how nutritious is all-bran?

[Tetedelacourse]

I remember Paw Broon filling a drawer with porridge so he could slice it and eat it on the go. He didn't empty the drawer first though and cracked a tooth on one of the bairn's toys.

Honey is definitely not for me, eugh. But syrup is tremendous with porridge, and a spot of Drambuie helps too. Not sure about the energy-releasing effects of the latter though. Maybe Floyd knows.

 

[Tetedelacourse]

So what is THE best food to eat before a short cycle of, say, 20 miles? And how long before it?

 

[ColinJ]

A big bowel of porridge with a sliced up banana in and some honey.

A somewhat unfortunate typo !

I agree with your choice though - it's what I usually have for my breakfast. I like to eat at least 2 hours before cycling. If I had a large bowl of porridge/honey/banana at 08:00, I could happily ride 30 miles over Yorkshire hills on just water + OJ and not eat again until 18:00 - 19:00.

Tetedelacourse - my mother was brought up on a croft on the west coast of Scotland (near Oban). She told me that the menfolk used to prepare their porridge that way. They'd cut off big slabs of porridge and wrap 'em in brown paper to take out into the fields for lunch.