Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

I always eat before my long rides, when riding to work on the weekends (6am start) I don't eat until I get to work
I ride 25-26km each way.. Also find if I've had carbs for dinner the night before I don't get hungry before getting to work

I would like to go one step further, as I commute at least one day a week (soon to become at least 2-4 days a week) what do those who commute to work do for breakfast? Do you buy something from the local cafe/bakery? Do you take something with you or do you keep cereal/bread at work for breakfast?

As someone else said everybody is different, on a 60km ride I'll have a banana and a mug of milk as a minimum before, then will eat on the ride a jam sandwich, a muesli bar and two bottles of energy drink, getting up to around 100 km I'd have to go 5 weetbix and 1 L of milk (my usual weekday breakfast) before, then on the ride I'd add an energy bar and an Up and Go along with a third water bottle (plain water) and a couple of energy gels just in case. I struggle to keep the weight on, if I don't eat this much the weight falls off and I start to feel not so good most of the time. I also prefer to shower before rides, particularily the longer ones.

I have to eat 3 hours before a hard ride... so if racing early I will wake up, eat and then maybe go back to sleep.
Less than race pace I don't have an issue eating 30 minutes or so before.
But if I am trying to lose weight nothing works better than a slow and steady for an hour or two on an empty stomach... straight into the reserves.

Ozkaban wrote:If I have a decent early ride (say 50k+), I would typically have a 2/3 size brekky. That would be 2 weetbix, a small handful of nutrition grain and some fruit (like sultanas) .

Any more and I'll puke at some point. Too much less and I'll bonk...

Just reread my comment. Stupid auto-correct. Nutrition grain? Could nutri grain be further from it???

for me l find dinner the night before more important than breakkie. Digestion is fairly slow process anyway, so I doubt breakfast will have an impact on the ride. Maybe it might help with the post ride hunger though.

dude18 wrote:for me l find dinner the night before more important than breakkie. Digestion is fairly slow process anyway, so I doubt breakfast will have an impact on the ride. Maybe it might help with the post ride hunger though.

I think it takes 30-60 minutes or something for food to work its way into the energy stream. Eating pre-ride and during a ride on longer rides (3-4 hours, 100km+) will have plenty of impact on your performance as well as helping you to avoid a bonk.

I'm not sure what impact food the night before has (if any) but I try to eat a good meal the night before, if nothing other than to enjoy some food and the placebo effect. Haha!

It takes anywhere from four to five hours for food to completely clear the stomach, and then it takes anywhere from 3 to 6 hours to pass all the way through the small intestine.

Most nutrients are absorbed into the blood stream from the small intestine. So logically it should take a minimum of 6 to 7 hours to get the maximum benefit from a meal.

However simple starches and sugars filter directly from the stomach to the blood stream and therefore some foods do supply a very quick energy hit as within 5 to 10 minutes.

toolonglegs wrote:I have to eat 3 hours before a hard ride... so if racing early I will wake up, eat and then maybe go back to sleep.
Less than race pace I don't have an issue eating 30 minutes or so before.
But if I am trying to lose weight nothing works better than a slow and steady for an hour or two on an empty stomach... straight into the reserves.

what do you define as 'slow and steady'? (probably fast and furious for me )

I never eat before rides, even fast club rides I won't eat.
Before a TT, like 2 hours before, I'll have a tiny bit of breaky, like toast with Nutella, but hardly anything.
Not saying that's ideal, or to follow that method, but it suits me.
The only time I did eat a decent meal before hand, was ironically last Sat before the SPR ride, and I ended up spewing my ring up after 6k, but in saying that, I've been off sick with gastro for a few days since!

greyhoundtom wrote:However simple starches and sugars filter directly from the stomach to the blood stream and therefore some foods do supply a very quick energy hit as within 5 to 10 minutes.

What are some examples of these foods?

Krank

Weekdays, 500ml water, 2 eggs and 2 bacon, veggies, BBQ sauce, 10-20 minutes before an often spirited commute 13-22km.
If I'm doing proper hill intervals in the morning, I'll sometimes swith to 500ml water, 2x raisen toast, butter with jam, more like 40 mins before the ride.