What To Eat Before A Bike Ride

Girls can enjoy long ride more than boys

Let’s do some riding, after all why wouldn’t you miss this fantastic form of exercise in the form of cycling. Long rides on a bicycle are an excellent form of aerobics as well as fun. Nevertheless, you have to prepare yourself before a long ride, say 150-200 km. It’s not easy to tour 200 km on bicycle and that’s also in one day.

Some people do long ride sipping some energy drinks like Gatorade, and people with high BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) need to recharge with a light carbohydrate rich snacks every 30 minutes or so. If you feel tired after paddling for a while, stop and take a rest. Eat some light snacks, sip some drink and then ride again. 

So what’s your plan for a long ride? Let read some tit bits on food habits for your long bike ride.

A Few Days Before Your Ride

Group long ride can be fun!

Start carbohydrate loading 4-5 days before your ride. Carbohydrate and fats are the “pushy” nutrients that move your body in long rides. Your diet must have 70% of pure carb. This will increase glycogen storages in your body and help to maintain your energy level in your ride. Avoid sweets and other carb, instead rely on whole-grain pasta, cereals and whole grains as general.

The Day Before Your Ride

The meal before your ride is as important as your preparation meal. Eat a low fat but high in carb before the day your ride. Give a gap of 2-3 hours before your start riding; this will help to digest the food and avoid nauseating and cramps in stomach. An appropriate meal would be a pair of toast, any fruit (banana recommended), some nuts and dried fruits. You can also include one omelette in it for a protein boost.

Food on the ride

Solo long ride can be fun as well

On the long ride (more than 150 km), you have to eat after 1 hour to keep boost your energy level. Regular eating will make your sugar level stable. You need to pay attention to your energy level and avoid high fiber and high protein diet that will hard to digest at the time of cycling. Eat high carb diet like raisins, nuts, fig, banana, and energy drink. 

Rely on energy gels

If you don’t want to carry all types of food with yourself, carry energy gels. These are small packs of gels come in small plastic packets, containing thick syrupy liquids. The gel is not high in calorie but mega carbohydrate booster. So, you will instance energy from them. Some gels even contain caffeine, some herbs and amino acids.