energy drinks

I get really tired on my longer cycles, probably because I dont know
anything about nutrition and tend to have a bag of chips and can of
coke after about 4 hours. There must be a better way than this. What
is a carbohydrate drink, can I make myself? What do other people do?

wrote:
I get really tired on my longer cycles, probably because I dont know
anything about nutrition and tend to have a bag of chips and can of
coke after about 4 hours. There must be a better way than this. What
is a carbohydrate drink, can I make myself? What do other people do?

Eat more often. I tend to munch fairly constantly on low GI foods.
Highly processed food is likely to not do you so much good (ie
chocolate).

I'm pretty impressed that you can do four hours before eating.

A carbohydrate drink is one that contains carbohydrate. It is basically
liquid fuel but you can do pretty much the same with water and solid
food. Most sports drinks tend to go for salt replacement ('isotonic',
or as my better half puts it, 'lemon flavoured sweat') which is also a
good thing.

Basically, follow the dictum of the Cake and Tea Club [1] and never
pass an open cafe.

...d

[1] Cyclists Touring Club, the national cyclists organisation.

David Martin wrote:

Eat more often. I tend to munch fairly constantly on low GI foods.
Highly processed food is likely to not do you so much good (ie
chocolate).

Aye, but it's nice ... Maya Gold ...

Basically, follow the dictum of the Cake and Tea Club

Coffee, Tea and Cakes, Shirley

J

wrote:
There must be a better way than this. What
is a carbohydrate drink, can I make myself? What do other people do?

I use Maxim, which I buy from a local health shop - it comes as a big
carton of white powder, you just add a couple of scoops to your water
bottle - though I sometimes use diluted fruit juice (mixed 50:50 with
water) instead, which is probably just as good at giving you energy. I
avoid fizzy drinks cos they make me feel bloated.

Food-wise, chips aren't great because they will fill you up without
giving you a lot of useful energy. If you are going to stop for food,
aim for a traditional cafe and choose something like beans on toast,
cake, toasted teacake, rice pudding - it's no coincidence that these
are the favourite dishes of cyclists throughout the ages.

Fruit is particularly good for energy. I usually carry for snacking en
route: an apple or two (cut into small pieces), bananas, dried
apricots, raisins. Mango is supposed to be especially good energy food,
but could be a bit messy.

Soreen malt loaf is another favourite energy snack of mine - I usually
carry at least a few slices on long rides.

Energy bars are expensive and don't taste all that great, but they are
at least conveniently packaged so I often carry a couple in my back
pocket for emergencies. Actually, I tend to use the gels rather than
the bars - they taste utterly revolting but they seem to get to work
very quickly, so are excellent bonk rations.

However, I've come to realise that more important than what you eat and
drink is how often you eat and drink - frequent sips of drink are
especially important.

And if you are going out for the day, don't forget to have a really
good breakfast before you set off - a big bowl of porridge will keep
you going for hours.

d.

"David Martin" typed


Basically, follow the dictum of the Cake and Tea Club [1] and never
pass an open cafe.

Barnet Cyclists' motto 'Noli popinam praeterire' (rough translation
'Never pass up a cafe') is emblazoned on its T-shirts.

Eat and drink every hour on the road. It's amazing how long you'll be
able to continue when you do.
Carbohydrates are sugars and starches. I don't like sugary drinks because:
1) They don't adequately quench my thirst.
2) They leave my teeth furry and prone to decay.
3) They attract wasps etc
4) If spilt on the bike, they make it sticky and yucky.

You will get starch in bread, pasta, cake, potatoes, rice and cereals.

I like diet squash and chocolate milk drinks. I don't expect you to
share my tastes. I like porridge, muesli and flapjacks. Sometimes a
portion of porridge doesn't keep me going long though.

Find something cheap that you like eating and does not come to
bits/melt/degenerate when you take it with you cycling.

Someone will come along in a minute and recommend malt loaf/rice
pudding/tinned peaches & custard...

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

in message .com,
') wrote:

I get really tired on my longer cycles, probably because I dont know
anything about nutrition and tend to have a bag of chips and can of
coke after about 4 hours. There must be a better way than this. What
is a carbohydrate drink, can I make myself? What do other people do?

You almost certainly can make them yourself, there must be recipes
somewhere. I'm a fairly recent convert to the things, but they certainly
work; I've been using 'Go' brand stuff, which is probably quite
expensive for what it is. The 'tropical' and 'lemon and lime' flavours
are palatable. Gels are utterly horrid - very unpleasant in texture,
over sweet and claggy in the mouth - but when you really run out of
energy they are very effective.

But ordinary cereal bars are very good if you eat them in time, and both
cheaper and more palatable. Or malt loaf, or flapjack, or banana.

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
Iraq war: it's time for regime change...
... go now, Tony, while you can still go with dignity.
[update 18 months after this .sig was written: it's still relevant]

If this is a repeat it's because i seemed to fail to send the first.

In addition to the above may I add my usual regime:lots of porridge or
toast and a pint of water or squash, then set off and take a slice of
bread with honey or jam and 500ml to 750ml water or weak squash each
hour.If it's very hot or you intend to go near your cramp limit put
2.5ml (half a level teaspoon) salt in each litre.I don't use extra salt
often.If you see a nice cake eat it.
The honey or jam sandwiches are wrapped each in a snappy bag so you can
open and eat one handed .
I take a toothbrush on long rides.
TerryJ
TerryJ

wrote in message
oups.com...
I get really tired on my longer cycles, probably because I dont know
anything about nutrition and tend to have a bag of chips and can of
coke after about 4 hours. There must be a better way than this. What
is a carbohydrate drink, can I make myself? What do other people do?


I couldn't function for four hours without eating or drinking.

I use PSP a proprietry energy powder mixed at 10% concentration and in a
days's ride will typically get through 4.5 litres of fluid - 3 litres in a
Camelback Mule and 1.5 litres in two 750 ml bottles. My record was 6 litres
on the Easingwold 100 audax where the drinks were supplemented with 500 ml
of milk, 500 ml coca cola and 500 ml lucozade.

My food rations were cheap ASDA energy bars and bananas with the odd slice
of malt loaf and I made a point of eating every hour. I was never hungry or
thirsty.

On my LEJOG ride I found that I performed better the next day if I stopped
for fish and chips at five then had a pasta meal around nine. Tinned
custard and/or rice pudding, sorry Deborah, are good cheap sources of
calories and I resorted to these on more than one day and found them to do
the job.

Eating and drinking regularly on a ride will dramaticall alter your riding
for the better.

PS caffeine makes you wee, which is inconvenient and a waste of water
and salt.
TerryJ

vernon wrote:
On my LEJOG ride I found that I performed better the next day if I stopped
for fish and chips at five then had a pasta meal around nine.

I think the key point here is that as well as all the snacky food, you
should stop at proper mealtimes and have a proper meal - just like the
cricketers do.

d.