If we stop for lunch . . .

DH and I are going to ride tommorrow to a church about 15 or 20 miles away to get our turkey and dressing lunch they are selling for a fund raiser. Should be a beautiful ride - the weather here is perfect right now.

My question is if we stop and eat there what is the best way to handle any bad consequences of a) stopping and letting our muscles get cold and b) riding back on full stomachs.

Guess my question is should we plan on a very long lunch break (an hour or two) or just not worry about stopping, just enjoy our lunch. No time constraints so we could return home at a leisurely pace. We can't really bring the plates home to eat as neither of us has a rack on our bikes right now (my grocery store bike is in town).

The town's population is about 87 but I think they have some picnic tables we could catch a nap on ;) if that's what we really need to do (or is all we are able to do) before riding home.

enjoy your ride! Take whatever time you need. If it was really cold, i'd worry about getting cold and stiff. but if you have all day it should be fine, a nice date!

I would take a break after lunch to let some digestion happen, just because I know I don't like to ride after a big lunch. Nothing horrible will happen if you ride just after eating - its not like don't get in the pool or anything like that. The worst thing would be that you might get stomach cramps and have to slow down or stop, but if you take it very leisurely you shouldn't even have that problem. Unless you plan to push it really hard to get there and are prone to leg cramps I wouldn't worry about your muscles cooling off by taking a break. Just make sure you bring some extra clothing so you're not too cold when you are off the bike and allow yourself the time to warm back up once you are riding again.

We do it all the time in our club - go out for a ride, eat, and ride back. Some of the guys eat things that amaze me; I know I have to eat a little lighter... but that's not a bad thing, anyway. Usually we start out a little slower...

Last month Dh and I did a 40 mile ride. We rode to a health food store/restaurant and back (20 miles each way). Even though I had had a good breakfast 2 hours earlier, I got so HUNGRY on the way there that I ate a HUGE platter of brown rice, scrod filet, steamed veggies, and a roll. Had a real carbohydrate attack. Rode back the 20 miles with no problems at all, maybe because I was so hungry? Drank plenty of water with it all.

In the past, I've never had issues with my stomach on the bike -- even biking after a large meal. If you haven't had stomach issues in the past, then I would enjoy it, take your time and don't sweat it.

Now swimming is another story; I can't eat anything before I swim or I get very sick to my stomach.

Thanks ya'll -- but this ride was too much (all the gory details in my post under October 29 ride). Turned out our ride TO the lunch was probably 30+ miles, all in a terrific headwind, it took us over 2.5 hours instead of the hour we had projected AND my DH was getting worried about the time issue so I gobbled my lunch and had severe gastric distress all the way home (we even hitched a ride with a pick-up truck for about three miles)!

I'm sure an easy ride to lunch and a leisure, restful stop for lunch woulda made all the difference. Anyway, live and learn!:)

Oh, I am sorry to hear it was not the leisurely lunch and ride you had hoped for.

Wow, I'd have indigestion too if I was trying to do a 30 mile ride in an hour! ;)