# Food after a ride?



## Kovu (16 Aug 2007)

Okay well I went on my mountain bike this morning and did a half an hours ride at a moderate rate over a few good sized hills, which would properly be nothing to others. I havent been on the bike for nearly one and a half years so I am goign to build it up slowly. I was shocked really that I didnt stop at any point and kept going the whole way through. 

Now i need a few tips please on what to eat. I literally got up, dressed and in half an hour was on my bike. Before i went i had a banna, thats all. After (when my legs were almost burning at the top!) I had my ususal bowl of cornflakes. I was surpirsed though because it didnt taste particulary nice to me and I almost had to force myself to eat it. 

Any tips on when to eat and what?


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## chris42 (16 Aug 2007)

you need to eat carbs + some form of protien to help repair muscle fibres


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## Kovu (16 Aug 2007)

Ok, how long after a ride should I eat stuff like that?


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## monnet (16 Aug 2007)

I'd say for anything up to or just over an hour you don't need to do any specific eating. If you're hungry when you get back eat something that's fairly high in carbs. You might also want to have something with carbs befroe you go out too - porridge is a good slow burning energy source. It's when you start going out for maybe two hours that you need to think more about food, but then it's more a question of what to eat on the bike than off it.


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## Blue (16 Aug 2007)

You are right to build up slowly - otherwise injury or demotivation can set in.

I would suggest that unless you are on the bike for more than an hour any food or drink is nothing more than a comfort thing as you won't have depleted your bodily stores to any great extent. I wouldn't go beyond a piece of fruit and a drink of water before and after until you have built things up a bit - however, suit yourself realy.

Once I got up to 40-50 mile rides I started to follow a suggestion that was in Cycling Weekly a couple of years ago that involved 'Whole Earth' peanut butter on toast as the main ingredient. I love it and it works well for me. The peanut butter contains mainly 'good' fats, is packed with protein and prevents cravings between the post ride lunch and my next main meal. Beware other brands of butter as they can contain more saturated fat/sugar/salt. Whole Earth can be found in Holland & Barrett or Tescos. The other ingredients in my snack involve replacing the used Carbs and fluid

The bottom line with a question like this on a cycling site seems to me to be that you will get a huge variation in the advice.


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## monnet (16 Aug 2007)

Kovu, looking at your previous posts I see you're under 20. In which case I wouldn't worry too much about what eat so long as you maintain a fairly healthy diet overall. I've always cycled but only started going out for more than an hour when I was about 17 and I just went and rode. Now, eleven years later I think a bit more about things but unless you're getting into racing etc it's not worth worrying too much about for the rides your're currently doing. 

I think the key at the moment is just to enjoy cycling and the fitness that it will give you. With time you'll get more into the science behind it (and the geeky tech aspects of bikes!).


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## Kovu (16 Aug 2007)

Yeah I see, thanks very much. I just wondered if any of them might help a bit more, because my usual cornflakes tasted horribly after my ride.


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## chris42 (16 Aug 2007)

It will also depend on what your goals are.
if you are looking to loose weight you will need slow release carbs like porrage to keep you feeling fuller longer.
if you want to build muscle you need to consume extra protien to give your body the building blocks to add muscle.


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## Kovu (16 Aug 2007)

My goal is not to lose wieght at all, because i am younger and still growing I have had it drummed into me not to try to lsoe wieght. Its fair enough, i'm not overwieght anyway. It's merely to get fit, I spend so much time in front of the computer and TV that my fitness has taken a toll in the last year or so. I don't like running so cycling is the next best thing. Also it was something i have enjoyed hugley, so I thought why not try that? 

SO the only goal is to get fitter for me


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## Hugo15 (16 Aug 2007)

Hmmmm...... carbs....... protein...........

Does sausage and chips with curry sauce from the chippy count, as this is what I had after a quick spin tonight? Oh, and I washed it down with Coca Cola - does this count as a recovery drink?


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## Kovu (16 Aug 2007)

Hahaha funneh. 

I can't even drink normal Coca Cola, I have to have diet coke


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## longers (16 Aug 2007)

Porridge beforehand and muesli afterwards (the dorset cereal company do some very nice ones - I mix with a cheap own brand version to make it last longer). Works for me.


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## khumbu8000 (17 Aug 2007)

Cornflakes contain loads of bad salt. Shredded wheat and weetabix are the best cereals. All Bran has as much salt as a bag of crisps!

Porridge and peanut butter advice is very good.

There are several studies showing that semi-skimmed chocolate milk are very good to have immediately post-ride. Milk for protein and chcolate for quick recovery carbs. I use Nesquik after each ride. I've just done Lands End to J O'Groats in 7 days so something must be working.

Remember during a ride you could take/eat a small sandwich using white bread (as you get the energy quicker whilst you are riding).

Well done for getting back into it. Unless you're training gets alot more intense dont bother with any sports drinks etc.


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## col (17 Aug 2007)

I was told some time ago,so new things will probaly have been found,that 45 minutes was the window after strenu strenou er hard exercise to get some carbs into you,we used to use pasta and chicken then,or a protein drink.


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## Blonde (17 Aug 2007)

I read half an hour. Depends how seriously you are training as to whether it really matters. I am on low sugars diet (anti-Candida diet) so no refined sugars at all for me, no white, non-whole grains (most breakfast cereals), no bread and no fruit at the mo either - so no muesli. Most bought cereals and muesli contain sugar - even the 'no added sugar ones' usually have maltodextrin, malt extract or concentrated apple or other fruit juice in as a sweetener, so I can't have those. I make my own muesli using the whole oats and whole cereal flakes I like, plus seeds, as I can't have nuts or fruit. I used to find a good post-ride drink was as fruit smoothie made with yogurt and seeds for added protein, but I can't even have that now, so potatoes (or chips) seems to be may big pre,during and post-ride thing at the moment and it seems to be working! On my last 200km audax, 'Round the West Riding', at the first control they only had one thing I could eat - plain salted crisps, (other than that all they had was cakes and chocolates) so I had to live off those crisps till a late afternoon egg and chips ata greasy spoon type cafe control - I still got round in one of my best times ever for such a hilly event though!


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## Elmer Fudd (17 Aug 2007)

col said:


> ......strenu strenou er hard exercise.......


strenuous


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## LLB (17 Aug 2007)

I have studied the diet thing a fair bit over the last year after being diagnosed with diabetes 

Avoid chocolate or food with a very high proportion of refined sugars if you've not eaten anything else if you can because your body will produce large amounts of insulin to bring your Blood/Glucose levels down, and you will risk going hypoglycemic with a lot of exertion.

Better to stay with slow release carbs like porridge before you set out as this will give you a steady energy supply to keep you going.

Different people react differently to different sugars in different foods (sucrose/fructose/lactose/glucose), but us diabetics are more sensitive to them as the ability to regulate blood sugar is a bit iffy.


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## LLB (17 Aug 2007)

Blonde said:


> I read half an hour. Depends how seriously you are training as to whether it really matters. I am on low sugars diet (anti-Candida diet) so no refined sugars at all for me, no white, non-whole grains (most breakfast cereals), *no bread *and no fruit at the mo either - so no muesli. Most bought cereals and muesli contain sugar - even the 'no added sugar ones' usually have maltodextrin, malt extract or concentrated apple or other fruit juice in as a sweetener, so I can't have those. I make my own muesli using the whole oats and whole cereal flakes I like, plus seeds, as I can't have nuts or fruit. I used to find a good post-ride drink was as fruit smoothie made with yogurt and seeds for added protein, but I can't even have that now, so potatoes (or chips) seems to be may big pre,during and post-ride thing at the moment and it seems to be working! On my last 200km audax, 'Round the West Riding', at the first control they only had one thing I could eat - plain salted crisps, (other than that all they had was cakes and chocolates) so I had to live off those crisps till a late afternoon egg and chips ata greasy spoon type cafe control - I still got round in one of my best times ever for such a hilly event though!



Try the Burgen brand Linseed and Soya bread ( from Tescos/Sainsburys/Morrisons/etc)

Have you had your blood sugars tested ?


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## Kovu (17 Aug 2007)

No I've never had them tested, it's never been a problem. But after a steady rate that was pretty much consitent the whole round, I think i got back, and had my cornflakes and they just tasted dry and horrible in my mouth, which I was a bit concerned about but at the time i thought it was just down to having done exercise, but I wasnt overly sure afterwards. 

There ASDA's own brand if that would make any difference i dont think it would though, would it? There the only brand i like though, I don't like Kellogs particularly. 

Its not to lose wieght or anything, just to get fitter


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## LLB (17 Aug 2007)

Sorry Kovu, the question was for Blonde as she mentioned a special diet to lower the risk of infection. Diabetics (or pre diabetics) are prone to all sorts of stuff as the body's mechanism for blood sugar control is a bit dodgy and this can knock on in many other areas without its own direct symptoms being a problem.

Kovu, Try eating flapjacks a few minutes before the ride - syrup for an instant hit to give you a lift and oats for slow release once you start getting into the rhythm of the ride itself !


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## col (18 Aug 2007)

Elmer Fudd;43589][quote name= said:


> ......strenu strenou er hard exercise.......


strenuous [/QUOTE]


Ta


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## Blonde (20 Aug 2007)

When I got ill in summer 2006, I at first ignored it hoping it would go away. Then in March this year I began having tests for everything known to humankind. I am not diabetic. The low blood sugar was due to Candida. Now that it has begun to clear up off and on the bike I am much better. I dont get cold, shaky, irratable, faint etc between meals anymore. I dont get jaundice and the aching joints have nearly gone. 

Yesterday I did a hilly 200k in North yorkshire (including Buttertubs Pass and Tan Hill) and whilst I got round in 9 hours including stops, (this is a good time good for me) I also had much less need for food than I used to. I ate one plain baked potato at 10a.m. and a bag of crisps at 12:30, then we had fish and chips at about 6pm after having finished, changed and started off home in the car. This is a huge improvement for me.

Regarding bread: I can't eat any type of bread that contains either yeasts or any fermented grains - so only soda bread (made from whole grains) is OK, but I am not that bothered. I eat a good variety of things whilst I'm a work anyway - I eat a proper cooked meal every day at lunchtime and at home we have a cooked evening meal too. I use buckwheat noodles or make buckwheat pancakes, brown rice, potatoes, spelt pancakes, amongst other things for carbs. It is only really when on the bike that is can be hard to find things at tea rooms and cafes that I can eat, as they literally only sell sugary and yeasty foods. A good fail safe for me then is the greasy spoon type cafe or chippy. Sometimes I can only get crisps on some audax events (if you are at a cafe before lunctime they dont usually have any cooked potatoes), but this is better than nothing -though I dont actualyl like crisps much and never ate them AT ALL before I tested so massively positivley for Candida.

I know I would struggle, at the moment, to do a longer audax event as night rides/early hours riding relies on 24 hour garages and they really don't sell one thing I can eat, except, yet again, crisps. I dread to think how many packs I'd have to eat to get through, say, a 600! It always did strike me though, that doing these events makes no sense at all - during the week you are building yourself up and looking after yourself, eating good food, then on the event itself, when it is relly important to eat well, you end up eating shite as that is all that's available. I have taken some food on events before, but you cant possibly carry enough for a 600 - without it slowing you down massively and you are supposed to use the commercial controls anyway. It can't possibly be doing you any good at all though, eating this crap, and in my case it was literally making me sick! I am not sure I'd want to do any more long events in the future, because this was a wake up call to me about how the amount of stress on the body really needs to be compensated for by good food, all the time, not just five days a week, then eating junk all weekend on the ride itself, at great cost to ones health. I can't afford another year or more of illness. I find it very sad that nearly every cafe relies so heavily on bread, and/or foods that are loaded with sugar.


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## Blonde (20 Aug 2007)

Kovu said:


> Hahaha funneh.
> 
> I can't even drink normal Coca Cola, I have to have diet coke



I can't drink even that. Not that I'd now want to, having read the ingredients - it has the same acid in it that is also used in toilet cleaner. No limescale on yer teeth then! 

No caffiene for me, or artificial sweeteners either, as they both encourage the body to release any sugars stored, into the blood.


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