What to eat & drink

[stumpy]

If you were cycling at 7:00am for 3 hours at around 15 mph what would you eat before and during the ride?

It depends on the person I think.
I usually have 2 poached eggs on toast about half an hour before I go and I've done a few 60-80 mile runs like that. I was advised when I started to eat something every hour to keep your energy up and it seems to work for me....so far

 

[yello]

all “energy bars” (that are sold specifically as energy bars) are over priced !and hardly anyone (that I know) who‘s been riding for a while uses them!!!

By 'energy bars', do you mean the sports specific ones (SiS, PowerBar, etc) or the fancy/luxury muesli bars you see in some supermarkets?

I agree that both tend to be pricey and that you can get cheaper alternatives but I wouldn't say they are a waste of money or anything like that (not that you did!). I reckon you do get what you pay for either in terms of taste or, in the case of the sports ones, balance of nutrients. I reckon it's just a matter of what you're prepared to pay.

For my part, I did once try some cheap cereal bars - awful, tasted like cardboard rice cakes! Personally I prefer flapjack too.

 

[yello]

If you were cycling at 7:00am for 3 hours at around 15 mph what would you eat before and during the ride?

Yes. I reckon anything beyond an hour/90 minutes you really want to be thinking about eating before and during. For a 100km ride, I'll have a bowl of porridge for breakfast and take a banana for half way.

 

[Hont]

Yes. I reckon anything beyond an hour/90 minutes you really want to be thinking about eating before and during.

+1 especially early in the morning (unless you're trying to burn a lot of fat off).

I eat a regular (cereal+fruit) breakfast at least an hour before going out and a sports drink to hydrate and get some carbs in (lucozade caffeine boost being the preferred choice as it supposedly helps burn fat but more importantly wakes me up). If I'm doing more than 90 minutes I try and eat something every 1/2 hour: most cereal bars are good - varied so not to get bored - and malt loaf is great (and cheap) too. Bananas are also good as they are easy to chew when breathing harder than normal, but they're a bit awkward to carry if they're big.

Remember that there's a limit to how many carbs the body can absorb in a given period of time and to drink water after eating to aid digestion.

 

[Hont]

By 'energy bars', do you mean the sports specific ones (SiS, PowerBar, etc) or the fancy/luxury muesli bars you see in some supermarkets?

I think he was referring to Powerbars and the like. They are very expensive for probably negligible difference and I found them almost impossible to chew when on the move.

 

[stumpy]

I think he was referring to Powerbars and the like. They are very expensive for probably negligible difference and I found them almost impossible to chew when on the move.

I was refering to this type. I've not found any that are worth the extra and if you look around you can get the same sort of thing is Asda (other supermarkets are available) for a lot less

 

[yello]

if you look around you can get the same sort of thing is Asda (other supermarkets are available) for a lot less

Same sort of thing, yes. Exactly the same, I'm not so sure.

I reckon it boils down to whether you want to pay the extra for whatever the difference is. I have no idea whether that difference is tangible at my level but that's neither here nor there. Frinstance, sports teams spend big bucks on achieving small percentage differences. Why shouldn't a serious weekend tri athlete spend an extra 40p on a munchie bar for an extra few gram of carb, or whatever?

But, yes, for the likes of me and other mere mortals, banana and flapjack is fine!

 

[scook94]

I'm going to try making these flapjacks. Looks straight forward enough...

 

[punkypossum]

I'm not usually a big fan of flapjacks, but the Aldi fruity flapjacks (found near the till) are very nice!

 

[arallsopp]

+1 for muesli bars. Anything by Jordans is good. Big bowl of cereal 40 mins(+) before you go, bars to top up (just before) when needed. Drinks to hand as need be.

I'm generally carrying around enough food in my gut to do 30 miles without needing anything on top.