han-grrl - I'm also a veggie and don't let your meat eater mates suggest being veggie will affect you riding. Remember the Linda-Macartny professional cycling team from a few years back - they were all vegetarian.

When I started out I found I used to bonk a lot quicker than my mates, partly because they were so much fitter than me and I was burning up more fuel just to keep up with them!

These days I always eat something after I've been riding for the first an hour -even if I don't feel very hungry and usually go for something with dried fruit and oats. I usually take some energy drink too but don't always find I need it.

As for the banana debate - I'm definetly pro-banana. More than once they've saved me when I've reached a particulary bad patch. They're like rocket fuel.