Originally Posted by hubcyclist

Sorry man, you're off mark, in my opinion. I've said it before around the various sub groups here, I think people waaay overrate nutrition on a ride and often confuse nutrition with endurance fitness. I did a 100 mile ride and burned 3562 calories and consumed 1000 calories over a little over 5hrs, and in another I did this summer I only took in 900 or so and burned 3400 (I generally have a NP of 210w on these). For 60-80 mile rides I might eat a 100 calorie fig bar and nuun electrolytes, or stop for a coffee, and definitely nothing but water 3hrs and under. I believe the figure is that most people carry 2000 calories of glycogen. So for a moderate endurance ride, there really isn't that great of a need to keep consuming stuff, not to mention that less experienced riders just burn fewer calories because they're slower (fewer watts leads to fewer kj of work/fewer calories burned)