Tierra Bella Century?

[tealamb]

I only have one question for you: Before you got to Uvas were you eating and drinking? You sound as though you had run out of fuel since you were doing much better after food.

Nope! I ate at the Hot Springs rest stop, but not while on the bike before Uvas. And, after approximately eleventy-billion times of doing this exact same thing, do you think I'd learn my lesson about not eating = bonking?? AND, I even took a baggie of trailmix with me from the rest stop, OPENED it, and put it in my Bento right in front of me so that I could dip into it while riding. But did I?
I guess I was just really concentrating, trying to deal with the wind and catch up to the rest of my group. I dunno. If you all have any hints as to how I can remind myself to eat, other than a complete brain transplant, I'm all ears.

Thanks for the kind words about all my blathering.

[jobob]

Hey Sarah -

I've done that too, many times. It's so easy to get caught up in the excitement/tension/whatever of the ride and forget to eat, even if food is within inches of your face.

Often I'll say to myself "oh, it's only a few miles to the next stop, I'll eat there" which can wind up being a Big Mistake for me. It's amazing how fast the pre-bonk woozies can come on.

Veronica once mentioned a pretty good trick. If you have a computer or a watch with a timer, set it to beep every 15 minutes. Then have a small bite to eat and a swig of water or energy drink every time it beeps.

I've taken to using "liquid food' on my longer rides (~ 100K and more). I'm much more likely to get the calories I need at a fairly contant rate if I can swig them rather than munch them. I use a product called Spiz - after some trial & error I found it's more palatable to me than similar products such as Sustained Energy and Perpetuem. But this is definitely a trial & error / personal preference sort of thing. I also have solid food for variety, but I rely mainly on the Spiz, and so far it's worked well.

Edited to add: For shorter rides, I use Cytomax, just like the Bike Goddess! - I don't really need Spiz for the shorter rides.

Also over time you'll probably get to know your own personal warning cues for when you know you need to eat NOW or suffer the consequences. In my case, it's a drop in enery or feeling a little jittery or lightheaded. Now, hopefully during a ride I will have taken in calories regularly enough to not reach that point, but if I do, I know I have to tear into the paydays or shotblocks or whatever I happen to be carrying & wolf them down without delay.

[Bike Goddess]

I do Mt Diablo ride once a week. This has made me VERY conscious about eating as I have bonked a couple of times after the junction (I'll still keep going, but often it's a walk the last part ). Although the ride is tough, it's great training for eating and getting in shape.

So here's my suggestion- if you can't eat on the bike (I have a hard time with that one too) then be sure you have a sports drink that you can tolerate. Personally, I use Cytomax.

I drink religiously every 15 minutes (or so)as I ascend the mountain. When I get to the junction, I'll have part of a Lunabar (or something similar) and some energy gel (not my fav, but it works for me). I continue to drink my Cytomax as I ride the final 4.3 miles.

This has become the standard for my other rides as well. I find that taking small amounts of sports drink often keeps me going strong. After about 20 miles or so on a training ride, I'll stop and eat a bar or whatever.

The other part of this is eating a good breakfast before I leave the house. For me it's a soft boiled egg, tea (with 2% milk- my English background), and 1/2 of a cinammon bar.

If I have to get up early (4:00,5:00, whatever) then I'll at least get something in my system before I leave and then snack on the way to the ride. If there is food to be had at the beginnning of the ride, I'll have some and then not start my drinking routine until about an hour into the ride (assuming cool temps in the early morning). I don't eat a lot at rest stops, just mostly oranges, dried fruit and nuts. I will eat a little more at the lunch stop (salty foods plus 1/2 a sandwich). I've learned that eating small amounts frequently is easier on my system.

Now, if you are a long long distance rider (like Veronica and Maillotpois) the the issue of eating takes on another dimension.

[melissam]

If anyone's interested, I recorded the Tierra Bella Century on my Garmin Edge 305. You can play back the ride by following this link:

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/player/5454217

Personally, I like changing the map to Hybrid, and zooming in about 3 more levels.

Good Gravy, according to the data, I was climbing Henry Coe for about an hour and 45 minutes! Honestly, it didn't seem that long while I was doing it. Now the headwind part, that felt like 2 hours, but it was only 45 minutes.