downtube42

Sitting around a campfire with a bud years ago, somewhere along the Greater Allegheny Passage, we came up with an alternate to Little Debbie's: Big Deb, for hungry cyclists. We thought it had legs, but alas neither of us were the entrepreneurial type.

Highcad

Those things are so damn good. I had one on a car trip the other day - pure heaven.

GhostRider62

Lil Debbies mini donuts are a personal favorite. Even if you crush them, they eat fine. They fit in back jersey pockets or better yet in a feed bag off the bars or a handlebar bag. I usually buy two powdered and one chocolate along with a chocolate milk. They also have a good amount of sodium. About 1500 calories gets you to lunch

mr_pedro

I don't think your body cares about the price of carbs. For nutrition during exercise actually the processed carbs that are faster to absorb (which normally is why they are "bad"), are not only cheaper but also more effective.

Osmolality is another big rabbit hole one can go into. Eating any solid foods together with your carefully balanced drink will mess up all the calculations anyway.

canklecat

BTW, if you get tired of refueling with sweet stuff (I do on longer rides), try potatoes. The glycemic index is nearly as high as glucose. Nice change of pace, texture, etc., with extra salt if you need it.

A couplafew years ago GCN did a century test ride with one presenter eating normally while the other fasted or ate very little, I don't recall the details. Both drank fluids normally. They checked blood sugar levels throughout the test ride and confirmed that a snack of potato crisps elevated the fasting rider's blood sugar as quickly and effectively as sugary snacks or other familiar carbs.

Potato chips are as readily available as any other snacks at convenience stores along the way. Heck, a tube of Pringles would also travel well, since the rigid tube protects the chips.

Yeah, there's rice too, but for some reason rice makes me gassy, while potatoes don't.


Save the raw fish or coney for your weirdo friend for after the ride.

Carbonfiberboy 

To the contrary, osmolality is something every long distance rider should be aware of. I've stopped and helped several riders who've had to stop because their osmolality got too high which was causing them to experience bonking symptoms. Cost: I pay about $70 for a 50# bag of low osmolality maltodextrin. I don't think there's anything cheaper than that. OTOH, what you say about solid food is true and is the reason I have either plain water in one bottle or a Camelbak and a bottle with a very strong malto solution. And then don't eat solid food. Or you can have plain water in both bottles and eat solid food - I've done that too. But don't do what you say not to do, righto.

There is some discussion about whether or not maltodextrin produces lower stomach osmolality than sucrose.
https://academic.oup.com/nutritionre...l_2/57/1930269

My experience is with high caloric density drinks (strong malto solutions), which do seem to empty faster with adequate water intake. Note in the study how important the thirst response issue is. My practice has been to drink to thirst and to take just enough Endurolyte capsules to produce a continuous slight thirst sensation, for me 1-2/hour. I separate my hydration, electrolyes, and food, never mixing them, because one will want a varying combination of these substances throughout any long ride.

PeteHski

This is something I've never really considered. I usually fuel hard century rides with both solid and liquid carbs and never run into these issues. Is this something more related to ultra-endurance?

GhostRider62

Did I say my body cares about the price of carbs? (I don't on important events)


Who says I eat foods with my expensive Skratch Superfuel? (I don't)


In the end, I have no idea what point you are making. I responded to why Gatorade isn't the best. The problem with most simple carbs is the limit to how many calories you can take in due to the high osmolality of higher concentrations. If one does not need 300-400 kcals/hour and only needs 100-200 cal/hr, a 5 pound bag of sucrose on the rear rack is fine. An undefined combination of high concentration and high osmolality will cause GI distress. For many many years, I used Maltodextrin with added minerals and fructose and it is good. I prefer the ease of mixing my current favorite, which I can easily consume 400 cals/hour for 12+ hours. I cannot come close to that with simple sugars like HFCS, sucrose, etc.. Nobody can.

Carbonfiberboy 

Maybe it depends on how much one has to fuel in order to not run low on glycogen over the period of the ride. So the longer the ride, the more important this might be. I've only seen this happen on long climbs in quite warm conditions, though I've heard about LD riders running into it in relatively ordinary conditions when they like eat a burger and uh-oh. I call it sloshy stomach. Stomach feels full, doesn't empty, blood sugar drops. Then one is sitting on a curb, feeling a little dizzy. You probably have your fueling dialed, not an issue. In these cases, I've given water and 2 Endurolytes, after a bit the stomach suddenly empties. Happened to me once, never again. I hadn't been drinking enough water to dilute my fuel and it caught up to me.

GhostRider62

From my experience, sloshy stomach is a combination of too much. Too much intensity, too many miles, too much heat, too much simple carbs like sucrose, too much osmolality, too much fructose, too much real food. (I am ignoring sodium imbalance, too complex)

On long rides like longer brevets and ultra distance races, the ride/race is partly an eating contest. Somewhere between 100 and 200 miles, probably closer to 200 miles, fueling strategy and adherence to the plan becomes more critical. It is hard to make a mistake at 100 miles. The plan should be based on past experience and a little bit of science. 100 miles might take 4-8 hours and 2500-4000 kcals depending on the course and pace. Most of us start with around 1500 cals stored. So, there is between 1000 and 2500 calories to come from a combination of endogenous fatty acids and what you eat. Let's say it takes 6 hours to do the Century and 3000 calories total or 500 kcals/hour (around 140 watts average power) and thus, a 1500 calorie deficit. A 300 watt FTP rider could be burning almost 100% fat at that pace whereas a 180 watt rider would really be pushing it and probably closer to 80% CHO (20% fat) and therefore they would minimally need to consume at least 200 calories per hour to arrive bonked. A better number might be 250-300 per hour if our 180 watt FTP rider knew they could digest that per hour. Or just slow down. What often happens, the mistake the 180 watt rider makes is hanging for 60 miles with a too fast group and then is trashed but thinks they just need to eat, so, they stuff the face. Then, they throw up. It should not take too many iterations to learn that lesson. And, we all have different guts.

PeteHski

I worked out that I consume roughly 50-60% of my calorie burn during a hard ride and my century events usually involve a lot of climbing. I take my carbs in natural gels, bars and drinks. I do tend to limit my solid fuel intake to the early part of a ride and then more gels and liquid toward the end. Maybe I'm just lucky with my gut tolerance. The longest ride I've done this year was 200 km, which went pretty well on that regime. Had a good post ride meal and felt fine.

I do take in at least half a litre of water/ hour on long rides, but usually with a light carb/electrolyte mix. About 40g carbs per litre. I tend to avoid higher carb drinks, so maybe that helps to avoid potential problems.