GhostRider62

The pony keg on the bag goes 30 pounds.

big john

I like muffins on a ride! One thing about GMR, if you go to the village you can get food at the lodge. They're always happy to see cyclists and even installed a fountain in front for us. Hot days they will put ice out there. BF member Rick@OCRR used to call up there to ask for extra cinnamon rolls.

Highways 39 and 2 have nothing since Newcomb Ranch closed, unless you go to Wrightwood. You could stop at Crystal Lake, actually.

big john

I did strap a 2.5 gallon water jug on my rear rack once. It was 100 degrees in Kansas and I shared.

GhostRider62

I put a 5 pound bag of ice under my jersey once, it was 122F. Getting the crotch wet was the only problem.

indyfabz

Don’t know. Not sure I want to know. I’m pretty sure the bike and racks are over 40 lbs., thanks in part to heavy but bomb-proof wheels I had built in the fall of 2018 after the original set wore out. I don’t travel light when it comes to cooking gear, but over the years I’ve cut weight with things like a down bag and a UL (2.75 lb.) tent. (On flat routes I take the 3.25 lb. tent.)

Eric F 

If he didn't share at lease a bite or two, he needs to be removed as a friend.

rsbob 

A nice pair of buns ahead (not male) always give me an extra energy boost.

Calsun

I have ridden thousands of miles on tours and with daily distance of more than 100 miles and the only snack I take is one or two small boxes of raisins. I am allergic to raw bananas or I would take one of them in the pocket of my jersey. The fructose in raisins is readily available to the body. Adding in nuts provides fat but they take longer to digest and process than the raisins.

My breakfast is a carb one of pancakes which provides most of the fuel for the day. One can also carbo load with pasta and such the night before but I have not felt the need to do this for normal riding.

Carbs in a snack bar or gel packet are not going to provide lasting energy for the body. They also result in getting hungry sooner.

bblair

I always do better with real food. Hammer Perpetuem in my bottle, but a bagel with peanut or almond butter, a baggie of dates or a banana, maybe a Clif Bar. Ok..maybe a donut at a gas station.

And a rest stop doesn't always have to be a sit down lunch. It can be a 5 minute, get off the bike in a park or side of the road.

I look at it like this: if I can't win the world championship, I might as well enjoy myself. It's not like there are cheering throngs of fans in the shop parking lot when I get back beating my old PR by 15 seconds. More like an endorsement offer from Otis Spunkmeyer.

terrymorse 

I may be the weirdo here (likely), but unless I'm blasting out a hard multi-hour effort, I don't bother with nutrition while riding.

I mean, it's not as if rolling along in zone 2 is gobbling up my glycogen stores, any way. I won't eat anything on rides of 3-4 hours.

I carry a single Clif Shot in case I start feeling bonky, but I can go for months without using it.

After a ride is when I chow down. Grab a sandwich or a pastry, drink a latté or a smoothie.

ZHVelo

At what kind of intensity do you ride?

I am asking because if I do an 'easy' ride I also prefer stuff like corn cakes or my own oat & rice cakes. But if I do a lot of climbing, I will use my malto/fructose mix.

Camilo

I keep gels and/or some sort of power bar type think in my jersey pocket. If it's a very intense no-stop ride, I'll eat a gel every 30-45 minutes and/or would eat a bar every hour. I can ride one handed so eating and drinking on a bike is not a problem. I put the trash up one or both of my spandex shorts legs where it stays until I get to a trash can. Any sticky residue (and is so little as to be insignificant) is meaningless because I wash the shorts and myself after the ride.

If you have trouble dealing with gel packets on the go, use a gel flask and mix 2-3 gels with water in it. Do a little experimenting so you know how much of a shot to take from the flask to equal one gel.

I hate chewy/gummy type stuff. Much harder to consume while exerting myself, plus all the expensive dental work I have is put in jeopardy by them.

bblair

Varies. A lot.

Sometimes flat and fast. I get dropped on those. Other times very hilly and long. Hard on the climbs, but regroup and easier on the flat sections. If the group is so intense that there is never a time to put a foot down and take a bite, then that is not the group for me. But good for them.

For me, eating regular food is the way to go. Nothing beats a midride peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

CAT7RDR

On longer hotter rides, I like keeping organic maple syrup in a 5oz flask.
Easy for me to digest. I can dilute with water. Stores well, Easy to access.
Much less expensive than gels and chews.

rsbob 

My wife bakes high energy protein bars which are quite tasty. Then I take packets of Gu for a long ride. I find they are a nice pick me up.

Mtracer

For me, anything under 2 1/2 hours, I don't take in calories other than what I get from my half-strength Gatorade I drink. With my rather moderate power output, I'm burning about 500-600 cal per hour. So, if my ride is going to go longer then 2 1/2 hours, I'll target eating 500+ cal for each hour beyond 1 1/2 hours.. Though, I will start eating after about the first hour with the goal to finish eating whatever I planned to, with about another hour to go in the ride. This is to give myself time to digest and absorb it. Gels of course are a more immediate thing. But that's only if I feel that I need a shot of something towards the end of a ride.

I frequently do 3 1/2 to 4 hour rides and for these I'll target eating about 500 calories. Usually two Clif bars. I have extra bars and a few gels if ever needed (rare).

In the summer when I get out at dawn, I won't eat anything before the ride. I have enough glycogen to do 2 1/2 hours fasted. In the winter when I ride in the afternoon, I'll eat a small early lunch about an hour before I ride.

This works well for me for most rides since I don't compete. But if I really want to push hard on a ride, I will be better off if I load up the day before on carbs. Seems to give me a boost on rides the next day. No idea if this has built up more glycogen, or perhaps when I overeat, my body simply hasn't finished digesting it all and therefore I'm not in a fasted state the next day.

bblair

However, when the Mrs. and I ride our tandem, she likes to stick to the bike path and have a planned destination. There is a town with a couple of nice coffee shops about 15 miles away, so that is our typical stop. No Gu or Gels. Real, hot food only. Breakfast biscuit sandwiches, muffins, or this: cappucino and some sort of Greek spinach/feta pastry. Yum!

Since we are on a tandem, we each eat half!

rsbob 

That works if each person puts in equal halves of the effort. When my wife and I rode our tandem, it was more like 6/10s and 4/10s and on hills 8 to 2. That doesn’t leave much pastry.

bblair

While that might be true, I have learned that when someone asks, "who does most of the work?", the only correct answer is "it is a team effort and we both work hard." I am not stupid. Which means, I learn from past mistakes.

rsbob 

Most excellent. When people asked me whom worked harder, I would always lie and say my wife. Then she would correct me and all was good. If I had said it the other way it would have been bad news. We had a 1.5 mile climb between 12-15% at the end of every ride to get back to our house. I would work my @$$ off to get us up that hill without stopping. It made me a more fit cyclist in the long run. I used to also ride a tandem with a very fit light weight male and climbing hills with him was far easier. But your wife deserves half of the pastry just like mine.

merlinextraligh

bottle launcher