Food and Drink

[Mitz]

OK, a month to go to LEJOG and I'm trying to organise myself.

Being a relatively new "serious" cyclist I'm a little unsure of what you might call simple things

What should I be eating and drinking during the day? Energy drinks, calorie stuff, anything like that. Is it as simple as Mars bars and Lucozade

Ive been looking at the sites and theres all kinds of Gels and dissolving tablets, but whats best for 65 - 70 day rides over 14 days please to help keep me going

 

[Rebel Ian]

I always had a combination of energy drink in one bottle and water in the other. We all carried cereal bars to snack on if we got hungry and were constantly munching on peanuts, flapjacks and jelly babies!!

We started the day with a good breakfast and always tried to have a half decent lunch too. Some of the stuff we ended up eating probably isn't recommended but we went with a combination of what we fancied and also what was available.

 

[psmiffy]

I have never done UK end to end but I have done a bit of touring - it is not worth worrying about having special drinks et.al unless you are going to be really pushing it - typically I dont bother with breakfast until i am on the road - a couple of coffees before the off and then some cakes about half an hour to an hour later and then I just snack on whatever I fancy (leaving out the things that I like but know will disagree with me on the bike) all day - a couple of litres of water in the cages and a bottle of my favorite pop for drinking - I find the most importent thing for me is to have a really good meal at the end of day - loadsa calories and protein in whatever form it comes in

 

[Gingerbloke]

Simple rule of thumb is around 70g of carbs per hour on the road, along with around 750ml of water. But like earlier posts have said, it depends whether you are pushing it or not. Electrolyte in your water is a
very good idea as it helps with not cramping...!!!

 

[Mitz]

OK, thanks
Presently when I'm out for a couple of hours I just drink water, and its usually a lit and a half.
That's different to being out for 4 or 5 hours though of course

So I guess I'll be stocking up with flapjacks & cereal bars every day

For electrolytes, and suggestions on a product please?

 

[Jaristokraatti]

So I guess I'll be stocking up with flapjacks & cereal bars every day

For electrolytes, and suggestions on a product please?

Apples were good for me on my criss cross of Finland last year. 800 + 400 miles in 7 + 3 days.
The breakfast in the morning is essential, what ever some oddballs say.

You may come into a phase - second to fourth day where you do not wish to eat a thing, but you HAVE TO keep on eating and drinking at least a bit "all the time" if/when this hits you. Energy gels were good for me, try different brands before the real thing, some are downright disgusting and you need to have half a bottle of water to get the sick off your mouth, some just hit the right spot immediately. My favourite was coffee tasting. Not easy to find here, but as the Finns drink more coffee than any other nation, they even had coffe yoghurt! I was in heaven, when not on my bike!

 

[Baggy]

For electrolytes, and suggestions on a product please?

NUUN is pretty good, it's not packed with sweeteners and there is a wide range of flavours.

 

[Mitz]

Thanks for that all, I'll do some searching based on what you said

 

[Gingerbloke]

Also High 5 Zero is a good one. Bananas, flapjacks, gels, glucose tablets, biscuits, fig rolls, anything like that. I found it hard to get enough food down me for the first couple of days, from then on though, I was eating like a horse.

 

[Kirstie]

We did a similar schedule to you ie 75+ miles a day over 14 days with no rest day. We used to have a good breakfast of complex carbs (porridge and toast) and in the morning used to eat more complex carbs as snacks when on the road. The Torq enery bars are good as are flap jacks. Then after a decent lunch the afternoons we used to eat more simple carbs like energy gels (again, torq were our favourite, but also smart 1 as they have caffeine in them) and top ourselves up with tangfastics towards the end .

We just had water in our bottles, not electrolyte. I don't think Nuuns had come out then but Ive had them since and would recommend them. During the final days when we were really tired I also found a recovery drink in the evening very helpful indeed. They are pretty horrible tasting but you should force yourself if you can. You can get these in single sachets from bike shops on the way - we stocked up in Innerleithen - if you don't want to carry them. I must say these were a godsend.

 

[Gingerbloke]

During the final days when we were really tired I also found a recovery drink in the evening very helpful indeed. They are pretty horrible tasting but you should force yourself if you can. You can get these in single sachets from bike shops on the way - we stocked up in Innerleithen - if you don't want to carry them. I must say these were a godsend.

Really second the recovery drinks, get them down you within the first 15 - 30 mins after getting off the bike.....!!!!!

 

[Mitz]

They aint cheap these energy drinks, gels and bars are they!

 

[Broadside]

That is the downside - cost. You can make your own energy drink by buying the right stuff from MyProtein.co.uk, there are some good recipe threads on this forum let me know if you can't find them.I just buy the gels, they are still expensive but used sparingly they are very handy indeed,very quick to pull one out in an emergency if you didn't manage to fuel your ride right with other foods like flapjack, bananas, jelly babies and the other usual suspects...

 

[Broadside]

Oh, and alot of people recommend the off-the-shelf supermarket/newsagent chocolate milkshakes as a good post ride recovery drink. Nice and cheap.

 

[Rebel Ian]

The electrolyte drinks are much of a muchness I've found. I used both Accelerade and Viper on our ride. Couldn't differentiate between the two really.

However, as for recovery drinks I can absolutely recommend Forgoodnessshakes. Just mix with water - the berry flavour one tastes like strawberry Nesquik - yummy!! We made a point of consuming one as soon as we finished each day - they really do make a difference to how you feel in the morning.