Road Cycling Essentials
- Thread starter Matutu
- Start date
- Status
Soldato
- Joined
- 5 Jul 2007
- Posts
- 5,511
- Location
- London
That is a seriously colossal amount of food in one day, let alone the need for mcdonalds as well! You need nowhere near that much for a ride regardless of distance.
I had a bowl of porridge for brealfast and some bread for lunch and went out and did 46 miles with threshold efforts this afternoon!
Last edited:
Don
- Joined
- 20 Oct 2002
- Posts
- 34,613
- Location
- Oxfordshire / Bucks
I had my first long night bike ride on my B'Twin Triban 5 (pics on other bike threads!).
In total we covered 45.3 miles but the time wasn't brilliant including breaks, probably 6 hours worth
I had with me two water bottles - one 750ml and another 900ml filled with lucozade sport. But I didn't bring much in the way of snacks which screwed me over. I wore a high vis, had a 3 rear lights - 1 flashing (on my saddle bag) 2 front lights (one off/dim/bright depending on how dark the country lanes were) and of course a helmet and bought with me dextrose tablets and some energy gels.
Around 10 miles in to the ride, I nearly got knocked off my bike by a badger that ran out in to my bike - fortunately it hit the back wheel of my bike and I was able to maintain control of the bike and come to a safe stop. My other two incidents were fairly minor - I hit a kerb with my front wheel because I got to a corner too quickly on a dark country lane and one of my lights came off in a town centre - but fortunately on these occasions no accidents, injuries or damage to the bike.
But the biggest issue I had was after 26 miles. After 26 miles we schedule a stop in Mcdonalds where we have to eat - we were probably there for 30 minutes to 1 hour and I stubbornly struggled on for the next 19 miles when all my energy was depleted - it was horrible.
I ate weetabix and two slices of toast for breakfast, for lunch I had chicken prawns and rice, a few hours later I had a ham and cheese sandwich then at 5pm I had a massive plate filled with 2 porkchops, rice, mashed potato with cauliflower and cheese as well as black beans with meat. Then at 7pm I had a chicken kiev with pasta.
Did I go wrong because I hadn't had enough to eat, or did I really burn through all my energy through bad gear selection, cadence and burning myself out as a result? Perhaps getting used to the bike? Any ideas? It really is a horrible feeling.
Sorry I've gone on a bit, I wanted to illustrate my problem in case others have been there so that we can all learn from this bad experience :S
Not joking...only place thats open on our route at 1am in the morning
I cant really help as my nutrition isn't good for cycling at the moment, but I have made some changed recently and I do feel better
anyway, this seems like a night ride, do you work nights? and im guessing the eating part of your thread dictates the day before? if not, if its the "same day" you've been awake a very long time.
I saw them on Rutland's site earlier today, but I wasn't 100% sure about them so I thought I'd see what other people thought. However, the roads I ride on aren't too terrible, and I'm not really a heavyweight any more (77kg as of this morning), hence thinking the spoke count on the Racing 5s wouldn't be a problem. I was also considering the Planet-X Model B V2.0 wheelset but the reports of the hubs being unreliable has put me off them. Any idea how much the Mavic Open Pros on 105 hubs would weight? I'm finding it difficult to work it out, but it looks as though they'll come in at around 1.8kg - I think I can live with that knowing that they'll take anything I can throw at them, though.http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/700C-REAR...sure_cycling_bikeparts_SR&hash=item4d10aca2c8
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/700C-FRON...sure_cycling_bikeparts_SR&hash=item4d117c6ddc
And still some cash left over for a couple of pints.Those are a bargain actually.
Edit: PBK has Mavic Open Pros on 105 hubs for £175 with free delivery, and I've found a 10% off voucher taking them down to £158.39. I'm not going to do any better than that realistically, am I?
Last edited:
no you're not.. I weight 76ish and I managed to mess up my front wheel 3 times in less than 2000 miles! I got shimano 501's and my next wheels will have AT LEAST 24 spokes at the front.. rear is going kaput soon too so I'm going to get mavics + 105 hubs too.. unless some good offer comes around by the time I need them on some other wheels.
Last edited:
Well grudas, I agree that it's highly unlikely that I'll find anything better in terms of value for money, so I've ordered them. PBK offer 4% cashback on Quidco, so I just got the wheelset, including rim tape, skewers and delivery for £152. I should get them some time next week. Now it's just the seat post I have to make a decision on, and everything will be in place.
Soldato
- Joined
- 29 Dec 2004
- Posts
- 17,114
- Location
- Shepley
Not joking...only place thats open on our route at 1am in the morning
First point is, there's nothing really wrong about a McDonald's mid ride in that it's not going to be the root of your problems. It's probably not the easiest to digest but you'll be getting more than enough energy from it.
Your major issue is confusing lack of fitness with lack of food. That's not a dig because we've all been there, but realistically you could ride 45 miles on water if (and it's a big if) you're used to riding the distance and have built up to it gradually.
Food is important but there's a lot more to longer distance riding than eating enough, otherwise we'd all be stuffing ourselves and riding 300 miles.
Soldato
- Joined
- 29 Dec 2004
- Posts
- 17,114
- Location
- Shepley
That's a great deal. Low spoke count wheels are hugely overrated, might save you a few grams but at the huge expense of durability and ride quality.
Don
- Joined
- 20 Oct 2002
- Posts
- 34,613
- Location
- Oxfordshire / Bucks
ahh Grudas, you went for the Moon comet i see
ahh Grudas, you went for the Moon comet i see
was going too.. but this is Guee Cob-X, 15.99 and similar spec by the looks of it, afaik not as bright as moon comet but I thought ill give it a shot and see how it performs really.
I reckon that would be totally do-able, with practise, depending on the pace and profile you're talking about. Get some weetabix down you and away you go.
Don
- Joined
- 20 Oct 2002
- Posts
- 34,613
- Location
- Oxfordshire / Bucks
from that pic it looked like a comet, my bad
Soldato
- Joined
- 26 Oct 2002
- Posts
- 4,171
- Location
- Norwich
Regards the food mid ride, i found when we did this the second half of the ride was very hard - i assume the eating plus stopping are both not great. We used to do around 40 miles with a pub stop at some point - ideally at the end but not always!
The other day was a 52 mile, non stop with 3 gels 750 & 500 water with zero tabs in. Only issue was water, needed more as it was bloody hot! Only food prior to the ride was 3 weetabix for brekkie and a 1030ish ride start!
Planning a 100m ride soon, mate wants to stop every 30 miles for a rest - of the three of us he has done the least riding so makes sense but again will not be eating other than gels/flapjacks until a big carb meal in a pub at the end of it!
The other day was a 52 mile, non stop with 3 gels 750 & 500 water with zero tabs in. Only issue was water, needed more as it was bloody hot! Only food prior to the ride was 3 weetabix for brekkie and a 1030ish ride start!
Planning a 100m ride soon, mate wants to stop every 30 miles for a rest - of the three of us he has done the least riding so makes sense but again will not be eating other than gels/flapjacks until a big carb meal in a pub at the end of it!
Don
- Joined
- 20 Oct 2002
- Posts
- 34,613
- Location
- Oxfordshire / Bucks
always do club rides with a coffee stop, we eat a cake and drink hot beverage
we do about 40-50 miles
I had my first long night bike ride on my B'Twin Triban 5 (pics on other bike threads!).
In total we covered 45.3 miles but the time wasn't brilliant including breaks, probably 6 hours worth
I had with me two water bottles - one 750ml and another 900ml filled with lucozade sport. But I didn't bring much in the way of snacks which screwed me over. I wore a high vis, had a 3 rear lights - 1 flashing (on my saddle bag) 2 front lights (one off/dim/bright depending on how dark the country lanes were) and of course a helmet and bought with me dextrose tablets and some energy gels.
Around 10 miles in to the ride, I nearly got knocked off my bike by a badger that ran out in to my bike - fortunately it hit the back wheel of my bike and I was able to maintain control of the bike and come to a safe stop. My other two incidents were fairly minor - I hit a kerb with my front wheel because I got to a corner too quickly on a dark country lane and one of my lights came off in a town centre - but fortunately on these occasions no accidents, injuries or damage to the bike.
But the biggest issue I had was after 26 miles. After 26 miles we schedule a stop in Mcdonalds where we have to eat - we were probably there for 30 minutes to 1 hour and I stubbornly struggled on for the next 19 miles when all my energy was depleted - it was horrible.
I ate weetabix and two slices of toast for breakfast, for lunch I had chicken prawns and rice, a few hours later I had a ham and cheese sandwich then at 5pm I had a massive plate filled with 2 porkchops, rice, mashed potato with cauliflower and cheese as well as black beans with meat. Then at 7pm I had a chicken kiev with pasta.
Did I go wrong because I hadn't had enough to eat, or did I really burn through all my energy through bad gear selection, cadence and burning myself out as a result? Perhaps getting used to the bike? Any ideas? It really is a horrible feeling.
Sorry I've gone on a bit, I wanted to illustrate my problem in case others have been there so that we can all learn from this bad experience :S
That's an absolutely enormous amount of food. There is no way you struggled for lack of food. If I'd eaten that much I'd be struggling for feeling overly full.
You say it was a night ride. What time? Any particular reason? If you'd been up since, say, seven and then gone through to whatever time it would be dark enough to need multiple lights and nearly get written off by a badger, then you might just have been tired at the end of the day!
You could tire yourself out if you were doing 120 cadence or trying to climb 20% gradients in the big ring, but I very much doubt that's what's happening here.
How much experience have you got cycling? How long have you been riding? What sort of distances do you do? What sort of hills?
Soldato
- Joined
- 29 Dec 2004
- Posts
- 17,114
- Location
- Shepley
Definitely. Can't remember how much glycogen the body can store but it's an ample amount. I think sometimes you feel tired rather than hungry and a sugar hit is more about perking you up than actual giving you energy. For me, steady rides up to 4 hours are fine without food.
If I was intending to ride further I would start taking on food around 90 minutes into the ride though. It's easier to keep the tank topped up than refill it I think.
Soldato
- Joined
- 26 Oct 2002
- Posts
- 4,171
- Location
- Norwich
Thats fine and what we plan, we were stopping for pub lunch and a pint - that was the issue not the stopping per say, the stopping was for an hour and eating a full meal with beer is not good when starting off again!
Associate
- Joined
- 5 Jun 2013
- Posts
- 1,531
Moving back to Newcastle tomorrow, used to riding around country roads with not too much traffic.
Has anyone in Newcastle got any suggestions on routes around 10-20 miles? Don't really fancy too much riding in busy traffic. Was thinking about taking a look at hadrians cycleway out to tynemouth
Has anyone in Newcastle got any suggestions on routes around 10-20 miles? Don't really fancy too much riding in busy traffic. Was thinking about taking a look at hadrians cycleway out to tynemouth
- Status