Tech . . . well . . . not mechs, how about Tech/Food?

after four or five hours in the saddle, I need real, tasty food and no more sportsfood.
I eat lots of banana’s during my rides and I wrap cake or sandwiches into aluminum foil for the last two hours. I also eat these during rides (plenty of carbs, I’ve got coeliac disease, so no regular sports bars for me)

Nutella sandwiches (sometimes with banana)
Rice crispie treats (with dried fruit and almonds mixed in)
PB&J
Snickers bars

Sometimes I make my own energy bars witha lot of dried fruit, almond meal, rolled oats, and jam.

Cocaine Bars from CyclingTips

Make these things with Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Oats and the celiacs will be happy too.

It’s so effin hot and humid here no food is appealing. Bottles and bottles of cold beverage, many stops into the convenient stores to fill bottles w/ ice and grab something cold. Somebody will grab a cheap gallon bottle of cold water to pour over ourselves. I’m as skinny as I get right now. When I get home, it’s an ice cold beer in the shower and then a no holds bar eatathon.

When it’s not this hot, I do like dansel mentioned above. I stay away from gels and bars except for races.

After arriving home real food followed by a Haggen Dasz.

always squeeze a lemon into the bottle – turns the taste from pretty awful to great. If i think that won’t be enough i just stick some fruit in a pocket – a banana, an apple cut into quarters, a peeled orange in quarters, or whatever. If it’s going to be a really long hard ride i’ll put some more of the energy powder stuff in a bag, plus another lemon cut in two and then stop somewhere and mix up another batch.

I like cliff bars too (slap one on my stem and let the sun make it gooey – yep, I’m weird)…but nutella is lust for me. They should put that in a squeeze tube…oh, idea! Also like PBJs, but for drinks I am a basic water guy – sometimes I half and half in some gatorade or something (lime aid or lemonade)…but am pretty simple.

Ever try boiled potatoes?

Here in TW, you can pick up med. sized Sweet Potato at a local Quickie Mart already baked and just kept warm for about 0.50 USD.

They’ve been my long ride/work day quick food lately.

Unit Cost per Calorie is possibly the lowest.

I think an entire box of Oatmeal Pies is about the same, or less then one Cliff Bar.

Sadly, they have no distribution in Taiwan.

Another thing I picked up in TW on long days is to eat Ramin Noodles Dry.

• Open Bag and fish out the seasonings.
• Add seasonings to bag to your desired level
• Close bag, break up noodles and shake vigorously.
• Open and eat like snack chips.

cuts down the need for mule bars and gels on the ride but can still stomach those.

on a longer ride I’m a sucker for a ham and cheese sandwich for variety, some bulk and slow release energy

When really down, stop at local café for espresso & pain au chocolat.

nothing like slow cooked pork on a ride.

Powerbar gels, Saltstick caps, water. Real fruit tastes good but goes right through, which is a problem. Other real food just doesn’t digest fast enough to keep the fire hot.

After though? Anything goes, but not sports nutrition stuff. After a big, big day… chicken fried steak, mashed potatos and green beans. Waffles with ice-cream is also a favorite.

I meant to comment on this on the original thread regarding pro’s versus normal people. It listed some obscene calories for pros, like 5000. Given a 5 hr ride, 1000 calories an hour has got to be wrong. I think most people can’t digest more than about 300 an hour. I’ve done a few 100 mile run races (at 45 yrs old, I happen to be the oldest winner in the history of a 20 year old race… experience over youth) and I’m “lucky” enough to tolerate a gel every 20 mins for as long as it takes. Before my last race I had a stock pile of about 80 gels, I think I ended up eating not quite 50. Same flavor every single one, and I still use just that flavor.

Saturday was a “200k” event (130 miles ridden), about 8,000’ vertical. I happened to write down what I ate on the day since I thought it was kind of funny.

Before:
tea with soy milk
oats with soy milk and brown sugar

During (in no particular order):
3 bananas
5? Cliff bars
1 Luna bar
1 and a half Clif granola bar things
3 gels
1 pb & honey sandwich
1 croissant
1 pack cheese & crackers
1 pack pb & cheese crackers
1 single-serving bag of Lay’s potato chips
1 frozen Snickers brownie ice cream sandwich thing
1 old-fashioned donut
one 700ish-calorie pack of Nutter Butter cookies
1 Hammer fizz electrolyte tablet
some other electrolyte tablet with 65mg caffeine

After:
1 large hot cocoa with whipped cream
grilled cheese sandwich with tomato and avocado
french fries
1 slice toasted olive bread with butter
a handful of peanuts
some corn chips
a chunk of cheddar cheese
a bite of a leftover pancake
a spoonful of ice cream
a spoonful of honey (yes, nibbling my way through the kitchen)

Plus, of course, a coupla…gallons? of water.

I would have typically mixed in some Hammer Perpetuem and Heed, but was fresh out.

I’m 5’10" tall, about 152 pounds, bike (Surly Long Haul Trucker steel touring bike) & trunk pack & stuff somewhere a bit over 30 pounds.

For me, on longer rides, the big thing is variety, as I can get tired of almost any particular thing. I’ll pack somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000 calories, and then just buy whatever my heart desires along the way.

On the bike, I’ve given up on gels and energy bars and eat Cliff Shot blocks (the black cherry with caffeine). I actually like them. I just pop one every 10-15 minutes.

I can survive three hours on those. After that, I start craving more substantive nourishment, and I look for a taqueria at the side of the road.

It turns out that Pop Tarts are strikingly similar in nutrients, calories, etc., to many energy bars. And to me at least, they have the added emotional connotation of being a childhood comfort food. The foil-wrapped packs of two fit nicely in a jersey pocket, but Pop Tarts are definitely more likely to crumble than most of the options mentioned here.

My first few cyclosportives I ate and drank so much sweet stuf that i became nauseous.

Unlike the pros, speed isn’t my main concern, avoiding the bonk is my goal. Like thebongolian above, I like eating a little bit of salty stuff like mountain cheese, or ham, meats, especially early or mid event. The salt craving makes this stuff delicious.

Thanks to Krabbé, I have carried the not-as-good French version of fig newtons on rides :)

and ask some advice:

A lot of people here seem to be saying that aiming to eat about 300 calories per hour on a ride is about right. Does this mean that if I do a 4-hour ride, I should eat, say, 4 clif bars (i.e. one an hour), or the equivalent in calories? Man, I can’t imagine eating that much . . . and yet after a long, hard ride, I have a real problem recovering, I feel like I could eat for hours and not get full.

In other words, on long rides I’m having a hard time finding a balance between eating too much and feeling gross, and not eating enough and getting really hungry. Anyone have any advice?

with cream cheese and a little pastrami, or chopped nuts, or whatever I happen to have around. Easy to pop in the mouth.

And I always carry jelly beans—even before I knew JellyBelly sponsored a team.

I am a big fan of the chocolate milk and an orange break at the pony keg half-way through the ride.

awesome, sweet, gooey loveliness. sometime i’ll chop one up into inch cubes and just stuff it into my rear pokets then munch a morsel every ten minutes or so.

great way to keep topped up though my brifters end up slightly gooey and malty at the end of ride

Is definitely liquorice alsorts. They don’t melt, come in a bag and taste brilliant. I’ve ridden several centuries on those + water. Wine gums a decent substiute. Eat one every time you remember.

If I’m on a ride where bonking may be an issue I use energy drinks. The first one I tried was Isostar and it worked for me so I’ve never changed. I drink little and often.

On a reasonably hard solo ride I will burn just under 1000kcals/hour. I can’t sustain much higher than that for longer than an hour.

I should also make the point that nutrition is a wierd thing. I climbed Galiber earlier this year. I’d almost run out of water so couldn’t make energy drinks and the shops were all closed. I did it with 1/2 a bottle of Vittel and no breakfast or food at all. I had no problem other than a little dry throat. However, on other mountain days I was using the energy drink like a crutch. Purely psychological.