[Closed] Fuelling for long road rides.

Are you smashing round the course in one hit? Otherwise: "Rider Pit Stops will be stocked with both sweet and savoury bites, fruit, water and energy products (gels and drink). Although Pit Stops will endeavour to cater for all, if riders have specific nutritional or dietary requirements, we strongly recommend that they bring with them suitable sustenance for their ride. Exact Pit Stop locations will be available in the Rider Info Guide, published online closer to the event."

Banana ~30mins before ride, with ~500ml of water, which will inevitably mean at least a #1 just as you think you are ready to leave!

Jelly Baby every ~15mins after riding for ~60mins into ride.

Swig of water every ~15mins from ~60mins into ride, more frequent if warm day and/or really putting down the power on say a categorised hill climb.

I'd expect the food stations to have plenty of water topup facilities at the very least.

Energy bar/banana/cereal bar every half hour...gels in last 2 hours or so. Dilute energy powder in bottles.

Use the feed stations.

100 miles roughly equals 6 hours, so decent brekkie, summit like a bar just before the start and a bar every hour along with some drink, refill the bottles when empty.

Too hard to say how much you'll drink as if it's bouncing hot you'll drink loads, if it's not you'll be making yourself drink.

There are stops on the route and if they're full/to busy (they were last time) there are also shops.

If you do exactly as I did last time it would look like:
Big bowl of porridge for breakfast
Energy bar just before the start
2 x 550ml bottle of electrolyte on the bike and 3 gels on your pocket
Ignore first 2 feed stops as they were rammed
Stop at a shop, buy 1.5l of water (drink some, fill up bottles with rest) along with a large sausage roll, a Lion Bar and a Sorreen bar. Eat.
Ignore 3rd stop as it's also rammed
Grab a gel or 2 to see you through as you approach 80 miles
Finish
Pint and a burger.

No need to over complicate things or be overly concerned about it, you'll find a way. This is also my "strategy" for long solo rides, if I'm not riding in the wilderness then I just make sure I have a few bits on me and then stop at a shop. And also have a pint at the end, purely for re-hydration purposes you understand.

Depends on how you plan to ride it.

I've done RideLondon with zero stops in 4hrs just fuelling off gels and 2 water bottles and accepting that I'll need to recover and rehydrate a bit afterwards but if you want to have proper food, a bit of a stretch, refill bottles etc then you'll be using the provided feed stations which breaks thre ride down into 4 rides of 25 miles each. On that sort of relatively flat terrain, you can easily go 25 miles on one water bottle unless it really is scorching hot and you should only need one bar across that time at most (maybe even half a bar). Worth packing a gel for emergencies.

Which means half a bar over the first 25 miles, starting at around 10 miles in and a bottle of water or your preferred energy drink.
Stop at feed station, refill bottle, have some proper food.
Repeat with the other half of the bar.

If you want to be really prepared, cut the bar in half before you set off, that means it's easily accessible and you don't need to faff with trying to open the wrapper.

I would have ... a good breakfast...two full bottles(710) with an electrolyte/juice/water mix..banana..two energy bars..two gels..some spare electrolyte tablets (in a bit of clingfilm).
..some 'just in case' money.

Personally, I avoid gels and other sugary quick hit type fuels until right at the end. I don't want the big sugar high followed by the inevitable crash that follows.

What's the furthest you've ridden? The closer it is to 100 miles the better you'll know how to fuel yourself. (As well as how long it's likely to take: some people will knock that out in under 5 hours, others will take 8 or 9. If you're like me you can find yourself at various points in that range at different times of life 🙂 )

Everyone's different. For instance on a mild day I can regularly go 50 miles before wanting a drink, but equally if I don't eat something reasonably substantial every 4 hours I start to suffer. Whereas I know people who will keep going on gels and energy drink, but they just make me feel queasy and thirsty.

If in doubt I'd say make sure you're well hydrated during the day or two before the ride, have a fairly stout breakfast, and take a small bag stuffed with things that are energy-rich but which will make you feel like you've actually eaten something (unlike gels, chocolate or Haribo, which have the energy but IME don't dampen hunger… spend some time finding a good chewy cereal bar or flapjack).

Speaking as an "average punter", 6 hour-ish cruising pace veteran of two RideLondons and one VeloBrum, my approach is:

- Big carby (so probably pasta) dinner the night before, with a beer (just the one though) if you fancy it
- Big bowl of muesli and probably a banana for breakfast, and a coffee (cos it'll be sparrow's fart o'clock, and I'll need to wake up)
- Only take one 750ml bottle, there's loads of places to refill. Assuming mild-ish weather, look to finish a bottle every 25 miles-ish. Drink little and often. I just have water and possibly add any freebie electrolyte tabs that you usually get.
- The redundant bottle cage is handy for holding balled up arm-warmers and a thin gilet (cos it'll be nippy at the start). This frees space in pockets for...
- Real food, not gels; in the past I've had a couple of cheese rolls or peanut butter and jam on tortilla wraps (they were quite dry though), wrapped in the dead thin plastic bags you get at the veg bit in the supermarket; easy to get at and eat on the move. Also Nakd bars, fig rolls, bananas, that kind of thing. All stuffed in jersey pockets. Rough eating schedule of a bar/couple of figrolls at 15/35/55/75 miles-ish, sarnie at 25/45/65 miles-ish. Very rough though, might also grab and eat/pocket a banana or flapjack or whatever's going at one of the feed stations.

It's worked for me.

Oh, and I'm doing VeloBrum this year too, started training last weekend (I may have left it a little late, gulp...)

100 miles: 2x 1L SIS bottles with lemon and berry with caffeine. Four gels and four bars of something easy#. A banana can replace a bar but eat it early. Gel on the line, and use a double esspresso gel 40 minutes before the finish. That should see you to four hours.

Eat something every 40 minutes, add a little drink to wash it down.

And BIG BOWL OF PORRIDGE at least an hour before you start. 3x Oatibix also works. Add a banana. It's a slow release. If I'm not racing it, I'd probabably halve the food, but would still eat the porridge.

#peanut butter bars for me. I can't really chew when riding. Also Nak'd bars are a nice treat.

I'm no racing snake at all so I'm planning on just getting round but would like to get round as fast as I can with as little stopping. Up to about 60 miles at the moment

I’m no racing snake at all so I’m planning on just getting round but would like to get round as fast as I can with as little stopping.

Fancy a riding buddy? 🙂

Oh, and I’m doing VeloBrum this year too, started training last weekend (I may have left it a little late, gulp…)

I'm taking the same approach as last time, which was not riding my bike at all and training for a marathon. I then do 1 panicked long ride to prove my saddle is still comfortable and that's it.
This years is 1 week before a marathon, not exactly ideal but it is what it is.

Big bowl of porridge for breakfast

This plus a bit of training and you'll be fine. 100 miles isn't really that far on a road bike.

100 miles isn’t really that far on a road bike.

mmmmrrrrrraaaaa,,, its quite far.

fill your pockets with tasty stuff!

If you're riding in a group you'll be reet, I find shock blox are great for banging on the way round, less messy than gels and easier to keep on top of. I generally have a sandwich in my pockets for a stop or two.

If i'm riding on my own i'll just stop at a pub, grab a pint of beer, pint of coke and as many bar snacks as i can carry 😀

and as many bar snacks as i can carry

Got to be tricky, given that you're riding with a pint in each hand.

I recently did an experiment. Sat on the rollers at 80% of my FTP for 30 mins. I weighed myself before and after. At room temp I sweated out 250 grams. Thats actually a hell of a lot. Makes you realise how important it is just to drink, nevermine put energy back in.

Anyway, back to your question, it really depends on what you plan to do. Race it or just ride it. I did a solo 6hrs last year and actually ate too much.

So either experiment before, or just wing it.

At room temp I sweated out 250 grams. Thats actually a hell of a lot. Makes you realise how important it is just to drink, nevermine put energy back in.

Yes, but... on rollers you don't have the passing breeze cooling you down, so you sweat more (from my experience A LOT more) to keep cool than you would riding out on the road,

But still, the point about having to drink regularly stands.

It really depends.

I think as a less experienced rider I needed to fuel a lot. Nowadays I can get round 50 miles before even thinking about eating. But then speed, terrain and all the rest of it are factors too.

For me, 2 bottles of energy drink and a coffee stop are my rough average liquid consumption anything between 80-130 miles. In the dead of winter I can return from the latter distance with fluids left over. On a hot day I will drink much more (or suffer uncomfortably!)

Food wise I might have a sandwich and half a dozen energy bars. I think generally, someone who spends a lot of time riding bikes has the capacity to draw from their body's energy resources without fuelling too much, provided the pace is steady away. If you're gunning it, it becomes more important to fuel consistently and regular (I'd personally be aiming for at least every half hour).

Normally I'm very self-sufficient, but if doing organised events I'll make full use of the feed stations nowadays and only carry a couple of bars of my own.

Big bowl of porridge for breakfast

This plus a bit of training and you’ll be fine. 100 miles isn’t really that far on a road bike.

😀😀😀😀

Dont listen to this!!!

Ihn what sort of time do you think you'll make it round there? I'm doing it on my jack at the moment. Times are hard and friends are few

If 100 miles isn't that far I'm wondering what is?!

If 100 miles isn’t that far I’m wondering what is?!

All a question of perspective.
To an experienced Audax rider or elite level road racer, no it isn't far.
To the average club rider, while probably not being anything to write home about, it's still a fair undertaking needing at least a modicum of forward planning.
To an occasional leisure cyclist who's accepted the challenge to raise money for [insert charity of choice], it's a massive undertaking needing a fair bit of training.

I did 21 century rides in 2018 (plus one double century) and none of them were "easy" - they all required some willpower, preparation and occasional moments of suffering.

And that's why you're called crazy legs? Impressive stuff! I've never been much of a road rider in the past and have mainly done down hill and weightlifting so I'm not built for the road I'm built by greggs

100 miles is always quite far its about 100miles. Unless you go at real pootling pace you will need to eat. Even back before my hip issues when I thought of 200miles as a big day 100miles was still an undertaking. For someone like the op who hasnt done it before it will need some thought on what to eat. I did a sportive with mrs anagallis last summer and it was her first. Eating every 30mins seemed to work for her with only resorting to gels in the last hour.

Ihn what sort of time do you think you’ll make it round there? I’m doing it on my jack at the moment. Times are hard and friends are few

Sorry chap, only just seen this. Based on experience and current form, I reckon I'll be doing it in about 6-6.5 hours. To be honest though, you're probably best doing it on your own, because then you can go at exactly the pace you want to go at, and there's generally enough riders around you and people cheering at the side of the road to look after the morale bit.

Saying that, if you see someone on a Ritchey Road Logic that looks a bit like this:

wearing a Refreshers shirt like this

Say hello and offer a pull/sit on the wheel as appropriate 🙂

Top-tip actually- make a point of engaging with the people watching; say thank you to people clapping, high-five kids at the side of the road as you ride past, that kind of thing. It raises your spirits and gives the event a 'buzz' that can only help similar events happen in the future. Plus, the closed roads will cause levels of inconvenience for the residents on or near the route, so showing some appreciation and gratitude is just, you know, nice.