Pre-ride meal

[RockyRaquel]

Hi guys,
I am new to cycling (2 months) and was wondering what you all eat before a bike ride. I've been doing banana's and protein bars but I am getting bored and I need some ideas....

[crazycanuck]

Umm what type of ride,weather, length etc? Can you give us a bit more info?

I'm sure that someone else will be able to chime in once we have a beet more info

[RockyRaquel]

25 mile ride (average speed like 15mph??), sunny, mostly flat terrain with a monster hill to climb at the end.

[crazycanuck]

Someone mentioned in a thread the other day that if you're doing a short ride that you don't necessarily have to eat prior....now if i could remember the thread...

40km is a nice & short distance so if i were doing that it would depend on the time of day.. Urmmm..my bowels & very early morning rides don't get on...I'd try and have a bit of a banana but most of what I consume would be mostly drink wise or perhaps a couple of shot bloks..

Hopefully someone else might have a better suggestion

Have you read Nancy Clark's Sports Nutrition book?

I'm a bit scattered at the moment...

[alpinerabbit]

I usually have a soft boiled egg and bread, butter and jam. That's fine for the first 1-2 hours of a long riding day, and it seems you're done after 1-2 hours.

[indysteel]

For morning rides (and my morning rides tend to be 45 miles or longer), I usually eat a bowl of oatmeal and a cup of yogurt. I may throw a banana in there, too, if the ride is 60 plus miles. For afternoon rides (which tend to be in the 25 to 30 mile range), I usually just eat a well balanced lunch. I may eat something small an hour before the ride, but I usually don't need to.

[ttaylor508]

For rides under 40 miles, I don't eat any different than I would any other day. I do make sure to have something with protein in it when I get back though. I usually just drink water on short rides, anything over 40 and I will grab something with electrolytes and usually eat something with protein and carbs before I leave like a whole wheat english muffin and an egg and maybe a banana.

Everyone is different though and you will need to find what works for you.

[OakLeaf]

It makes a huge difference what I eat before our Wednesday night hill rides. Because it's an evening ride but also hilly, it's 32-37 miles and anywhere from 1500-2500' elevation gain, both depending on sunset time. If I don't have a nice big bowl of brown rice three hours before we ride, I just start HURTING halfway through. It doesn't feel like a bonk, hunger, lack of energy or anything like that, it feels like I'm not in shape to do the ride. But that's not what it is, because if I eat properly the next time, I'm fine.

I had to discover this accidentally because it never felt like it was nutrition-related.

[Veronica]

If I have enough time I'll eat yogurt with cereal on top. That's my breakfast pretty much every day.

If the ride starts too early for me to eat than I drink chocolate milk in the car on the way there.

V.

[ehirsch83]

I eat just bread or cereal. Either toasted or not. Could be plain toast, english muffin, or a bagel. Orr cereal or oatmeal.

A lot of people I know don't eat. As long as my ride is under 60 miles I am fine with just the pre-breakfast and fluids in my bottles, anything longer and I tend to need a little more, which I prefer to take in on the bike instead of before the bike.

Also slowly change what you eat, some people have digestion issues while on the bike, and you might not realize it until it is to late.

For me, I can't have coffee or peanut butter before I do any ride that includes intervals, tempo work, or any other hard efforts; but I can have it if I am just doing a recovery or lsd ride.

[RockyRaquel]

Thanks for all of your replies! I really appreciate it!!

[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.