[Closed] What to eat immediately before a big ride?

Mince pies.

Protein isn't a good pre ride fuel. It's harder to digest and covert than carbs
In reality it starts the night before, you want to something to replenish glycogen storage (carbs like pasta etc being good at this) but not too many as there is a limit to what you can process and store.
Morning something slow release like musili or porridge, save your protein for after.

Porridge

Wow. I'm surprised you can still ride after eating all that. I'd just have a bowl of muesli, maybe add some berries and yogurt. Might nibble on a cereal bar of some sort after a couple of hours.

additional disclosure - I also have fish and chips the night before a big ride.

All i can say is "less".

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Porridge, possibly with a banana. Take another banana to keep you going.

2-3 soreen bars every hour, good grief!

I can attest that full english breakfast is definitely wrong.

Porridge is the default answer. Or you can soak some oats in yogurt overnight for a similar effect if you don't want to have to use the microwave.

I'd also say you're eating too much over the course of the ride too. For a 60 miler (a guess at the distance you're doing) I reckon I'd normally have a banana or 2 and carry a gel in case I bonk.

bloody hell, how hard/fast are you going for those 3-4 hours?

I did the CYB enduro yesterday on a bowl of rice krispies a bacon butty and a handful of tangfastics

I did the CYB enduro yesterday on a bowl of rice krispies a bacon butty and a handful of tangfastics

Porridge is the default answer. Or you can soak some oats in yogurt overnight for a similar effect if you don't want to have to use the microwave.

I'd also say you're eating too much over the course of the ride too. For a 60 miler (a guess at the distance you're doing) I reckon I'd normally have a banana or 2 and carry a gel in case I bonk.

This - for 3-4 hour rides I'll usually have something like a banana or a cereal bar halfway round, then maybe a gel when there's 45min to go. Depends a bit on how fast I'm going, for example if it were a race I'd have more gels, but for a normal ride that'd be more than enough.

and if you don't like porridge,a couple of weetabix and a banana

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Going out with a full stomach means your body's resources/bloodstream is being diverted from delivering glycogen to your muscles to digesting the contents of your stomach - you have about 2 hours of energy already stored in your bloodstream and simple strategy is to keep topping-up as you ride rather than over-loading at the start. Optimum carb intake is estimated at 1g carbs/kilo bodyweight/hr, but this can be different due to intensity / training. Taking some energy drink and energy-dense food throughout your ride should be sufficient, otherwise current regime is a good recipe for putting on weight!

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Is this just Binners daily food instagram feed?

Porridge.

And then half way through the hardcore hike-a-bike you'll be far more thankful of the pork pie in your pack than some sort of squeezy NASA gel. The only reason NASA didn't take pork pies into space is they're too dense and might cause a black hole.

3-4 hr ride isn't that long. As others have said I'd just have a small amount of carbs before going out Croissant / cereal / bacon roll and maybe a handful of jelly babies or a tracker bar type thing on the ride with some diluted fruit juice to drink

I'd have to go back to bed after a big breakfast like that

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you'll be far more thankful of the pork pie in your pack than some sort of squeezy NASA gel.

I'm also worried how over excited Binners is getting

Bowl of Porridge, Insulin shot, and other nasties, and I'm (good) to go.
Albeit slowly.

I think I'd like to ride with Binners. Thanks all.

2-3 soreen bars every hour, good grief!

Amateur! I once ate 3 full-size loaves in the first 8 hours or so of a 15 hour ride. Didn't fancy them much for the rest of the ride - changed to pies. It's important to keep a balanced diet you see.

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Aye binners has the physique of a God
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.Unfortunately its Bhudda!

Wow do you have a dump halfway,

I eat two slices of toast and take a banana and apple my regular is about 3.5 hours.

Just in case anyone is confusing them with the full size soreen loafs, the soreen lunch bars are pretty small - between 80 and 90 cals each depending on the type.

So eating 2-3 an hour gives a max of 270 cals / 57g of carbs for around 600 cals of energy expenditure.

Over a whole ride I'll burn 1500 cals and will have eaten < 800 cals.

From the advice above I'll switch to porridge before the ride and a kebab afterwards.

You don't have to replace the calories you're buring as you're riding.... It's fun.... but not mandatory 🙂

I'm a big lad and can put the food away, but I'd just need a lie down after the OPs food ritual. I'd never get on the bike.

From the advice above I'll switch to porridge before the ride and a kebab afterwards.

I think the point people are making is that you don't need 800cal for that length of ride.

I can (and do) ride for 30 miles without breakfast or food during the ride and only very occasionally do I bonk. I'm not suggesting this is a sensible strategy for most rides but it's definitely possible and proves you don't need to eat as much as you may think.

Saying that, you might love maltloaf and so use the ride as an excuse to eat loads of it. If that's the case ignore me and others and scoff away.

Poached eggs & bacon on toast with some cherry tomatoes & spinach.

Or leftover curry.

No need for the Kebab

Its not about need. look at the size of this blokes knife, and his manic grin. He wants you to have a kebab.

Have a kebab....

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a 4 egg omelette with some cheese, tomatoes, a bit of leftover chilli and then eat 2-3 soreen "lunchbox" bars every hour of riding - each one has 19g of carbs so probably the max my body can absorb.

I'd change that to 2 eggs, drop the cheese and chilli and add a couple of slices of brown toast, or even better, Danish dark bread.

Porridge gets rated for riding but I find it's too easy to eat a large does of carbs that then cause an insulin spike and a crashing feeling a couple of hours later. If you go for cereal make it a small bowl.

Soreen etc as you ride is ideal ime, try a few less though as 60g of carbs an hour is a fair bit and for long rides you need to get used to using reserves rather than fast food>fuel conversion.
If you're riding early am, try eating a good carbs-based meal the night before then riding within 8-10 hours of eating. You may only need the food during the ride so you can skip breakfast - ride steadily and rely on carb storage for the first hour.

Also,

a 3-4 hour ride in prep for a century ride in the spring.

For big rides, i usually have a decent carb load the day before so the muscles and liver are full of glycogen.

The morning of the ride, a bowl of porridge that provides about 60g of carbs, ideally the decent Scottish rolled oats, not the powdery instant stuff, about 90 mins before the ride to give it time to absorb in to the blood stream, add honey/ seeds/ blueberries etc to give it a bit more taste.

Then once on the bike i aim for 60g of simple carbs an hour usually cereal or energy bars and from drinks, with a gel in pocket in case. If the ride is going to exceed 5-6 hours, then i usually introduce a bit of protein back in, usually in the form of 4:1 High 5 drink which just seems to work for me.

Then after the ride, decent quality recovery drink (SiS Rego) or proper food, such as egg or beans on toast to get some carbs and protein within 30 minutes.

Fuelling in that way has got me through some 250-300 mile rides. You will hear a lot of people say, especially on audax websites, nothing but a pork pie and a sandwich, but if you are taking on fats etc whilst riding then you are just having to digest them as you ride, something some people seem to be able to do, but which i can't without feeling heavy legged.

Generally a bowl of cereal or porridge (one sachet of oats so simple) and a pint of juice.

Saying that on Sunday I did 72km off road after 3 slices of toast with nutella and a snack half way round.

So not a lot really, too much food pre-ride isn't good for you as your body will be too busy digesting it as opposed to fuelling your muscles.

Can I just point out that people's metabolisms and energy usage are different?

So whilst now I can ride a long way on a couple of gels, I couldn't when I was younger. Changes in diet and training changed that.

So all those 'oh just eat a few tangfastics' people - great that works for you, but others will probably bonk. However it's probably a good idea to try to change that, if you want to be doing long rides.

In general though I would suggest eating normally before a big ride and eating during - rather than stuffing my face beforehand.

soreen "lunchbox" bars every hour of riding - each one has 19g of carbs so probably the max my body can absorb.

Rule of thumb is 1g carbs per kg body weight. But that's simple carbs - soreen is probably full of fat and some protein so probably not ideal riding food.

But there's riding and there's riding. Your body responds to 3 hours smashed diffently to 6 hours steady. At least mine does.

If you are taking on fats etc whilst riding then you are just having to digest them as you ride

people's metabolisms and energy usage are different

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Binners ont he way to his next sportive

Me [u]after [/u]several months of training for the century ride

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Actually if it's a 4hr non stop XC style ride by yourself with no pratting around waiting for people etc I think you're on the right track just with the wrong ingredients.

Pre ride meal - convert to carbs - ie porridge and toast

Ride snacks - assuming some drinking then use an energy powder in your bottles. That's a lot of solids to eat so consider changing one of them to a gel an hour and possibly intersperse with half a banana.

A decent 4hr ride is going to be in the region of 2,000-3,000kj. It's generally accepted that that's the same number of calories expended. Doing that on a decent base and topping up is both wise and accepted practice.

I do the same on a Saturday morning - I neck a bowl of porridge have a couple of bits of toast and head straight out. I'm generally doing Z2 for the first hour so I don't feel sick.

@adsh don't you mean "KCal consumed"? The body is somewhere around 20-25% efficient at converting food to energy and it just happens that there's approximately 4.2Kj per KCal so it's relatively easy to work back from energy expenditure to required intake.