[Closed] What food for a 50 mile mtb ride?

I would take what you usually take plus a couple of emergency gels.

1 x Tunnocks

Are you sure Tunnock's and not Lees?

Whatever you fancy, sandwiches, nuts, dried fruit, chocolate, tunnocks (worth reiterating), cereal bars. Whatever basically!

Will you actually stop for lunch? Sarnies or what ever will be fine there. I eat trail mix (nuts, raisins and what ever you fancy) cereal bars, nakd bars, oat cakes and peanut m&ms

If you won't stop just take more snack stuff and stow it somewhere you can reach it. I've seen estimates of using 500 kcal per hour while cycling so plan your nutrition accordingly. And enjoy the ride

Cake.

Cake, malt loaf, bananas, fig rolls and also something savoury

A full chicken with a block of lard up it's arse, sandwiched between 2 pies, the lunch of champions.

Ok thanks. I usually stop and eat every couple of hours on a hard ride. I don't like to eat all my lunch at once as I find it hard to get going again.

Lee's teacakes have jam in them so it's a no brainer with them.

...

Pack of Snicker Bars and Maynards Wine Gums.

Tunnocks what? Tea cake, Caramel wafer or Caramel log? The tea cake won't like being stuffed in a camelback.....

Soreen, can squash flat so takes less room. Only use gels etc if used before, can cause interesting side effects..

I take a normal pack lunch plus some dried fruit and nuts plus a POWER(TM) sandwich. Something like peanut butter and banana.

stick with what you are used to as far as possible

something a little more high energy stashed away for an emergency
jelly babies, tangfastics, chocolate kendal mint cake

make sure you have enough water, or know where you can get a refil

ive got a gel stashed in with my first aid kit, when i checked it last week i found the date on it is Jun'13, so now it would have to be a real emergency i reckon

Jelly Babies
Gels if you have used them before ( TorQ seem easiest to get on with )
Banana malt loaf
Fig Rolls
A Banana
FlapJacks
I take some cashews for the salt content
Chewing gum to clear your mouth after all the above sugar
High5 zero tabs if its hot hot hot

[i]Only use gels etc if used before, can cause interesting side effects..[/i]

What like Viagra or something?

We did 45 miles on Saturday, ate 2 small cereal bars, a packet of crisps and a pint at a pub. Had porridge before the ride

3 pints and macaroni cheese and chips!! 😀

……..depends on the intensity of the ride

Performance pasty and an isotonic carbonated hop based brew.

Light breakfast, mahoosive chunk of malt loaf a bit before the ride, a few flapjacky / cereally things along the way. Squashies for sugar emergencies (I seem to be one of the rare folks that can't stand Jelly Babies). Plenty of water.

Sarnies are a good idea. Nuts are ok for a snack. Sweet stuff like tablet / fudge is good. I usually plan to stop every 3 hours and have some savory, some sweet, some liquid, and some caffeine if needed. Can of coke and some crisps are good as well!

Best thing to keep you going is sports drink in bladder, keeps you hydrated and gets you some top up carbs.

50 miles isn't too long unless the terrain is brutal. Don't take too much.

I didn't bother eating anything other than a pack of wine gums on my last 50 miler. Water is the more important thing.

Soreen, squashes flat and tastes good. Sandwiches squash flat but not in a good way, too messy.

Solo or in a group?

If it's group take stuff to share and make sure everyone takes something different (not all jelly babies etc.)

Are you going to stop for lunch? If so something lunchy it also depends how long you are going to take to do it.

Id probably bang some energy/electrolyte drink into my bladder and take some cereal bars, bananna and some sweets, maybe something more solid like a sandwich. I'd also bang in some gels and bars (torq are my favourite) for bonk time just in case.

pork pies and cake.

Stella Artois

Threads like this make it easy to spot the northerners 🙂

Usual stuff, plus a few extra gels/bars but tbh café for lunch.

Pork pies - This for me...

On long rides I tire of the constant sugar intake. I really look forward to something savoury, and pork pies are calorific and have some protein in which means you feel like you've eaten something proper.

I get the Tesco Finest mini pork pies and put them in a Ziploc plastic bag.

Just from reading this.... I really want a pork pie!*

(* yes, I'm northern!)

what b r said

Well, this is isnt very STW

What about biodynamic oak smoked quinoa and ewe cheese filo parcels

or

Free range organic gloucester old spot called gary had a lazy eye slow cooked pulled pork volauvents

and don't forget to take your espresso pot to make an on the trail soya skinny lattemochaccinno.

I did the MTL last week which is just under 50 miles and got round with 3 twix shortbread bars, a bag of crisps and a pint. Was on the point of bonking though by the end so probably not the best example to follow 🙂

depends how much further than your normal riding this is. On short rides I take savoury stuff that I like, pies/pasties etc, if I'm doing a long distance then makes sure I have a decent breakfast (normally porridge) and I take flapjacks, fig rolls or fruit cake basically stuff you can eat in small regular portions that doesn't sit in your stomach like a lead weight when you're putting in a lot of effort. Couple of gels in your pack aswell knock one back straight away if you feel like your starting to bonk and keep another on standby. Caffeinated ones are very good aslong as you have enough to get you to the end of the journey. Your body crashing from the sugar/caffeine rush and still having 10 hard miles to go is not a great feeling.

If you're thinking of trying some fancy scientific "engineered for athletes" stuff makes sure you try it out on a training ride or something first incase your stomach doesn't take to it.

My favourite trail mix at the moment is jelly beans (or jelly babies) and chocolate coated coffee beans. Sugar, caffeinne and chocolate in each handful!

One Asda mini pork pie after every hour of riding (you can fit 8 of them in one of those tri-bags that mount on the top tube behind the stem). Plus, drink apple juice, diluted 50:50 with water.

I think most MTBers eat far too much on rides.

Yes, pork pies, the food of athletes.
Apparently the England cycling team developed this for the 2012 Olympics.

50 miles of continuous effort needs continuous feeding. Get some torq powder or similar, and drink this every 20 mins.
You don't need (real) food.

I managed 130 miles by just drinking torq - I didn't feel hungry or lacking energy once.

what are the side effects of gels? I presume this is from eating them rather than smearing all over my face, as the one and only time I experienced them, I wore most of it.

Yes, pork pies, the food of athletes.
Apparently the England cycling team developed this for the 2012 Olympics.

He's not an athlete at the Olympics, he's a bloke riding his bike for a few hours.

what are the side effects of gels? I presume this is from eating them rather than smearing all over my face,

We have just had the most excellent day of racing at the Wareham XC Race. Good friend Jerome "the French" rode a surly krampus and after several well battled laps was suffering with cramp, he came into the start/finish and said (put on a French accent now) "ah moo leeegs veee are cromping" and a nice lady handed him an energy gel and said "try this". He then rolled up his shorts, revealed his legs, started lunging (yes lunging) and tore the sachet open and applied the rhubarb and custard energy gel to his legs.

I ate a mixture of gels, sweets, cereal bars and pork pies on my 50 miler last weekend, and didn't feel hungry either!

you'd never get to the olympics with an [s]attitude[/s] diet like that !

Am off for 50 miler myself in a few days. I usually take plenty of water, a few peanut butter sarnies and emergency flapjack. Might pick up a banana from a shop instead of flapjack. Non-competitive riding, mind (read - lazy tour)

Yes, pork pies, the food of athletes.
Apparently the England cycling team developed this for the 2012 Olympics.
He's not an athlete at the Olympics, he's a bloke riding his bike for a few hours.

True, but 50 miles is 50 miles.
It takes it tole on the riders body so may well make it as easy as possible.

Gels can give you stomach issues but that's usually due to people not taking them correctly. The real thick stuff needs a good sup of water to dilute them and stop the squitz.

The powder pre mixed with water is nicer and more convenient method IMHO.
Anyway, each to their own.

I wouldn't bother with specialist products as they are expensive. They have their place in certain situations but cheaper substitutes can be found, especially if you are not looking for marginal gains.

My last hard 50mile ride I ate 6 v. small new potatoes (my new favourite biking snack with a small amount of cheese melted inside then cooled) 2 pieces of flap jack, 4 potato cakes and a twix.
I was going hard though, practicing for the national champs in May and it was around the trails of GT and Innerliethen so tough, physically.

On easier rides I eat much less.

If you want emergency sugar then cheap sweets work as well as gels so jelly babies, wine gums or whatever you fancy.

I find eating sweet stuff for 5 hours upsets my stomach, so I've been playing around with rice cakes (google cycling rice cakes) and other ideas, hence the potatoes.

Beer
Pies
Pork Scratchings
Whisky
Tangfastocs

[b]on and on[/b] - Just out of interest, how much carb drink were you carrying when you did your 130 miles? Sounds like an awful lot of fluid to get down you if you were drinking every 20 mins. You must having been stopping to pee that often too!

[b]jonba[/b] - love the potato with cheese idea!

85k yesterday in sweltering Sussex heat.

Fat coke and a Twirl did me, and a couple litres water.

Chum3 🙂 yes, I was either peeing, needing a pee or looking for a place to pee.
I now have a mental male of every location around lake Geneva where I too a pi55.

I drank a whole tub of torq powder and would mix with water along the route.
Not ideal, but it was my first time using product and riding over 100 miles in one hit- you live and learn

feed zone portables book has lots of recipe ideas for home-made non-processed snacks. Miniature homity pies are a fantastic thing to pull out of the rucksack when you're fed up of powerbars 🙂

I do a 60mile training loop and depending on how close it is to racing/how tight I'm feeling it'll be one of 2 choices

tightwad version
2x750ml bottles with torq energy plus a refill of the powder
4x bannanas
1x maltloaf cut into cubes or a pack of jelly babies or mixture
3x gels which I try to not use

serious money version
2x750ml bottles with torq energy plus a refill of the powder
10 gels or 5 gels and 5 bars

I have more energy and feel better with the serious money version. A 3rd hybrid version has me eating bannanas for the first 90mins as I've already had a large breakfast.

I'm wary of what I can take out with me in the heat. It's 30 degrees plus here, even in the mountains, most of the day, I don't think a pork pie would be very good for me after a couple of hours, although it would be a great weight loss programme.

I think carrying a whole ice pack and cool bag may just piss me off.

Thanks for the input folks. Sounds like the sort of things i take anyway.

It's the WHW so a reasonably brutal 50 miles. I know what I'm letting myself in for as I've cycled the good bits a few times already. I'll just take my time on the tricky Loch Lomond section. Very excited!

That is a very big 50 miles. I did the WHW last summer in a one-er and ate the equivalent of 7 meals. It was hot so I also drank more than a litre of water an hour. From what I can remember there was a massive bowl of porridge, a chicken pasta meal, wholemeal pittas stuffed with peanut butter, burger and chips at Tyndrum, sandwiches from the Green Welly, sausage rolls, roasted almonds, flapjack, High5 in the water, lucozade sport and maybe a chocolate milkshake.

Good luck with the ride. Weather looks good for it.

Trick is to eat massive before you start (carbs) and then eat to a schedule. By the time you feel hungry or tired you're playing catch up. It's also a great motivator if you like what you eat.

eg

On the hour - Gel/Swig
Quarter past - jelly babys/Swig
Half past - Gel/Swig
Quarter too - half banana/Swig

Third hour give yourself something special eg a caffeine gel or sandwich or whatever you can pin your mind on when the going gets tough.

Tough cycling is about 500 calories per hour.

Gels are shit. You don't need them unless you are doing shorter fast races, or things like running marathons. They are just sugar, more diluted than in jelly babies / sweets. Better eating jelly babies / sweets if you can. Gels are very expensive, messy, and heavy compared to jelly babies.

Each to their own. I can eat 20gels I can't eat 160 jelly babies (8 jelly babies per gel for same calories). Agree if you're not racing you don't need them as much but they are still useful for long lower intensity efforts.

On the hour - Gel/Swig
Quarter past - jelly babys/Swig
Half past - Gel/Swig
Quarter too - half banana/Swig

Personally I couldn't live on sugar like that it would give me stomach ache. Make sure you practice on shorter rides.

For longer rides/races like Glentress 7, Kielder 100 etc. I tended to start off with bulkier "real" foods and get more to the more refined sugars later on. I even threw in a few pork pies at the 50mile bag drop on the K100 because the fat/protien helped settle my stomach (and pies are nice). I also craved salty stuff so started taking mini cheddars and other such biscuits.

I would only recommend gels/drinks if you are going to be unable to eat more solid foods. I use them road racing and in shorter high energy mtb racing where eating a pie is hard. By then end of the kielder 100 I was too tired to chew so gels and drinks were welcome.

Christ on a bendybus! I dread to think what your guts are like after 20 gels! 😯

I'll ask the obvious question....

Is there a Gregg's en route?

If not, then you need to re-think your route

[quote=adsh]I can eat 20gels I can't eat 160 jelly babies (8 jelly babies per gel for same calories).

More like 5 jelly babies per gel:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/calories/bassetts-jelly-babies-per-8-sweets-18042301

And 20 gels? Seriously? That's £20 worth of sugar snot. I feel ill thinking about it.

That is the equivalent of half a bag of sugar 😯

[quote=adsh]Agree if you're not racing you don't need them as much but they are still useful for long lower intensity efforts.

They are just sugar. Drinking sports drink and topping up with jelly babies / tablet / savory carbs like bread is more palatable and 'real'.

For most all uses, gels are unnecessary and very expensive.