best pre-ride food

[Andra2000]

What's the best food for pre-ride if you don't want to wait around too long
for it to digest before hitting the road?

I prefer hearty soups myself - minestroni, vegetable beef & barely, tomato
vegetable, etc. Soups seem to provide the best combination of nutrients,
energy and easy digestion.

[bogiesan]

Those products have negligible protein. That makes them completely unsuitable for me. If you're not interested in waiting around for food to digest, why are you wasting precious time heating it up or maybe doing dishes? Three are many grab-and-go products or DIY recipes that will provide both long release nutrition and readily accessible fuel.

[staehpj1]

I typically just grab a granola bar in camp and stop on the road at a diner if one is available.  If no diner, I snack on whatever snacks i am carrying until lunch.

Sometimes I do fix instant oatmeal for breakfast.  Regardless of what I eat I don't see the need to sit around to digest it.  It helps to not eat too much at one time.  Better to nibble all day.

[indyfabz]

Pancakes with a couple of sausage links. Had some yesterday morning before hitting the road for 65 miles on the last day of a three-day. No need to clean up. The restaurant staff took care of that.

They day before I intially had a bagel topped with a can of sardines in olive oil before heading out to find a second breakfast.

If you wait to fully digest your breakfast you will be sitting around for a long time.

[Pat Lamb]

Pancakes with a couple of sausage links. Had some yesterday morning before hitting the road for 65 miles on the last day of a three-day. No need to clean up. The restaurant staff took care of that.

Ditto. Pancakes start to digest pretty quickly, and the sausage digests more slowly, providing food for 30 miles or so before I need refueling.  Plus I like it!

[indyfabz]

To this day, if I order pancakes I inquire about the size after an incident in Cut Bank, MT during our NT trip. Two of us ordered two pancakes each after a hard, nearly service-less ride from McGrath, AB. They were easily 12" in diameter. Being from the east, I had never seen pancakes that big. One waitress in another MT town called pancakes like that "horse blankets."

[staehpj1]

To this day, if I order pancakes I inquire about the size after an incident in Cut Bank, MT during our NT trip. Two of us ordered two pancakes each after a hard, nearly service-less ride from McGrath, AB. They were easily 12" in diameter. Being from the east, I had never seen pancakes that big. One waitress in another MT town called pancakes like that "horse blankets."

I ordered the full stack in New Mexico once and thought better of it when the waitress said "are you sure?"  I could barely handle the short stack.

[johnsondasw]

Oatmeal with peanut butter, fruit and nuts included and some yoghurt or milk if available.  I can ride immediately after eating this breakfast.  It's very quick to prepare and I carry this stuff anyway.

[Twoteller]

My go to is scrambled eggs wrapped in a tortilla. You can add cheese,bacon, sausage etc. to make it to your liking.

[DaveB]

As you may have gathered by now, everyone is different in their food preferences so someone else's recommendation may or may not agree with you.  I do agree that there is no reason to sit around and "digest" your meal before resuming riding.  Unlike running, riding right after a moderate meal doesn't seem to upset many people.

[cdavey]

I've got a sloppy metabolism that has to be fed -- a lot. From experience I have learned that for me anytime I am touring or if I am doing a long ride (30 miles or more) around home, breakfast needs to be scrambled eggs, sausage, toast, and homefries/potatoes or pancakes. Otherwise sooner or later I bonk.

This past Saturday I was in a morning group ride that rode 30 miles round trip to check out a new diner/restaurant in a nearby town. I ate two slices of toast (homemade oat bran bread that is really filling) and jelly before I went to fuel me till we arrived. I was in the middle of the above breakfast when two guys came into the restaurant who were out for a 70 mile day ride. (They had seen all our bikes out front and decided to stop in.) During our conversation one of them looked at my plate and said, "Isn't that a lot of food to eat on a ride?" I said, "Not for me it isn't."

Like DaveB said, everyone is different when it comes to this when they ride. I never have trouble riding after eating like this because I ate too much. I actually have trouble riding until it digests enough to kick in and fuel me.

[reed523]

Count me in the group that needs a big breakfast to have a good ride day.  Eggs seem to be my anti-bonk food, preferably with a waffle and coffee.  No problems riding soon after the last bite as long as I roll slow the first few miles (which I do anyway).