Eat while riding?

[Tokie]

Hi! One bit of advice I should follow more myself - always bring more than you plan on needing. You can get lost and stuck getting somewhere the long hilly way by accident( who, Me?!!), or be riding with or come across someone who is "bonking" Most all of the gels are good, I've heard that you should avoid using the extra sodium gels in combination with sports drinks like cytomax, etc which also have sodium. So if I eat an added sodium gel, I'll wash it down with water, and drink the cytomax later. I like to count calories when something works(for example, my favorite 70 mile hilly ride is a 1000 calorie ride for me) Before I started doing this, packing all the gels, organic toaster pastries,sports drinks, and sports bars seemed like too much food, and I would run out of gas having brought too little. Eat and drink to finish your ride strong! Tokie

[Trigress]

Bananas work wonders for me, cheap and easy to eat. I eat more or less every 45 minutes or so, but then I don't ride very long, I'm a beginner to longer distances. I've also tried some homemade energy bars that I've used winter camping, these contain a lot of fat, sugar and starch, and won't upset your stomach. Correction: they don't upset my stomach...

[Geonz]

It could also be, simply, that you went out too fast. (I don't know how intense 17-18 is for you... might not be.) However, could also be that a shot of GU ... or OJ ... or a banana... after half an hour and you'd have been coming in strong.
I've also noticed that dehydration can peg me out... I'll feel stronger after I drink plain ol' water. (I don't eat much on rides, myself.)

[Fujichants]

Bring some Gu packs along and eat that when you reach the half way mark. I find that this usually helps for me.