survey. bunch ride breakfast fuel

[vfrkenny]

The early morning bunch ride at speed is seeing me consistently running low on energy, perhaps one bowl of muesli gulped down before scratching off into the dark to meet the bunch is not quite enough fuel for the job. What breakfast recipes have other riders found good for them? Should I be fuelling up the night before and what with? There must be some fab formulas for this one surely and many different recipes but I'll try most things, as long as they are legal.

[diggo19]

fuel the night before. re-hydrate the night before too. i find that no matter what i eat (or how much of it), if i havent eaten something 'useful' the night before it doesnt help me at all. no matter how many bananas/muesli bars etc i eat for 'breakfast'.... (i dont count it as breakfast if i eat it before 5.30am)

[scotto]

i have a weet bix "up and go" drink and a maybe a bar of some kind. if its really bad, you could throw in a gel too !!

[herzog]

Carry a couple of spacefood sticks.

[Zynster]

I generally eat nothing in the morning before a training ride. For a race I'll have a gel 30 min before the start. You want to avoid digestion while riding. Digesting uses energy before it gives back.

Have you considered that it may be a fitness issue rather than food?

[ni78ck]

fuel the night before. re-hydrate the night before too. i find that no matter what i eat (or how much of it), if i havent eaten something 'useful' the night before it doesnt help me at all. no matter how many bananas/muesli bars etc i eat for 'breakfast'.... (i dont count it as breakfast if i eat it before 5.30am)

+1, good dinner does help i rarely eat before a hard ride.

[liamb]

you need to remember that complex carbs take time to process in the body and last for some time after digestion. Gels are saturated sugars which will give a spiked boost of energy in a short time ie 15-25mins and will only last a very short time especially if you are using energy at the time.
I usually have a big bowl of creamy pasta the night before and an up a go before a ride to make sure there is some fuel in the tank late into the ride and after.

Bill

[BarryTas]

bananas if you can afford them

[vfrkenny]

Zynster you do have a point, fitness will always be a part of the big picture as well as a d.o.b. before 1960 but being able to sustain 35kmh for 40km+ before fading off suggests to me to at least look at fuel. Also stopped eating bananas when the price went up, that's interesting. Got some great feedback and ideas, thanks y'all.

[trickle]

bananas if you can afford them

Agreed, bananas are great on bike food. Even come in their own wrapper!

Man, we just spent a month in Borneo and surrounds. My kids ate banana breakfast lunch and dinner. We get home and do the fill the pantry shop... they wanted bananas. Poor little dudes were heart broken when the fruit bowl didnt get filled with bananas.

[notwal]

Muesli and a cup of tea and fruit juice. I probably should drink more water.
I like to save the uppers (caffeine, guarana, ginseng, beet juice etc) till I need it later in the ride. (kidding about the beet juice)

[Zynster]

Zynster you do have a point, fitness will always be a part of the big picture as well as a d.o.b. before 1960 but being able to sustain 35kmh for 40km+ before fading off suggests to me to at least look at fuel. Also stopped eating bananas when the price went up, that's interesting. Got some great feedback and ideas, thanks y'all.

You might also want to look into fat adaption. This is a good start.

[ldrcycles]

An AUSTRALIAN forum and you're seriously asking what to have for breakfast? . Seriously though i really do have weet bix before my morning ride, 6 usually does the trick. The trick for me on short rides (up to 50k) is to drink only a very small amount, my theory being that water will encourage my system to get through the food i've eaten more quickly, after all when i'm at home or work i might not drink for 3-4hrs at a time so up to 1hr on the bike seems fine. On longer rides of course dehydration would be a factor but for rides like the Noosa Century and Brisbane-Coot-tha i just have the weetbix or even a few maccas muffins about an hour before the go and get through 1 or 2 bottles of water during the ride.