Lesson learned, make sure I eat before I ride!

[Reesha]

I hear you Lori! I bike commute to work and need to leave at 5:30 AM every day. At first I didn't have anything for my 12 mile ride, but I soon realized that a 100 calorie gel was the perfect pick me up breakfast. I keep them in my nightstand so I can have one right when I wake up 30 minutes before departure

[txred9876]

I also found out you need to keep refueling if you are going to go any distance. I thought I had....but not enough and had the same light headed dizziness yesterday. I always keep sports beans with me (that is about all I can tollerate).

[pinkpedalsUT]

Reesha, those a 100 cal energy gels are a life saver. A close friend recommended them to me. I always keep a couple with me. I have been biking to school since the weather have been nicer and a couple of months ago made the same mistake of not eating and ending up missing class.

[Reesha]

Totally! I discovered their effectiveness when, like a genius, I embarked on a 50 mile bike ride with a bunch of guys having only eaten a veggie omelet for breakfast. We hit the loooong climb and my legs just felt completely "on E". One of the guys gave me his Powerbar gel and within ten minutes they had rallied from the brink of death! It was awesome to feel the effects in action.

[Biciclista]

I hear you Lori! I bike commute to work and need to leave at 5:30 AM every day. At first I didn't have anything for my 12 mile ride, but I soon realized that a 100 calorie gel was the perfect pick me up breakfast. I keep them in my nightstand so I can have one right when I wake up 30 minutes before departure

Reesha, what is that design in your signature?

[Reesha]

Two botched ASCII squirrels! They looked great, but for some reason vBulletin won't keep the extra spaces where they belong

When I think of something new and exciting for my signature I'll add it... but for now I've got ASCII roadkill!

[Photoflygirl]

I can see the squirrels, they're cute!

I learned about eating before riding...I always eat a bowl of oatmeal with blueberries for brkfast. One day, I waited longer than usual to go for a ride, I felt fine through the ride, but almost fell over immediately after getting off the bike. I now carry some kind of bar with me. I haven't tried the gu or gel stuff yet.

[Reesha]

Well, the gels are certainly fast acting and they have that going for them. I know a lot of people that can't get over the mouth "feel" of them. I suspect it takes some acquiring and adjusting for some.

I have my favorites though!

At the top for deliciousness:
Carb BOOM! Raspberry
CLIF Raspberry
CLIF Mango

At the top for performance:
Gu (any flavor, but tri-berry and chocolate are good... I bet they'd be good together!)
Powerbar gels

[cylegoddess]

http://www.summitpost.org/article/23...-for-less.html

Someone posted this, it has some recipes for the gluten intolerant( glucose is made from wheat) and nongrain people.
Havent made them yet( I made fudge, sadly!) but its on my list!