About to do a 330 km two day cycling ride, need some food ideas for during the ride.

Hi,

I didn't really think I'd be doing this ride just yet (don't have a road bike). But then I thought, ok, let's do it.  It'll be fun.

Anyways, I've had this problem in the past even for shorter rides like 60 km.

My problem is consuming back all (or at least most) of the calories that was burned for that day. It's not too bad on my shorter rides as I get to rest and eat for the few days afterwards.

But for a ride like this, I think it will be different.

By doing some calculations:

The ride for each day will burn about 4000 - 5000 calories, so about 8000 - 10,000 calories in total.

My daily requirement is about 2000 calories

So the grand total is about 12,000 - 14,000 calories (that's about a weeks worth)

I don't know about other people but I find that if I don't get enough calories back, my performance for the follow days will suffer. But of course, I also find that my belly fat will also decrease. I'm pretty sure I lose 1 - 2 pounds by the end of the ride. (for those reading and want to lose some pounds, this is not what I'd recommend)

Ok, back to my performance suffering. This is even more of an issue for a ride like this, as I'll have to ride again the next day. There had been several times that after riding for the day, and then riding across town later in the evening cause me to have feelings like out of breath, light headed, sweating, and very tired. I'm not really sure if it's food related or not. Maybe not enough sodium after sweating for the day.

One big problem of having to get back a lot of calories is simply the physical limit that our body has for processing the food. We just can't comfortably eat that much. Unless we spread it out accordingly, which takes some planning of course.

Well, realistically, if eat 600 calories starting at 6:00 AM and then every two hours to 10:00 PM, that will give me about 5400 calories which is not too bad.

I guess if I went the unhealthy route, about 3 - 4 McD or BK meals would also work.

But of course, that is not what I want to do. But sometimes, our body dictates what we do. Try going to the supermarket while being hungry, and you'll know what I mean. You'll most likely buy some convenience foods that you wouldn't normally buy.

Another problem is bringing a lot of food will add a lot of weight to the bike.

So, anyone have some healthy food ideas?

I guess, we'll see what happens. I just hope I wake up in time.

Thanks

Hi,

I would suggest some "snack" foods such as nuts (if your not allergic) or yougart covered raisins. They are easy to pop in your mouth along the way. Also, I have run with people that make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and put them in little ziploc bags and eat them on a long run. You may also want to pick up some energy gels or energy jelly beans. I use those when I run and find they are a really good way to recover lost electrolytes. My favorite is the Power Gels. They are made by the same company as Poweraide and can be bought at most sports stores and running rooms.

Hope you have a fantastic ride!

um if you have a biking specialty store by you i'm sure they would have some kind of powerbars thay are high in calories and compact to carry... trail mix is also high in calories and pretty small and healthy. this is a hard one because unless you are stopping every couple hours to eat you may have to carry everything.

sounds like a fun ride though (luuuccckkkkyyyy)!!!! good luck!!!

oh! why didn't i think of this before! can you mix some protein or recovery power into one of your water bottles?-- that stuff is high in calories and nutrients-- can get kinda sticky/sweet so maybe one bottle of that stuff and one regular watter bottle? :)

In the past for my short rides, I have brought along store bought pre-made snacks (bars), but have since replaced those with bananas. No wrapper to throw away, low cost, and doesn't have ingredients that I can't pronounce. I still bring bars sometimes, usually when I'm out of bananas. Good thing about bars is that they are usually lighter in weight for same amount of calories than bananas, and can be stored longer than bananas.

I'll probably bring some plain raisins and peanuts. Yogurt covered ones may give me "gas" which may annoy the person behind. I think chocolate covered ones will be ok, and probably a lot more calories from the fat.

I don't know if it really works but for electrolytes I put some salt into my drink. I used to bring just plain water. But after reading about how dangerous it can be while be active and sweating for extended periods to drink just water, because it dilutes our body of minerals and such. I now usually put 1 - 2 tablespoon of honey (for quick energy) and like less than 1/4 teaspoon of salt into 500 ml to 1 L of water. I guess I can put some protein powder into my drink.

Actually, a honey and protein powder drink, without salt, is what I drink when I weight train. But the calories for that is really not high at all. About 170 calories total. The protein powder that I buy only has about 1 g of fat and 3 g of carbs for a 29 g serving.

It is a group ride (50 - 100 people I guess), but I don't think that a lot of people will stop every 2 hours during the ride to rest and eat. Well, from reading about the ride, we'll have food afterwards, the words "all you can eat" is mentioned, so guess I don't have bring too much.

Yes, it will be a fun ride, from Toronto (Ontario, Canada) to Niagara Falls then back the next day. I've been waiting to do this ride like two years ago, but didn't have the bike (steel mountain bike) for it then, and I guess I still don't really have the bike (aluminum hybrid) for it now. But I always feel that it's not always about the bike. It's about wanting to do it, and actually doing it.

It looks like it might rain on the day of the ride though. Rain or not, I just hope there's no head wind for most of the ride.

Pick calorie dense foods (they don't take up a lot of space in your bags (or your stomach). Things that don't have a lot of extra packaging and are easy to eat with one hand. Take into account lack of refrigeration when choosing foods.

Such as: Nuts, dried fruits, nut butters, jerky, granola, canned tuna/salmon, juice in tetra packs (apple juice with granola is awesome). Fill several water bottles with beverage of choice (leave a couple of inches of space from the top) and freeze the night before. They will take quite a few hours to thaw completely. A cold beverage is always appreciated on the road. I really enjoy unsweetened grapefruit juice with club soda.

I think if you google what Michael Phelps eats every day you could get a good idea

If you stop for light, easily-digested-but-energy-dense meals, and supplement with pieces of PB&J sandwiches, bananas, small lunchmeat-and-cheese sandwiches, Clif Bars, and energy/electrolyte drinks, that should get you most of the way there.

For reference, a pint of Gatorade is 100 kCal, and a Clif Bar is 250 kCal.  Consuming a bottle per hour (put plain water in your other bottle) and half a sandwich or a Clif Bar in that same hour will add up.  Eat a good breakfast (pancakes, oatmeal, cereal, fruit) about an hour before you set off, stop for lunch, and have a reasonable dinner, and you should get by OK.

Well,

Just got back yesterday.

The ride was not too bad. Took me (with rest stops) about 12 hours on the first day, about 13 hours on the second day.

On both days I pretty much cycled alone for the last half of the ride, I just couldn't keep up with the other riders. I just sang to myself to pass the time, mostly songs by The Carpenters.

On the first day, I decided to take my pack with me instead of leaving it with the van. Which added a bit more weight on top of my already heavier (than others) bike. I was with a group of riders for some time (10% of the distance) but than I stopped to pee, and well, I was alone. I was trying to follow the map that I was given, but I found that some streets did not have signs or was missing signs. After a bit I just decided to do it way I had planned to do it. Ride along the lake shore. It was also raining and I did not have any rain clothing, so each time I stopped for a rest I was cold each time started going again because I was wet. But despite all of the above, I arrived at my destination (taking pictures when it finally stopped raining, and looking at the spectacular views along the way). Needless to say, the first thing I did was eat and shower.

As for food,
3 servings of protein powder - 330 cal
3 servings of honey - 180 cal
2 servings of peanuts - 640 cal
2 serving of raisins - 260 cal
2 apple fritters from Tim Horton's - ??? cal
1 chicken salad sandwich from Tim Horton's - ??? cal

So, about less than half of what needed.

On the second day, I decided to lighten my load and left everything that I did not need with the van. I thought that would make it easier for me. But here's the funny thing, my right knee would hurt each time I pedal. I started off with a small group of people that I knew, aside from being a bit tired and sore from the day before everything was fine until they were all a bit a head of me. I tried to go a bit faster and that's when I noticed that my right knee was hurting (and still is). They waited for me during 50% of the way to our destination. Two of the riders did the 90 km route instead of the 168 km route, and decided to give me and another rider a lift back to the starting point of the 168 km route where we can get our stuff back. Honestly, half of me (my hurting knee) wanted the lift back the starting point but the other half did not.

Well, once I lost sight of the other riders for the last time. I knew I had no other option but to ride out the rest of the way in pain (no, no bus rides for me). It was for the best I guess, I felt like I was holding them back anyways. It's not like they were my best friends, if they were, I'd expect them to wait for me. The day was sunny and quite warm, I was a bit concerned when I was out of water for some time. Then I found a drinking fountain along the trail.

For food, it was mainly Tim Horton's. Donuts and sandwiches.

When I finally got back, it felt pretty good. Even though the van with my stuff was gone (it was expected. But I got it back), I felt good. What made it even better was that my knee was hurting. It's like "Yes, even though my knee was in pain the whole way, I still made it". I think if I had gotten the lift by one of the other riders, I would actually feel a bit like "I didn't really do it".

Well, in the end my two day total was about 345 km. Now all I need is to get more comfortable bike and I'll probably do this again on my own every now and then.

And like I expected, I lost 2 pounds. And flattened that stubborn belly fat a bit.