Breakfast for a demanding day ride?

[mattheus]

Once one's body has become trained to burn body fat, its surprising how far one can cycle with nothing much more than what anyone would eat, for breakfast, lunch or tea - as long as the pace isn't pushed too high and one keeps hydrated.

Only while you've still enough fat to burn, though? And repeatedly fattening up doesn't seem like a great thing for health.

As for how far you can go on no extra food, no-one can overcome the basics of work being proportional to mass and distance moved, or the need to replace that extra energy expended.

Most of us aren't riding 80miles/day all year round. And most of us aren't doing demanding phyiscal jobs between bike rides - anyone reading this is who IS in that category can probably ignore me! - so we mostly have plenty of time at the end of the day to top up any missing calories.

[and honestly, most of us do our long rides at low enough intensity to feed on low-carb stuff quite happily, but that opinion fell on stony ground in the other thread, never mind ... ]

[MrsHJ]

I’m also in the protein plus carbs camp but I’m also a veggie/pescatarian and I mostly tour rather than do big rides from home. Eggs definitely but on tour that’s an if I can get them. And from a general health, point of view I’m wanting to get some of my 5/10 a day in then too. Plus I tend to get full up quite quickly at breakfast so a hobbit breakfast often works well ie eggs avocado and tomatoes on toast to start (or smoked salmon eggs tomatoes, or a cooked veggie breaker) then banana and nuts or whatever I can get at the local boulangerie mid morning.

For me beware of missing food out on a long ride especially if touring (so I don’t know if I’m disagreeing with Matheus or agreeing out that 80km a day for 3 weeks will change things) so after several days of pushing your body can mean that a eg late, stuff it down lunch is difficult to digest- better to have small amounts but keep feeding regular. So lunches are pretty minimal on the road- better to have regular snacks eg a banana or a power bar (in the Uk the nakd bars are pretty good). Same goes for pushing hard after any meal- your body can vote for focusing on muscles over digestion which often doesn’t have good results.

It’s definitely more tricky when touring as the days can often be challenging and doing a couple of mountain passes in an Italian breakfast isn’t happening! Top touring breakfasts so far: Ireland number one (eggs, salmon and soda bread features a lot). France and the USA joint second (for different reasons). I’m in Austria soon and am expecting good Germanic breakfasts!

Can I own up to my pre audax breakfast in my twenties being fried up mashed potato on brown bread with cream cheese?! I think my diet has improved a lot since then although far fewer audaxes and a more sedentary lifestyle means I’m also a lot less fit.

Apologies for long posts today: I’m stuck in bed after a minor operation yesterday but focusing on healing so I can head off on tour next weekend!

[JohnR]

I find that for this type of ride I get an energy dip mid morning with porridge

That’s exactly it, even with nuts and raisins in it I find it doesn’t last properly.

Porridge bulks up a lot during cooking. At home, I can pedal 45 miles fuelled by a big bowl of muesli (with fruit, nuts and milk). Muesli will contain more oats than the equivalent volume of porridge while the muesli probably takes longer to digest. However, after the 45 miles I want a bigger than normal lunch.

When doing a multi-day ride then I have both a proper dinner (which I don't have at home) and a full breakfast with both some cereal and cooked food. That can keep me going all day supplemented by snacks carried on the bike (which often include a bacon butty which escaped from the breakfast table). On more challenging days I have neither time nor inclination to spend time in a cafe.

[Cugel]

The encouragement of the body's fat-burning mechanisms during exercise has long been a subject of interest to sporty cyclists - but tourists, audaxers and others wanting to improve their overall fuelling-for-cycling might also be interested. Cycling weekly website has this article, examining a process of testing, measurement and improvement of a cyclist's fat burning process during exercise:

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/fitness/i ... t-happened

As has been known for decades now, really, the basic point is that various kinds of cycling efforts, distances and so forth can improve one's ability to burn body fat as an energy source for exercise. We all do it without any training but there are cycling habits and procedures that can improve one's fat-burning rates. There are also beneficial side effects, such as reducing the fatty-liver issues associated with many modern diets.

Worth a read, as an easy path into what might be further more detailed examination of fuelling-for-cycling that can no doubt be found in many of the "studies" beloved by some.

[djnotts]

Although I aim to ride every day (and mostly achieve it) I'm increasingly reduced to 15-30 esasy terrain miles by age and extreme COPD. Breakfast is usually porridge made with 50/50 milk (dairy or coconut) and water with honey. For c.30 miles add a banana!
Whether or not this is "right" I know not, but I AM still cycling at nearer 80 than 70 so doing better than many......

[gbnz]

Although I aim to ride every day (and mostly achieve it) I'm increasingly reduced to 15-30 esasy terrain miles by age and extreme COPD. Breakfast is usually porridge made with 50/50 milk (dairy or coconut) and water with honey. For c.30 miles add a banana!
Whether or not this is "right" I know not, but I AM still cycling at nearer 80 than 70 so doing better than many......

Definitely better than many........suspect 2/3rd's of society would struggle to do 10-15 miles on easy terrain (Nb. Am a keen gym user; is always surreal to find many 20-50yr's, struggle to do the gym / cardio equivalent of such

+ 1 for porridge, am not an addict, but have even had porridge for dinner twice, the past 10 days ! Post rides, pitch black on return, too knackered to even make scrambled eggs on toast

[mattheus]

For me beware of missing food out on a long ride especially if touring (so I don’t know if I’m disagreeing with Matheus or agreeing out that 80km a day for 3 weeks will change things) so after several days of pushing your body can mean that a eg late, stuff it down lunch is difficult to digest

Well I don't think that disagrees with what I wrote:
Most of us aren't riding 80miles/day all year round. And most of us aren't doing demanding physical jobs between bike rides - anyone reading this is who IS in that category can probably ignore me!

That doesn't seem to describe your experience, so let's agree to not disagree

And in particular, I certainly didn't suggest trying to digest a massive lunch mid-ride, due to running low; that certainly could produce problems, irrespective of your preferred fat-protein-carb ratios!

[LittleGreyCat]

The encouragement of the body's fat-burning mechanisms during exercise has long been a subject of interest to sporty cyclists - but tourists, audaxers and others wanting to improve their overall fuelling-for-cycling might also be interested. Cycling weekly website has this article, examining a process of testing, measurement and improvement of a cyclist's fat burning process during exercise:

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/fitness/i ... t-happened

As has been known for decades now, really, the basic point is that various kinds of cycling efforts, distances and so forth can improve one's ability to burn body fat as an energy source for exercise. We all do it without any training but there are cycling habits and procedures that can improve one's fat-burning rates. There are also beneficial side effects, such as reducing the fatty-liver issues associated with many modern diets.

Worth a read, as an easy path into what might be further more detailed examination of fuelling-for-cycling that can no doubt be found in many of the "studies" beloved by some.

Interesting article.
What it doesn't seem to reference is those who are already mainly fat burning because they are in ketosis.
It seems to assume that fuelling is a mix of carbs and fats, and that the aim is to get into the "fat burning" zone where fat is used in preference to available carbohydrates.
I wonder how a keto adapted athlete would fare in those tests.

[ANTONISH]

Back in the mists of time (possibly before 1900) the first rider to set a 50 mile competition record at "evens" had a pre ride breakfast of two raw eggs in a pint of stout.
Of course this was on untarmaced roads - but for leisure cyclists I think sometimes there is overthinking in terms of nutrition.
(20mph was referred to as "evens" for the information of more youthful readers).

[djnotts]

Back in the mists of time (possibly before 1900) the first rider to set a 50 mile competition record at "evens" had a pre ride breakfast of two raw eggs in a pint of stout.
Of course this was on untarmaced roads - but for leisure cyclists I think sometimes there is overthinking in terms of nutrition.
(20mph was referred to as "evens" for the information of more youthful readers).

Sudden memory trigger, if completely off topic! Some 60 years ago there was an old farmer came in my local once a week with a box of 6 eggs. One broken into each of his 6 pints of bitter, then went home. We reckoned his way of keeping count of his intake!

[Cugel]

Back in the mists of time (possibly before 1900) the first rider to set a 50 mile competition record at "evens" had a pre ride breakfast of two raw eggs in a pint of stout.
Of course this was on untarmaced roads - but for leisure cyclists I think sometimes there is overthinking in terms of nutrition.
(20mph was referred to as "evens" for the information of more youthful readers).

Sudden memory trigger, if completely off topic! Some 60 years ago there was an old farmer came in my local once a week with a box of 6 eggs. One broken into each of his 6 pints of bitter, then went home. We reckoned his way of keeping count of his intake!

Ha! This won't work as a counter, since at some point the number of eggs left will seemingly double, as the boozy eyes go wobbly and into a, "One eye on the pot and the other up the chimney" condition. On the other hand, the hand grasping for the latest pint might knock them eggs a-splatter, just as memory fades and the count is lost.

One can probably live on six eggs a day drunk via a pint o' bitter each, before dying of badstumble on day eight.

Did he go home on a tractor? I may have seen him down a certain lane. Unmistakable driving style.

[djnotts]

^ nay, lad, 6 pints were simply a warm up in they days!

[atoz]

Like everyone else I've noticed that in racing circles, carbs are where it's at. But I'm not a racing cyclist. I just ride to enjoy myself in the countryside, either on my own or with others.

I've reduced my carb intake for purely health reasons, no other. I still eat carbs, just not as many esp the simple ones. I hope my blood sugar is now back to normal but we shall see. I'm a long way off a straight LCHF diet. Loads of carbs might work for Pogacar and his ilk, but not for me. Big difference between a top rate pro cyclist in his prime and a rather older leisure rider.

Time to break out the 3 speed shopping trolley...just need to buy some high fat dairy (as you do)..

[slowster]

Sadly, I see from people's posts that they are 'doing it all wrong'©.

Last weekend I did a 90 mile ride. First breakfast was muesli, and then after 10 miles I stopped and bought jam doughnuts, which I had together with coffee from my flask. Those first few miles get the metabolism going, which makes a big difference for the choice of second breakfast. Jam doughnuts are also a powerful incentive to get out of the house and get underway. Other comestibles may be substituted for jam doughnuts, although I cannot advise you too strongly to confine yourself to bakery products.

Your mileage may indeed vary, but if it does you are still 'doing it all wrong'©.

[atoz]

I've always liked Greggs custard doughnuts, I mean if you're going for junk food do it properly.

Local bakery does "vanilla slices". Totally addictive.

Although the ultimate sugar blowout has to be a local ice cream "oyster" Basically a chocolate eclair but with vanilla ice cream filling.

End of Food Porn post