Tierra Bella Century?

[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.