[Closed] Eating strategy for 8hr solo ride

Your body won't really process more than 4000-4500 calories per day properly when exercising.

For me, a good breakfast will get me through he first 3 hours in zone 3. A banana and an energy gel will get me through to midway maybe +30. Sandwiches/protein bar/cake for lunch and a 20-25min stop to process will get me another 2-2.5 hours. A final energy gel (or two if it's hilly) will usually get me home. Then a good dinner at home once I've cooled down and my tummy muscles have relaxed enough to allow me to eat properly.

I usually drink cordial through most of the day.

With that sort of average HR I wouldn't be over-thinking things - just have a sensible breakfast, stop once to eat trail food of choice (for me it would be malt loaf and bananas) and keep hydrated - which will be especially important this weekend. It's pretty much a straight forward long bike ride.

So you would only stop for lunch then, not a nibble every x laps ?

I had a two hour coaching session the ither weej, he suggested approx 60g carbohydrate an hour (actually might have been 90g, need to check).

He talked in terms of gels and energy drinks but I prefer to work in mini-soreen and bananas!

It works out something surprisingly high, like 1x750ml bottle of SiS go, 1 soreen and 1 small banana per hour!

^ 13thfloor - what output was that calculation based on? If it was max HR then I can believe it, but as OP (I assume, based on what they did last year) is going to be nowhere near max HR at any point.

So you would only stop for lunch then, not a nibble every x laps ?

I don't race, but doing an all dayer in similar heart rate, I might have a few sweet on the bike, then something like a cheese & ham wrap at lunch time. Might need a pickme up energy bar mid afternoon.

he suggested approx 60g carbohydrate an hour (actually might have been 90g, need to check).

I think 60g is the max you can process in an hour, any more than that is over feeding.

That sounds a lot, perhaps thats for racing round. I only rode round in zone 2/3. I could have ridden a bit faster, but was over concerned with running out of energy.

This time I will aim to up the pace slightly and stick in zone 3.

Looking at my Strava it suggests I used up 2,600 calories over 5hrs. So using that measurement I need 4,000 for the 8hr race. Stick in a good breakfast then and I could just top up at lunchtime.

Start eating after 1.5 hours. Then aim to consume 50g carbs per hour.

For an eight hour ride I'd eat a decent meal at least an hour before the start. Assuming you've no pit bitch then I'd fill several water bottles and have those ready in a "full" pile or bag, also have an "empties" bag. Get to end of lap, into pit, empty bottle into designated bag, pick up full bottle, go. Eat as you ride, no need to stop, bars of whatever type you prefer in your shirt pockets, take a bite or however much you can deal with each time. There'll be an easy or smooth section on the route so work out where that is and plan for it. At about the halfway mark make the pit stop slightly longer and have something a bit more substantial, but not too much. Ride to end of race using same strategy.

Eight hours isn't that long a ride especially in zone 2/3.

The basic physics of your energy requirements aside, fuelling is a very personal thing, and it is best to work out what suits you from experience.
I'd suggest eating a bit more thoughout the day before your event, and a decent pasta or similar carbo load evening meal. Good breakfast on the day, eaten several hours before starting, so you have time for it to start digesting. Sip fluid regularly and start eating after an hour or so of riding. If you are riding fairly hard for a long event, I reckon nibbling something hourly is not unreasonable (small meusli bar, banana, some sweets or whatever you like eating). Have additional stuff in reserve, in case you start to bonk. If you are racing, I would recommend not stopping to eat for that length of event. Just grab and go if you have to resupply.

I had a two hour coaching session the ither weej, he suggested approx 60g carbohydrate an hour (actually might have been 90g, need to check).

It's 60g glucose, + another 30g fructose. Most decent gels have this ratio.

FWIW if it's a race I aim for a gel every half hour or so, mixing it up with a bit of solid food occassionally to avoid stomach problems. If it's just an easy (say 3-4hr) ride I'll eat a lot less, maybe a banana halfway round and a gel somewhere near the end to get me home. For an 8hr unsupported ride I'd probably take 4 gels, a banana, and aim to stop at a cafe or petrol station somewhere to get a bit more food.

It works out something surprisingly high, like 1x750ml bottle of SiS go, 1 soreen and 1 small banana per hour!

This during the event.  You can process 90g of carbs in a mixture of sucrose / fructose, but only 60g of one kind.   The Torq system makes it easy - 1 bottle and 2 gels per hour, or 2 bottles 1 gel if hot.

Make the week leading up to the event carb heavy on your normal calorific input, then two days before aim for about 650g carbs per day - this is very hard and you need to aim for low fat high carb products.  Using sports drinks (sis/Torq) as your daily drinks helps.

Pre event breakfast should also be high carb at least 2hrs before - I like a large bowl of shreddies and 2 slices whole meal toast.  Don’t eat in the 90 mins before the start as this causes an insulin spike and makes you lethargic on the line, but down your first gel 5 mins before the whistle blows.  Use that as a mark for the next gel in 25 mins or so for the next 8 hours.

Depending on you, you can get very bored of the same ol food so have some appropriate carb biased foods on standby to change the taste and texture of things

When going 6+ hours I find it useful to have liquid fuel in at least one of my water bottles then I can take on calories progressively as I go along. I then have whatever else I need in my home made energy snack - basically banana and peanut butter sandwich on wholemeal bread.

If it's going to be really hard I take nice chocolate bar to have a square every now and then because it makes me feel better psychologically more than for fuel.

Other than that a good tea the night before and porridge beakfast

A handful of jelly beans or babies every 1/2 hr. A rice bar once in while and some sandwiches or cake midway through usually does me fine for this sort of thing.

OK, armed with all this good info I better bloody win then 🙂

Pork pies. And remember when its serious like this you’re not eating, you’re ‘taking on board’.

I would aim to eat every half an hour from the start and have had brekkie before. You dont need to stop. I might forgo the first 1 1/2 hours food in favour of energy drink in bottles, then a banana, or a cereal bar or similar every 30mins or so plus some gels in the last 2 hours.
I dont use a heart rate monitor or power metre so all this zones stuff makes no difference to me, I just would go at a steady pace.

Steady pace........... 🙂 I find that gets slower and slower the further I ride.

^ 13thfloor – what output was that calculation based on?

I think the advice was for any effort above Z2, and for 1hr plus if riding Z2 or below.

There was a degree of 'training' my stomach for longer rides like La Marmotte implicit in that though, e.g. training my stomach to be able to make use of that constant supply of carbs.

Also from a general training/injury prevention/recovery point of view, I'd rather keep well fueled at all times, apparently even at the 60g/90g input you're still going into calorie deficit so will still be burning fat etc.

I wouldn't rely on anything processed and fatty like pork pie or malt loaf*. Whenever I have tried this I've had indigestion, and I've normally got an iron stomach. I can do 8hrs on Torq bars and drink, but I'd be adding a bit of real food that's salty like peanuts or sausages. When I did a 24hr I made up fajitas and cut them into small pieces. Spiciness and saltiness without the lead feeling went down really well. But still most of the calories came from maltodextrin drink, Torq bars and bananas. I say Torq specifically because they are by far the most palatable and easy to eat IMO. They are actually nice, and I have to stop myself eating them as snacks when they are in the house.

I find if I start to feel cramp coming on, it means I am short of carbs and I can avoid getting cramp by having loads of carbs in whatever form I can eat. Oh and I put electrolytes in my carb drink for long efforts - available super cheaply from Bulk Powders.

* actually, thinking about the foods that give me indigestion when pressing on - maybe it's the wheat. I have zero problem with wheat generally but maybe when riding?

I'd have torq gel a lap and a bottle of torq energy every other lap (plain water for the other laps)

Depends on what you like. I personally don't deal well with having full stomach when cycling especially if there are some efforts in the ride, so no big pre-ride breakfast for me or big mid-ride lunches...not if I can't sit around for an hour or so afterwards to digest. So definitely a little often for me. Also i don't get on that well with gels and the like...they're really only a substitute for real food if you want nice compact energy source that doesn't take up much room in your pockets, i much prefer eating proper food like cereal bars or a small Snickers or something like that or a bag of dried fruit and nuts and put them in a top tube bag so space not really limited so no need for gels. I'll keep a few gels and stuff for emergencies, but wont routinely use them - though I have been trying out the Cliff Blocks recenty and get on with them OK so far...a bit like soft Haribo's really.

I'll have one bottle of water or cordial and one bottle of water with electrolyte tab. At stop off's i'll have a can of full fat coke or something like that, a coffee and a snack of real food - slice of cake, something savoury. Can't beat something like a mini-sausage roll or pork pie...just what your body needs. Something tasty that contains a variety of carb types and other food types.

Ultimately unless you've got virtually no body fat percentage...like around 5% then your best energy source is your own fat if you can train your body to utilise it and pace yourself correctly through the ride. I'm about 18% body fat and that equates to about 150,000 calories of body fat i'm carrying around, which is enough to get me through any cycle ride as long as I can access it. So lots of long and low intensity training rides and training efforts designed to encourage getting energy from body fat.

I’d have torq gel a lap and a bottle of torq energy every other lap (plain water for the other laps)

About 1/6th of the recommendation...

your best energy source is your own fat if you can train your body to utilise it and pace yourself correctly through the ride.

But you can only burn fat at a certain rate, which is different for everyone. Depends on genetics and training. If you make more energy available through eating, you can work harder for longer. But there's a limit to how much extra work you can do based on how much lactic acid you can shift from your muscles and how much carbohydrate you can eat and process.

Not many people know this, but a few energy gels squeezed into your bib chamois also absorbs at a rate of 20gm carbs/hr.

No need to thank me..

DrP

Couple of bananas, couple of tangerines, bit of flapjack**, got me through an (accidental) 9-hour ride last week without the food fantasies setting in.

Plus a few jelly babies.

(**Into my mouth, not rubbed around genitalia.)