Food while cycling

saviourag said:

I'm off to Sicily tomorrow for a 200km ride in one day, and I'd like to know what you'd suggest that I take with me, regarding food. My longest ride prior to this was 85km, so this is gonna be a big challenge for me.

Besides the usual bananas, powerbars, and gels, try the new Cliff Blocks and Jelly Belly Sport Beans. They’re easy to eat when you’re stomach is upset or if you start to get dehydrated. They’re loaded with electrolytes so if you start to get dehydrated they can be a fast and easy way to get back some of what you’ve lost.

BtonRider said:

Besides the usual bananas, powerbars, and gels, try the new Cliff Blocks and Jelly Belly Sport Beans. They’re easy to eat when you’re stomach is upset or if you start to get dehydrated. They’re loaded with electrolytes so if you start to get dehydrated they can be a fast and easy way to get back some of what you’ve lost.

I don't like using artificial stuff. I ate pasta some hours before, but I threw it up cause the weather was so bad, and a 3hr ferry trip took more than 4 hours, and I got a bit sea sick. This made me loose 2 valueable hours and so I only did 115km and took a train for the other half of the trip cause I didn't want to ride at night. I ate 2 bananas, and some pastries on my way, and it worked great.

saviourag said:

I don't like using artificial stuff. I ate pasta some hours before, but I threw it up cause the weather was so bad, and a 3hr ferry trip took more than 4 hours, and I got a bit sea sick. This made me loose 2 valueable hours and so I only did 115km and took a train for the other half of the trip cause I didn't want to ride at night. I ate 2 bananas, and some pastries on my way, and it worked great.

[font=&quot]Well there are a couple of problems with what you've described. First, people usually eat pasta with tomato sauce the night before a big event. The pasta is a cheap and fast source of carbs, as is the tomato sauce. It’s great for topping off your glycogen stores several hours before a big event. If you had it with any kind of cheese sauce you’re adding in a lot of fat, which can cause stomach problems. Most people don’t eat a big meal of pasta just before a ride because it can just feel heavy on your stomach and you won’t digest most of it before you start. Second, I know pastries taste great and can give you a surge of energy, but it’s not a good food mid-ride. Pastries are generally loaded with fat and coated with simple sugars. Simple sugars will hit you well early and then give you an energy crash after they’re gone. The fat can actually inhibit the uptake of some of the good carbs and leave you feeling bloated, so try to avoid anything fatty if you want to get the most out of your food. A great resource for understanding what to eat during a ride is at Hammer Nutrition (e-caps.comfuelinghandbook.pdfOpen ↗ ). If you don’t like artificial sports nutrition the Hammer Nutrition guidelines are still good for deciding what to eat.[/font]

Welcome to Italy!

For long rides like the ones you are doing, try to stagger the types of food intake. Have a nice breakfast, then have the hotel make you a few sandwiches, maybe cheese/prosciutto, with a wee bit of olive oil. Eat them at regular intervals.

You are in Italy, so stop regularly at bars for a pick-me-up (a cappuccino with a couple spoons of sugar and a cornetto?) and later in the ride, when things are beginning to slow down, have some sugary stuff to keep you going until the end (more cornettos, a candy bar or two, defizzed coke?).

And have a nice dish of pasta for dinner... 🙂

Thanks a lot for your replies. As for the pasta, I ate it at about 2am, and I started riding at 10am, and there was nothing left in my stomach I'm sure cause I vomited it all out on the ferry:eek:. The ferry was like a rollercoaster ride. However i'll keep all this in mind for my next tour in in summer across europe. This one was my first one and it was great nonetheless.

BtonRider said:

[font=&quot]A great resource for understanding what to eat during a ride is at Hammer Nutrition (e-caps.comfuelinghandbook.pdfOpen ↗ ). If you don’t like artificial sports nutrition the Hammer Nutrition guidelines are still good for deciding what to eat.[/font]

Thanks for the link, great information!