Compact carbs? Do they exist?

[tonythomson]

OK the plan is Perth to Sydney Australia, August.  At times several hundred miles with only the prospect of a Road House doing burger & fries occasionally.  What I want to know is in your opinion how is the best way to carry carbs and which manufacturer would you recommend.   

I don't plan to carry any cooking gear as I will be loaded down with water and I'm happy (?) to eat cold ie nuts dried fruit etc or any other suggestions.

Please I know a balanced diet etc is the best but on large parts of this trip it just isn't going to happen. I want loads of carbs with the least amount of weight possible. 
Thanks as I know someone on this forum has the right answer. Tony

[Pat Lamb]

Carry 2 kilo bags of sugar and flour, with a few vitamin pills.

Only half joking there.  Sugar is all carbs, flour is almost all carbs, and they're packed as small as they can get.  Pasta would be the next best thing (and my daughter use to nibble on raw spaghetti noodles), which is why it's so popular as hiking/biking food.

Of course, you'll soon find out you want more than carbs, and that's where the balance is waiting to be found.  Protein is a bit difficult; vegetable oil or olive oil is fat, and after a day or two you'll really wish you had some fiber. 

If you're going to be carrying all your water, you may as well get canned (tinned) food like soups or stews, or applesauce, peaches, etc.  Drink all the fruit juice -- it's water plus carbs.

[cotterg3]

Matt at www.spokecount.com made a graph charting cal/oz, cal/$, and protein/$ for several foods.

http://www.spokecount.com/p/graphs.html

It doesn't answer your question but I think its cool.

[RussSeaton]

Those gels like Powergel, GU, Clif would probably be your highest calories per ounce food.  I think they come in larger bottles than the individual packets.  There may also be some that have protein in them.  Or you could squeeze 100 or so into a plastic bottle and make your own large quantity.  I don't think I would want to live on this stuff for too long.  But it would work for a short period.

Also I think Army type food would work.  I think the military has condensed food and enriched food.  Small volume but high calories.

[Galloper]

Tony, have you read Mark Beaumont's book, "The Man who cycled the world"?   There's a very interesting section on his ride across the Nullarbor.

I'd go for the normal pasta, rice etc.   Once you've cooked it, the water you drain off is still usable.   I recently saw a programme on southern India where clean water is valuable and they mentioned that after cooking their rice, the drained off water was kept for the children.

[indyfabz]

Perpetuem by Hammer Nutrition.  You can mix it to varying strengths.

http://www.hammernutrition.com/products/perpetuem.pp.html

[bogiesan]

Those gels like Powergel, GU, Clif would probably be your highest calories per ounce food.  I think they come in larger bottles than the individual packets.  There may also be some that have protein in them.

Does the mass per calorie value include the packaging? If so, you must recalculate.

There are several recipes for homemade gels and bars available on the Net. I posted a gel recipe here myself. It's easy and cheap and almost fun. Honey (or rice syrup), molasses, salt, flavoring of choice. Cost per liter is about 1/100  the commercial products but, of course, you don't pay for all that packaging which is just wasted resources, likely litter, and a large amount of excess weight.

david boise ID

[tonythomson]

Hi David
thanks but couldn't find your recipe can you point me in the right direction please.
Tony

[johnno]

Hi Tony, I'm Australian and biked from Brisbane to Uluru in 99.  We generally had to carry enough food for a week (approx), restocking in the major centres.  We carried water for up to 3 days although generally only overnight - some rest areas have tanks and bores.  (i know someone who cicumnavigated oz about 30 years ago and got sick of carting water and just hailed down cars when he got low)  In my opinion, the easiest, and possibly best, option as far as carbs is to suck up the extra weight of some cooking gear (a few pounds at most) so that you can cook.  then have the cyclical (pun intended) diet of rice and spaghetti. (packs more compactly than shells).  From memory, the sauce that went with the 2 carb options were fairly similar!  Despite massive, fairly healthy meals that we cooked, my buddy and i still had plenty of space for fries (hot chips as they are called in oz) and chocolate ice cream at each roadhouse we passed.  The food is usually fairly good at the more remote roadhouses that cater for the long haul truckies (rather than tourist coaches)

[alfonso]

Hi Tony - Like Johnno, I'm Australian, though I've never done an extended outback tour or driven across the Nullarbor. However, the little I've read and heard makes me think that things may not be quite as challenging as you seem to think - though you are right in anticipating long distances without a town or roadhouse. Also like Johnno, I'd expect that the roadhouses would have more to offer than burgers and fries though not five-star meals. A fair amount of traffic uses this road, including some cycle tourists. Sorry not to have any more info at my fingertips but if I dig up any more I'll pass it on. I'm sure that there will be info on crazyguyonabike or bike forums Australia.

Perhaps this is one trip that would justify a bike trailer?

Best wishes - if I can help, please get in touch. Have a wonderful ride!

[Westinghouse]

On super long tours I found out that just eating regular meals did not quite do the job. I have used a variety of energy sources to stay energized and carbed, e.g., various energy bars, candy bars, gels, etc. My latest and best find is a powdered mix called Cytomax, however, it is a bit on the expensive side, and the price seems to vary quite considerably compared to its base price. It might be $12.95 for a quantity in one place, and $19.95 for the same quantity in another place. And then a lot cheaper than either someplace else. However, it worked quite effectively for me and the difference was definitely perceptible. At the end of a hard day on the road immediately drink down a prescribed amount of protein drink, powder mixed with milk, and your beginning the next morning will be noticeably smoother and more efficient, or so it goes with me.

[knolltop]

It doesn't answer your question but I think its cool.

   

[tonythomson]

Thanks all and have decided that I will carry a small cooking stove and pot, being a Pome decided I can't do without my afternoon tea!!!
The protean drinks will also be on the list.
Tony

[bogiesan]

Hi David
thanks but couldn't find your recipe can you point me in the right direction please.
Tony

http://www.adventurecycling.org/forums/index.php?action=printpage;topic=7248.0

Compact carbs are not the same as compact nutrition which is good fats, good proteins, good carbs, lots of good water, and good rest.

Seems a stove would be basic but we've discussed lots of light and superlight stoves here many times. The "penny" and the zzip and alcohol units win the weight/hassle/performance ratio tests every time.

Wishing you excellent riding. Keep the rubber side down.

bogiesan

[rvklassen]

Tony,

Rice and Spaghetti will be your most compact carbs.  But be aware that fats are approximately twice the calories per gram.  Carbs and proteins are ~4 calories per gram, whereas fats are around 8.  Anything you can do to get calories from fats will improve your hope of carrying enough caloric content without increasing weight or bulk.  Obvious examples being nuts, seeds and nut butters.