What to eat and when..

[ray316]

As you may gather by my recent posts l fairly new to cycling and want to get into the right condition on and off the bike.
So can someone answer some questions l have...
1. what food is best for cycling/stamina and muscle building.

2. when is it the best time to eat.. before or after

3. How often during the day to eat.. 3 times a day or often on small snacks.

4.Are there any health bars/drinks you should take while cycling.

5. How many litres of water should you be drinking in a day..

 

[sabian92]

I don't know anything about eating, but I do know you should be aiming for around 4 litres a day (about 8 pints) of water or cordial. Coke or beer doesn't count.

 

[crumpetman]

What time of day will you be riding and for what distance? This will have some impact on what you eat.

I only cycle to work and back, takes about 50 minutes each way and I eat/drink the same as if I am driving instead of cycling.

 

[NormanD]

1. what food is best for cycling/stamina and muscle building.

2. when is it the best time to eat.. before or after

A Nice pasta meal the night before is good for slow energy release while cycling the day after (depends on distance) if you eat anything before you go out cycling then make sure you give a good hour to two hours before venturing out. after the ride if still hungry then eat anything you like   

3. How often during the day to eat.. 3 times a day or often on small snacks.

Again depends if you're feeling hungry or not

4.Are there any health bars/drinks you should take while cycling.

Myself depending on the distance (Above 50 miles) I'll carry a few nature valley bars and a couple of Lucozade body fuel energy drinks (In camelbak) and a Isotonic drink in my water bottle.

5. How many litres of water should you be drinking in a day..

There's not set limit as we're all different, but most will keep themselves hydrated before/during and after a long cycle ride ... Dehydration is a real energy sapper so if you think you don't need a drink then have one, say a mouthful every few miles should be fine

Most of the above all depend on a number of factors 

1. distance you do in your training I.E 0-10 miles then light snack stuff : 10-50 miles a few energy bars  : 50-100 miles then a nice long stop off at a good cafe and lots of cake   

2. the amount of energy you're putting into your rides I.E cycling up large steep hills or doing speed distance

3. your fitness level, the more your body becomes accustom to the training and distance the higher your level of fitness increases and the less you require to maintain the levels
4. it won't take you long to work out what you require and what you don't 

For now have fun cycling and don't worry about what to have and what not to have, until you enter your first 100 miler sports event 

 

[Lien Sdrawde]

I'm glad you asked this. Most of the stuff ive searched for seems to be aimed at proper athletes.

 

[ray316]

What time of day will you be riding and for what distance? This will have some impact on what you eat.

I only cycle to work and back, takes about 50 minutes each way and I eat/drink the same as if I am driving instead of cycling.

l go cycling mostly early evening time before l eat and go cycling for around 15 to 20 miles ...

 

[jimboalee]

No-one can readily tell you how much to eat and when.
After several months of cycling, you will recognise your limitations and the level of exertion you need to get through a ride.

If you are new to cycling, it will be your muscular endurance that will limit the duration of your rides. No amount of sugary foods will help you.
Once you have steadily increased your distance to a 50 km ride of 2 hours, you can then start to worry about nutrition.

Regular evening 50s would not require any special foods. Your body has warmed up during the day and your breakfast and mid-day meal have digested nicely. You will have had a bowel movement so you are in a perfect state to ride 50 km 'straight off'.

You will be finishing during the evening. A high protein meal will assist muscular repair. Don't restock carbs in the evening, they will go straight to fat storage.

Don't rattle it TOO fast, you will have difficulty sleeping.

 

[Brandane]

I don't know anything about eating, but I do know you should be aiming for around 4 litres a day (about 8 pints) of water or cordial. Coke or beer doesn't count.

Is this not a "how long is a piece of string?" subject?

If I was to drink 4 litres of water a day, then I would have to carry a toilet around with me!
Depends on a lot of factors though. On a cold day, when I'm not doing any exercise, then I would probably drink less than 2 litres.
On the other hand, if I was in a tropical climate and out for a 50 mile cycle involving hills, then it would be a lot more than 4 litres.
Your body will soon tell you when you need to drink, long before you get dehydrated.

 

[zacklaws]

I presume you are referring to drinking whilst riding, if so its supposed to be about a litre an hour. I cannot remember the correct figure but its only about a 2% loss in body fluids and its around a 3% reduction in muscular endurance time. I do a lot of 100+ mile rides solo and only carry 2 x 750ml bottles of drink. Because I am solo, it becomes hard to find somewhere to replenish my supplies, as I do not carry a big lock, I need to find a safe shop where I know my bike will still be outside when I come out of the shop. And if I cannot, then I have to keep going, but the drink is always planned out to last me the full ride for such an enventuallity and not consumed in the first 50 miles, I need fluid to last till at least the last 5 miles, so drink has to be rationed.

The effects it has on me if I do not replen is, I start to tire around the 70 mile mark and when I get to the 90's, headaches start to set in and hallucinations sometimes. When I am lucky and can buy an additional litre of water, I am OK till I get to 90 miles before I start suffering. On long ride's I always weigh myself before and after to see what my weight loss is, and it is always around 5lb - 6lb, which oddly enough equates to around a 2%- 3% loss in fluids, my bodyweight being around 213lb. Therefore as water weighs 10lb a gallon, I have lost the equivalent of 4pts of fluid. On getting home, I will try to replace all that fluid as soon as I can, my first pint of water will always contain at least half a gramme to a gramme of salt. Despite drinking about 4 pints of water and weeing clear afterwards for the rest of the day and night, a day later I can see that I am still dehydrated as my wee will be dark orange again, so I still have to drink more than what I lost on the ride.

But at the end of the day a lot depends on how far you are riding and how hard, and the actual temperature you are riding in, plus what you wear, too much clothes and you'll overheat, thus more perspiration.

Once you have done a few rides, and took some weight measurements, you soon know what your envelope for cycling is, go out of it and then you have to start planning your rides.

 

[jimboalee]

60 kCals per mile and 1 cm^3 H2O lost per 4 kCals equals 15 cm^3 per mile.

100 miles is 1500 cm^3 H2O lost = 2 x 750 ml bottles of Water.

@ 16 Deg C !!!!

 

[crumpetman]

l go cycling mostly early evening time before l eat and go cycling for around 15 to 20 miles ...

Personally, I would not do anything specific for that other than have a drink of water before heading out. I do 12.5 miles from work to home and then have a nice dinner within an hour of getting home.

You'd be surprised what your body is capable of without having to start taking in extra fuel. I usually just have a large cup of tea in the morning, ride to work, have some breakfast at my desk. Then just snacks and lunch and ride home for dinner.

I think you just need to concentrate on a healthy balanced diet.

 

[battered]

You should do whatever makes you comfortable. As a general rule drinking little and often is best, if you wait till you are thirsty it's too late. On eating, if you ride in the venings for an hour or two you don't need to do anything special. Make sure you get a decent lunch. I don't think you need to buy any special "snake oil" type energy bars, if you like the way they taste then well and good but a sandwich is nutritionally just as sound.

A lot of people favour milk drinks for recovery, this is a good idea. I would avoid the excessively sugary ones, a nice glass of semi skimmed will do the job. If you like the chocolate flaboured ones, you can always mix them 50/50 with proper milk, that way they are less sugary...and you get 2!

 

[Camgreen]

I always start the day with a large bowl of porridge & dried fruit, maybe a slice or two of toast & marmite if I'm cycling anything over 40 miles. I'd like to admit I wash it down with a pint or so of water, but in truth it's usually a mug or two of coffee.

Will usually take a combination of a banana and biscuits/energy bars, maybe some malt loaf.

Liquid-wise I'll take a couple of water bottles of weak juice or water. Must confess I don't pay enough attention to my hydration and don't always take a drink until I stop for a breather or an enforced break like a level crossing etc. Not that it has done me any harm so far, but little an often is the watch word I'd say.

 

[Jaguar]

Personally, I would not do anything specific for that other than have a drink of water before heading out. I do 12.5 miles from work to home and then have a nice dinner within an hour of getting home.

I'd agree with that. You certainly don't need to go buying lots of sport drinks and crappy energy bars. Just eat normal food (healthy food). Orange juice diluted 50/50 with water is good for replacing energy & salts etc.

Keep an eye on your weight: if you start losing too much, you need to eat more.

 

[jimboalee]

You don’t have to take any notice of this.



Get out of bed. Swallow down Vit and Min tablets with diet Coke.

Ride to work 14 miles. 40g All Bran with whole milk & 4 Espressos Americano with whole milk.

Mid morning, 4 fried eggs, two sausages and two slices black pudding. Another coffee.

Lunch, soup of the day and a 40g bag of crisps.

Afternoon, another coffee.

Ride home 14 or more miles.

500g of meat ( chicken breast, steak mince, pork loins or rump steak ) fried in butter with black pepper, cayenne pepper, ginger and a dash of Tabasco sauce or a good dash of Levi Roots’ Reggae Reggae Sauce.

Evening snack, 150g cheese ( usually Stilton ) with diet Coke and sliced apple.