What's the "perfect" cycling food?

[Lonnie Utah]

I couldn't do this as a poll, so here goes. This should be fun.

What's the "perfect" cycling food, before during and after your rides?

What about beverages?

Here's my choices.

Food
Before: Peanut butter (or almond butter) and banana Sandwich (on whole wheat bread of course)
During: Nature Valley Chewy Granola bar (light and calorie rich)
After: Heaps of whole wheat pasta (with a tasty sauce of some sort.)

Beverages
Before: 12 Oz can of V-8 juice (can you say electrolites?)
During: Sports drink of some sort (poweraid or gatorade)
After: Lots of good old H20 (1.5 times amount of body weight lost to sweat)

 

[rolfdevinci]

Hmmmm...depends upon the ride planned for that day. My preparation will differ between a casual club ride and a metric century training ride for example.

Going on the assumption it will be a moderately fast 100K ride I will usually eat a hearty breakfast....oatmeal, whole wheat toast with PB, coffee and some fruit.

During the ride I will generally stick to fluids.....accelerade or gatorade and if I need to eat will have a powerbar type thing and/or a banana.

Post ride I am usually ravenous and crave penne pasta with primavera veggies, caesar salad and a fresh baquette of bread. Pizza works wonders. A cold beer is darn awesome as well.....lol. Before any of that I will use Endurox R4....as a recovery drink it works real good for me.

 

[Cyclist14]

The three best things in the food catergory on the bike:

Bannanas, Powerbars and Vanilla flavored Powergels

The three best foods off the bike:

Pasta, Eggs, Cereal

The best drink: water or orange flavored Gatorade

 

[ejglows]

Pre: Oatmeal+blueberries+milk+lots coffeeeeeeee
During: bananas+pancakes
Post: fruit smoothie+H2OOOOOOO
Post Post: Vegetarian lasagna....mmmm...tofu....


After that..I just stuff my face with whatever is in the fridge...

Oh...just thought of one more...

Kashi GO Lean+peanutbutter+skim milk...HOT...oh my goodness, I think I have become addicted...

e

 

[MountainPro]

an hour and a half before a ride i usually take cereals, muesli, or all bran..

during the ride some trail mix, dried fruit, nuts oats..

after a ride i dont have an appetite for a couple of hours, i just shower up grab a coffee and get on the playstation for a bit...even though i am tired and low on energy i cant face food..

i only take water for drinks during the ride.

I tend not to buy any cycling related food products...i make my own, always have.

 

[artmichalek]

Pasta the night before
Potatos, eggs, and coffee in the morning
Bananas, Cliff Bars, Snickers, and water on the road
PB&J on whole wheat with chocolate milk after

 

[Tmax1]

.

I tend not to buy any cycling related food products...i make my own, always have.

Do you have any recipes you would share? I enjoy ClifBars but would rather make my own type of bar.

Maybe that's a topic for another thread: Cycling food recipes

Jerry

 

[MountainPro]

Do you have any recipes you would share? I enjoy ClifBars but would rather make my own type of bar.

Maybe that's a topic for another thread: Cycling food recipes

Jerry

Recipes, well. I buy trail mix from Holland and Barret its quite cheap, i add my own dried mango cubes and pineapple. Sometimes i'll melt a bit of chocolate though it and some melted sugar to make it into bars. But usually i just take it the way it is.

I occasionally make my own drinks with some water, organic honey and a dash of salt. Although this provides you with the carbs and soduim you need when exercising it does tend to make you quite thirsty so i usually just stick to water.

But thats it....no recipies really. I just keep it simple.

 

[Lonnie Utah]

Maybe that's a topic for another thread: Cycling food recipes...

Oh, feel free to get off topic. I don't care and I'm kinda interested too...

L

 

[Shreklookalike]

Lonnie,
I make a sandwich similar to yours:
Two slices whole wheat toast, peanut butter on one, local honey on the other, sprinkle of cinnamon and a handful of raisins as filler. Yummy.

Baked potato with a drizzle of olive oil and some Italian spices and perhaps some grated parmesan.

On long rides I usually go with Camelbak Blowfish (100 oz) water and 2 bike bottles of Gatorade.

I also take Nature Valley Granola bars (but not the chewy ones) and sometimes some trail mix.

Whole wheat pasta with olive oil and spices instead of a heavy sauce.

 

[cydewaze]

Drats! I'm trying to watch my off-season eating, and now I read this?!? Ugh, now I'm starving.

 

[Paul J]

Before: Water. I can't start the day without a nice big juicy orange and if it's a big ride I'll have some muesli.

During: Banana's for that longer lasting hit. Water

After: Water. Espresso or espresso con panna (shot with a big dollop of whipped cream). Iced chocolate. Or toast with black cherry jam and whipped cream on top. Another espresso. Another banna. Espresso. Water.

 

[friedmikey]

...
Coffee
...
Coffee
...
Coffee
...
Coffee
...

Seems like you guys drink a lot of coffee. Is there some benefit to it that I don't know about?

 

[PeterF]

I couldn't do this as a poll, so here goes. This should be fun.

What's the "perfect" cycling food, before during and after your rides?

What about beverages?

Here's my choices.

Food
Before: Peanut butter (or almond butter) and banana Sandwich (on whole wheat bread of course)
During: Nature Valley Chewy Granola bar (light and calorie rich)
After: Heaps of whole wheat pasta (with a tasty sauce of some sort.)

Beverages
Before: 12 Oz can of V-8 juice (can you say electrolites?)
During: Sports drink of some sort (poweraid or gatorade)
After: Lots of good old H20 (1.5 times amount of body weight lost to sweat)

I subscribe to a different school of thought. The night before a big ride I try to load up on carbs but stay away from anything too spicy (pasta or pad thai). The next morning I will top off my carb levels with some cereal, bagel or english muffin. During the ride, I will drink gatorade and I'll bring a flask of GU. Immediately after the ride I will eat lots of protein to aid in recovery (smoked salmon, tuna or turkey). Later that day I'll snack on some nachos or popcorn with a couple icy Newcastles.

 

[kjellquist]

hmmmm...I too am on a diet and this killing me.....Can't wait to start riding again so I can eat!

morning: I love oatmeal w/ peanut butter, bananas, coffee
during: gatorade, pb & j cut in squares, homemade bars, goo balls, gel and maybe I'll have a Coke if I stop for a boost (though I wouldn't touch Coke of the bike)
after: anything I want!!! plus usually a soy milk w/ protein powder

 

[gregw]

Oatmeal Stout, Duh!

 

[JohnO]

To borrow from the film When Harry Met Sally

"I'll have what she's having"

 

[meehs]

A cold beer is darn awesome as well.....lol.

Yeah, I was going to say! Where does beer fit-in???

 

[meehs]

Oatmeal Stout, Duh!

There you go!

 

[Robi Pochapin]

Peanut butter, bananna, and honey on wholewheat might be the perfect cycling food, before, during and after. I prefer it during on rides of more than three hours.