eating on the bike

People eat a wide range of things. You can experiment and see what works best for you. If you're training for a long race then it helps at some point to do a few higher intensity longer rides and make sure your favored nutrition works for you--what works for a more leisurely ride doesn't always sit well at race intensity. The key concept is easily digestible, portable, and tasty. If price matters then some options are cheaper than others. Ideas to start with might include:

*energy bars (I find the less sweet ones go down better). Downside--may need lots of water to get down.
*granola or cereal bars (cheaper than above ,sometimes) Same downside plus tend to self-destruct.
*gu or gel or chomps (sport nutrition stuff). Easy to carry and eat; rather expensive; taste may be too sweet for some.
*fresh fruit like bananas, dried fruit and nuts (probably not good in a race as harder to eat)
*peanut butter sandwiches, or PB on rice cakes or crackers (messy for races)
*fig newtons and similar
*my 70+ cyclist mom, who hates sweet stuff, swears by Chex spicy party mix with almonds. Makes me too thirsty, but she seems to be a camel. You could try it! No need for sodium in your drinks if doing this stuff.
*pretzel sticks (see above)

Hope this is useful. If all else fails, you could just get your calories from liquids like Infinite. Or move to Vietnam and stop for noodles and coconuts.

I find PB&J to be really good on the bike. You can cut it into quarters and eat on the go. Also you can substitute honey for the jelly, and/or add banana slices. Dried fruit is also really good. Dates are full of carbs.

Basically it just comes down to trying a bunch of different things and seeing what works.

I have had more success drinking more of my calories . I use the Perpetuem drink ( hammer product) as multi hour drink but many here use a multi hour Infinit drink. As for eating - I found the Honey Stinger Waffles to be much easier to digest than Cliff Bars ( which melt in the heat too)and I'm also a fan of the HoneyStinger Chews. if you're not a fan of the sweet stuff PB & J sandwiches work , many also swear by uncrustables. I also use some of the portables recipes from the Allan Lim cookbook the Feed Zone - the rice bars are really easy to digest and are easy to carry if you can get the texture right! It's likely you will need to try a number of different things until you find what works for you. Chex Mix certainly sounds interesting!

Sorry about the lack of paragraphs in my last post - the iPad removed them all!

X2 for the Honey Stinger Waffles. Easy to eat and digest.

You might also consider Carbopro in your drinks. It works well for me.

This last Saturday after a 4hr ride a friend offered me some of her snacks. They were a salty pretzel on the outside (about 3/4" x 3/4") with a bit of peanut butter on the inside. They were kind of dry so you need to drink with them but they tasted good and would travel well in a bento box. She said she got them from Costco.

On the same ride my wife acting as our Sherpa brought along "Ginger Mound" cookies which were really popular...I only got one!! And, bananas are always popular as well.

I've been experimenting with the feed zone portables book..
I love the egg, rice, Parmesan cheese cakes...

2 bites done.. About 150 calories each, easy to swallow.

Mix 6 eggs
Pour into muffin pan
Add rice (about 1/3 the muffin)
Drizzle cheese on top.

Bake for 8-10 mins.

True yum and easy on the tummy and not messy.

I have been pounding the rice waffles (from "The Feed Zone") with peanut butter, peanut butter & jelly, and peanut butter & honey being my favorite. Also like the Allen rice bars. Tried the chocolate peanut coconut rice cakes, while are good, prefer the previous recipes.

Both girlfriend and I have been eating these and have had no GI issues.

I have been using Water, Honey, and Salt in place of sports drinks.

Just ordered the Feed Zone Portables book.

Normally use Picky Bars, but recently purchased the Feed Zone Portables cook book as well and look forward to trying some of those recipes.

Depends on the time of day and how long the ride is, but if I take something it's usually some kind of Kashi bar (or a couple) and one of my protein bars. They're my regular snacks for the day anyway so I pretty much eat whatever I would have normally during that time period.

Actually I recall one particular bike ride warming up for a tempo repeat set while chomping on a chicken sandwich from Chick-fil-a. So you can imagine I don't have many stomach issues on the bike.

cookies.  Or PB&J sandwich.  But usually cookies

I have gone on a few rides using the Feedzone Portables recipe for blueberries and chocolate rice cakes, except I switched out blueberries for peanut butter. So it is peanut butter and chocolate rice cakes, and I have had no issues. My stomach is pretty sensitive.

That is the only recipe I have tried so far, and am looking forward to trying others.

take a look at feedzone portables I love both of the books

I have discovered those squeezable applesauce (think kids lunchboxes) that are perfect. Look for all natural no sugar added etc...about 16-20 carbs for a lil natural portable energy, fits perfect in jersey pocket and I freeze tem so they will be cool about an our in to my ride. Twist off lid...squeeze and suck it up! better on the stomach than GU and all natural!

Try some Hammer Sustained Energy mixed with some Heed. You can easily make yourself a 550-750 calorie bottle which should satisfy you for 2-3 hour rides. Bonk Breaker bars broken up into smaller bite size pieces also work. Spread a bar out over 1.5 hours.

i hadn't thought about that, but it totally makes sense...one of my favorite post-workout snacks is applesauce with some almonds and sliced ham

Edited by austhokie 2013-07-02 1:41 PM