shorthanded

anybody out there a vegetarian LD rider?

if so--what's your strategy for keeping up with caloric needs?

Bacciagalupe

Energy bars, fruit, sandwiches, granola, trail mix, gels, sports drinks, Bonbel cheeses....

Actually most of the "on the bike" stuff people eat is vegetarian anyway.

One thing to keep in mind is that if you are on the bike for a sufficient amount of time (e.g. 6-8 hours) it's helpful to have something that is more like a real meal than a snack. I wouldn't necessarily count on a sponsored ride to have veggie options by the time you actually get to a rest stop, so bringing along a cheese sandwich, or PB&J, is a good idea.

Wesley36

I have become a big fan of Hammer Perpetuem for on-bike nutrition. For my size, I go through one bottle an hour, for me it is the best way of avoiding the dreaded bonk (last year I was doing lots of 4-5 hour rides). And the Caffe Latte flavour is palatable even when it is warm, which is also a plus.

augustgarage

With the exception of some occasional jerky or fish, my brevet food is vegetarian.

In addition to my electrolyte drink (First Endurance EFS), I eat things like oatmeal cookies (home-made), granola/energy bars (sometimes home-made), pastries, chocolate, chocolate milk, potato chips, ice cream, onigiri (home-made rice balls - usually stuffed with umeboshi), small potatoes (home-made - boiled, salted, and wrapped in foil), dried fruit (bananas, cherries, apricots), V-8, pistachios (shelled), cashews, chestnuts, halva, grapefruit juice, cranberry juice, apple juice, and so on.

Distance, weather, and availability of services along the route all impact the "nutrition" choices I make. After ~200 miles I may need caffeine and/or something more closely resembling a full meal - but eating often/constantly works better than a sit-down meal for me in general.

There are plenty of vegetarian LD riders, and even several wildly accomplished vegan LD riders: https://www.the508.com/articles/2007/bonobo.html

PedalPink

I've been a vegetarian over 40 years, and a cyclist the past 10 years. I started riding 24 hour events four years ago and 200-600km brevets two years ago. As others have said, most of the food people eat on the bike is vegetarian anyway. I enjoy what I refer to as "real food" and haven't been very successful with powders, gel, etc. I eat small amounts throughout the ride and always carry food with me on the bike in case a control doesn't have anything that I'd want to eat. I've learned to eat a variety of foods. Things that are tasting at 75 miles may have no appeal to me by 150 miles.

My biggest problem is extremely hot temperatures. When it gets above 90, I have difficulty eating anything at all.

skiffrun

You're from Frederick, Md. -- make contact with / join the DC Randonneurs.

They ride from or thru Frederick quite often. I am confident that you'll find a wide variety of meat-eaters, vegetarians and vegans. Those in the latter two categories will likely have much in-person advice for you.

shorthanded

thanks skiffrun! i'm on all their lists already-- i just need to come out of the woodwork now and again i dunno any other veg-ish folks doing long distance stuff-- and i know that i'm personally getting all the bugs out of my calorie intake program, and can't seem to eat ENOUGH. i do alright on rides-- but i need to sit down and do SOMETHING afterwards like plow a full pizza. i started hitting protein harder while riding- which helped a little in regards to the post-ride ravenous-- but i suspect i need to up the ante even more- and i know full well that i'm gonna need to carry my proteins, because they're not super available, and i had similar problems working (farming and carpentry- both pretty physical pursuits). PB&J just doesn't stick with me super well.

what's a SUPER dense easily digestible protein that's made of non-magic food? right now, i'm using string cheese and peanuts, peanut butter.. but both do more damage than good, i think... just tough to digest while riding. sour stomach is almost as bad as the aftereffects of just eating starches... i'd love to avoid nutrition drinks if possible... something about pounding soy protein isolate grosses me out.

niknak

I'm not sure if eating more protein will help during the ride. Post-ride it's supposedly good to consume some protein to rebuild muscles. I like chocolate milk or chocolate soy milk, doesn't matter.

The US is obsessed with protein. After 16 years as a vegetarian, I feel great and blood tests show that I'm getting enough of everything in my diet without trying to do anything special: no supplements, drink mixes, and all of that expensive garbage.

Go figure, but it seems that eating veggies, fruit, grains, and some dairy is actually healthy and sustaining. As a long-distance cyclist, you just have to eat more

CbadRider

What about edamame? It has a lot of protein and would travel pretty well.

seedsbelize 

I'm not quite vegetarian, but I'm currently on a no sugar, no refined carbs diet. I eat eggs, tofu and occasionally chicken for protein. Lots and lots of broccoli and other veggies. And lots of olive oil and tahini. I find I almost have to do a sit down meal during a century, preferably around mile 75. Because without sugar and quick carbs, the pickings are quite slim. I carry a cheese sandwich for mile 45 or thereabouts.

Guitarrick

I'm not 100% vegetarian, just started eating better this past year. I get around 20 miles to a banana.

Gerry Hull

Just became vegtarian but have to do lacto because I can't eat soy.

I really like it and definitely get through Ld rides with fewer issues. Recovering faster as well.

I used to really struggle with getting enough calories. I did some 16 hour rides eating 500 cals an hour and still felt like it was not enough.

That completely changed when I quit eating refined carbs, period. My experience seems to tell me that the more calories of refined sugar i eat, the more i require. I didnt just quit eating sugar when sitting on a bike, that didnt do anything.

The result is the last 12hr event i took maybe 250-300 cals an hour max. Never got hungry. Was faster at end of day than at start.

Boy finding a high quality digestible protein that didnt have soy in it was hard. Best results Ive gotten are from powdered rice protein,nand then theres this high rank Ironman triathlete named Brendan Brazier who was also a vegan, became nutrition expert and now he makes a whole line of energy bars, protein powders, recovery drinks all of which are organic, soy and gluten free, of supernaturally high nutrition quality, and price. They are avail at Whole Foods. The energy bars are good. After trying these you can use your clif and power bars to patch mufflers, and donate your perpetuuem to your kids school when they need glue for a class project. ive used tons of that stuff and it works really well, I just cant imagine getting within a mile of it ever again.

defrag

Paul de Vivie (Velocio) is the father of randonneuring and was vegetarian. (more info)

Gerry Hull

That is cool.
What turned my head was reading about the current fastest 130 mile ultradistance runner who is total vegan.
I thought how in the F do you pull that off?
What i learned by looking up vegan athletes and cyclists is that 1)they are rapidly growing in number, and 2)they all state down to a person that their recovery from injuries is much faster, among other benefits.
Ive totally changed the way I eat over the last few months and often it is
confusing. You go to a restaurant and wonder what in the hell am I supposed to eat? That will resolve itself in time, im sure. Not being able to eat soy complicates matters (i take a med that reacts with soy and produces heart
palpitations)

But as for cycling the benefits are pretty immediate. Namely in that my
hunger levels are no longer all over the place like they were when i was cramming pop tarts and energy bars. Time I can ride at full effort before bonking substantially increased.

Favorite pre ride meal is now nothing but 2 cups of oats. Very clean burning, long lasting carb.
Am still experimenting with what is best e-bar for LD. No soy eliminates 90 percent of my choices. Im so sick of most of them anyway.

https://myvega.com/products/whole-foo...tures-benefits
That is link to Vega products, created by Brendan Brazier, the Ironman fellow I mentioned. No doubt the highest quality and cleanest energy, its got all the stuff in there thats good for us, is made with plant protein that is to digest. Also high price, but when I think of the money I invest to participate in an ld event, it makes no sense not to cough up the dough for the best nutrition I can think of. So thats what Ill try next.

Am having a lot of fun in the discovery process on this. Has made a bigger impact on my cycling than anything else Ive done for a while. Hope you're enjoying it too, OP; keep at it and report back with what you learn.

Gerry Hull

The sticky issue if you're a newbie vegetarian of some kind, and dont want to be using refined sugar for your carb source on your rides, and you have to have that 250 cals an hour or whatever, what exactly do you use?

While many would consider this a 'refined' carb, I have used rice syrup, which can be had for about five bucks a quart in most health food stores. Its mainly maltodextrin, which is the primary carb in perpetuuem. Thats a good slow burning carb. The taste is mild, not very sweet.

But Im learning that there are, in addition to those boutique vega bars i just described, other options for calorie dense totally unrefined carb sources. Natalia Rose developed a energy bar for her female clients that ran marathons, comprised of dates, stevia, and raw honey. Agave is also calorie dense.

I think there are going to be many new things available commercially in the coming years.

max-a-mill

my suggestion (for cheap protien) are those packs of nuts available at any gas station convienience store. cheap and packed with calories and salt, mmmm.

claire

No problems for me either. On small rides (300 km or less) I prepare my own sandwiches with stuff like hoummous or cheese, or anything that can be spread on bread. On longer rides, when I need to get some of my food at bakeries (remember I'm in France) I usually go for stuff like onion or leek pie (it's got milk and eggs though). I'd rather eat salty things than sweet things at any time of the day. I'm not big on bars, I'd rather take a small piece of bread and munch on it all day.

rhm

I can't call myself a vegetarian; given the choice between eating meat or not eating, I'll eat meat. But I do avoid meat where possible, and it is usually possible; and I avoid animal protein most of the time.

But sometimes --especially when on long distance rides-- I weaken. On my last century, I passed a barbecue place and breathed deeply and... I just had to stop. It was good. But it didn't make me feel good. I'm going to try to not repeat that mistake.

garagegirl

FYI Trader Joe's sells an affordable quality hemp protein powder. It's easy on my stomach, and is basically just ground up hemp seeds. I was using rice protein, but it doesn't taste that great and I didn't like how processed it seemed.

Gerry Hull

Great suggestion.

My GF last night brought home good find, unleavened Manna bread. It is extremely dense! About 1000 calories in a fist-sized loaf. Would easily fit in pocket and is almost enough calories for a century. Has somewhat hard crust on outside but is extremely moist on inside. Very neutral/ good taste, would be easy to eat on the move.
I don't know if other vegs are like this but anything sweet typically becomes absolutely noxious to eat/drink after a couple hours in the saddle.

shorthanded

hey yeah-- that hemp meal IS a great suggestion. i know the manna bread pretty too well having worked at coops-- i'd forgotten about it... fits nicely in a bag, too!

garagegirl

Good, now everyone go out and buy it so TJ's keeps it on the shelves!

markmontana

Another modified vegetarian here, but I do add a little fish and avoid all dairy. Nothing much to add to what's been said, but I have noticed recovery is much better after changing some 4 years ago. Almost no soreness ever- big change for me.

Karma007

I'm vegan, and yes, I get enough protein! On the bike, I exist on Clif Blocks, Clif Bars, Swedish Fish, and red potatoes (lightly salted and a sprinkle of Mrs. Dash, stored in a ziplock bag). If you're worried about protein mid-ride, shelled edamame or single-serving boxes of chocolate soy milk are nice, but I normally don't worry about that until after the ride. I fare pretty well at everything from a 7-11 to a burger joint, and have never had to go hungry. If you're interested in Brenden Brazier and Thrive, read the book- the recipes are better that most of the Vega stuff. The energy balls are yummy.

Santaria

Flexitarian here. I only eat a tuna steak about once a month. I think I've had one in the last 6 months though, so generally I'm a full time egg-eating vegetarian. No milk or cheese here.

I found the most awesome PBJ bars made by simple foods at the local Vitamin Shoppe. 330 calories, relatively low sugar and what they look like is a compressed, and dehydrated PBJ. Very tasty. I usually end up eating 1 an hour. Otherwise, the white chocolate Clif Bar is excellent, soft and tastes good. I haven't found a salty option I'm 100 percent comfortable with, but I've been thinking about those giant baked pretzels. Break it into thirds and only bring 1-2 in a ziplock.