Breakfast Before Early Rides?

[Starfish]

Apologies...I know this question must be a repeat, but I am not having luck with my searches.

How do you handle pre-ride or on-ride nutrition when your ride starts really, really early, and it is a long ride?

I work afternoons & evenings, and I am a natural night person. In training, I normally get up around 9am, eat something by 10:30 or so, and start rides around noon.

For long, hard, organized rides, I often want to be on course by 5-6am. But, I have a HARD time thinking, walking and talking at that time, let alone eating. And, let alone eating a couple hours before the ride starts to give time for digestion.

What do you do for proper nutrition when you have 100+ miles to ride, starting at 5am, but getting to sleep around midnight, and not being a morning person?

I would love to hear how you all handle very early morning pre-ride nutrition. (If you know of previous threads and can direct me, I would be happy to read the older stuff!)

[KnottedYet]

Big dinner the night before, hearty snack before bed, Clif Bloks and coffee in the early morning?


(mmmm, Clif Bloks... nature's most perfect food, along with reduced salt Spam)

[Zen]

Wow! Somebody who keeps the same hours as me!

This is paraphrased from The Complete Book of Long Distance Cycling

Carb load 2 - 3 days prior to The Big One 70/20/10 (cho/fat/pro)

"It's important to replenish liver glycogen before an early morning event. The liver relies on frequent meals to stay tanked up. If you don't eat for 6 or more hours prior to riding, you could experience a premature lowering of blood glucose once you begin...a low fat meal containing 75 - 150 grams of carbs eaten about 2 -3 hours before an event, helps ensure adequate levels of liver glycogen and blood glucose."

The examples they give are 2 slices of whole wheat toast with a banana or a couple of cans of a nutritional liquid meal like Ensure or Boost.

No more than 1gram/4kcal per pound of body weight if you will finish eating just 1 hour before riding.

I like sliced banana on whole wheat with p.nut butter and honey.
I also like pinhead oatmeal with raisins, peanut butter and a banana mixed in while cooking. mmm-mmm!

[Starfish]

I like sliced banana on whole wheat with p.nut butter and honey. I also like pinhead oatmeal with raisins, peanut butter and a banana mixed in while cooking. mmm-mmm!

OK, so I am curious. Can you gag this down at 5am, and does it sit OK at 6am when riding? This breakfast sounds delicious if I've been up for an hour or two...but...

[Starfish]

(mmmm, Clif Bloks... nature's most perfect food)

Knot, I have a little more experimenting to do, but I might have a whole box of these to send you. I think when I eat these under exertion, they might be causing me nausea. If I can't hack them, I'll let you know.

[mimitabby]

Starfish, if you wait 2 hours to eat, you could bonk and that's a road you don't want to go down.
how about chocolate milk? is that something you can handle? You just want to keep from going below a safe blood sugar level.

There's a true science to keeping your nutrition right on long rides; that's one of the reasons people don't just go out and ride 100 miles. See what happens on a 30, a 50, a 60 mile ride.

I find myself getting VERY hungry if i ride much more than 25 miles. that's approximately 2 hours. People struggle with nutrition on these epic rides.
People like my DH who rides mostly rides ending in 2 zeros endlessly compare and try alternate diets; like Ensure and very expensive powdered foods; yet
he also likes stuff like chocolate milk and Snickers bars.
experiment on shorter rides, see what works for you!

[KnottedYet]

Knot, I have a little more experimenting to do, but I might have a whole box of these to send you. I think when I eat these under exertion, they might be causing me nausea. If I can't hack them, I'll let you know.

I'd be happy to buy them from you if you don't like them! Funny, isn't it, how one person's perfect food (they STOP my nausea, even when my celiac is acting up) isn't perfect for everyone.

SKnot just gave me a giftcard to REI, and my first thought was to spend it on another pair of Injinji toe socks, followed closely by MORE CLIF!

[Veronica]

For my ride last weekend I got up at 4:00 AM, ate about 1/2 carton of yogurt with cereal on top around 4:40. I try to eat the entire carton before a ride, but sometimes I just can't.

Knowing that I had not eaten my full breakfast, I started eating on the bike right away. Usually I wait until 60 minutes into the ride to start my eat every 30 minutes thing.

I am somewhat obsessive about my eating and drinking on the bike. I use Sustained Energy in one water bottle and drink from that every 15 minutes. I eat something solid every 30 minutes. I typically start off with Paydays, eating about half of one mini size at a time. After the Paydays I switch to sport beans, then Cliff Bloks and then Hammer Gels.

Last Saturday I hadn't had any coffee, so when I got to the first rest stop I asked Jesse (who I knew had Red Bulls) for one. I have a caffeine addiction and will get a really bad headache if deprived. But normally I don't drink Red Bulls at 7:30 in the morning.

V.

[Zen]

OK, so I am curious. Can you gag this down at 5am, and does it sit OK at 6am when riding? This breakfast sounds delicious if I've been up for an hour or two...but...

I bet the oatmeal will go down pretty easily, you might be surprised after you see how good it is.

[Starfish]

For my ride last weekend I got up at 4:00 AM, ate about 1/2 carton of yogurt with cereal on top around 4:40. I try to eat the entire carton before a ride, but sometimes I just can't.

V, are you talking about a large carton of yogurt, like 24 oz or so? Or, a little single serving one? I do love yogurt...eat it every day...it is just the time of day business that gets me.

I'm also pretty good at eating on the bike...it just seems like if I don't get a good dose of breakfast in me first, I never really catch up.

And, coffee is never the problem. That is one thing I can suck down right out of bed.

Zen: I literally get sick to my stomach when my alarm clock goes off. I have tried eating breakfast very early in many settings over many years...I just really have a hard time not getting an upset stomach when I am up so early in the morning.

[Starfish]

how about chocolate milk? is that something you can handle?

See what happens on a 30, a 50, a 60 mile ride.

Mimi, thanks. The shorter rides, 30-40 miles, are no problem. It is the longer rides when I notice that, even if I start eating on the bike right away, if I have not had a real breakfast, I think I pay for it several hours later, despite on-bike eating.

When I can eat a huge breakfast, let it digest for 3 hours, then go ride, I do great.

[CyclaSutra]

I love oatmeal, and always have it on backpacking trips. Sometimes I eat it the day of a long ride, but often cold cereal. When the alarm goes off, I chow food and then start getting dressed/sunscreen. That way I don't start exercising for about 1.5-2 hours. I always try to pasta up the night before, too.

On-bike eating is different for everybody, but I usually start out fairly healthy and move to progressively more straight carbs. First a banana after half an hour, maybe some slices of apple, Cytomax in one water bottle and water in the other, then maybe an oatmeal cookie, a peanut butter and jelly, some sort of bagel smeared with PB, some Hammer Gel, I've even had PopTarts but they kind of break easily and get smushed, and my secret weapon: Twinkies!

Some people just do straight-up gels and liquids and such, but I like munching on real food.

Starfish, are these "events" racing where you supply all your own food, or organized rides where you can see what's up for grabs at the food stops? Sometimes they'll have stuff I can't turn down, like Little Debbie cakes.

[JanB]

I try to always start the ride as soon as it's light out and so when I get up at 4:30 to ride at 5:30, I always plan to finish my oatmeal 1 hour before we begin riding. I eat 1/2 cup dry oatmeal (microwaved) + 1 packet sweetener + 1 scoop vanilla protein mixed in the oatmeal after it's cooked. Doesn't sit heavy and goes down easily. I also start eating something solid and do the gel thing/drinking thing regularly. Beef jerkey, sport beans, trail mix, banana etc. work well for me.

[Starfish]

Starfish, are these "events" racing where you supply all your own food

No racing, LOL! Organized rides...

[Veronica]

V, are you talking about a large carton of yogurt, like 24 oz or so? Or, a little single serving one?

Single serving. It is my usually daily breakfast. But it also sits well for a ride. I wait as long as I can to eat before a ride. My normal daily routine I get up at 4:30, but I don't eat until 6:45 or so. Nerves also affect how much I can eat before a ride.

If we are driving to a ride and have an hour or so in the car, I will drink chocolate milk.

V.