what do you eat the night before

8119tm

So what do you eat the night before a 100k cycle and the morning of the cycle.

Sorry if this has been covered before

Captain Havoc

8119tm wrote: »

So what do you eat the night before a 100k cycle and the morning of the cycle.

Sorry if this has been covered before

Vindaloo for 150km+ cycles.

Lemag

Captain Havoc wrote: »

Vindaloo for 150km+ cycles.

To ensure a tailwind?

manwithaplan

I will be cycling 100k or thereabouts in the morning. I have eaten a couple of mackerel with some salad and a bag of chips so far this evening. I have had a glass of wine and am about halfway through a bottle of beer. To be honest, I don't think you should do anything special.

A decent bowl of porridge and plenty of water is all you need in the morning. I will get up too late and wolf down some muesli and sprint my way to the start of the club spin but that's not recommended! I eat fig rolls and banana on the bike.

daragh_

Usually try and avoid alcohol the night before.

Usually fail. (Getting better at limiting dosage).

Bananas, porridge or bran stuff with honey for brekkie. More bananas on the spin.

I never drink tea before as it makes me pee like crazy during a spin.


YMMV

ashleey

Avoid coffee on the day unless it's an espresso as per the Euro Rules. Chips the night before is good. Toast in the morning.

Tonyandthewhale

Coco pops, I only ever eat coco pops. Of course if you're not manly enough for a diet consisting entirly of brown milk and chocolate-coated puffs of what is nominally rice then a hearty breakfast (porridge, muesli etc) in the morning, maybe some fruit and snacks for on the bike are all that's needed, don't worry about eating anything special the night before.

furiousox

Little or no alcohol the night before.
Espresso, one slice of toast with honey & a banana for breakfast.
Water, energy bars/gels, barley sugar sweets and another banana while on the bike.

ryan_sherlock

For 100km ride, unless it is a big deal (as in, you usually don't ride close to that) - I would say no different. Maybe a little extra carbs (I mean a little, not feeding an army) the night before...

100km rides (with some hills) is usually about 2,600 to 2,900 calories for me (73kg) - the slower I go, the closer it is to 2,600... If I rode full gas, it would be closer to 3,300 (as in, doing 35kmph solo).

2,600 calories is not that much really - a bottle of juice and 2-3 bars and you have another 1,000 calories off that. 1,600 is all you really need to have in your system.

Satanta

Some interesting responses to this thread so far, and surprising too seeing as there seem to be very capable cyclists.

There is a definite advantage to eating the correct food the day before a long cycle or run or whatever. If you "carb up" properly you will have the energy reserves at source for your body to use... i.e. in the muscles. this is much more efficient than ramming gells and boiled sweets into you on the ride itself.

Don't be afraid to do this (carb up)... you will use the calories up on the cycle. Eat clean carbs like whole wheat pasta, spuds, rice etc. The body can hold up to approx 2000 cals this way. And that's a hell of a lot if those types of foods. On a marathon that would get you to about mile 18, then you would hit "the wall". A good ripe bananna about 20 mins before that would help out there though.

Cookie_Monster

Absolutely nothing special either the night before or the morning of. That said, porridge is my staple breakfast these days so would always have that in the morning.

treborm

Pasta or Pizza the night before has always helped me, find it tough to eat a huge amount the morning before a cycle.