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.
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.