LEL entrants, biggest meal during ride to date

[vorsprung]

In the spirit of these "how far" and "how fast" threads for LEL entrants, I'd like to know how you square up to the real challenge of any long distance ride.....Stuffing your face and then riding the other half of the route.

[Greenbank]

Sandwiches maybe, there's always a place for a Ginsters MeatAndFatWrappedInPlastic(TM) pasty/steak-slice/pie.

Liquid Food is Stan's urine. It works for some people and I find it fine for a short fast ride but I'd be in runny poo hell by day 3 of a longer event. I'll probably have an emergency portion of powder just in case I need a kick on a certain leg but it would be an emergency, I'd plan on not relying on any kind of energy drinks at all. The occasional Carb-free Nuun will be used to stave off dehydration.

Beans On Toast is always good. I'm looking forward to some at Bourne on Sunday (~180km into a 300). Simple stuff like that, and soup/roll is always good.

I doubt I'll go any bigger than that. 3 or 4 smallish sized meals a day, plus some low GI snacks on the move and I'll get my 5000kcal to be happy.

Really fatty stuff (like fish and chips, etc) don't do much for me. I've got enough fat stores as it is, I need to be replacing sugars and carbs.

[MSeries]

This is a good topic to discuss. I have learned to eat proper food and drink water on my long rides, that way I don' need to carry any 'sport fuel'. On long rides it is not uncommon for ones digestive system to 'do strange things'. The training phase, that is now until LEL is the time to try things out. Everyone is different so saying what I eat will not help much, you need to try it for yourself. I do eat just about anything though.

[nic]

That's useful to know as I have become partial to High5 4:1 powder.

[radelwombat]

...looking forward to being in pie-land again. I'll keep my bags full of cornish pasties, quiches, sausage rolls and steak and kidney pies 
There's nothing like that here.
If I'm on my own for 200+ I always stop for a full meal with desert and coffee. I find the relief of not moving as important as the nutrient replenishment.
I find that my body gets sick of pure water except if it's exceptionally hot, so I always lightly dilute it with power drink powder.

[vorsprung]

3 or 4 smallish sized meals a day, plus some low GI snacks on the move and I'll get my 5000kcal to be happy.

My calorific requirements will be a lot higher than 5000

BMR= approx 2000 ( I'm 80Kg )
assuming 16 hours a day of actual riding= 16*450 = 7200

total is over 9000

A deficit of 4000 a day that's approx a pound of body fat.  Could be a quick way to diet

If I weighed 40kg ( 6 or 7 stone ) then 5000kcal might be the right answer

[vorsprung]

That's useful to know as I have become partial to High5 4:1 powder.

High 5 is good stuff

Allsports Enduro Load is a good way to be stopped for 2 hours with gut ache, sipping warm water at a control.  It's nice the way they supply it in individual ready made sachets though

Both IMHO, YMMV.

[alan]

Although I am not doing LEL I shall watch this thread with interest because eating/fuelling for all day rides is something high on my agenda with a JoGLe ride in mid-April.
I already know that I cannot,for example,have a proper lunch & then ride within 30 mins without suffering indigestion all afternoon so that particular habit will have to change.
Greenbank's  3 or 4 small meals is something I will now try.

[Chris S]

I very much doubt you'll be able to eat enough to keep pace with demand - but that's fine, that's what fat reserves are for.

I'm sure you'll all lose a load of weight as a result. In fact, I'm sure Greenbank and Scottlington will on their three day jaunt next week. IME you just can't eat enough to keep pace - at least, not without the risk of parking it in the hedge on the next climb  .

[arabella]

.... I have learned to eat proper food and drink water on my long rides, that way I don' need to carry any 'sport fuel'. On long rides it is not uncommon for ones digestive system to 'do strange things'. ...

I get on much better with proper food and drink (=water) too.  Funny stuff does funny things to me.  Nothing too meaty/fatty though - good plain food.  Really sweet stuff isn't too good either - cake is rarely as good a fuel as a plain (buttered) roll/scone/teacake would be.
And I like to keep up with the greenstuff too. (unwanted salads this way)
I carry my leftovers with me (where practical) (eg leftover teacakes for the morning after HoE  in 2007)

[scottlington]

I very much doubt you'll be able to eat enough to keep pace with demand - but that's fine, that's what fat reserves are for.

I'm sure you'll all lose a load of weight as a result. In fact, I'm sure Greenbank and Scottlington will on their three day jaunt next week. IME you just can't eat enough to keep pace - at least, not without the risk of parking it in the hedge on the next climb  .

I tend to find that my digestive system shuts down during the night hourts and I really struggle to get anything down - eg on last year's 7Across it took me 45 mins at Membury Services just to get a largeish yoghurt down. It's something I need to address before LEL really - experimentation!

[Really Ancien]

Probably the meal I had at Mortagne au Perche on PBP 2007, it would have been about 3am, 1,500 riders had dropped out of the field of 5,000, I was towards the back of the field and I had some sort of bacon and mashed potato dish with green beans. The volunteers were panicking that they'd be left with loads of food. So the portion was about three times what a normal person might eat. Heather was supporting me and filming, so this lot arrived on the table with a starter and a dessert, I got through the 3,000 or so calories on offer and stopped within 20 miles for a Pain au Chocolat.
 If I wasn't capable of ingesting at least 10,000 calories a day I'd be in trouble.

Damon.

[LEL]

Just out of curiosity, what food would LEL'ers expect / like to see supplied at controls?

[vorsprung]

Just out of curiosity, what food would LEL'ers expect / like to see supplied at controls?

i started a new thread to address this question of MAJOR importance

[vistaed]

Just out of curiosity, what food would LEL'ers expect / like to see supplied at controls?

Good question! It would really help to know.

I started doing rides in prep for LEL using 'sports' food and drink stuff then it occurred to me that there is no way I can carry 1400km worth of cliffs bars and energy drink with me and I doubt the controls will have any, so I was going to have to get used to water and real food.

I then learnt that without using 'sports stuff' I'm not actually going to be able to replace all the calories used by eating real food, because you body is not able to digest real food quick enough to replace them. Apparently to do that you need a liquid diet of maltodextrin and fructose products in a 3:1 mix., ie 'sport stuff'.

I then learnt that by not eating 'sports stuff' and not replacing the calories used I would have to ensure that I don't ride too hard and use too much muscle glycogen (which is the stuff you use when you go fast). This means that body fat will have to be my main source of calories used. Perfect! I will be carrying months worth of that with me. It seems that the easier you take it, the more fat becomes the main source of energy, and the less glycogen is used.

All this is fine, as I'm not a RAAM racer and will not be breaking any 24hr TT records any time soon, but I do want to get round in decent time.

So the question for me, has been how hard can I ride to get round at a decent time whilst ensuring I'm making the best use of my plentiful fat stores and at the same time not depleting too much of that precious muscle glycogen stuff that going to get me up the big hills and help processes my fat stores?

To do that, I do know I have to avoid fatty foods as that slows down the rate at which the body does absorb carbs, and avoid very solid foods, too much fruit, too much fibre and too much sugar as that lot can cause my stomach to do bad things and will stop me from eating altogether (not good) The sugar can also cause spikes and drops in energy levels which is not what I want at 3am in the morning!

So knowing the science bit it's going to be small regular meals of plain simple food, so soup, bread, jam, porridge (made with water and soya milk if possible), occasional baked beans, nice crunchy green stuff, some little electrolyte tablets for the water and the odd cup of tea for me. I might even try some pasta, but only in small amounts if cooked to hell so it's nice and soft and easier to digest.

I have also been playing with my heart rate monitor and it seems that without using sports products, riding at 70% of my max working heart rate range is as hard as I can push it for staying on the right side of the fat vs glycogen out vs real food and water in equation over 220 km rides, but I will have to see how that pans out on the longer rides to come.

It's a complicated businesses knowing how to eat for a very long ride and as I do not have any real life experience to go on. All I can do is talk with people and read.  I think it will be the make or break aspect of the LEL for me and I think I'm spending too much time thinking about it!

[Really Ancien]

I think you are over-stressing Vistaed, there will be a chance to experience every type of riding and nutrition regime during LEL. I fully anticipate getting into a fast moving group on the flat between Ancaster and Coxwold where using powdered foods and pocket rations will be a good idea. Beyond that, food from controls and shops will sustain you.

Damon.

[vistaed]

Cheers for that Damon 

[hellymedic]

I've not done LEL but have ridden up 1000 km.
I successfully did my first 600 when I'd not fully recovered from a puky bug a ciouple of days earlier and ate only cornflakes the day before. I rode on cake for most of this ride but downed a pizza after about 450 km.
Every ride is different and every rder is diferent, as is the food available.
Good foods for me personally were
Breakfast cereal & milk
Cake
Tinned fruit & custard
Tinned rice pudding
Teacakes
Beans on toast
Fresh fruit salad
Diluted orange juice
I think though some of the above are useful, no rider should feel they have a 'beans on toast' brevet card and collect a stamp for every control at which they hadd beans on toast.
Ideally, consecutive controls should offer different foods.

[MattH]

I've tried various eating strategies, and finally settled on using High5 4:1 in my water bottles, switching to orange juice if I fancy it part way around. At cafe controls I'll normally have a large coke and a coffee if I'm sitting down eating.

Food wise I have meusli bars for snacking on the bike, bananas and usually some cheese sandwiches in the saddle bag - plus a bag of jelly beans.

I then eat whatever I fancy from controls and shops - full breakfasts, baked spud with cheese and beans, pasta, sandwiches, apple pie and custard, whatever my body tells me to eat. I've found this suits me better than concentrating on "specialised" foods or obsessing over nutritional values of stuff, at least over a couple of days of hard riding. It kept me going for a back-to-back pair of 370 + 400K rides at the end of January (albeit with one day off between them), I don't envisage changing it much for LEL.

[simonp]

On my first 400, the Brevet Cymru I had 5 full square meals.  Took me ages despite riding relatively fast for me.