Your Century Eat/Drink strategy?

[Bklynmom]

I just did my first Century and had a challenging time with eating and drinking - two things I am usually good at .

I would love to hear everyone's century eating and drinking plan, including before and after the ride.

Here is what I did and what did or didn't work:
-Breakfast of Oatmeal and 1/2 cup leftover coffee (good)
-Pre ride slug of coffe, banana and pound cake (good)
-Bottle of Gatorade and liter of water first 25 miles (bad, only could think about bathroom)
-Peanut butter on pita bread 50 Mile snack - (dreadful choice, burped peanut butter for 35 miles )
-Blue Gatorade -(bad bad taste)
-Gu gel at mile 95 (good, tastes dreadful but not nauseating)
-Gu Gel at finish line (good)
-Extra Gatorade and 2 advil one hour after (Good)
-Pasta after, dinner 3 hours later (good)

So what works for you?

[indysteel]

I'm doing my first century--at least I hope so--this weekend so I'll be interested to see what everyone says on this one. My "gut" (no pun intended) reaction to what you ate/drank is that I would have added some pre-ride hydration. I also would have eaten more about 2-3 hours before the ride and a little less (like just the banana) right before the ride.

I also would have eaten my first snack earlier than mile 50. I usually eat my first snack on long rides at mile 30 or so, i.e., right before I can expect to deplete my glycogen stores, and again at mile 50 or so. I would have made sure that I ate something salty during the ride to aid in digestion and to replace electrolytes (I also drink CytoMax energy during rides). I'm not sure how much water you drank after mile 50, but I would add that to the list because the Gu without water is hard to digest. Finally, assuming that I'm not feeling sick to my stomach by then, I would have had another snack at mile 70 or so and relied on the Gu only for the last bit of the ride. Finally, I would drink a recovery drink, i.e., a balance of carbs and protein, immediately after the ride, along with water and a carby snack about an hour later, before eating a more complete dinner.

[Fredwina]

How i approach it depends on wether it's supported or not
Pre-ride meal - Clif bar or a bagel
1 Hydration - set your computer on elapsed time - every 15 minutes - H20 every 30 enegry /electolyte drink
every hour food - enegery gel or carbs
get plenty of bannannas, you don't want to have killer cramps at mile 90
That being siad, I have a "garbage disposal" stomach - I usaullu don't have problems with Indigestion and riding. I think the key is that folks think if they burn XXX calories/hour, they have to consume the same or they will bonk. The problem is that you have to expend calories to digest food(Grasping at an opportunity to be wrong here), so if you put too much in you tummy, it could backfire (no pun intended).
It does take some expermentation to figure out what you need

[SouthernBelle]

I'm doing my first century this Saturday, but last Sat I rode a little over 75 miles. I carry a clifbar cut up into 8 pieces in my bento box and snack on it. I went through 3 bottles of liquids, so I figure 4-5 for a century. I also ate a Mojo bar in there somewhere.

I'll have my usual breakfast of cereal & banana with coffee. Start time is 7:00 a.m. and I have to drive about 80 miles to get there, so that should be plenty of digestion time.

I just try to eat and drink small amounts continuously.

[uk elephant]

I am by no means an expert but I did do 80 miles on Sunday and felt great the whole way....

Breakfast (about 1 hour before I headed out): oatmeal with raisins, seasoned with cinnamon and ginger, topped with brown sugar and whole milk. Also had a glass of water and a small coffee

Snack break at mile 25'ish (after 90 mins): home made English type of flapjack, which is really like a cereal bar made with oats, brown sugar, golden syrup and butter. I make mine with chopped nuts too (brazil nuts this time) and top with chocolate. Great energy food and very tasty.

Lunch: pot of proper English strong tea with milk, toasted ham and cheese sandwich with tortilla chips and coleslaw.

Snack break at 90mins after lunch: another flapjack

Snack break at 2hrs after lunch: some energy gel.

On arrival home I had a very yummy ice cream (chocolate cornetto) and a pint of coke in the pub then came home where BF served up yummy sausages, roasted veggies and gravy.

On the road I drank about three bottles of water and two bottles of blackcurrant squash (I can't stand sportsdrinks). Probably should have drunk more water, but I felt pretty good.

[michelem]

uk_elephant,

What is "squash"?