117 miles tips for

[swiftylee]

got a 117 mile cycle in august and looking for tips for food...

i did a 66 mile the other day with porridge plus one banana for breakfast. legs felt a bit shot at 50 miles so a cereal bar and jelly babies got me home felt like could have pushed it to 70 miles. also had 2 bottles of lucozade sport drink...

so what else can i use or have to help the extra miles.....

have never used gels, not really sure i want to try them dont want to upset my stomach...

all tips greatfully received...

 

[Lee_M]

well certainly dont use them without trying them beforehand

i use them and theyre fine, but for that distNce id have a meal about halfway - a proper meal and a rest

 

[phil_hg_uk]

got a 117 mile cycle in august and looking for tips for food...

i did a 66 mile the other day with porridge plus one banana for breakfast. legs felt a bit shot at 50 miles so a cereal bar and jelly babies got me home felt like could have pushed it to 70 miles. also had 2 bottles of lucozade sport drink...

so what else can i use or have to help the extra miles.....

have never used gels, not really sure i want to try them dont want to upset my stomach...

all tips greatfully received...

If I go on a 100 miler I generally try make sure I stop at the 50 - 60 mile mark for a long rest and a proper meal at a cafe, otherwise I will just run low on fuel and really struggle.

 

[fossyant]

It depends upon toe pace you intend to set.

If going for a 5 -7 hour 100 then its more like little snacks every 10 miles, eg oat bars or malt loaf with drink. If an all day 100 at a more sedate pace, then don't worry as much. Enjoy the cafe stops.

100 miles in under 6 hours is shove in what the stomach will take.. Not what you may be used to. Drinks, liquid intake, a little solid stuff....

 

[Ningishzidda]

This isn’t going to sound very good.
100 km is the kind of distance a decent cyclist can cover on a normal day’s food. Eg cereal and eggs for breakfast and a light meal at lunch time.
His legs don’t get ‘shot’ because they are full of blood vessels and enlarged muscle fibres from previous riding.

Food intake alone doesn’t extend a cyclist’s distance capacity. Powerful muscles determine how far a cyclist can sustain pedalling.
The theory is based upon what proportion of the cyclist’s Functional Threshold Power is required to cycle at the intended speed.

If the ride is 1 hour long, the cyclist can ride at FTP and be knackered at the end. If the ride is two hours, the cyclist can perform at a proportion of FTP for that length of time. I estimate 75%, but this is open to debate.
A four hour ride corresponds to 62.5% and an eight hour ride needs 50%. Longer rides require less than 50% FTP.

The closer to FTP the cyclist aims to ride, the closer to one hour before complete exhaustion.

All in all, to guarantee completing a LONG ride, ride at a pace where the mean power output is less than half your FTP. If your FTP is 200 Watts, its going to be a 12 hour 117 miles.

The other bit of advice is to eat 20 kCals per km and 25 kCals per 100m of climbing.

 

[ianrauk]

It's quite simple really.
Eat a good breakfast. Eat a good lunch in a cafe. During drink plenty of drink, eat plenty of fruit bars, jelly babies, nuts, bananas on the go.
That's all you need for a 100 miler.

 

[Rob3rt]

This isn’t going to sound very good.
100 km is the kind of distance a decent cyclist can cover on a normal day’s food. Eg cereal and eggs for breakfast and a light meal at lunch time.
His legs don’t get ‘shot’ because they are full of blood vessels and enlarged muscle fibres from previous riding.

Food intake alone doesn’t extend a cyclist’s distance capacity. Powerful muscles determine how far a cyclist can sustain pedalling.
The theory is based upon what proportion of the cyclist’s Functional Threshold Power is required to cycle at the intended speed.

If the ride is 1 hour long, the cyclist can ride at FTP and be knackered at the end. If the ride is two hours, the cyclist can perform at a proportion of FTP for that length of time. I estimate 75%, but this is open to debate.
A four hour ride corresponds to 62.5% and an eight hour ride needs 50%. Longer rides require less than 50% FTP.

The closer to FTP the cyclist aims to ride, the closer to one hour before complete exhaustion.

All in all, to guarantee completing a LONG ride, ride at a pace where the mean power output is less than half your FTP. If your FTP is 200 Watts, its going to be a 12 hour 117 miles.

The other bit of advice is to eat 20 kCals per km and 25 kCals per 100m of climbing.

It doesn't really work like that.

You should be able to ride for extended periods at an intensity only marginally lower than FTP. You should be able to ride 2 hours at 90% or even greater (probably up to ~95%). 4 hours should be able to be covered at tempo, i.e. about 85% etc.

 

[VamP]

This isn’t going to sound very good.
100 km is the kind of distance a decent cyclist can cover on a normal day’s food. Eg cereal and eggs for breakfast and a light meal at lunch time.
His legs don’t get ‘shot’ because they are full of blood vessels and enlarged muscle fibres from previous riding.

Food intake alone doesn’t extend a cyclist’s distance capacity. Powerful muscles determine how far a cyclist can sustain pedalling.
The theory is based upon what proportion of the cyclist’s Functional Threshold Power is required to cycle at the intended speed.

If the ride is 1 hour long, the cyclist can ride at FTP and be knackered at the end. If the ride is two hours, the cyclist can perform at a proportion of FTP for that length of time. I estimate 75%, but this is open to debate.
A four hour ride corresponds to 62.5% and an eight hour ride needs 50%. Longer rides require less than 50% FTP.

The closer to FTP the cyclist aims to ride, the closer to one hour before complete exhaustion.

All in all, to guarantee completing a LONG ride, ride at a pace where the mean power output is less than half your FTP. If your FTP is 200 Watts, its going to be a 12 hour 117 miles.

The other bit of advice is to eat 20 kCals per km and 25 kCals per 100m of climbing.

If you're going to try to bamboozle a newbie with science, at least make it reliable science. This is just nonsense.

@OP I recommend you ignore

as others have said, just eat some food

 

[Ningishzidda]

It doesn't really work like that.

You should be able to ride for extended periods at an intensity only marginally lower than FTP. You should be able to ride 2 hours at 90% or even greater (probably up to ~95%). 4 hours should be able to be covered at tempo, i.e. about 85% etc.

I did say the numbers were open to debate.
The principle behind all this nonsense is called 'Fatigue', and I doubt anyone will say a cyclist NEVER gets fatigued.

 

[MisterStan]

got a 117 mile cycle in august and looking for tips for food...

i did a 66 mile the other day with porridge plus one banana for breakfast. legs felt a bit shot at 50 miles so a cereal bar and jelly babies got me home felt like could have pushed it to 70 miles. also had 2 bottles of lucozade sport drink...

so what else can i use or have to help the extra miles.....

have never used gels, not really sure i want to try them dont want to upset my stomach...

all tips greatfully received...

For my first century (and a bit) on a sportive, I just stopped at the feed stations to fill my bottles and have a flapjack or banana. Lunch was a longer stop and they provided pasta etc. As most of the above have said, just eat food! This is best done before you run out of energy and also best to eat things your body is used to - gels are fine, but if you've never used them you don't know how your gut will react. Lots of people carry fig rolls or similar in a jersey pocket - easy to eat on the move. Good luck with the ride.

 

[TheJDog]

You'll be knackered at the end. I've only done that distance once, and for the first 80 miles I just went at a pace that I thought I could keep up forever. Had a sandwich and some chips for lunch, plenty of water, and jelly babies, some energy drink stuff. Around the 80 mile mark I thought, I've lasted this long, feel good, I'll push it up the next hill. Stood up in the pedals, tried to go for it - nothing. I went back to my very relaxed pace

Average moving pace was 16.7 mph, so I think I did pretty well, really. You'll probably surprise yourself.

 

[Ningishzidda]

Is it the RideLondon 100 with 19,999 other cyclists?

Take it steady and enjoy the day. You won’t get chance to ride fast anyway.

 

[MisterStan]

Is it the RideLondon 100 with 19,999 other cyclists?

Take it steady and enjoy the day. You won’t get chance to ride fast anyway.

At no point in his post, did the OP mention wanting to ride fast or at any power threshold, he just wanted advice on what to eat without bonking!

 

[Ningishzidda]

Sounds like its the Bristol to London ride. 25th August.

Check the route. Find out where shops, filling stations and public loos are. List out places to get food at 15 mile or so intervals. Stop and have at least 300 kCals at these stops. Drink enough so your wee is light yellow, a lighter colour than lager. A 330 ml can at each stop.

 

[Kies]

I did Bristol to Uxbridge last weekend. Started at Bristol suspension bridge and followed the A4 all the way home.
3 x cat 4 hills between Bath and Newbury with a few more climbs to boot. Take it slow & steady. We had isotonic energy drinks in one bidon and water (with salt tab) in the other bidon. Constant slurping was the order of the day with jelly babies, granola bars along the route. Stopped at 60 miles for a 30 minute rest and sandwiches before the 50 home.