I would do 50-60 mile bike rides at the weekend lasting around 3 hours and I find it hard to go any further than that and its not down to fitness , I cant seem to eat while I ride I always have to stop and get something, I am wondering what energy bars are good for long rides.
Nutrition while riding.
- Thread starter BHSpeedrom7
- Start date
You want to try to get about 200 calories per hour, plus whatever your hydration needs are. Stay away from protein (eat that immediately following a ride). I find simple sugars to be easy to put down, which is why I mainly drink Gatorade. At full strength, it's 50 calories per 8 ounces, so if I drink a quart per hour, that's 200 calories/hour. However, often I don't drink the Gatorade full strength (maybe 3/4 strength, easy to do if you use the powder), nor do I always drink a quart per hour--that depends on temperature/humidity. I'll supplement with the PowerBar gel chew thingies (they're similar in texture to Gummie Bears), but fruit is also an excellent food during rides (bananas especially), if they're available.
Some people use the gel packs or Clif bars, which are also good.
At the end of the day, it really boils down to some degree of personal preference and some trial and error as to what your system can handle while you ride. On long tours, I like to stop in small towns and eat at the local hole-in-the-wall diner, but that also means I'm a little sluggish right after the meal for about a half hour or so.
Some people use the gel packs or Clif bars, which are also good.
At the end of the day, it really boils down to some degree of personal preference and some trial and error as to what your system can handle while you ride. On long tours, I like to stop in small towns and eat at the local hole-in-the-wall diner, but that also means I'm a little sluggish right after the meal for about a half hour or so.
Actually proteins in energy bars are good because they reduce the glycemic index of those bars, keeping the blood sugar spike you get from just carbs from happening. As such the proteins help provide a more even, longer lasting delivery of energy.
You're right...I didn't mean to imply not to eat any protein, just to stay away from the high-protein bars and snacks. Protein is relatively difficult to digest, so eating it will cause the stomach to demand that much more blood flow, which will make you feel very sluggish if you try to ride through it. However, on very long rides (over 70 miles), I eat some protein during the ride anyway, otherwise it's hard to get enough protein that day (most people can only digest and utilize about 25-30g of protein per meal, and need around 80-100g of protein per day). If you're pushing yourself during your ride to the point where you're breaking down muscle, you probably need more protein than that.
This maybe the reason the old school racers had a big breakfast of steak and eggs before Tour stages... takes forever to digest. While it's probably not recommended to eat a hamburger mid-ride I do better on long hauls with a turkey sandwich (just a couple slices on some toast with a little mayo is my fav) in my stomach about 2 hours before hitting the road - then again turkey is probably a bit easier to digest than red meat. During the ride I stick to the light stuff like bars, gels, bananas (the riper the better), and on a 60 mile ride which is my long ride at about 3.5 hours I'll make sure to have something down at about 2 hours in. Many times my training goal on these 3 or 4 hour rides is to go as far as possible into glycogen defeicit without actually getting there (i.e. bonking).
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