Pre-ride meal

[sundial]

For short, early morning rides, say 20-30 miles, I'll roll out of bed, drink a cup of coffee and head out. About 45 minutes into my ride I'll pop Accel gel. If the ride is longer than that, I'll eat an egg with wheat toast. And I found that when I ride early in the morning, I'll carb up the night before and I'm good to go.

[grey]

I've been doing a fruit smoothie before a morning ride (1 banana, a handful of strawberries and a handful of blueberries, soymilk) and that keeps me going about 25 miles, after that I am trying out what snacks work well on the bike. Dried fruit seems to work ok, a powerbar is too heavy.

If I have bread or oatmeal it seems too heavy and I feel sluggish for the first 10 miles. Can't have coffee (wow that kills performance worse than a bottle of wine the night before!) or dairy the day before (I don't seem to be able to go as far if I've had cheese).

[lph]

Wow - interesting. I'm addicted to coffee in the morning and get exceedingly grumpy if I don't get it within 30 mins of waking up But my preferred pre-ride meal is bread+banana and a large cup of coffee, whatever the hour and no matter how hard. And coffee is the first thing I crave after an hour or two. If I'm doing a hard ride I just have to make sure I've had a half hour to let things settle a little (or remove themselves, as the case may be )

[han-grrl]

Food/eating i have learned is very personal

My husband enjoys oatmeal and can last hours on a good bowl. I eat the same bowl, and i'm hungry an hour later.

I need protein for myself, in fact a hearty breakfast of one egg, one piece of veggie sausage, toast, and 1/2 cup of fruit lasts me for a couple of hours with some snacking during the ride if longer than 2 hours.

Hubby would barf with that in his belly before a ride.

So you need to decide what works for you, which might mean experimenting a bit.

[mimitabby]

don't skip breakfast

[han-grrl]

if a ride is after work -

i usually having something similar - protein - like cottage cheese or yogurt, a piece of toast, and half a banana and some veggies as well...