UniChris

Did my third ever century on Tuesday, and spent most of the day feeling like I was going to hurl.

Less than a month ago I'd ridden one where the "real food" plan of making turkey and cheese sandwiches the night before and freezing them to eat bit by bit through the morning worked out well. But this time, presumably because of the heat I just ended up sick to my stomach, starting with a "threw up in my mouth" incident while leaning over filling water bottles from a gallon jug around 10:45 am. It didn't help that I'd stayed with my sister's family the night before and my nephew had been sick that afternoon - pretty sure I was just suffering the heat and exertion but it did add to worries. Got down a bit of a cliff bar, but for quite a while took in no calories except in gatorade mix and the tiny bit in Nuun tablets. Around 60 miles I bought a pack of twizzlers (which has become something of a tradition) and at 80 a full box of pop tarts when I really only wanted one envelope. Pretty much ran on those and the gatorade - but kept getting into situations where I was just dangerously out of energy and would have to walk to a shady spot, take off my helmet and shade brim, sit down, eat and drink, and wait to cool down before I could go on. Even on a far easier route, with all those forced breaks I only beat my previous time by a few minutes.

What's the right thing to be eating in hot weather?

Gatorade type things alone get old before they can be the sole energy source.

Seems like something with protein and fat just takes too much to digest on a hot day.

Gels and candy type sugar?

Is it time to get into the specific liquid nutrition like Hammer, etc?

What about something more mass-market like Ensure - too much like protein and fat beyond the necessary carbs for a hot day?

I'm not really trying to eat while riding (I need those moments out of the saddle), so it's more about what provides energy without making me sick, than what I could actually eat while pedaling.