The problem of managing to eat on long rides

I bring things that taste good and are refreshing, like apples. A juicy apple or.two mid ride always tastes good.

I almost always pass on an energy bar if someone offers mid ride; they are always so chalky, hard to swallow and generally just taste like cardboard.

I also love bananas and feel they help on the long rides, but God damn they always end up squished or or something.

I dunno. Maybe it was the heat? I know I didn't consume half the food I thought I would on this trip. Even at camp after we were done, or in the mornings, I just wasn't very hungry, and it wasn't because the food was bad, everything was fantastic. I actually normally really like gels for long rides, but hardly touched mine this trip. I also consumed WAY more water than I thought I would. I ran out on both day 1 and 2, as you know. I only didn't on day 3 because I packed my Nalgene bottle along with my normal camelback bladder, and filled up at both the water box and at the lunch stop. I've done practically nothing but eat since I got home, which makes me think something else was going on in teh NoDak.

Take pizza. Or a burrito.

for long days I tend to do a mix of gels/energy chews/waffles, beef jerky (tons of protein); and usually a turkey/cheese/onion/mustard sandwich.

It's been a long time since my long distance roadie cycling days, but I used to have similar issues. I think what we were experiencing was actually dehydration, which can cause nausea and vomiting. It is apparently possible to drink so much that it passes through your body instead of your body absorbing it, so I've read that it's better to drink small quantities often, rather than stopping one per hour or whatnot and drinking a large quantity. One thing that I found that really helped me were the electrolyte tablets that I could dissolve in water. They don't have all the sugar in them and don't taste heavy and syrupy. I could never stomach any of the energy drinks, bars, or gels. I find the Honey Stinger gummies and waffles are the most "stomachable" for me during a long day of riding. Everything else just sits in my stomach and makes me want to puke.

An apple has been my go-to mid ride treat forever. Not a lot of calories (100?) but taste goes a long way and it's not a dry crumbly snack. I get dry mouth on rides too no matter how much I drink.

I like those Stinger waffles over bars, and I've been digging the skratch labs chews this year. Easy to digest so long as I don't eat a lot of it at once.

When the CO monkeys rode Monarch a few weeks ago I noticed something really interesting that Mrs. 6th Element does; her bike-puter is set to 'ding' on a regular schedule to remind her to eat. Rather than get truly hungry she eats a bite or two of whatever, and never gets into deficit.

johnbryanpeters said:

Irrespective of what I carry to eat on the trail, I seem to have difficulty managing to eat what I carry. Early on I carried energy bars, candy bars, and whatnot and found the energy bars dense and hard to get down. Over time I shifted to fruits, nuts, berries, PB&J, but I still have to consciously force myself to eat.

One thing which I know affects me is the habit of breathing through my mouth rather than my nose. On the 40 mile day one of the Maah Daah Hey ride this pretty much trashed me - I had no available saliva towards the end of the ride despite drinking frequently. When we got to the campground, my stomach was complaining, beer tasted bad, and when I started eating it was painful because salivary glands seemed to be backed up.

Day three, 50 miles, I managed to eat almost nothing, and what I did eat, mostly PB&J, I had to use water rather than saliva to make it wet enough to swallow.

I'm not going to go the gel route, but need to somehow find a better strategy for eating on the trail.

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Gels are quick energy to prevent a bonk, but they leave your system just as quickly and can leave you worse for the wear on a long ride. My best friend riding partner back in AZ was big time into fitness and nutrition and I learned a lot from him. Learn about simple and complex carbs, learn about when to eat, learn about how to keep your glucose level up, learn about substantial food. Learn what to eat and what not to eat the morning before. Learn how long before the ride to eat. Learn how to eat after the ride (critical to recovery). These things can help dramatically IME.

I just did a 7 day trip in WA a few weeks back, riding every day, sometimes twice a day; managing food is a big part of being able to get out there and do a big ride day after day, except for when I was in Bellingham, did a big long XC to the Chuckanuts DHs of Double Down and Double Diamond. After that I went to 5-guys, had a bacon cheeseburger, then went back to the DH trailhead, rode back up, an did the DH again...because it was such an awesome DH. That was my definition of "epic day".

When we did our five century rides in five consecutive days down the California coast we used Metabol Endurance mixed in a water bottle for exta carbs in additon to gels bars and food. Tasty and it worke. they now have a version called metabol 2 endurance. Its a powder you mix in water, easy to consume, easy on the stomach. You just have to remember to really clean the water bottle at the end of the day, never add it to a camelback though, as it will be too thick and a pain to get out of the drinking tube for cleaning.

mudgirl said:

...I think what we were experiencing was actually dehydration, which can cause nausea and vomiting...

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And also loss of appetite.

We were all pretty dehydrated on the MDH for a number of reasons. One of them being tasty, delicious beer. Another being big, long days under scorching sun and stagnant air. I'm thinking all of us experienced a lot of symptoms generally associated with not being properly hydrated. The one day I didn't nearly run out of water was Day 2, and that was the day I managed to drink 2L of electrolytes the night before, only had one beer, and put 1L of water in me the next morning before we even started pedaling.

I might still be peeing dark yellow/orange.

eric strt6 said:

When we did our five century rides in five consecutive days down the California coast we used Metabol Endurance mixed in a water bottle for exta carbs in additon to gels bars and food. Tasty and it worke. they now have a version called metabol 2 endurance. Its a powder you mix in water, easy to consume, easy on the stomach. You just have to remember to really clean the water bottle at the end of the day, never add it to a camelback though, as it will be too thick and a pain to get out of the drinking tube for cleaning.

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@johnbryanpeters also this is a good recommendation for you... drink your calories. I remember reading WAY back in the day that John Stamstad was all about drinking his calories on the big stupid ultra-distance MTB races he would do. Drinking your calories would also hydrate you more, which I personally think you need to do whether you agree with me or not.

Full Trucker said:

@johnbryanpeters also this is a good recommendation for you... drink your calories. I remember reading WAY back in the day that John Stamstad was all about drinking his calories on the big stupid ultra-distance MTB races he would do. Drinking your calories would also hydrate you more, which I personally think you need to do whether you agree with me or not.

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If I'm not pissing out water in the first mile, I didn't drink enough for the ride.

I used suffer the same problem back when I was doing 24 hour events. Saliva has enzymes that breaks down complex carbs so dry month can cause indigestion even after food hits your stomach.

I found that acidic foods like pineapple helped a lot. It really stimulated the salivary glands. In fact you can search for medical experiments where citric acid was used for stimulation.

I've wondered but never tried to see if those sour candies would do the same thing.

Full Trucker said:

all about drinking his calories on the big stupid ultra-distance MTB races he would do.

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Beer = long distance endurance fuel. Noted.

Full Trucker said:

@johnbryanpeters also this is a good recommendation for you... drink your calories. I remember reading WAY back in the day that John Stamstad was all about drinking his calories on the big stupid ultra-distance MTB races he would do. Drinking your calories would also hydrate you more, which I personally think you need to do whether you agree with me or not.

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The problem there is that in order to fit all your required calories into your drink, it generally makes it very sugary. A bunch of dissolved sugar in your stomach causes fluid from the rest of your body to flow into your stomach via osmosis. This can cause bloating and other problems.

Halfway through my last 100 mile MTB race I bailed on traditional sports drinks and pretty much just went with diluted Coke and endurolyte tablets. Despite being super sugary the carbonation in the coke stimulates peristaltic motion in the stomach and prevented bloating. Diluted coke has become my go to beverage on long rides anymore. I think the acidity levels also help with salivation as previously described.

Some people just have the ability to digest food better than others when on the bike. When you push yourself the body restricts blood flow from some organs to redirect it to your heart, lungs and pedaling muscles. For some people, like myself, this meant no blood flow to the GI tract and difficulty digesting food. The only real solution I found was taking breaks, getting your heart rate down where blood would get redirected to your GI tract. For me this meant ending solo races and falling back on duo teams for 24 hour races. The stomach was much happier with some idle time.

I used to do Gatorade and other similar stuff in AZ. When I switched to just water (and electrolytes through solids) I felt much better.

Like westy said, you have to balance out how much blood goes towards digestion. I find that if I take real food on a long ride, like sandwich, etc., I can't eat it all at once. A few bites every 45 min. Otherwise you'll feel like shit. I do the same with cliff bars and what not, as you want to keep your glucose up, but not innundate your stomach with food to be digested.

Sometimes the group rides get a bit ridiculous when a 4 hr ride becomes 7+ hrs. You aren't burning through calories while riding, so you get lured into not eating as much, but it's easy to bonk because you need to eat something when out there that long.

Nick said:

An apple has been my go-to mid ride treat forever. Not a lot of calories (100?) but taste goes a long way and it's not a dry crumbly snack. I get dry mouth on rides too no matter how much I drink.

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This. Everyone should eat more apples, on rides but in general also.

It was the heat, the hungover and the lack of water. (For me it was) I enjoyed the beef jerky brought by Alfie a lot. Side note - there was no room for apples or other large food items in my camelback which was stuffed with a big bladder and extra water bottles.

StiHacka said:

I enjoyed the beef jerky brought by Alfie a lot.

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Quality bong shed food.

Defeat Trump, eat tacos.

TACOS 2016!

From my LD running days - we would make certain to load up on salty goodness during the race to make sure your water didn't pass right through you. Small boiled potato chunks dipped in salt are standard aid station fair at marathons. On hot days like we were riding you can deplete your body of salt & potassium in 3 to 4 hours.

My hangover from Friday never really went away until late Sunday... you guys are pros.

My keep it going food is almost always salty meat snacks. The waffles I pilfered listed glucose as the first ingredient were a good compliment.

One reason why my solo rides in Pisgah take so long is the number of times I stop to eat. It's way less taxing to eat multiple small "meals" than a big one.

I find that I do well to bring both fast burning and slow burning foods. I cannot tolerate a lot of ingredients that are in most energy bars, but Kind make some that work for me. Dried fruit without added sugar like apricots or mangos will burn quickly. Turkey jerky is a good slow burning snack. Of course fresh fruit is good as well.

Also trips to the bongshed will not cause dehydration.

Supplements can cause Xerostomia, so can other things including age. Talk to your doctor.

I didn't eat on day 3 until I had a coke & a stroopwaffle (saved my life!). I ate clementines in day 2 in the river & jerky. I also drank ALL of my water and had a bottle of electrolyte each day. I also find that chewing gum keeps my saliva flowing.

TreeSaw said:

I didn't eat on day 3 until I had a coke & a stroopwaffle (saved my life!). I ate clementines in day 2 in the river & jerky. I also drank ALL of my water and had a bottle of electrolyte each day. I also find that chewing gum keeps my saliva flowing.

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also bacon?

As someone who's raced and ridden more 100+ miler road and MTB rides than I can count my fuelling strategy for long MTB rides is aim for ~300 calories per hour eating at least every 20 minutes. The blood is all in your legs, so calories need to be easy to digest for your gut.

• Only water in my camelback - regular sips of this or from the bottle
• Hammer sustained energy in the bottle on my MTB, I can easily dose this with sufficient powder for 90 minutes worth of fuel. Very long rides I might have a small zip lock of powder to refill another bottle worth if I'm going to pull out the water filter.
• Fig bars - small and easy to digest, not chewy, good mix of carbs. 6 bars is about 300 calories for an hour of food.
• Supplement with Cliff shot bloks and hammer gel to mix things up

As @Nick mentioned, setting your computer to beep every 20 minutes can be a good reminder to eat. Food should also be easily accessible; jersey pockets or the side pouches on newer riding backpacks. If you always have to stop to get at your food, you're likely going to eat too many calories in one go and not spread it out. As much as I love jerky I'd never use it as riding fuel. Protein takes a lot of liquid and effort for your body to break down in that form, not good when you're working hard to pedal.

I used to support a buddy on ultra marathons in Germany...62 miles and more. They Germans used to provide beer and bread at the sag stops...after his first one experiencing this I never had to tote food along for him again. Simple stuff, high in carbs and water and easy to digest...

So it's safe to say there is a different plan for every gut.

6thElement said:

As someone who's raced and ridden more 100+ miler road and MTB rides than I can count my fuelling strategy for long MTB rides is aim for ~300 calories per hour eating at least every 20 minutes. The blood is all in your legs, so calories need to be easy to digest for your gut.

• Only water in my camelback - regular sips of this or from the bottle
• Hammer sustained energy in the bottle on my MTB, I can easily dose this with sufficient powder for 90 minutes worth of fuel. Very long rides I might have a small zip lock of powder to refill another bottle worth if I'm going to pull out the water filter.
• Fig bars - small and easy to digest, not chewy, good mix of carbs. 6 bars is about 300 calories for an hour of food.
• Supplement with Cliff shot bloks and hammer gel to mix things up

As @Nick mentioned, setting your computer to beep every 20 minutes can be a good reminder to eat. Food should also be easily accessible; jersey pockets or the side pouches on newer riding backpacks. If you always have to stop to get at your food, you're likely going to eat too many calories in one go and not spread it out. As much as I love jerky I'd never use it as riding fuel. Protein takes a lot of liquid and effort for your body to break down in that form, not good when you're working hard to pedal.

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Again, great advice here. 20 minutes may be a little short, but if you extend to an hour you can easily start to come up deficient, so it'd be better to eat some at a shorter interval IMO anyway.

The thing about protein is spot on too, when you are riding, you need very little protein and things like jerkey will screw you up (take too much water to digest). When you are finished, you NEED protein and you need it within 30-45 minutes of stopping physical activity. Read up on the "golden hour", although in practice it's usually a little less than. This is when your body does the most rebuilding and your body will break down fats or protein to help repair your body. This means you wake up the next day not feeling like shit. The good part is that your body doesn't much care what you force down your throat, bacon, grease, fat, protein, it's all good for muscle repair in this window.

It also depends on your pace, if you are not racing the entire time, but out to have fun, something like a sandwich (in addition to other food/mixes) is fine, as long as you don't wolf it down all in one sitting. If you are forcing your body to perform at peak level for hours on end, a sandwich is (hopefully obviously) a poor choice because it has meat, some stuff you don't need, it's not the easiest to absorb in terms of carbs, etc.

In one of the races I got third over this winter, it blew my mind that there were riders right on my 40 mile pace (20 mile course) riding the 60 mile race that then rode the last lap faster than the first two. The three race options were 20, 40 and 60 miles. That ability to just grind away and crank out the miles hour after hour takes some serious energy AND conditioning (why I started off with that it depends on your pace and what you are doing).

boostindoubles said:

This. Everyone should eat more apples, on rides but in general also.

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Sweet cherries are where's its at in the fruit world.

"One of the most interesting health benefits of sweet cherries is their completely unique set of antioxidants. Anthocyanin glycosides, which give sweet cherries their deep red-almost black color, are one of them. This compound also provides inflammatory properties, even against serious conditions such as gout, arthritis, fibromyalgia, or painful muscle-related sports injuries"

The the big thing I worked out from doing these big long rides was, it didn't matter all that much about what you ate as long as your body could deal with it.

Serial Midget said:

So it's safe to say there is a different plan for every gut.

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...and climate.

I can not eat 'real' food in the heat. I stick to stuff like fruit snacks or clifbloks. I dislike gels and would rather have something to chew.

Here you can just gorge yourself on the side of the trail. Last week blueberries were out of control. I've perfected the technique of grabbing berries while staying on the bike and riding by.

herbman said:

Sweet cherries are where's its at in the fruit world.

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Cherries are tasty, but I don't grow em so I won't advocate for their consumption. haha

If I'm doing a big ride, I'll hydrate as much as possible and eat well the day or two in advance. If its going to be a hot ride I'll drink a liter of water in the hour before the ride, plus carry my 3L bladder.

I like gummi's or shotbloks for quick energy and bobo's oat bars for the slow release energy. If I am hungry I'll eat damn near anything to keep me going.

boostindoubles said:

I like gummi's or shotbloks for quick energy and bobo's oat bars for the slow release energy. If I am hungry I'll eat damn near anything to keep me going.

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True, if you aren't hungry, you need to ride more. Sure, I'd never eat a cliff bar sitting around, but if you ride hard and long enough, it tastes like a goddamn bacon cheeseburger.

I'm a mouth breather as well (har har) and find that having hard candies like Jolly Ranchers help to not only keep a constant trickle of calories but also keep my salivary glands going.

Having something readily available is also half the battle. If your food is tucked away inside your pack you'll be much less likely to stop and root around in there as opposed to it being in the hip pockets or some other vessel that's within reach.

I used a custom blend from Infinit ( https://www.infinitnutrition.us/ ) for my Ironman and all the long training days leading up to it. Nothing but liquids for me. 1 bottle per hour (330 calories of mostly carbs and a little protein, 500 mg sodium). It was certainly trial and error, but I never bonked and never got hungry. I'll use the same stuff for the Not-Monkeyfest KT weekend coming up. I'll supplement with a Clif Bar or two if I get the urge to eat.

By the way, "drinking frequently" may still not be enough. You can do a sweat test to see how much you should be drinking (Google it). I should be drinking 28-30 ounces per hour while riding, so I supplement the above mentioned Infinit with plain water.

I don't drink while I run simply because carrying water while running is a pain in the ass.

Serial Midget said:

From my LD running days - we would make certain to load up on salty goodness during the race to make sure your water didn't pass right through you. Small boiled potato chunks dipped in salt are standard aid station fair at marathons. On hot days like we were riding you can deplete your body of salt & potassium in 3 to 4 hours.

My hangover from Friday never really went away until late Sunday... you guys are pros.

My keep it going food is almost always salty meat snacks. The waffles I pilfered listed glucose as the first ingredient were a good compliment.

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jbp is a non believer in salts and electrolytes.


but that sounds like exactly what he needs.