I am starting to take much longer rides on my Trek, these are country miles. The weather is starting to warm, though so far have been unable to ride on one of the 80 degree days we have had recently.

As of yet I am unable to drink while riding, and my Trek 7.6 has room for only 1 water bottle cage (the LHT has three, but can't take it on the road yet until fitting and shifting issues are addressed). I thought about putting a second water bottle in my jersey, but that really weighs the material down in the back.

I have a Camelbak, and while I know what most people don't use these for riding the roads, I figure proper hydration is more important than image until I can ride my LHT on the road - or find some other way of hydrating on my Trek. I tend to not drink enough anyway. So the water thing seems to be taken care of - I can put water in my Camelbak (or Cytomax) and put Cytomax in my water bottle (and stop to drink) if I don't put it in the Camelbak. The Camelbak is 50 ounces.

Does this seem a reasonable hydration plan for country riding.

As far as nutrition is concerned, and knowing that I have always had problems with hypoglycemia (and have a Road ID that mentions this) I have been experimenting. I know that Cliff or Luna bars take a little time to get into the system, so I eat a half or full bar at least 30 minutes before riding if it has been awhile since a meal, and keep a Gu energy gel with me just in case.

The gel seems to go down easier than a Cliff Shot Block - but I won't really know what my stomach will tolerate best until the heat/humidity has arrived. Will also experiment with keeping some nuts/trail mix with me - and when the real hot weather arrives will have a bottle with a carb/protein mix.

My question is related to eating during my ride. I get that I need to eat something prior - and after a long ride should have something post-recovery. I do not, however, have a good understanding on when it is appropriate to eat during the ride.

Right now my rides are averaging about 1.5 hours, and I feel fine so obviously don't need to eat during my rides right now. My blood sugar is also fine after my rides and I do have my meter with me and know what to do should I become hypoglycemic, just trying to avoid that I figure that I can avoid that by starting with good nutrition/hydration but don't want to over-do it either. I just need to figure out what my body needs - and it will help to understand what others do.