Originally Posted by Machka

Hydration ... aim for one 750 ml bottle of water and/or sports drink and/or other beverages every 1 to 1.5 hours. This will depend on heat, wind, effort etc.

So, what I usually do is to drink a tall glass of water, fruit juice, or even diet coke before the ride. Then I carry two 1-litre bottles of water which I sip while riding. When I stop for a break at a rest stop or convenience store, I'll get a 500-600 ml bottle of fruit juice, coke, iced tea, or whatever appeals to me (or a large cup of whatever is provided at the rest stop), and drink it all then and there. Slowly. I don't gulp it down, and while I'm drinking I'm trying to eat salty snacks.

Incidentally, this brings up a small rant about supported events. Quite often I've rolled into a rest stop with the idea in mind that I will fill at least one of my 1-litre bottles with water, and drink 500-600 litres of sports drink or fruit juice or whatever they have there ... but they don't have enough for me and for the 6 other people standing there to do the same thing. It's like they expect we're all going to take maybe 500 ml of water or less ... not 1.5 l or more. Even if organised events can't calculate the food properly, they should have ample liquid for the cyclists.

When I finish, I'll drink another 500-600 ml of water, fruit juice, iced tea, coke or whatever as soon as I'm done.


Food - no, a banana every 30 miles was probably not enough. Nowhere near enough.

Aim for 200-300 calories per hour right from the beginning of the ride.

A banana runs about 80 calories. 3 bananas would have provided you with enough calories for about an hour. Of course, you would have had about 2000 calories stored in your liver and muscles if you had been eating well the week before, and you would have likely eaten breakfast, so that would have helped you get through, but you would have been pretty depleted by the end.

Have approx. 500 calories for breakfast (more if you can stomach it), then carry some good quality granola bars or cookies (oatmeal raisin are good) with you, and nibble them while you ride. Take a bite ... wait 10 minutes or so ... take a bite ... and repeat. I find a bento bag works really well for this purpose.

When you stop, a banana is a good choice, but have some salty snacks with the banana. Go for potato chips, pretzels, pickles, salted almonds, etc. The banana will provide you with potassium, but you also need salt as the slightly more important electrolyte.

During your first few centuries or longer rides, aim to eat quite a bit. As you get fitter and more used to long distance rides, you may be able to cut down on the amount you are eating. But have the food with you so that if you run into trouble (i.e. a stiff headwind between rest stops that saps your energy and slows you down), you have a cookie or something with you to eat and give you a bit of extra energy.


On many of the centuries Rowan and I have done as a part of the Century-A-Month challenge, we stop at about the halfway point and have a meal ... it might be McDonalds or Subway or whatever happens to be in the town we're in at that point. But it will be something full of calories and salt. And it will get us a couple hours down the road with quite a bit of energy.

One of the best organised centuries I've done provides a 6-inch sub from Subway at the halfway point, plus 3 cookies to carry with you, plus a small bag of potato chips, plus enough water or other drinks so that you can fill your bottles and drink lots. Andt then they provide all sorts of fruit and a few other snacks along the way as well. More organised centuries should take notes from that one.




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And yes ... throwing a few more 70+ mile rides into the mix will help. Riding longer distances in preparation for even longer distances does more than just train your muscles. It helps you determine if there are fit issues with the bicycle and helps you sort out your nutrition, determining what works and what doesn't work.

Also, someone asked me once how to make a 100 mile ride easier, and my response was ... "Ride a double century". But even doing a 200K (125 miles) one month, and then doing a century the following month can make that century seem a bit easier.