surgeonstone

HazeT

Not all 25 miles are created equal...
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/16626297

Lt Stonez

A half sandwich and one bottle of water is ok for me. But my problem is that i dont feel for eating after the ride.

Jean3n16

Exactly!

jwalther

No food at that distance for me. I don't think about eating anything unless I plan to go over 50. In ride hydration depends on effort and temperature. Saturday morning I did an easy 40 miles at 18 mph (large group, not much climbing) in cool/overcast conditions and drank a third of a bottle of water.

exmechanic89

I agree with the others - I wouldnt eat on a 25 mile ride as it's a pretty short distance, probably wouldnt drink either. But if I did need something, I'd go with a 'nana or some type of energy bar.

I normally ride around 40-45 miles daily - occasionally doing 60-90 miles, and I generally stop at around the 25 mile mark to relax for a moment and eat a banana or bar, and drink some water. But many times I just ride the entire distance and eat when I get home.

I think a lot of people new to riding think of anything over 10 miles on a bike as being a huge distance, but as many of us know, once you get used to riding it gets easier and easier, faster and faster. Pretty soon doing a 25 mile ride feels like nothing, depending on the pace of course.

hogger453

There are so many personnel factors to contend with.

Age, fitness, medical issues. How much riding you have in your legs, are they tired, fresh? To ask a forum with a huge spectrum on the scale is well, tough.

Do what you feel is right for your body.

RPK79

I'm going to parrot most of the people here. Water only. Maybe eat a little something pre-ride if I haven't eaten for a few hours. 25 miles isn't long.

FIVE ONE SIX

me personally, i throw a NUUN tablet in a bottle with Smart Water, cause plain water to me is just boring and i need something with flavor. i sometimes do a short 20-30 mile ride with a friend once a week, and every ride she shows up with water and a sliced lemon in her bottle, and i always laugh cause she lives by the sliced lemon and water in a bottle...

Dan333SP

This would make a nice signature as well.

Shimagnolo

On long rides in the summer when water bottles get very warm, I sometimes put a tea bag in the bottle, because luke-warm tea isn't nearly as disgusting as luke-warm water.

2manybikes

For 25 miles, nothing. Solid food will take a couple of hours to get into your system. Eat first if you want, but it does not matter.

Jarrett2

Agreed. It really depends how new you are to it. A couple of years ago, I would have probably needed a buffet of gels and an IV to do that ride.

Now, its just a regular Tuesday/Thursday evening ride and I carry one water bottle and maybe drink 1/2 of it during.

It's pretty amazing how our bodies adapt to the rigors of cycling over the years.

TheKillerPenguin

It depends on what you've been doing the days before training wise, what are you doing the days after training wise, and if you feel hungry. A 25mi group ride simply isn't going to be able to deplete your energy stores all on its own, but if you're depleted from previous days and you've got more training coming up the following days, you need to make sure you're keeping on top of stuff. If this is like one of 3-4 rides you're doing in a week it matters much less however. I dunno, maybe you're heading out the door and you're a little hungry, just bring a dang cookie, it's ~100 grams tops, it isn't going to get you dropped.

There isn't any harm in bringing more water than you think you'd need along with a snack. The worst case scenario is you don't finish your bottles and you eat the food after you finish or save it for the next ride. I'd rather have too much water than too little.

RoadLight

Greetings,

Like many other riders here, if I begin my ride rested, I don't eat anything during a 25 miles ride because it is too short to need it. In fact, my daily training rides are 35 miles each and I don't eat anything during them, either. I try to drink water about every 4 to 5 miles.

But I'm healthy and don't have any blood-sugar problems. If you are either hyperglycemic or hypoglycemic, you may need some carbs during 25 miles.

If I start my ride early in the morning, I'll usually eat one apple or banana about 20 minutes before the ride starts. If I start later in the day, I try to time my departure for 1-1/2 to 2 hours after a meal.

On long rides (100+ miles), I typically eat every 30-35 miles. I'll usually eat 1 to 2 home-made granola bars made with quick oats, walnuts, dates and dried blueberries. And I'll try to eat a banana or other fruit, if available. Depending on my level of perspiration, I may drink 1 to 2 bottles during that 30-35 miles. My bottles are 27 oz in size and, on long rides, one will contain an electrolyte drink (like Gatorade Endurance mixed to only 50%). However, when I have an electrolyte drink, I don't drink it as often as I do plain water.

Regarding fluid consumption, it is impossible to metabolize water as fast as you lose it (through perspiration, etc) if you are riding hard and/or in hot conditions. On a long ride you will eventually become dehydrated. The goal is to manage the rate of dehydration so you can make it to the end of the ride in good condition. The rate at which each person can metabolize water varies and you need to avoid losing too many electrolytes or this rate will decrease. This is where experience is necessary---you need to learn at what rate to consume an electrolyte supplement and you need to discover the maximum rate that you can consume water without increasing your need to urinate. If you consume electrolytes faster than you need them, you can get an upset stomach. If you drink water at a faster rate than you can metabolize it, you'll need to urinate more frequently and the extra water you consumed will have been wasted. So experiment and learn at what max rate (frequency and volume) you can drink water without increasing your need to urinate. Don't do this when you are sick in any way because it will not be accurate.

Within 20 minutes after the end of a ride, I try to down a fast-digesting and high-quality smoothie in order to prevent muscle damage. One of my typical smoothies contains bananas, dates, peanut butter, a little soy milk and coconut sugar.

Because I ride a lot of miles each year (5,000-6,000 miles), a fair amount of my water is in a bottle. So I use stainless steel bottles from Klean Kanteen because they do not pick up any of the plastic taste or smell like regular bottles (even BPA).

Kind regards, RoadLight

caloso

Dude, this is the 41. GTFO with your common sense and reasonableness.

TheKillerPenguin

You're absolutely right, back to the 33 I go!

jordanair45

Very true. A local mountain here is an 18 mile, non-stop climb. I usually eat like 45 mins into the ride, cause it takes about 2 hours to climb and the last climb in the hardest! Probably a mental thing, no bonking for me!

Jeremy_S

For 25 miles water. Don't need anything else.

Jeremy_S

This is true as well. Here at work in NM 25 miles is a lot tougher than 40 miles at home in Fort Worth. But for my average 25 miles just water and I may not even take more than a drink or two.

Jean3n16

I now have 3 water bottles for the upcoming 24mi ride. I might be kicking myself for not having 4 but i think 3x32oz will be enough!

Heathpack 

Serious point here, I'm not just giving you $hit: should you really be "depleted" from previous day's training? That's what recovery is (partially) about, right?

You do your workout with as little calorie intake as you can get away with, and then you make sure you rehydrate & get the carbs/protein/calories into you before the next workout. Pretty rare that an amateur cyclist, racing or not, can't refuel completely before the next workout.

Or at least this is how middle aged ladies recover. You young bucks can get away with all kinds of $hit, it seems. Life isn't fair.

02Giant 

Are you the SAG Wagon for a small group on this ride?

memebag

This may be the source of some of this debate. I'm not trying to reduce my calorie intake. I eat and drink whatever I want, whenever I want. I guess some of y'all are trying to lose weight, which would explain the energy behind the opposition to sugar water.

Heathpack 

No worries, we are just talking about different things.

Lots of racing cyclists are trying to manage weight for sure. But the biggest reason to become fat-adapted (ie train fasted or on minimal calories in order to force the body to use more efficiently used stored fat as fuel) is because when you are racing there are times it's logistically impossible to eat. Being fat-adapted puts you at competitive advantage when racing.

Personally I think trying to become better fat-adapted benefits most cyclists- because any of us could get in a situation out on the bike where you're out of food or sugar water. But for most people it's not necessary, so just always riding with food is fine too.

Personally, 25 miles I wouldn't eat & might not drink either. I for sure would if it were hot out though. I use electrolytes (in my bottles) in scenarios where I'll be sweating if the ride will be 3 hours or longer. Three hours is about my tipping point for eating too.

It all depends on how hard I'm working, I try to have it work out to a 1500ish cal deficit max on a long ride. So I know my burn rate (power meter) and I know my intake. From there it's just math.

Not that everybody should do the same necessarily. I do want to both manage weight & encourage fat adaptation.