Originally Posted by
adamrice
Consider, as a rule of thumb, that you burn 40-50 calories per mile (depending on your weight and how hard you're riding). You'll be burning 4000-5000 calories on top of your BMR on day 1. You only have about 2000 readily available calories floating around in your body. So calorie management is important.
- Eat continuously during your rides, especially on day 1. Mostly easy-to-digest carbs, although that admittedly gets boring. Like, bring a bunch of energy bars and eat half a bar every 30 minutes (if not more frequently). Even with that you'll probably have an empty tank at the end of day 1.
- Also, obviously, hydrate well.
- Within 30 minutes of finishing the day-1 ride, get something solid to eat. Again, mostly carbs. Your body can absorb calories much more readily right after you finish a workout, and you'll need them.
- If there's a way to get a leg massage after the day-1 ride, do so.
- Sleep well.
I agree with the above, but as some points of elaboration and clarity...
Even the leanest person has tens of thousands of calories stored in their body.
Roughly half of your calories burned riding will come from stored fat.
Don't overeat on the bike 200 to 350 calories per hour is an upper limit of what one can digest. If you consume more than you can digest, yer on a one way ride to Pukesville. You can't and don't need to replace what you burn by eating.