best thing to eat

[WychwoodTrev]

Scrambled egg on toast before weekend rides.nothing in the week after work but I do eat on my return.

 

[Rebel Ian]

I think muesli is going to be the breakfast of choice - I hate porridge.

 

[ACS]

Porridge

with banana to follow

 

[ColinJ]

I prefer to eat 2 hours before a long ride to give it a good chance to starte getting digested.

My meal of choice is porridge with added honey, raisins and a couple of hot chillis, plus a banana chopped into it when it is ready. I make it with one measure of oats, one measure of water, one measure of skimmed milk, and a small pinch of salt.

I'm not too fussed about food either before or after rides up to 2.5 hours, but anything much longer than that and bonking is a real danger without a good meal beforehand.

 

[Fnaar]

Before a ride (about an hour before) porridge made with water, but with milk poured on, plus some sugar. For longer rides, I might add a peanut butter or banana sandwich to that brekky. Plus coffee

For 'normal weekend' 30-40 milers, I take a banana or oat bar with me (occasional caff stop if riding with friends, for cake or beans or egg on toast... generally not needed, but I eat it anyway)

For longer rides, 2 bananas and/or oat bar just in case. For really long rides, jelly babies to get me the last 10 miles home.

Did a 75 miler on Sat, had porridge for brekky + p'nut butter sarnie, took a banana and 2 oat bars. 2 bottles of watered-down orange juice... and that did me.

 

[Fiona N]

So our plan to start each of our LEJoG days with a fry up isn't a good one?!!

I reckon it depends what you're used to. And what your body feels like it needs on the day.

There's nothing wrong with starting the day with a fry-up - if you're doing LeJoG, using up the calories isn't going to be an issue but you may find that you need to wait a while, an hour or more, to at least partially digest the pretty heavy food or take the first 20-30 miles pretty gently.

Consider that your body can either digest food OR shift oxygen to the muscles but it has a problem if you ask it to do both at once - often this results in a quick ejection of stomach contents by the roadside

This is where lighter carb-based foods like porridge score well - they require less intense digestive activity so you can usually get on with the cycling rather quicker than after a meal of protein and fat. However, sometimes, especially if it's cold or you're feeling tired, some fat and protein will be just what you fancy, which is likely to be what you need.

I usually ride on water with cafe stops for tea/coffee and cake but on a 400 this weekend in bad weather, at one cafe I really enjoyed gypsy toast (basically savoury French toast/eggy bread) with baked beans. But I did notice it was a bit slower than the usual cake to kick in with some extra energy.

 

[Rebel Ian]

Useful tips there, Fiona - thanks.

Apart from 42,000 feet of climbing in 12 days the other thing that concerns me is what I eat as I always struggle beyond about 60 miles and find it really hard going. I'm pretty sure that can be overcome, or at least minimised, by better re-fuelling.

 

[cyberknight]

I like porridge with sultanas + sugar .

Tried one of those gels at the weekend after about 20 miles to see what they were like,tbh i found it to sweet and i would only use them as emergency energy.

tried one of these at the weekend and found it not to heavy, what do other people think of Kelloggs elevenses bars?




Ingredients

Cereals (36%) (Wheat Flour, Rolled Oats), Invert Sugar Syrup, Raisins (10%), Glucose Syrup, Apple, Sugar, Vegetable Oil, Skimmed Milk Powder, Emulsifiers (E475, E472e, Soy Lecithin), Raising Agent (E500), Flavouring, Modified Starch, Salt, Cinnamon, Molasses, Stabiliser (Guar Gum), Barley Malt Extract, Antioxidant (Ascorbic Acid), Niacin, Iron, Vitamin B6, Riboflavin (B2), Thiamin (B1), Folic Acid, Vitamin B12.

Nutrition information

Typical value per 100g

Energy - kJ 1568 - kcal 372 Protein (g) 5 Carbohydrates (g) 66 - sugars (g) 34 - starch (g) 32 Fat (g) 9 - saturates (g) 0.9 Fibre (g) 3.5 Sodium (g) 0.2 Vitamins Vitamin A (µg) - Vitamin D (µg) - Vitamin E (mg) - Vitamin C (mg) - Thiamin B1 (mg) 0.8 Riboflavin B2 (mg) 0.9 Niacin (mg) 10.1 Vitamin B6 (mg) 1.1 Folic Acid (µg) 112 Vitamin B12 (µg) 0.56 Minerals Iron (mg) 5.3 Zinc (mg) - Calcium (mg) - Magnesium (mg) -

 

[jnb]

what do other people think of Kelloggs elevenses bars?

372 kcal /100g

For simple energy value I take Snickers bars (Marathon for old fogies) which is about 500 kcal / 100g. So that's got the best energy to weight ratio. Something I tended to look at because I would do long distance hikes and wild camping in the past and energy : weight ratios mattered. As far as the rest of the ingredient go I think all those bars are much of a muchness.

 

[amaferanga]

372 kcal /100g

For simple energy value I take Snickers bars (Marathon for old fogies) which is about 500 kcal / 100g. So that's got the best energy to weight ratio. Something I tended to look at because I would do long distance hikes and wild camping in the past and energy : weight ratios mattered. As far as the rest of the ingredient go I think all those bars are much of a muchness.

I'd choose an Elevensies over a Snickers every time even if the Snickers has more kCal/g. Snickers bars are ok if you need a quick energy boost near the end of a ride, but rubbish for sustained fuelling during a ride.

 

[Furkz]

50G Porridge
1 scoop whey protein
300 Ml Red Milk
banana
Blender
DONE

grind some almonds and mix with grinded pumpkin seeds for extra nutrients = 1 teaspoon of the mix in the blender is fine