Sick of Mars bars....

[foxyrider]

Eat stuff you genuinely like (that won't upset your tummy). Try bananas, jam/marmalade sandwiches,
fig rolls, a sausage roll. Basically stuff you like.

+1
Had a nice bacon sarnie (bap/roll or whayever your local nomenclature is) during my 98 miler today, i've been doing 100 mile plus on a couple of sarnies and a banana sometimes supplemented by burger or bag of chips for the last month - just steer clear of anything heavy! Keep hydrated, little and often is better than a big mid ride meal and give yourself some variety. Eat a good breakfast, but avoid too much greasy stuff, fruit, joghurt, eggs and porridge are all good.

As a teen in the 70's Mars bars were the go to energy food but we were poor in knowledge and even options, no pre packed food, no energy bars, the only 'energy' drink was Lucozade sold in huge bottles! That all meant fuelling for long rides was very much, the jam sarnie, fruit cake, bidon of squash - it wasn't ideal but it had the main areas covered.

[tatanab]

Food - plain ordinary food that you eat every day. Use cafes etc and if you need to carry food then take sandwiches etc just as if on a picnic. Mars bars were known as bonk bars for a reason (I guess). They are a quick sugar hit when you run low on fuel. Other than an emergency quick fix I would not eat things like that and certainly not on a regular basis. For a quick fix on the road when needed I use cereal bars.

[pjclinch]

Flapjack. In fact, any kind of cereal bar (but oat-based ones are the best). Bananas. Salted peanuts. My current fave are some pressed fruit bars from Aldi, which are simply pressed apples and pears and nothing else. Delicious.

Tip from Emma Pooley, make flapjacks with grated apple and condensed milk rather than butter sugar and it's less of a sugar rush. They're a bit crumblier and not quite as, well, buttery, but for long range fuel I've found them very good indeed. I mix in a load of raisins/sultanas too.

Pete.

[simonhill]

Most of these are just sugar filled snack foods for a one day ride. You are (also) asking about a LeJoG, which is a multi day tour. For this you need to work out good regular wholesome food that you like. Touring is a lot more than a few day-rides strung together.

Plan for three or more meals a day with maybe snacks in-between. Personally I'd steer clear of too much sugary stuff. What you eat will depend on whether you are camping b&b, hotel, etc.

Breakfast: I like porridge or muesli with fruit, others prefer a fry up.

Lunch: I've found ready made sandwiches handy. Add salad, veg and fruit.

Dinner: Good filling meal.

[matata]

Thats great guys...much appreciated Nik

[CliveyT]

This time of year- plums, figs, blackberries and we're staring to come into apple season. Can go for miles without having to carry anything

[Jdsk]

For anyone not familiar with them it might be worth observing that fig rolls are notoriously laxative.

Eat stuff you genuinely like (that won't upset your tummy)..

Excellent advice.

Jonathan

[KeithRobertson]

Carbaholics may want to have a read of this article, then perhaps consider eating real food?

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/29/well ... ery-vi-prg

[DaveGos]

I use to do a lot of long distance cycling and racing 2 PBPs ,1 24 hour TT , 3 12 hour tts etc. You can get all your calories from drink if you wish you dont need solid food . On audaxes I often stop at a coop or petrol station , one pint or litre of milk shake or half fat milk will get you a lot of miles. Drinks bottles , flat coke is the best , but if you wish to waste money SIS powder is good , or just squash add extra sugar and a pinch of salt. Normally have one proper meal in the middle of a long audax ( 200- 400k) . The last 2 12 hour time trials I ate nothing just used drink with SIS powder , averaged 21 mph on the last one. Now I just do one 100 mile TT a year and do it on squash with added sugar and salt, and a bag of jelly babies from Aldi which are great for topping your calories intake up every few miles

[foxyrider]

I use to do a lot of long distance cycling and racing 2 PBPs ,1 24 hour TT , 3 12 hour tts etc. You can get all your calories from drink if you wish you dont need solid food . On audaxes I often stop at a coop or petrol station , one pint or litre of milk shake or half fat milk will get you a lot of miles. Drinks bottles , flat coke is the best , but if you wish to waste money SIS powder is good , or just squash add extra sugar and a pinch of salt. Normally have one proper meal in the middle of a long audax ( 200- 400k) . The last 2 12 hour time trials I ate nothing just used drink with SIS powder , averaged 21 mph on the last one. Now I just do one 100 mile TT a year and do it on squash with added sugar and salt, and a bag of jelly babies from Aldi which are great for topping your calories intake up every few miles

Can't help thinking you may have got more than 21mph with a better feeding regime!

[DaveGos]

I use to do a lot of long distance cycling and racing 2 PBPs ,1 24 hour TT , 3 12 hour tts etc. You can get all your calories from drink if you wish you dont need solid food . On audaxes I often stop at a coop or petrol station , one pint or litre of milk shake or half fat milk will get you a lot of miles. Drinks bottles , flat coke is the best , but if you wish to waste money SIS powder is good , or just squash add extra sugar and a pinch of salt. Normally have one proper meal in the middle of a long audax ( 200- 400k) . The last 2 12 hour time trials I ate nothing just used drink with SIS powder , averaged 21 mph on the last one. Now I just do one 100 mile TT a year and do it on squash with added sugar and salt, and a bag of jelly babies from Aldi which are great for topping your calories intake up every few miles

Can't help thinking you may have got more than 21mph with a better feeding regime!

I went faster than when I ate solid food, second in my age group to sean yates

[londonbikerider]

I have found this, somewhere on the web. My first attempt resulted in a mixture that was too runny, so I added oats and it didn't taste as good as before.
There must be the reason why the ingredients are in grams
But id does taste nice, and has no refined sugar!

Raw Brownie Bar (Vegan)

220-230gr (200gr when the stone is removed) Safawi or Medjool dates
90gr raw almonds (about ½ cup)
60gr raw cashews
30gr pumpkin seeds
60gr unsweetened medium shredded coconut (about ⅔ cup)
60gr raw cocoa powder (⅓ cup)
100gr unsweetened granola/muesli
+-150gr cold water (about 1 cup) adjust according to the desired texture
¼ teaspoon salt
1 heap teaspoon cinnamon powder

Put the dates in a (heat-resistant) bowl and cover with 150gr of boiling water. Leave for 5-10 minutes and mix the other ingredients in the meantime.

Ground the almonds, cashews and (if using those) the pumpkin seeds and briefly mix them in the food processor.
Weight the shredded coconut and the cocoa powder, add the salt and cinnamon. Add this in the food processor and briefly mix.

Drain the water from the dates in the food processor and quickly mix.
Chop the dates in half or quarters and add them with the cinnamon powder in the mix, until fairly smooth, if necessary add a couple of spoons of water.

If using raisins or sultanas, add them only now and briefly mix them so they don't get completely shredded, you want to have them mixed evenly with the rest, but kept whole if possible.

Lay the mix in a tray lined with greaseproof paper, sprinkle with a bit of shredded coconut, put another piece of greaseproof paper and roll with the pin.

Leave in the oven Mk3 for about 30 minutes, or until gets a bit firm, then let cool down. Can be kept in the fridge for over a week.

[mattsccm]

Day long rides need a trip to some form of meat pie shop at lunch time. Chuck in some doughnuts and you are good to go.

[eileithyia]

For touring; decent breakfast, stop for 11s, lunch and 3s only carry items like mars bars for emergency if you absolutely need to have something to eat and not eat instead of 'normal' food. Personally stopped using Mars as emergency food many eons ago, these day am more likely to have some protein bars and and a bag of nut / dried fruit to snack on... Hardly surprising in this current weather the Mars turned into some sort of horrid gooey mess...