Ride fuelling .... Help please.

[toeknee]

Hi everyone,

My first post at last, now then here goes.

Tomorrow I am doing my longest ride to date 17-20 miles, as regard to keeping myself fuelled for the ride, this is
My intended eating plan.
Pasta tonight for tea, hydrate with water throughout today.
Porridge with dried apricots about 90 mins before ride.
Take fig rolls /Jaffa cakes for through the ride,
Obvious bottle of water.

Please advise if this is right or if anyone can suggest any alternative's I don't really fancy bonking on my first ride
With a new riding buddy

Thanks tony.

 

[lavoisier]

Sounds good to me although I doubt you will need that much planning for a 20 mile ride. Good luck with the new distance, I'm sure you'll be fine.

Let us know how it went.

 

[Lee_M]

depending on your general fitness you shouldn't need to do anything special for 20 miles.

Porridge for breakfast and then a banana or some malt loaf half way should be fine

 

[mark st1]

Sounds like a good excuse to buy some Jelly babies to nibble on

 

[snorri]

At this time of year I would be taking a flask of hot tea rather than a bottle of cold water.

 

[toeknee]

Thanks all will report back tomorrow.

 

[helston90]

What's your basic cycle fitness level like? What's your longest to date? You'll be suprised how much planning it doesn't take.
e.g. my commute is 12 miles for which I eat nothing special and don't even take a bottle of water with me- the miles will fly by and you'll be planning your 30 before you know it!

 

[toeknee]

Hi Helton 90,
I am basically starting again from about October last year, I'm not the fittest person, my longest ride up to now is just under 10 miles in 45 mins. Porridge and some jelly babies then ?

Thanks.

 

[helston90]

Perfect starting platform- reasonable average speed already, 10 up to 17-20 you should do with no problem, and jelly babies most people use to keep their mouth tasting nice rather than its sugary benefits (although this helps too), best thing to do is forget about the mileage, use a route which is about what you hope to achieve, then get a pleasent suprise in the end when you flip through your speedo and realise you accidentally went over!

 

[boybiker]

Hi Helton 90,
I am basically starting again from about October last year, I'm not the fittest person, my longest ride up to now is just under 10 miles in 45 mins. Porridge and some jelly babies then ?

Thanks.

Have a good meal the night before if its an early morning ride and have a bowl of porridge for breakfast. When doing a longer ride eat little and often a few jelly babies every 20-30 minutes is better than an hours ridding then stuffing your face. I set a 25 minute alarm on my watch when doing sportive's to remind me to eat. If you fuel your body on a consistent biases you will get a pretty consistent output as you wont get energy drop offs and massive peaks. When you start doing longer rides just apply this same method.

 

[Herzog]

Good luck. You shouldn't need too much 'extra' food on top of what you normally eat - you're unlikely to deplete the glycogen stores when doing 20 miles, though fig rolls do taste nice!!

 

[HLaB]

If you are prett new to cycling a reasonable tea the night before and a reasonable breakfast and carry plenty of fluids (preferably something with salt if its a hot day) and you'll be fine. Don't overload on the mid ride feed and you might not even need any (remember you have to carry it) but they can make a usefull inscentive.

 

[toeknee]

Thanks for the advice everyone, much appreciated.

 

[Fubar]

Hi Helton 90,
I am basically starting again from about October last year, I'm not the fittest person, my longest ride up to now is just under 10 miles in 45 mins. Porridge and some jelly babies then ?

Thanks.

It's amazing how once you build up the miles you forget how daunting 17-20 miles can be - I remember doing 10 miles thinking what an achievement that was! (and it was for me, at the time). You are right to be prepared and I think the advice from boybiker is spot-on, try to drink every 20 or so mins (I normally stop after a hill and "reward" myself) and eat small amounts, but often. Good Luck! Regards, Mark

 

[outlash]

Breaking the 20 mile barrier will give you a great feeling and like the other posters, I wouldn't worry too much about pre-ride fuelling. Up until I went out with my local CC, I just had a bowl of cereal and a coffee and did 25 miles or so without no real ill effects.

What I do tend to do now is drink a pint of water before bed the night before, coffee in the morning and a bowl of porridge with honey. Water/fruit juice in the bottles, jelly babies in the jersey pocket for the ride .

Tony.