Is pizza and cake a good diet for a 90 mile cycle?

[Michelle]

Hi,

Im looking for advice for another cyclist as im sure this isnt a healthy way to cycle.

Hes in his early 40's, about 6ft2 and not a regular long distance cycler, mainly a commuter of under 20 miles a couple of days a week.
Yesterday he completed a 90 mile cycle. Before the cycle he had porridge, half way he had a stop and ate soup and cake then after the cycle ate a whole pizza. He seems to think this is healthy but im not convinced. It was only a couple of weeks ago i took him to the hospital after a leg strain from a cycle but he thought it was dvt.

Help please!!

 

[Hacienda71]

Don't worry too much. He will burn the calories contained in a pizza off on a 90 mile ride.

 

[ColinJ]

Don't worry too much. He will burn the calories contained in a pizza off on a 90 mile ride.

Well, there's more to nutrition than just calories - maybe half a pizza with a side salad would be a better option!

He had porridge for breakfast, and that is one of the healthiest meals going. Soup sounds okay too. 50% of what's in that cake should be pretty healthy, and I think a 90 mile ride has earned the other 50% as a treat!

I'd be a bit worried about trips to the hospital after bike rides though! He needs to make sure he is using his gears sensibly and has his position on the bike set up properly. Long rides should leave him feeling tired, not injured!

If he felt okay after his 90 mile ride then he must be reasonably fit, which is A Good Thing. If he asked you to take him to the hospital again, then he is overdoing it and needs to build his endurance up more gradually.

 

[Fab Foodie]

Hi Michelle, welcome.

'Your Friend' is obviously a fairly competent cyclist if he's regularly doing a 20 mile commute.
As long as you have good basic fitness, going longer diste=ance comes down primarily about fueling yourself (and the extra hous of being in the saddle and out in the elements. It's difficult at first to estimate how-much you need to be eating/hour when you jump from 20 miles to 90. I reckon he did pretty well!

Porridge is the perfect start.
Soup and cake is not a bad lunch either (I'm a burger 'n coke man meself) and it's OK to eat a whole pizza at the end, in fact it's probably a symptom that he did not consume enough calories during the ride and was a bit calorie deficient, a salad's not going to cut-it in those circumstances..



There's a lot of advice here about fuelling for longer rides and much is about experimenting about what works for 'you', howevere there are some good rules of thumb.

'Eat before you're hungry; Drink before you're thirsty' is the Mantra.

Porridge IS the perfect start, high cals, slow release.
Then keep nibbling from the off, I like jelly babies, flapjack, beef jerky to eat on the move. At stops, cake and a coffee. After half-way a proper lunch of say burger and coke. Then continue grazing for the rest of the trip.
I'd carry 1 bottle of water and one with energy drink and swig alternately.
I'd carry a few gel-bars fopr emergency.
Once home, pint of Milkshake or choco-milk (best recovery product), shower and then either the family meal or say beans on toast with lashings of cheese!

Don't be worried about your mate, sounds like he did pretty well! Keep it up.

 

[potsy]

Porridge, Pizza and cake- sounds like a perfect days eating to me, bike ride or no bike ride
Welcome Michelle

 

[darkstar]

It depends what he eats for the rest of the week. if he eats a balanced diet all week then has a pizza after a 90 mile ride once a week, then thats absolutely fine. If he's eating junk like pizza all week, then it's not. It also depends what his goals are, if he want to keep on improving to get the speed up and the times down, then nutrition and diet is something he'll have to take a long time looking into.

As was mentioned before, perhaps half a pizza with a salad and a few pieces of fruit would be a better option. I'm boring when it comes to food though.

 

[palinurus]

Cycling would be terrible without cake. I don't race for the chance of prize money, I do it for the certainty of tea and cake.

 

[yello]

I'm interested to know why you think it might be a 'bad' diet? Is you're friend wanting to loose weight for instance?

To be honest, in terms of carbs, your friend was probably under fuelled for 90 miles and just devoured the pizza as post ride munchies. There's not one of us here that couldn't eat for Britain after a big ride. Sure, it's perhaps not the healthiest of options (depending on the pizza) but I wouldn't be too critical. Certainly not as a one off anyway. The thing is to not finish the ride with quite such a carb deficit (the cause for the munchies) and then it becomes a damned site easier to make sensible choices about eating.

So I think your friend probably does need some advice with regard to on-bike fuelling (or what to eat half-way). The porridge was a good start to the ride, no doubting that, and there's probably little wrong with the soup but depending on just how much cake they ate I suspect they needed more calories to sustain them for the rest of the ride.

 

[yello]

a homemade pizza is a good balanced meal

Indeed it can be. As can be a burger.

 

[Telemark]

Not all pizzas are junk food, OK a lot of the supermarket ones are high fat but a homemade pizza is a good balanced meal - bread, vegetables, fish or meat, olives and tomato sauce. Nothing wrong with that.

You beat me to it ... pizza is just bread dough with some toppings, i.e. a hot open sandwich (unless you go for a calzone).
It's your choice how healthy you make it. The dough can be wholemeal, tomatoes & vegetables & olives & fish & cheese are are good things to eat, just go easy on the cheese & don't add too many too salty things - then it can a perfectly balanced meal, especially if you have a side salad with it.

T

 

[Jim_Noir]

After a long cycle or run I have been known to eat my body weight in Pizza (No cheese on it) and have dropped a few KG the next morning... as long as guy eats decent stuff most of the time the odd "junk" food after a long ride isn't that much of a big deal IMHO

 

[buddha]

He should have finished it off with a plate of chips. Well that's what I'd do

 

[cycledude231]

Hi, new guy here.

I always get the munchies after a long ride. Especially around the 80mile mark. Then afterwardsfor rewarding myself I get a pizza and maybe a brewsky or two. Other than that after short rides I stick to the sensable stuff like steaks and potatoes.

 

[fossyant]

I assume he wasn't gunning it as he didn't eat loads during the ride at all. Where was the fruit ? Pizza is OK - not every day though, wouldn't matter after a 90 miler.

In a 100 mile sportive event (so I'm riding fairly quickly) I eat and drink tonnes of food/energy drink, then followed by a Sunday dinner in the evening, oh and maybe some wine as well

My Sportive food is:-

Breakfast:- Porridge and a few bananas - tea/coffee
Energy drink whilst driving or cycling to the event. Possible some fruit cake.

During event:-

3l or more of energy drink
4 energy gels
4/5 bananas
Malt Loaf/fruit cake
4/5 Oat bars

Other than the pizza, he probably didn't eat enough !

 

[Zoiders]

90 miles sounds like a 4000 calorie day to me so it's possible he may have even not eaten enough to be honest.
If in doubt - fill your face like a pig.