset stomach or worse.

I like poptarts.

I used to eat Cliff bars on bike rides, until I started a new relationship with a super nutrition focused lady who consumes Macro bars instead. She said that Cliff bars have "soy protein isolate", which apparently is bad for you. I did a little research and found that it's the residual remnants of the process/solvents they use to separate out the soy protein that is the bad stuff.

Currently, I consume Lara bars, but also an amalgam of different trail mixes available at Walmart. Who knows? I'm just as happy with a bag of mini donuts, either powdered sugar or chocolate covered. I have observed some newbies vomiting on rides occasionally, and it was usually their daily meds on an empty stomach. Donuts might have prevented that.

Anything that gets carbs into a body while riding is a good thing for most. I drink my carbs.

290 miles over how much time?

You probably don't want to carry enough Clif bars to carry you through all 290 miles, although that depends on your fueling needs and packing priorities. So if you can't rely on Clif bars alone, you need to figure out A) what you can get along the route, and B) what agrees with you. Maybe you can find Clif bars at every random gas station—I'm not sure.

I like Clif bars and am happy to get them when I find them. Philosophically, I like Lara bars better because they have only 2-3 ingredients, but I'll admit I don't enjoy eating them as much. Snickers bars are available everywhere in the US and are my go-to snack on the road.

290 miles, eat what you want. On brevets I enjoyed stopping for Subway sandwiches, french fries, ice cream, popsicles, chili, fried cherry pies, even chicken noodle soup, anything that looked good when I rolled into town.

I think Crocodile Dundee was describing Clif bars when he said, "You can eat 'em. But they taste like dung."

For 290 miles I would be stopping along the way to eat real food or I would carry real food with me...Consuming only energy bars and sports drinks and nothing else is not my thing.

Yes.

I ate about 9 peanut butter crunch Clif bars on my last 200 mile ride. Usually I eat half of one every hour, and have a small amount of real food around dinner time.

The peanut butter ones are the only ones I like, and use them pretty regularly. Every other flavor I've tried are way too sweet and more like a candy bar.

IMHO cliff bars are as good for as many as you can get down.

Which might not be as many as you hoped.

I supplement with twizzlers (personal choice), and pop tarts and ensure shakes (forum recommendations) and last time out a couple of small bags of chips/crisps bought at masked-up refill stops along the way.

My stomach complains if I drink more than half an ensure shake at a stop, but otherwise they work and they're fast. I really wish you could buy them individually at stops, but am willing to set out carrying four. At times I've though of cacheing a couple in the woods for the return but not yet gone there.

I also still somewhat believe a little in "real food" but under the present circumstances which prompt hesitation at manually prepared things, that has become tearing into a foil pack of tuna or two at some point mid-day.

Oh, and sports drink or powder in one of my bottles... surprisingly recent century was the lightest on that, a mere three servings.

I usually carry a Clif Bar. I used to eat it at 30-40 miles into a 50-65 mile ride. Now I find I don’t really need it up to 60-65 miles, assuming my normal breakfast. A couple weeks ago I did 90 with just the one bar, that was a first for me. On other centuries and double metrics, (my longest), they were supported and I tended to eat real food. This included bananas, watermelon, Oreos, fig Newtons, PB&J, bacon, trail mix, soup, chocolate chip cookies, oranges, chips, breakfast burritos and probably some other stuff I can’t remember. Not all of this on one ride, of course, and not a lot at any one rest stop. On those supported rides I finished with my bar still in my pocket. IF you like Clif bars, go for it, but over 290 miles I personally would mix it up with other stuff.

I used to eat sugar.

290mi in one shot? Over a couple days?

Either way, I would defer you ask one of the randonneuring (spelling?) guys on the forum. I thought nutrition for that was a bit different and might have involved more focus on 'real' food at some points along the way?

I stick to Cliff Z-bars, the kid's version. I find them easier to chew and eat while not stopping riding. I sometimes will reach and open on the the roll. Or at a stopsign will open it then keep rolling to eat it. I couldn't really chew/eat the full size Cliff bars so well like that. It seems custom rice cake recipes are in vogue again also. I ain't got time for that. But people seem to love them for the nutrition you can pack into them.

I hate Covid. I miss my long ride days with the coffee/pastry stop and a crew. Sigh. Maybe come cooler weather and fall I will take my mini backpack with a mini thermos and a treat.

I once did a double century on 6 Clif bars and a flask of Hammer Gel. I simply like to keep going. I've improved on that a lot, though the Clif bars and gel worked just fine. My advice is to only eat 1/4 of a bar at a time. Eating a whole bar all at once on the bike is a bit much for the stomach.

This is good advice.

Thank you for all the advice! It is still a plan in the making, but I plan on doing roughly 145mi for two days. Is that an outrageous goal? It is a trip for next summer and I have a lot of time to train. Thanks for the tip on fueling, this helps a lot.

It's not an outrageous goal.

What would be outrageous is if you only do an hour ride here and there once or twice a week in preparation. Longer rides of 3, 4 and over 5 hours of time will help you find out what hydration and foods work well for you as well as get your body ready for dealing with the energy demands and recovery demands.

What about the THINK bars guys?? found them last year and am hooked! 20+g of protein and no added sugar. They seem to work really well for me.

https://thinkproducts.com/en-us/


JAG