picking yer brains

[drmemory]

I'm trying to learn about cycling for personal improvement. I am very interested in the culture of cycling, and i'm considering doing some writing on the topic. i've joined several of the yahoo cycling clubs, just to get to know some people, and learn about cycling.

I'm trying to learn more about how diet and such affects performance. I don't race or anything, but i just want to ride, and the better i can ride, the longer i can ride (a vicious cycle but i like it).

What do you eat, in prep for a good ride, anything special?

Something else i've wondered about, for in nutrition, like so many other things, there are so many contradictory thoughts out there. For example, i've gotten the impression you should be eating the night before, for a morning ride. digestion takes time. thoughts?

[wanderingwheel]

For a multi-day tour, eating is simple: anything and everything I can get my grubby little hands on, with a special fondness for ice cream and milkshakes.  My main goal here is to replace as many calories as possible for a reasonable amount of money.  

For a single day event such as a fast brevet, double century, or race, I follow much stricter fueling guidelinesbased on the length of the event, how much effort I intend to put in, and what I have been using in taining.

[Cephas]

If your interest is in performance, there are plenty of books on sports nutrition.
If you are riding for fun, just eat. Lots. Often.

A page from my RAGBRAI diary, July 23, 1997:
Having a great time eating our way across Iowa. Today I ate scrambled eggs with a smoked pork chop, two slices of watermelon, a hamburger, a jumbo taco, home made ice cream, a full spagetti dinner and something that crawled into our tent during the night. Plus a couple gallons of Gatorade, ice tea, lemonade, OJ and Mt Dew.
Amanda (10 year old daughter) is doing fine, no whining or complaining. She's too busy eating.

[bentrider]

I do primarily touring on my bicycle and found that my everyday eating habits don't work while I'm cycling.

For instance, I can consume alot of coffee or tea when at work but I've found this stuff acts as a diuretic and can make cycling very uncomfortable so I reduce this coffee consumption down to 1-2 a day. No ice cream while cycling, reduce the amount of red meat also as it takes a long time to break down that form of protein.

I eat more salads, rice, pasta, whole grain foods, bread, certain fruits. I also eat on occasion tofu, or dryed soya protein and beans to replace the reduced red meat consumption. This stuff can be metabolized faster than meat protein.

On long extended tours where I have a planned rest day I would probably use that day to take in some extra protein in the form of a steak, chicken, fish as I have the time to break it down comfortably.

It is important also to make sure you have regular bran in the course of a day as eating alot of pasta and cheese can really plug up the personal plumbing!