# How much do you guys eat on 3-4 hour rides?



## Alias530 (Apr 1, 2013)

I do a loop that's 25 miles/4,000ft pretty regularly and it takes about 3-3.5 hours depending on how many stops I take. I usually just have 1 gel or 1 bar at about the 2/3 mark and I'm good to go.

But on my road bike, my normal 3-4 hour loop is 60-70 miles/1,500ft depending where I turn around and my stops and I have to eat every 45 mins starting at the 1 hour mark or I'm hating life.

It's odd to me that with less than half the climbing (and no real, actual climbs like I see on my MTB), I need to eat more on a road bike. I usually go through 3-5 25oz bottles on road and a 25oz bottle and 3/4 to all of a 100oz camelbak on MTB, so about the same for water.

How much do you guys eat/drink on a 3-4 hour ride?


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## Mr Pig (Jun 25, 2008)

I eat more than you do but I cramp more on the road, which might be related to your difference in food intake.

Off road you are using most of your body. On road you're really just hitting your legs and they are working in exactly the same way most of the time. So you've got more even fuel/muscle burn verses really intense burn of just a few specific muscles. 

So I reckon your food requirements will be different. The road muscles will reach higher fuel/chemical requirements much sooner than off-road ones will. 

Just a guess, could be rubbish ;0)


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## Alias530 (Apr 1, 2013)

That makes sense. Also on mountain I get the descents to recover and stop spinning as hard


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## Mr Pig (Jun 25, 2008)

Alias530 said:


> Also on mountain I get the descents to recover and stop spinning as hard


Not that way for me. Road descents are a rest but off road ones are nackering! Out of the saddle, moving around a lot, trying not to crash. Not restful at all.


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## Alias530 (Apr 1, 2013)

Often enough, my peak heart rate for my whole ride is this rocky downhill section, but from moving around and muscling through rocks, different muscle groups?


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## Mr Pig (Jun 25, 2008)

I've never had a heart rate monitor so not idea what my heart rate is. Probably a good thing! I reckon I've nearly killed myself on climbs a few times though ;0)


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## mabrodis (Oct 19, 2005)

Most of my rides are either shorter or longer than that...not sure why (maybe I should remedy that).

On short rides (say 1-2 hours) I'll usually take 3 bottles, 2 with some drink power in them (~80-100 calories per bottle) and one just water. Usually I won't actually eat anything at all on the ride, I'll have a gel or bar with me, but I figure the whole point in this is to lose weight, so I don't need to add calories here. I will eat something just prior to riding though, usually a couple of fig bars and a banana or something, just so I can assure to burb up banana flavor and nearly throwup later. Also, that is if I'm riding solo and have nothing but my own Strava times to beat. If I'm riding with a friend (and thus it turns instantly to a race) then if he stops and eats something I probably will too.

On the longer rides, which are usually races for me (but I'm fat and slow, so really, how much am I 'racing' and how much am I just trying to survive?), but with those I don't have to carry much on me. Thinking about the Firecracker 50, which has aid stations about every 45 min (4 aid stations per 25-mile lap) maybe slightly closer. On that I drank at least one 16-oz bottle per aid station (I prefer 24oz bottles but they were doing handups with pre-filled ones so I took their smaller ones), usually 2. I ate something at every lull in the course (when I could ride one-handed and not die), either a gel or a packet of chews or Stinger waffle. I never came close to feeling like I ate too much, though sometimes I find myself eating just looking for energy. I'm not really hungry per-se, just want something to try to kickstart me again, doesn't really work, but the mental-pickup helps some. Now, with all that said, I have never finished said race without horrible cramps...so either I'm not drinking enough of the right stuff (likely) or I'm just so out of shape I'll cramp no matter what (certainly possible).

So on that race, which was exactly 7 hours on the bike for me, I bet I ate at least 2000 calories of food and drank probably 15 bottles-ish. I'm not sure if cutting that in half for a 3.5 hour effort is valid though, since much of what I ate early was not because I felt like I needed to, but I knew that I was embarking on a 7 hour death march, so what I ate in hours 1, 2, 3 was really to help me as much as possible in hours 4, 5, 6... If the overall time was less than that then you still might want to eat more in hour 1 to help you in hour 3, but the range isn't quite as bad.


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## Alias530 (Apr 1, 2013)

Yeah, how much I eat goes up exponentially as I ride longer.

If I do 1-2 hours I don't need anything, 2.5-3.5 hours I'll eat 1 gel, but 4-5 hours I'll eat 4-5 gels


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## Le Duke (Mar 23, 2009)

Alias530 said:


> Often enough, my peak heart rate for my whole ride is this rocky downhill section, but from moving around and muscling through rocks, different muscle groups?


Delayed cardiac response. Pretty standard.

Meaning, it takes the heart a while to catch up with the effort being produced by the body.

If you were stop at the top of the climb, drink water and listen to the birds for 10min, the HR wouldn't be nearly as high. Going down is taxing, but not as taxing as going up.


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## Le Duke (Mar 23, 2009)

I try to eat 150cal for every 600-800 kJ produced. The power meter is very good for this purpose.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## chugachjed (May 20, 2010)

Usually nothing. I typically like to attrit.


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## cyclelicious (Oct 7, 2008)

I eat a little something about an hour (or more) before a ride. I drink water during a long ride. Then I have a little protein (veg-based) after a long ride


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## rooze (Oct 22, 2014)

Up to 4 hours, nothing. Your bod has plenty to call on for reserves, at least mine does. We're feast or famine mammals and can work at a high output even when there's no food.

I rode a century last year and had stomach problems the day before so ate next to nothing. I ate very little food the day of the ride, a banana and half a donut in the morning. Half an egg salad sandwich on mile 52 turnaround. A handful of nuts/raisins to snack on. No calories from drinks, just Vitamin Zero waters. Energy levels were fine. I didn't eat after the ride either as my guts were still in turmoil. Now the following day I ate like a crazy person. 

'course if you're a bonker, then maybe you have to do something, usually to get the blood sugar back up... stoke the fire as you need, otherwise ride on fat then replenish the day after, that's what works for me...YMMV.


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