# Easy to digest food during rides



## Hudnut (Apr 12, 2005)

As we know, on longer rides you must take in some nutrition to keep going. I typically take a few Gu gels with caffeine and they do great restoring energy but I find the very hard on my stomach. I suffer from GERD (reflux disease) but have been treating it for 25 years with Omeprazole. That helps with the acicidity but I still have to choke stuff down and it can be uncomfortable during hard effort cycling. Anyone have tips or suggestions on taking on nutrition during a hard ride?


----------



## Fajita Dave (Mar 22, 2012)

During hard efforts blood is moved away from the digestive tract to be used in muscles and other organs. No one can eat a whole lot unless you're a trained pro and the body adapts to it.

I eat more solid foods rather than gels but I don't know how GERD might effect that. I aim for about 200-250 calories per hour but if it's a prolonged hard effort I can't put down more than 150 calories per hour without my stomach turning over in a very painful way. I use gels toward the end of a ride. The sugar in gels makes it hard to deal with for 3+ hours if used at the beginning.

The body can only process and absorb so many nutrients at a time while exercising before things get backed up. It's different for everyone but higher exertion will reduce how much you can eat even more.

Also different foods work for different people so you might need to experiment a bit. I like Clif bars and Honey Stinger waffles but my wife runs ultra marathons and can't handle the Clif bars. She tried but they're to heavy. So she uses the Honey Stinger waffles/gels and mashed potatoes (when I crew for her). On the other hand I can't handle the Honey Stinger gels and prefer using their gummies.


----------



## pedromj (Aug 23, 2019)

GERD is sometimes due to the opposite, lack of acid. You can try to take something like Betaine HCl with the gel and see...

Sent from my SO-05K using Tapatalk


----------



## Hudnut (Apr 12, 2005)

Thanks for the tips. My gerd is due to a weak muscle (sphincter) that closes off my stomach from the asophogus. It's inevitable that food will come up. All I can do is reduce the acid so it doesn't hurt 

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk


----------



## Hudnut (Apr 12, 2005)

Been trying the gu stroopwaffles. They are tasty and give a good boost. No problems with digestion so far. 

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk


----------



## RMCDan (Feb 28, 2008)

Boiled potatoes with a little salt (or a lot of salt if you're riding in the heat and sweating a lot) are a classic endurance fuel. They're also quite high in potassium, magnesium, Vit C and Vit B6, and they're almost as cheap as the dirt they grow in.


----------



## jonesjus (Mar 26, 2007)

Have you looked into rice cakes? Not the round, puffed rice things at the grocery store. These are small homemade bars of sticky rice, usually with additions such as eggs or bacon or jam popularized by Allan Lim. His company, Skratch, has traditionally advocated for eating solid foods to get the majority of carbs and drinking a mix for hydration. 

This is in contrast to a company like Tailwind in which you get all your carbs from a drink mix which make work for you as well. Everyone is different and you need to experiment to see what works. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## VegasSingleSpeed (May 5, 2005)

I carry baggies of instant mashed potatoes and beef bouillon powder (salt and flavoring) for long rides. Add water, let it mix up, bite the corner off the baggie and voila, energy "gel".


----------



## jbell (Oct 2, 2009)

I have proven that 3 scoops of tailwind in a large bottle every hour is all I need for up to a 12 hour race, if I am racing 24 hours I cut back slightly on the TW bring in some straight water with some solids, I’ll do all sorts of sweet junk food that I can’t / don’t allow myself to eat like oatmeal cream pies, brownies, cookies, pastries, etc (but I limit those) my main go to solid is sushi rice with maple syrup or brags aminos both are an excellent fuel source.


----------

