Q - Eating breakfast before commuting

[Harryb]

Background: My wife and I purchased a tandem this fall and
have done a little (~400 miles) riding. I have so enjoyed
the biking that I'm considering commuting to work (about 20
miles round trip.) I'm 50 years old, have not really ridden
a bike since my early 20's, and am in reasonably good
physical condition. I would need to purchase a commuting
bike (riding the tandem alone just doesn't seem like a good
idea - I'm considering a recumbent) but have to resolve a
few issues first. One of them is about breakfast.

Question: Presently I eat a cold cereal breakfast before
driving to work. I'm wondering if it is "ok" to eat a
breakfast just before getting on the bike and riding 10
hilly miles. (I've heard that one shouldn't exercise
immediately after eating a meal, but maybe that is an old
wive's tale?) It would be possible for me to eat a breakfast
after arriving at work, but I'm concerned about not having
the energy to ride 10 miles without a breakfast. Since I
would need to leave the house at about 5:00am, it might make
a difference in my decision to commute if I would need to
wait, let's say an hour, between eating and riding.

TIA, Harry

 

[Rl]

"HarryB" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Question: Presently I eat a cold cereal breakfast before
> driving to work. I'm wondering if it is "ok" to eat a
> breakfast just before getting on the bike and riding 10
> hilly miles. (I've heard that one shouldn't exercise
> immediately after eating a meal, but maybe that is an old
> wive's tale?) It would be possible for me to eat a
> breakfast after arriving at work, but I'm concerned about
> not having the energy to ride 10 miles without a
> breakfast. Since I would need to leave the house at about
> 5:00am, it might make a difference in my decision to
> commute if I would need to wait, let's say an hour,
> between eating and riding.

Probably part of it depends on how fast you ride, but
personally I avoid eating just before riding, not because of
cramps but mostly because I'm afraid I'll hurl (as I did
once after going on a _very_ hard ride, with two people with
much lighter bikes, right after eating).

Instead I bring to work something nice and portable like
cereal bars and little orange juice containers and munch in
the office.

 

[Claire Petersky]

"HarryB" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

> Question: Presently I eat a cold cereal breakfast before
> driving to work. I'm wondering if it is "ok" to eat a
> breakfast just before getting on the bike and riding 10
> hilly miles.

It is A-OK. If you find you have problems -- stomach cramps?
then try: o Eating first, then getting dressed, to give a
little time to digest o Picking foods that are digestible,
like a banana and hot rice cereal

I've tried so-called bonk training, where you wake up, have
a caffenated beverage, and then do a hard hammer for 30-60
minutes. It's supposed to be great for losing weight. I felt
so miserable, though, I knew it wasn't for
me.

At first, you'll probably have a second breakfast upon
arrival at work. After awhile, though, you'll get used to
the ride, and you'll find that won't be necessary.

Bicycle commuting is the greatest -- I hope you really enjoy
it as much as I
mf.

--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
Please replace earthlink for mouse-potato and .net for .com

Home of the meditative cyclist:
http://home.earthlink.net/~cpetersky/Welcome.htm
Email me re: the new Tiferet CD (http://www.tiferet.net)

 

[Ken]

HarryB <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:
> Question: Presently I eat a cold cereal breakfast before
> driving to work. I'm wondering if it is "ok" to eat a
> breakfast just before getting on the bike and riding 10
> hilly miles.

Your breakfast is not going to digest in the time it takes
most people to ride 10 miles. You're burning energy stored
from last night's dinner. Drink some orange juice or hot
chocolate to hydrate yourself a little and provide some
quick calories immediately before you ride. Eat an energy
bar when you get to work to replenish your muscles.

 

[Dan Daniel]

On Wed, 10 Mar 2004 21:38:34 -0800, HarryB <[email protected]>
wrote:

> Since I would need to leave the house at about 5:00am,
> it might make a difference in my decision to commute if
> I would need to wait, let's say an hour, between eating
> and riding.
>
>TIA, Harry

Try it both ways. On the weekends, maybe. It's a good idea
to do test runs of your commute at low-traffic times anyway.
You will be familiar with the roads and more confident.

I won't ride after any significant food. I find it better to
wait until afterwards. Or during. Rather than only eating
before or after, you could do some eating while riding. You
won't gain much for the ride itself, but it's a way to get
some food moving into you without loading yourself down.
Some nibbling while riding in and then a bowl of cereal or
whatever when you get to work.

A bike ride is a great way to start the day. I hope that you
can work out some of the details.

 

[Cheg]

"HarryB" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> Question: Presently I eat a cold cereal breakfast before
> driving to work. I'm wondering if it is "ok" to eat a
> breakfast just before getting on the bike and riding 10
> hilly miles. (I've heard that one shouldn't exercise
> immediately after eating a meal, but maybe that
is
> an old wive's tale?) It would be possible for me to eat a
> breakfast after arriving at work, but I'm concerned about
> not having the
energy
> to ride 10 miles without a breakfast. Since I would need
> to leave
the
> house at about 5:00am, it might make a difference in my
> decision to commute if I would need to wait, let's say an
> hour, between eating
and
> riding.
>
> TIA, Harry

I don't like to eat before riding to work because my body
wants to start digesting the food instead of powering up my
legs. I just have a cup of coffee and go. Instead I take
granola bars with me and eat after I get to work. My commute
is 17 miles with about 1000 feet of climbing and 800 feet of
descending and I'm only a little younger than you, at 45
years old.

 

[Mike Jacoubowsk]

> Question: Presently I eat a cold cereal breakfast before
> driving to work. I'm wondering if it is "ok" to eat a
> breakfast just before getting on the bike and riding 10
> hilly miles. (I've heard that one shouldn't exercise
> immediately after eating a meal, but maybe that is an old
> wive's tale?) It would be possible for me to eat a
> breakfast after arriving at work, but I'm concerned about
> not having the energy to ride 10 miles without a
> breakfast. Since I would need to leave the house at about
> 5:00am, it might make a difference in my decision to
> commute if I would need to wait, let's say an hour,
> between eating and riding.

It shouldn't be too tough to figure out if you can go 10
miles without eating in the morning- try it and see! What's
the worst that can happen? Probably just a mild case of
bonking, although at 5am, I doubt your body would even
recognize the symptoms :>)

I'd just bring along a pack of gu or something else that you
can digest really quickly, just in case. But for what it's
worth, I do a 31 mile ride (with just over 3k feet of
climbing) twice a week, leaving the house at
7:30am, and eat absolutely nothing beforehand. My only fuel
while riding is a bottle of Cytomax, and I rarely feel
bonked or really hungry at the end of the ride. Maybe an
hour or two after, yes, but not during the ride.

This, of course, is one of those your-mileage-may-vary
things. I know others who can't believe I don't eat before I
ride. In general, I can do about a 100k morning ride without
food first, providing I drink Cytomax (although I will most
definitely start feeling a but hungry towards the end). Of
course, I could be carrying more reserves than you!

By the way, the only reason I don't eat prior to a morning
ride is simply that it allows me to get up a bit later. I
put a high value on being able to set the alarm for 7:05
(for a 7:30 ride) instead of 6:45am. Then again, it's well
known that I'm simply not a morning person.

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
http://www.ChainReactionBicycles.com

 

[Elisa Francesca]

HarryB wrote:

> Question: Presently I eat a cold cereal breakfast before
> driving to work. I'm wondering if it is "ok" to eat a
> breakfast just before getting on the bike and riding 10
> hilly miles. (I've heard that one shouldn't exercise
> immediately after eating a meal, but maybe that is an old
> wive's tale?) It would be possible for me to eat a
> breakfast after arriving at work, but I'm concerned about
> not having the energy to ride 10 miles without a
> breakfast. Since I would need to leave the house at about
> 5:00am, it might make a difference in my decision to
> commute if I would need to wait, let's say an hour,
> between eating and riding.

My suggestion would be to eat just fresh fruit. This is
the only meal that works for me before exercise. Fruit,
especially acid fruit like berries or citrus, passes
through your system in about half an hour. There isn't
that heavy, performance clogging effect that comes from
eating concentrated foods. The only hick is that if you
don't wait for it to pass, you will need to stop to pee
after you set out.

EFR Ile de France

 

[Ryan Cousineau]

In article <vHR3c.2388$i76.42698@attbi_s03>,
"Claire Petersky" <[email protected]> wrote:

> "HarryB" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>
> > Question: Presently I eat a cold cereal breakfast before
> > driving to work. I'm wondering if it is "ok" to eat a
> > breakfast just before getting on the bike and riding 10
> > hilly miles.
>
> It is A-OK. If you find you have problems -- stomach
> cramps? then try: o Eating first, then getting dressed, to
> give a little time to digest o Picking foods that are
> digestible, like a banana and hot rice cereal
>
> I've tried so-called bonk training, where you wake up,
> have a caffenated beverage, and then do a hard hammer for
> 30-60 minutes. It's supposed to be great for losing
> weight. I felt so miserable, though, I knew it wasn't for
> me.

De gustibus non disputandum est, and if I knew more Latin,
I'd make a joke about not being able to dispute one's
stomach either (de gastronomus non disputandum est?)

> At first, you'll probably have a second breakfast upon
> arrival at work. After awhile, though, you'll get used to
> the ride, and you'll find that won't be necessary.

I ride to work, barely 30 minutes away (it used to be
farther, but I got faster), on nothing but the water in my
bottle. I eat a sandwich shortly after arrival, though. It
seems to work best for me. I used to eat before going to
work (cold cereal, usually Life brand), but found I was just
as hungry when I got to work whether I ate at home or not.

I think the current exercise theory is that you eat some
carbs and protein as soon as possible after exercise to
replenish glycogen stores and rebuild muscles. I don't know
much about physiology, and sometimes I just eat 5 or 6 big
cookies at a time because, you know, I just rode my mountain
bike for over an hour, and there were cookies at the
function I attended. So what I'm saying is that while I give
advice, I'm not exactly Lance weighing his pasta during the
training season.

--
Ryan Cousineau, [email protected]
http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine/wiredcola/ President, Fabrizio
Mazzoleni Fan Club

 

[Hjalmar DuklæT]

> > Question: Presently I eat a cold cereal breakfast before
> > driving to work. I'm wondering if it is "ok" to eat a
> > breakfast just before getting on the bike and riding 10
> > hilly miles. (I've heard that one shouldn't exercise
> > immediately after eating a meal, but maybe that is an
> > old wive's tale?) It would be possible for me to eat a
> > breakfast after arriving at work, but I'm concerned
> > about not having the energy to ride 10 miles without a
> > breakfast. Since I would need to leave the house at
> > about 5:00am, it might make a difference in my decision
> > to commute if I would need to wait, let's say an hour,
> > between eating and riding.
>
> It shouldn't be too tough to figure out if you can go 10
> miles without eating in the morning- try it and see!
> What's the worst that can happen? Probably just a mild
> case of bonking, although at 5am, I doubt your body would
> even recognize the symptoms :>)
>
> I'd just bring along a pack of gu or something else that
> you can digest really quickly, just in case. But for what
> it's worth, I do a 31 mile
ride
> (with just over 3k feet of climbing) twice a week, leaving
> the house at
> 7:30am, and eat absolutely nothing beforehand. My only
> fuel while riding
is
> a bottle of Cytomax, and I rarely feel bonked or really
> hungry at the end
of
> the ride. Maybe an hour or two after, yes, but not during
> the ride.
>
> This, of course, is one of those your-mileage-may-vary
> things. I know others who can't believe I don't eat before
> I ride. In general, I can do about a 100k morning ride
> without food first, providing I drink Cytomax (although I
> will most definitely start feeling a but hungry towards
> the end). Of course, I could be carrying more reserves
> than you!
>
> By the way, the only reason I don't eat prior to a morning
> ride is simply that it allows me to get up a bit later. I
> put a high value on being able to set the alarm for 7:05
> (for a 7:30 ride) instead of 6:45am. Then
again,
> it's well known that I'm simply not a morning person.
>
Me too often do 3-4 hours rides without eating before the
ride. Only bring a bottle of sports drink an a banana and
never bonk. This normally happens during weekends when I
want to have breakfast with the rest of the family when back
home. During weekdays I allways eat some cereal before
taking off to work (2 hours ride). Never had any problems
with that either. Hjalmar

 

[Zoot Katz]

Wed, 10 Mar 2004 22:22:22 -0800, <rcousine-
[email protected]>, Ryan Cousineau
<[email protected]> wrote: \snip
> So what I'm saying is that while I give advice, I'm not
> exactly Lance weighing his pasta during the training
> season.
>
Lance's people pay somebody to weigh his pasta for him. Poor
ol' Fab just looks at the pictures on the box and guesses.

>Ryan Cousineau, [email protected]
>http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine/wiredcola/ President, Fabrizio
>Mazzoleni Fan Club

Look Ryan, being His fan club president is great, but don't
you think He'd be better off first having a manager who
could land Him a decent contract so our boy doesn't have to
eat all that cheap pasta stuff in the first place?
--
zk

 

[Bruce Frech]

Try it. 10 miles in not enough to run down your storage, but
if you ride too hard you might upset your stomach since it
will get less blood flow to do it's job and it might cramp.
Having said that warning, I always eat breakfast before my
commute, and I usually ride in pretty hard. I also have an
iron stomach.

And enjoy the commute. It will make wonderful changes to
lots of things in your life.

Bruce

 

[Elisa Francesca]

Bruce Frech wrote:

> And enjoy the commute. It will make wonderful changes to
> lots of things in your life.

What wonderful changes? I'm not a troll. I've been slowly
learning to cycle, with a lot of set backs lately, and have
more or less given up my daily 1.5 km to work because over
that distance it's so much less hassle to walk. But I may
have to start commuting seriously, 10kms, in the Fall, so
I'm curious about all these great life-changing claims that
are made for it.

EFR Ile de France

 

[Paulpgh777]

Well, I think it depends. Try a few things, listen to your
body, and do what is right for you. I can eat a full
breakfast, go for a hard ride, and feel the best. Others
wonder how I can do this...

 

[Peter Cole]

"HarryB" <[email protected]> wrote
>
> Question: Presently I eat a cold cereal breakfast before
> driving to work. I'm wondering if it is "ok" to eat a
> breakfast just before getting on the bike and riding 10
> hilly miles.

Sure. It's also perfectly OK not to eat anything. Your body
has a reserve of energy, typically 2,000 kcal or so, which
is enough to ride perhaps 50 miles at an all-out pace. Your
commute wouldn't begin to dent that. On the other hand, if
you're hungry, eat. If you have problems with indigestion,
you may have to tweak your breakfast menu. Personally, I
prefer to eat later, I like riding on an empty stomach, but
then I'm usually riding very hard.

 

[Dane Jackson]

HarryB <[email protected]> wrote:

> Question: Presently I eat a cold cereal breakfast before
> driving to work. I'm wondering if it is "ok" to eat a
> breakfast just before getting on the bike and riding 10
> hilly miles. (I've heard that one shouldn't exercise
> immediately after eating a meal, but maybe that is an old
> wive's tale?) It would be possible for me to eat a
> breakfast after arriving at work, but I'm concerned about
> not having the energy to ride 10 miles without a
> breakfast. Since I would need to leave the house at about
> 5:00am, it might make a difference in my decision to
> commute if I would need to wait, let's say an hour,
> between eating and riding.

I never even considered not eating as an option honestly.
Whether my commutes been 3, 10, or 14 miles in the morning I
always eat. Have I noticed even a little bit of stomach
upset? No. It's not too difficult to work out. Try riding to
work, not a bad idea to do a trial on the weekend to get
used to the route. Try doing it after breakfast and seeing
how you feel.

I don't expect you'll have any problems. But the only way to
find out for you is to do it.

--
Dane Jackson - z u v e m b i @ u n i x b i g o t s . o r g
And it should be the law: If you use the word `paradigm'
without knowing what the dictionary says it means, you go to
jail. No exceptions. -- David Jones

 

[Dane Jackson]

HarryB <[email protected]> wrote:

> Question: Presently I eat a cold cereal breakfast before
> driving to work. I'm wondering if it is "ok" to eat a
> breakfast just before getting on the bike and riding 10
> hilly miles. (I've heard that one shouldn't exercise
> immediately after eating a meal, but maybe that is an old
> wive's tale?) It would be possible for me to eat a
> breakfast after arriving at work, but I'm concerned about
> not having the energy to ride 10 miles without a
> breakfast. Since I would need to leave the house at about
> 5:00am, it might make a difference in my decision to
> commute if I would need to wait, let's say an hour,
> between eating and riding.

I never even considered not eating as an option honestly.
Whether my commutes been 3, 10, or 14 miles in the morning I
always eat. Have I noticed even a little bit of stomach
upset? No. It's not too difficult to work out. Try riding to
work, not a bad idea to do a trial on the weekend to get
used to the route. Try doing it after breakfast and seeing
how you feel.

I don't expect you'll have any problems. But the only way to
find out for you is to do it.

--
Dane Jackson - z u v e m b i @ u n i x b i g o t s . o r g
And it should be the law: If you use the word `paradigm'
without knowing what the dictionary says it means, you go to
jail. No exceptions. -- David Jones

 

[Psycholist]

> It shouldn't be too tough to figure out if you can go 10 miles without
> eating in the morning- try it and see! What's the worst that can happen?
> Probably just a mild case of bonking, although at 5am, I doubt your body
> would even recognize the symptoms :>)
>
> I'd just bring along a pack of gu or something else that
> you can digest really quickly, just in case. But for what
> it's worth, I do a 31 mile
ride
> (with just over 3k feet of climbing) twice a week, leaving
> the house at
> 7:30am, and eat absolutely nothing beforehand. My only
> fuel while riding
is
> a bottle of Cytomax, and I rarely feel bonked or really
> hungry at the end
of
> the ride. Maybe an hour or two after, yes, but not during
> the ride.
>
> This, of course, is one of those your-mileage-may-vary
> things. I know others who can't believe I don't eat before
> I ride. In general, I can do about a 100k morning ride
> without food first, providing I drink Cytomax (although I
> will most definitely start feeling a but hungry towards
> the end). Of course, I could be carrying more reserves
> than you!
>
> By the way, the only reason I don't eat prior to a morning
> ride is simply that it allows me to get up a bit later. I
> put a high value on being able to set the alarm for 7:05
> (for a 7:30 ride) instead of 6:45am. Then
again,
> it's well known that I'm simply not a morning person.
>
> --Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
> http://www.ChainReactionBicycles.com
>

I really got a kick out of this. I don't know how old you
are, Mike, but I suspect things might change as you get
older. I'm 48 and I'm riding between 250 and 300 miles per
week with the 25 year old racer dudes in my area. I can do
it, but I absolutely MUST have fuel. And being an old fart,
that leads to other absolute musts. Therefore, if the group
is getting together at 9:00 for several hours on the road, I
have to back out an hour to get there (I live out in the
sticks), an hour for nature to take its course and another
hour just to get up, feed the cats and prepare the mass
quantities of food I must consume ... a smoothie, canadian
bacon and cereal.

But ... I find that, when we get to the last hour of the
ride, I'm usually at the front most of the time and everyone
else is complaining that they're feeling wiped out.

You get what you pay for, I suppose.

Bob C.

 

[Psycholist]

> It shouldn't be too tough to figure out if you can go 10 miles without
> eating in the morning- try it and see! What's the worst that can happen?
> Probably just a mild case of bonking, although at 5am, I doubt your body
> would even recognize the symptoms :>)
>
> I'd just bring along a pack of gu or something else that
> you can digest really quickly, just in case. But for what
> it's worth, I do a 31 mile
ride
> (with just over 3k feet of climbing) twice a week, leaving
> the house at
> 7:30am, and eat absolutely nothing beforehand. My only
> fuel while riding
is
> a bottle of Cytomax, and I rarely feel bonked or really
> hungry at the end
of
> the ride. Maybe an hour or two after, yes, but not during
> the ride.
>
> This, of course, is one of those your-mileage-may-vary
> things. I know others who can't believe I don't eat before
> I ride. In general, I can do about a 100k morning ride
> without food first, providing I drink Cytomax (although I
> will most definitely start feeling a but hungry towards
> the end). Of course, I could be carrying more reserves
> than you!
>
> By the way, the only reason I don't eat prior to a morning
> ride is simply that it allows me to get up a bit later. I
> put a high value on being able to set the alarm for 7:05
> (for a 7:30 ride) instead of 6:45am. Then
again,
> it's well known that I'm simply not a morning person.
>
> --Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
> http://www.ChainReactionBicycles.com
>

I really got a kick out of this. I don't know how old you
are, Mike, but I suspect things might change as you get
older. I'm 48 and I'm riding between 250 and 300 miles per
week with the 25 year old racer dudes in my area. I can do
it, but I absolutely MUST have fuel. And being an old fart,
that leads to other absolute musts. Therefore, if the group
is getting together at 9:00 for several hours on the road, I
have to back out an hour to get there (I live out in the
sticks), an hour for nature to take its course and another
hour just to get up, feed the cats and prepare the mass
quantities of food I must consume ... a smoothie, canadian
bacon and cereal.

But ... I find that, when we get to the last hour of the
ride, I'm usually at the front most of the time and everyone
else is complaining that they're feeling wiped out.

You get what you pay for, I suppose.

Bob C.

 

[David Kerber]

In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] says...

...

> I really got a kick out of this. I don't know how old you
> are, Mike, but I suspect things might change as you get
> older. I'm 48 and I'm riding between 250 and 300 miles per
> week with the 25 year old racer dudes in my area. I can do
> it, but I absolutely MUST have fuel. And being an old
> fart, that leads to other absolute musts. Therefore, if
> the group is getting together at 9:00 for several hours on
> the road, I have to back out an hour to get there (I live
> out in the sticks), an hour for nature to take its course
> and another hour just to get up, feed the cats and prepare
> the mass quantities of food I must consume ... a smoothie,
> canadian bacon and cereal.
>
> But ... I find that, when we get to the last hour of
> the ride, I'm usually at the front most of the time
> and everyone else is complaining that they're feeling
> wiped out.

I think most of us old farts know our bodies much better
then the 20- somethings do theirs, and it really shows
during the longer events when we keep ourselves fueled and
paced better (usually, anyway).

--
Remove the ns_ from if replying by e-mail (but keep posts in
the newsgroups if possible).