Fuelling / Refuelling - Advice please

[Flook]

I tend to blow up spectacularly after about 25-30 hardish miles, and assume its because I'm running out of fuel. I've tried taking sugary snacks etc with me and eating these, and drinking plenty of water as I go, but it doesn't seem to make a huge amount of difference.

This weekend I've been asked to join a group of rather more experienced and, er, well, just plain better, cyclists on a 75 mile trip that even they are describing as "ferociously hilly" - I very much want to go but don't want to either embarrass myself or hold them up unduly. Having cycled with them in the past over shorter distances this won't be a problem over the first 25 or so miles, but if previously experience is anything to go by, very definitely will be thereafter, so....any tips on what (& how much) to eat & drink the previous evening, early morning before the trip, and during the event itself?

Any help very much appreciated!

[syko89]

Take on some decent carbs the night before, un-refined carbs such as brown pasta/rice/bread.

You need to make sure your glycogen muscle stores are filled so something early in the morning like a banana and strawberry smoothie or similar can help that.

What have you been eating before a ride up until now?

The bit that confuses me a little is insulin and how its fed into the bloodstream, but you want to make sure your not eating food that will give you an insulin spike but something with a low glycemic index that will fuel you for a few hours.

I tend to have something lightish for breakfast, bacon and eggs without the bread, then have a banana just before my ride. As i ride i take on energy gels if i need them, and snacks like flapjack.

Im sure someone with a better understanding will be along soon

[User33678888]

Internal combustion?

[TwistingMyMelon]

TBH sounds like you are going too fast or simply not fit enough for the desired pace rather than food

Ive always found fueling is an issue @ 50 miles+ as long as you have a good meal night before, decent breakfast and plenty of hydration on ride

Dropping the pace and covering higher distances will help base fitness.

How good you are at climbing will be big factor on hilly rides, as some riders can be very slow on tall climbs compared to others.

[JEA1K]

I need to read up on this a bit as but I've found by my own trial and error that I need to eat more than most people. My body doesn't seem very efficient at converting food to energy.

Before a 70 - 80 mile ride, which around where I live may take in 3,000ft - 5,000ft elevation and I may burn between 2600 - 3200 calories I tend to eat porridge with honey (cold), toast with a couple of eggs and then a banana before I leave. Sometimes I'll eat more depending on the time of day.

I tend to eat something every 15 miles or so when into the ride ... maybe another banana, some soreen, some Haribo Starmix and some gels spread across the ride, depending on where a cafe stop is planned. Basically eating before I get hungry.

Regarding liquids, I use SIS electrolyte powders taking two bottles ... one full, then filling one up en-route with water and SIS tablets. A 750ml bottle tends to do me for 30 miles or so.

[Flook]

Brilliant guys, just what I was after...apart from this:

TwistingMyMelon said:

TBH sounds like you are going too fast or simply not fit enough for the desired pace rather than food

...you bd ...just exactly the kind of horrid truth I am trying to bury beneath an illusion of complex carbohydrates and electrolytes...

I will give it a lash and will fortify myself with a heap of brown rice the night before, a porridgey breakfast and plenty of bananas and SIS en route

Thanks again all (even you, TMM)

[TwistingMyMelon]

Flook said:

Brilliant guys, just what I was after...apart from this:

TwistingMyMelon said:

TBH sounds like you are going too fast or simply not fit enough for the desired pace rather than food

...you bd ...just exactly the kind of horrid truth I am trying to bury beneath an illusion of complex carbohydrates and electrolytes...

I will give it a lash and will fortify myself with a heap of brown rice the night before, a porridgey breakfast and plenty of bananas and SIS en route

Thanks again all (even you, TMM)

To be fair, it might be the fact you are pacing yourself too fast , rather than outright fitness, hence the issues . I used to be the same a few years back

I now train on longer rides every sat with a guy who rides at a slower pace than I'm used to, but it has done wonders for my longer endurance, without even realizing.

[Flook]

TwistingMyMelon said:

Flook said:

Brilliant guys, just what I was after...apart from this:

TwistingMyMelon said:

TBH sounds like you are going too fast or simply not fit enough for the desired pace rather than food

...you bd ...just exactly the kind of horrid truth I am trying to bury beneath an illusion of complex carbohydrates and electrolytes...

I will give it a lash and will fortify myself with a heap of brown rice the night before, a porridgey breakfast and plenty of bananas and SIS en route

Thanks again all (even you, TMM)

To be fair, it might be the fact you are pacing yourself too fast , rather than outright fitness, hence the issues . I used to be the same a few years back

I now train on longer rides every sat with a guy who rides at a slower pace than I'm used to, but it has done wonders for my longer endurance, without even realizing.

You're right. On the shorter rides I tend to spend a fair bit of time congratulating myself as I spring away from people on the early climbs only to wonder why they look much stronger than me an hour or two later...I will be very circumspect on Saturday.

There's no doubt though that I've also failed to eat enough of the right foods at the right times, based on me feeling not just weak but properly emptied out when the 'blow up' happens

[Jimbo.]

Flook said:

I tend to blow up spectacularly after about 25-30 hardish miles, and assume its because I'm running out of fuel. I've tried taking sugary snacks etc with me and eating these, and drinking plenty of water as I go, but it doesn't seem to make a huge amount of difference.

This weekend I've been asked to join a group of rather more experienced and, er, well, just plain better, cyclists on a 75 mile trip that even they are describing as "ferociously hilly" - I very much want to go but don't want to either embarrass myself or hold them up unduly. Having cycled with them in the past over shorter distances this won't be a problem over the first 25 or so miles, but if previously experience is anything to go by, very definitely will be thereafter, so....any tips on what (& how much) to eat & drink the previous evening, early morning before the trip, and during the event itself?

Any help very much appreciated!

Chances are if you're "blowing up" after that long even with eating, then it's fitness, not food. All the sugary, refine, sports-this and energy-that will do nothing aside from give you a momentary peak and an almighty crash thereafter.

[Flook]

Jimbo. said:

All the sugary, refine, sports-this and energy-that will do nothing aside from give you a momentary peak and an almighty crash thereafter.

Oh Bugger

[JEA1K]

I always find buying more bike stuff helps to go a bit quicker.

[Rocksteadyeddie]

JEA1K said:

I always find buying more bike stuff helps to go a bit quicker.

AND stave off hunger.

Good advice here OP.

[Flook]

Carbon fibre spoons are the way to go...wonder if I can get one that goes with my bike...

[upsidedownmark]

Jimbo. said:

Chances are if you're "blowing up" after that long even with eating, then it's fitness, not food. All the sugary, refine, sports-this and energy-that will do nothing aside from give you a momentary peak and an almighty crash thereafter.

Yes.. and.. er.. no..

Completely agree that it's probably a matter of muscular endurance. Only way to improve that is to ride further - back off 10% and you'll go 50% further (or more).

However, the whole fueling thing is far more complex than "heaps of sugar", or "sugar is bad mm'kay". Broadly speaking if you're working *hard* you need simple easily digestable energy, there's less blood going to your gut, you have a harder time processing food, and you don't spike-and-crash because you're taking the energy back out as fast as you're putting it in. However, doing a 20 minute gym session, then breaking out gels/powerade/what have you is also nonsense.

[Flook]

So that went well.

Ate a big plate of rice & chicken the night before., got up early and had ginormous bowl of porridge, then had banana about 30 minutes before departure time, and thenate (energy bars & flapjacks) about every half hour or so on the ride.

Did some fairly horrid hills (Holme Moss, Woodhead and Stsndedge for those that know that part of the world) and - while my legs got very tired and hurt (alot) - I never got the appalling dying and empty feeling I've had before. Which feels like s major step forward.

For those of you doubting my fitness though, you were quite right. I was by some distance the slowest person, not only in my group, but, in the case of Holme Moss, on the entire bloody hill...so much so that in order to arrive back home by the promised time I had to cut the overall distance down to 55 miles instead of the planned 75...and even then my quads were threatening cramp towards the end...

No matter, I thoroughly enjoyed myself, the feeding made a very significant difference, and now I have a bettered sense of how much work I need to do on my muscular endurance!

Thanks again for