How soon should I ride After Breakfast

Do you ever eat while on your bike? I do. I've never cramped from it. I think the hour swimming thing was so you won't drown. Now I wouldn't head down to the local Waffle house and load up on Eggs, bacon, etc etc. But I think you would be fine heading out shortly after eating a sensible breakfast, if you warmed up properly.

L

I'm usually on the bike within an hour of breakfast. I'm usually not going hard for the first half hour-45 mins. But I don't eat a large breakfast either, and I start snacking within an hour or so of being on the bike.

I have IHOP deliver a full stack of pancakes, 2 eggs, 4 slices of bacon, and some chocolate milk to me, half way through my ride.

Dr.Hairybiker said:

I'm usually on the bike within an hour of breakfast. I'm usually not going hard for the first half hour-45 mins. But I don't eat a large breakfast either, and I start snacking within an hour or so of being on the bike.

For that sort of ride, I'd want a fairly decent breakfast within an hour of riding. I usually wait at least 30 mins so I don't get that sickly feeling just into the ride.

howierart said:

I always remember school swimming lessons where they would say dont go swimming until youve let your food digest for an hour. Which brings me round to a cycling quandry I have. On saturdays in Spring and Summer I always attempt to do 75 miles plus. In fact this year im aiming to get up to 120 miles. Anyhow I tend to get up and have a large breakfast about 7am then let it digest and go cycling maybe two hours later. THen after that eat at intervals while riding. Now would I benefit more if I cut this gap down and went cycling almost straight after eating so that the food could digest and fuel me as I ride? What sort of breakfasts do you people eat before long rides, and how soon after breakfast do you start riding? Thanks

Even if you are well-trained, you are out of stored glycogen after 2 hours if you are riding hard.

If you think about the fact that many races are much longer than 2 hours you will realise that an athlete needs to eat.

If you think about that, you will realise that it doesn't matter how long before you ride you eat because your body will do a reasonable job of digesting and metabolising the food. The food you have eaten for breakfast will do a good job of providing energy while you ride - as long as you eat easily digestible carbohydrates like cereals, bananas etc - go easy on the steak and eggs.

Its amazing that the story about cramps and drowning after eating exists in England. It does in Australia - even today.

How about other countries?

mitosis said:

...Its amazing that the story about cramps and drowning after eating exists in England. It does in Australia - even today.

How about other countries?

It's one of those idiotic myths that just won't die. It's the kind of spew my Mother would say. 😠

THanks for the ideas, they rougthly correlate with what I do on long rides anyhow. Also, yes I do eat whiolst riding though in the first couple of hours it tends to me mostly fruit. I also find pure apple juisce diluted with water is as good as any sports drink. Around about the halfway point I tend to stop at a shop and eat. Last week for example I had two Croissants, a chocalate bar and a large bag of crisps. I also make sure Ive drunk up all my water before I get into the last five miles. It would be stupid to bring any fuel home with me. Ha ha, and of course if I do a century I stop for fish and chips in the village on the way home, for which my body is most thankful.

I've read that your body will use energy to digest the food, thus taking away energy needed for your ride. I usually wait about an hour. Easily digested foods are recommended.

howierart said:

I always remember school swimming lessons where they would say dont go swimming until youve let your food digest for an hour. Which brings me round to a cycling quandry I have. On saturdays in Spring and Summer I always attempt to do 75 miles plus. In fact this year im aiming to get up to 120 miles. Anyhow I tend to get up and have a large breakfast about 7am then let it digest and go cycling maybe two hours later. THen after that eat at intervals while riding. Now would I benefit more if I cut this gap down and went cycling almost straight after eating so that the food could digest and fuel me as I ride? What sort of breakfasts do you people eat before long rides, and how soon after breakfast do you start riding? Thanks

i like to leave it a few hours, else i feel bloated or sick when riding hard (which you generally have to do round here with the regular steep climbs).

however, how much you should consume prior to exercise to maintain muscle and liver glycogen would be dependent upon on how long prior to exercise you ate. the general rule of thumb is to eat 1g/kg body mass of carb per hour prior to training. in other words if you have a mass of 70 kg and ate two hours before you'd eat 140 g (1 x 70 x 2) of carbs.

ric

During cardiovascular activity the digestion process slows to around 20%, this has do with a bunch of jargin I dont really want to get into about the varying affect of neurotransmitters, and contradicting IPSP's and EPSP's, (Inhibitory post synaptic potentials and Excititory post synaptic potentials), as well as as certain neuro-receptors ad their contradicting affects.

I would say that it is best to wait about an hour so your digestion can work at a higher percentage to allow your body to build up some glycogen stores, and then the rest of your breakfast would be slowly digested as you ride giving you energy for around 2 hours as Mitosis stated earlier.