Keeping your energy up on a long ride

[Coney]

This past Sept. I did a 35 mile ride, the longest I'd ever gone in a day (well, it actually ended up being almost 50, by the time I rode to the start line, then back home). I know that doesn't seem like very far in the grand scheme of things, but I want to do a 75 mile ride next year, so for those of you who do long rides, what do you take with you on the ride to eat?

We had 2 rest areas, which had bagels with peanut butter, Clif bars (which I carried with me too), fruit, Accelerade, etc.. I feuled up there, of course, but on longer rides like 50-100 miles, how do you keep from getting really hungry? Seems like you'd need a massive amount of snacks to keep your energy up.

As far as energy drinks go, don't some have animal products in them? I'm still vegetarian, but I'd like to be aware of energy drinks that keep the animal ingredients to a minimum.

[Dave Noisy]

Heya Coney!

I guess this is something you build up to... I can go ~3hrs, or 90km+ (~55 miles) before i really start to get hungry...i usually have a homemade 'power' drink with me tho:

Dave's Riding Drink

* juice an orange or two, 4-5 TSP fructose, tiny pinch of salt, fill water bottle rest of the way with water, ~120 calories i think plus nutrients

If you just keep riding longer distances, it your body gets used to it. Make sure you eat lots of carbs (say, pasta) the night before the ride, that usually helps too. Carbs are what you want to eat while riding too. Stay away from fat, and keep protein pretty low too. Clif bars are fantastic, i always carry one with me in case i do get hungry.

Can't recommend any other drinks, since i don't bother with them...i find them rather gross!

[fredrikw]

I wrote this in another thread (http://www.veganfitness.net/viewtopic.php?t=2130)

what I eat and drink:
-sports drink with electrolytes, very fast carbs
-salt supplements, I have severe problems with hyponatremia so I need to add extra salt whenever I work out
-bananas, lots of these too...
-home made energy bars, see http://www.veganfitness.net/viewtopic.php?t=589

This smörgåsbord has taken me through two 300 km rides, so they have energy enough at least. When riding far (+100km), you often have to refuel somewhere on the road (if you're not stuffing your jersey pockets really full of food), at least make some more sports drink.

Have been away from VF for five days, so I have a lot to catch up with, if you have any questions about the above just post a follow up question...

[fredrikw]

Dave's Riding Drink

* juice an orange or two, 4-5 TSP fructose, tiny pinch of salt, fill water bottle rest of the way with water, ~120 calories i think plus nutrients

why fructose? this is a low GI carb, the higher the GI the better it is while you're riding, or am I missing something here?

Can't recommend any other drinks, since i don't bother with them...i find them rather gross!

well, they're definitely not tasty after seven hours of hammering, but I rather like my lime/lemon flavoured one. I use Maxim Electrolyte, and they works fine for me.

[Dave Noisy]

As i understand it, fructose is slower to digest, which is fine on a long ride. If you need 'instant' energy during a high-performance assault, something else might be more appropriate.

I start to drink it before 2hrs, so it starts to refuel nicely.

I'm thinking of bringing dates on rides to munch on too, very high in carbs too....

[fredrikw]

As i understand it, fructose is slower to digest, which is fine on a long ride. If you need 'instant' energy during a high-performance assault, something else might be more appropriate.

ok, but then you're really talking about low impact. when I go on long rides I often do it with my cycling club, and even though we're not hammering we do keep up the pace...

I'm thinking of bringing dates on rides to munch on too, very high in carbs too....

hey man, just keep your hands on the handle bar and your eyes on the road, I've never brought a date to a ride, and if I'd do it don't think I would do any munching while riding (sorry about this, too tired right now)

[Dianski]

Dates and peanuts. Something that I can't smash!
Lots of water with a pinch of salt and lemon juice.

A potasium supliment the morning of - keeps the cramps away.

[Coney]

Thanks. I did copy the Energy Bars recipe from that thread you mentioned, Fredrik. Sounds pretty easy and high enough in burnables that it would be great.

I'm just so utterly amazed at how much I can eat and then be hungry 2 hours later. Baffling!

[fredrikw]

Yep, they contain loads of energy... and are really cheap also...

[Dave Noisy]

Yeah, our club rides are pretty speedy (28-32kph ave over 3hrs) but that doesn't really push me too hard. Over 32 becomes more of a challenge to me.

I do carbo-load tho, so that might make it easier for me to go without as much food on the ride. I'm also very careful to respect my 'glycogen window'.

Date... *groan*

I can't eat peanuts and maintain my cardio, i think i might have a light allergy to them. Or it might be too much protein and fat..

[fit vegan]

I believe its what you eat a couple of days or at least the day before your long ride that counts. It doesn't matter how much quick release energy (not the wheel type, ha ha) you consume on the ride, if you haven't the slow releasing engery stores built up in your muscles you're gonna conk out fast.
The night before a long road race above 60miles, I eat loads of pasta or patatoes or something similar which contain plenty of carbs. While racing I usually have dried dates or rasins, they're easy to grab a hand full quickly. Plenty on liquids also..

[fredrikw]

all I've read about glycogen storage in the muscles says that these stores are more or less empty after a couple of hours, you need to refuel with fast carbs. it also depends on how long we're talking about, if the ride is "just" 60 miles, then you might not need so much more than dates and raisins, but when it gets up and above 100 miles I don't believe that the glycogen stores are sufficient...

[Dave Noisy]

Hey fit vegan!

'Real' carb loading involves eating ~50% carbs for three days and then depleting your stores in your legs by going for a hard ride, then eating over 70% carbs for the next three days (which then has your big event.)

There's a 'quicky' version which involves depleting your stores the day before the event, and eating 90% carbs, tho that's a little hard to do!

I'm just speaking generally tho, i try to eat a lotta carbs the nite before, and it makes a bit of a difference (compared to when i don't.)

Aye Fredrik - you're good for about 2hrs. That's not just your legs storage tho, that's your whole body, but only if you're running over 80% of your max heart rate for that time. If you can keep your HR ~60% or under, you can in theory go much longer, as you're burning a higher percentage of fat than carbs (lower the heart rate, the higher the percentage of fat used as fuel. A brisk walk is actually pretty good way to lose body fat...tho you don't burn as many calories, they're almost all fat.)

And get this - even a lean athlete like Lance has over 38,000 calories stored in his body as fat! Scary to think that 1 Lance could feed me for a year... =P

[fredrikw]

Aye Fredrik - you're good for about 2hrs. That's not just your legs storage tho, that's your whole body, but only if you're running over 80% of your max heart rate for that time. If you can keep your HR ~60% or under, you can in theory go much longer, as you're burning a higher percentage of fat than carbs (lower the heart rate, the higher the percentage of fat used as fuel. A brisk walk is actually pretty good way to lose body fat...tho you don't burn as many calories, they're almost all fat.)

true, but I'm rarely down to 60% or under, even though I know I should, my HRM tells me to, and I really try

And get this - even a lean athlete like Lance has over 38,000 calories stored in his body as fat! Scary to think that 1 Lance could feed me for a year... =P

wow, this means that we can eat all those has beens as soon as they retire! or perhaps not, makes me think about "the cook, the thief, his wife and her lover", interesting and strange movie

[ultra_whippet]

true, but I'm rarely down to 60% or under, even though I know I should, my HRM tells me to, and I really try

Yeah, my heart rate seems to go above 60% just getting out of bed
It's always at least 70% when I'm cycling, and over 80% when I'm running....