[Closed] 24 hour solo - eating strategy?

The clue is in your username... 🙂

I swear by a cashew and raisin mix for out on the trail

the night before, get a good 3 courses down you including pasta

Carbs /proteins/ whatever you can stomach

you should know from doing 12 hour and 6 hour solo rides already....

if not, good luck to ya, and eat lots of simple digestible carbs, with intermittent protien/carb bars.
when i say lots i mean lots , every hour.

dont forget electrolytes if not already in your food/carb mix.

If you can be bothered, I would put a bit of time and effort into getting a food plan sorted.

Luckily my mate did Relentless 24 solo the year before I did it, so I pretty much just copied his plan. Can't remember the specifics, but it was very precise, making sure every hour you got the right about of carbs/calories/etc. Every lap (just over an hour) I took something in, according to what the plan said, whether it was a plate of pasta or a spoon of peanut butter.

And it worked. I didn't train for the race (signed up 4 days before), hadn't ridden further than about 30km/4hours before, and came 6th in my category. I didn't bonk, felt good the whole time, and my last lap was my quickest (which would suggest I should have pushed harder earlier on..). Started having more gels towards the end which were pretty horrid.

You need some decent support to get the food arranged and cooked at the right time though.

An old favourite of my dad's when he was doing long Audax was honey and date sandwiches. Lovely - still make a few up if I'm going on a long 'un.

Cheers

Danny B

my fastest lap was my quickest

I've found that too... 😉 One thing, don't try eating or drinking anything you've not used successfully in training. I use Nuun in alternate bottles for electrolytes, I don't like energy drinks, but it all depend on what works for you.

Thanks for comments so far. Have already done 12hr and 6hr efforts and gone for 1x gel and 1x 750ml bottle of powder per hour till 4hrs when I take in proper food which sits really well like pasta or porridge. Then back to gel and bottle per hour for a few hours.

Will be testing out my feeding this weekend, so that should help too.

Duane, sounds like you did well. You must have been chuffed.

During the race... Little and often!

Mix it up a bit, you will crave different things at different times, but you should get some food in you every single lap. Not facefulls, but at least a couple of mouthfuls.

Having someone to prep the food (and your bike) for you every single lap can be the difference between not finishing, and doing very well.

Too many people in 24hr racing go out fast thinking they'll stop after 6hrs to get a big feed in, then go for another few hours. You won't be surprised that their lap times fade dramatically quite quickly and they often don't finish well!

BWD, haha doh, edited 😛

And yeah, I hadn't used gels/enery bars/energy powder for water much before at all, so using a large amount (think I had about £40 worth) so suddenly wasn't ideal.

Depends on how competitive you are. I took an hour off 3 times for proper meals. Each lap I had some high-energy race nutrition (cakes). I was delighted with a top-half finish. If you're aiming higher my civilised approach probably isn't the best bet.

Pre-race I carb loaded.

Post-race I moved house.

I did SITS last year - first solo 24 and came 8th. My plan was to eat proper food interspersed with the typical energy food. Not only for energy, but for something to aim for.

Typically, for fluids I alternated between energy drink, hydration tabs and water

For food, I made sure I had a little every other lap - gel, banana, mini home made cheese and potato pasty, thai sticky rice balls with soy sauce etc. Real mixture of sweet and savoury but something I could just grap and go/eat on the move.

Every 6 hours I'd stop for something more substantial depending on how I was feeling - including a full cooked breakfast at 5am to keep the spirits up!

I felt fine throughout the event in terms of energy - knee pain was a different matter. There are 'problems' which can arise beyond 12 hours which you will not have encountered before. Try to fix then as soon as you notice them otherwise they can make things miserable!

I always seem to go well with a breakfast of beans on toast. Don't go for a fry up as its hard to digest and sits in your stomach. During the race, whatever you fancy. As a quick and easy meal stop, tinned ravioli seems to go down well.

Oh - and I was completely UNsupported - this worked for me to be honest. Don't think that being supported by a team of pit-monkeys is the best strategy for everyone.

I was able to relax into the race and not feel like I was at the mercy of anyone else or bothering anyone else. That said, someone to get a brew every now and again would have been good - but the food tent was always open.

FWIW, I had two very good mates supporting me (one who had done the race the year before, and I supported him, so he knew roughly what I was going through).

I really valued being able to come in, get some food, get my bike cleaned, and have someone to chat to (especially at 3am!).

I put my "success" largely down to a good diet and support.

A banana and energy bar every hour, dilute carb solution in camelback, with a bottle of water on bike. Eat some proper food like jacket spud or burger and chips or whatever that a helper can get for you. Last 6 hours fuelled by Dr Pepper and pork pies

Stuff I like to eat and drink on 12hr rides includes:

Jelly babies,
Milk
Mini cheesecakes
instant noodles
nuts/raisin mix
cereal bars
energy bars
oatcakes with jam and peanut butter (pre-sandwiched)
bananas
soreen malt loaf
jacket potato with beans (often eaten a cold quarter at a time)