What I eat on a 100km ride
You wanna ride your first Gran Fondo but don’t know how you should prepare and what you should eat during the ride, here are some tips for you.
Nutrition is one of the most important aspects of being a powerful cyclist. I had to learn this the hard way. On my first Gran Fondo, I bonked pretty hard due to wrong nutrition and it took me hours afterwards to recover. Since then I focused a lot of my time to find the right nutrition strategy for my body. I’m a very skinny guy and really don’t have any fat reserves or what so ever and it seems that I have a strong metaoblism. That means I have to eat constantly, like really really constantly.
My day usually starts like this:
Getting up in the morning and have a big breakfast which contains bread with lots of butter and marmalade, maybe a few fruits and a coffee. Pretty basic. I tried also yoghurt once with fruits and cereals, but this just gave me a spike in bloodsugar and the drop off was hard.. Bread & butter lasts longer.
After breakfast, I pack the food for the ride which contains:
- Italian Noodle Salat (whole grain noodles, olives, tomatoes, mozarella cheese, onions, salts, capers, dried tomatoes mixed with olive oil and balsamico vinegar, topped with salt & pepper! Voila!) — very delicious and provides the body with high calories, salts and awesome vegetables. And it’s vegan. This dish is mostly prepared the day before the ride and packed in a container)
- 3x Bars (Protein Bars, Coffee Bars, depends on what I’m in the mood)
- Different snacks depending on the season (like cookies, trail & nut mix,..)
- 1x gel (for emergencies)
On the ride
30 Minutes after breakfast I usually start my ride. When I’m riding, I eat every hour some snacks and after 2–3hours I’ll try to fit a bigger break, to enjoy the noodle salad. I’ll also drink a lot (especially when I eat some bars or gels), that really makes me feel better. After lunch break, I mostly head for a coffee break to get an espresso and a piece of cake. An hour after the coffee break, I’ll keep my routine of snacking during the ride till I’m back home. The key here is to eat constantly but never too much. Once I had a huge delicious sandwich, after we finished, we got back on the road and immediately had a steep climb ahead, I felt like a total piece of shit doing it. My body needed all the energy for digesting it. Never again.
Since I’ve started this habit, I feel way better during longer rides, have constant power and can really enjoy riding. Also when I’m back home, I won’t feel drained and still remain able to enjoy other tasks around the house.
How do you guys eat during longer rides? Looking forward to hear some other amazing tips. If you have any questions let me know in the comments or hit me up on Instagram.
