Cycling and food

[yellow truffle]

Does any one know what they put in those feed bags during some on the racing events. Either the European professional circuit or even some of our x-Saturn team members and our former USCF road racer? Is it specific to the person? Or does the whole team get the same bag? Then do you trade items in the bag with other teams just like you would trade lunches during grade school? And is this the only time eat? I know they have water carriers, but do they have snakc carriers, too?

GG Mora, you are the man.

Just don't tell my husband.

So you are a female, into food and cycling, but married. D*** it.

I want a forum that talks about food and cycling, but only for single people. Does this exist? lol lol

Yes, right here!  Chicago is a great cycling and eating town-- check out www.chicagocyclingclub.org for a fun riding and eating group.  Also, there has been some talk about a Heartland bicycle team-- PM me if you're interested.

iguana, I am interested. I will PM you. I am telling you now because I have not PM any one before. So if you dont here from me, maybe you should contact me. lol. I like the idea of an eGullet Heartland Century ride.

Also, a great resource for you heartlanders looking for some cycling activities.

Mike Bentley's Midwest Bike RIdes

[jsolomon]

You all ride much more than me. A long ride in my lexicon is actually shorter than a long run (10 mile ride vs 13 mile run).

My refueling meal is pickles when I get in to get the crap out of my mouth. Then, good beer with bacon and pasta and real alfredo.

But, I don't ride competitively. I just eat what tastes great.

[Boris_A]

a 200k cycle over the lanes and valleys of Devon.

What do you enjoy eating after a long or arduous ride?

Beer and Aspirin.

No, seriously, in my younger days, I did long rides in the Alps with serious climbs (Galibier, Stelvio, Ventoux and the likes).

But back then in the 70/80ies, there was not so much sophistication on the amateur level. Dried bananas and dried pears ad nauseam. Water in your "bidon". And after 150km and 3000m dislevel, I just ate everything not too fat.

However, our best "culinary" rides (my girl friend any I, that is) have been in France. Aquitaine, Languedoc, Auvergne, Provence. Two low rider bags on my bike, a handle bag at the other, (5 kg luggage altogether) a credit card, some money, michelin maps and some notes taken from "Logis de France" and 2-3 weeks of time. From Lyon to Bordeaux to Perpignan, for example.

Bred, goat cheese and fruits during the ride. Every evening a two person feast in a small family restaurant. Local food, regional dishes and local wine.

Best holidays ever. Time was frozen. A week was a month im memory.

"Vive la petite reine"!!!

[Marco_Polo]

However, our best "culinary" rides (my girl friend any I, that is) have been in France. Aquitaine, Languedoc, Auvergne, Provence...Best holidays ever.  Time was frozen. A week was a month im memory.

"Vive la petite reine"!!!

That sounds great, Boris. Lyon to Bordeaux to Perpignan is quite a ride!

I love cycle touring, too. Some of our best family holidays have been when we have cycled onto a cross-Channel ferry to Brittany, me, my wife, and then two young children, together with panniers, etc. You feel like kings of the road cycling onto the big boat ahead of all the waiting cars; then you're first off on docking in France. We wouldn't go far at all (my son was only 8 or so, my daughter 3 and in a Burley trailer that I towed behind my bike, loaded down with camping equipment and just about everything but the kitchen sink). It was just wonderful, cycling past artichoke fields, stopping for frequent treats, at patisseries for tartes aux fraises, a sandwiche aux rillettes at lunch with a bottle of wine (for us) and Orangina for the kids by a river somewhere, or maybe a galette au sarrasin, and at night, all tired and going out en famille to some little place to enjoy a dozen huitres de Cancale or (on the last night) a huge plateau des fruits de mer. Lately my wife and I have done some 'credit card' tandem touring, too, mainly in Devon and Cornwall. It's the only way to travel. Looking forward to much more of it in the future, and especially to riding in the Alps.

MP

[kappaw]

As a new member of eGullet, it's great to see a marraige of my three favorite activities...cooking, eating and cycling.

It's early in the season for me so most rides are between 20-25 miles but after the weather warms and the snow is gone the rides will get longer. After eating plenty of Power Bar and GU, I'm usually of the "Eat whatever the body wants" school of thought.

Yellow Truffle, thanks for the Mike Bentley link! As a Wisconsin resident (just north of Milwaukee) I, too, would be interested in an eGullet Century.

[Tater]

Great stuff reading about cycling on a food board. Both of my loves!

For a cycling message board, check out roadbikereview.com. Similarly formatted message boards with a very diverse community of all sorts of cyclists. If you are like me, you probably don't need another internet diversion.

My comments above relate to my research on post-ride nutrition for a proper recovery. I'm looking to increase my endurance (and speed) on back-to-back hard ride days and a complex protein (along with some carbs) is recommended. I'm about to begin a whey powder mix to see how I feel at mile 40 on a Sunday after 60 or so on a Sat.

[Marco_Polo]

I am training to do the Cycle to the Sun, in August of this year. Maybe I had better start with the GU.

Are there any other sponsored/support rides in your area? One that interests me, is in Georgia called the Six Gap Century.

Hey yellow truffle, looks like you've got some great rides planned for 2004. Probably a long way to travel (though every year friends do come over from the US) but for the past four years I've organised a sponsored century cycle in aid of cancer research and in memory of my cycling chum and fellow foodie friend Nello Ghezzo. The ride (it's not a race) is called The Nello Century Cycle Challenge and it is a truly gorgeous yet testing century route that follows the Exe Valley from near its mouth on the south coast of Devon, England over the roof of Exmoor and back via the cathedral city of Exeter.

My friend was an Italian chef and therefore the event has always been as much about cycling as about getting together afterwards to share memories and the camaraderie of the road over a great communal meal with lots of good wine and beer. That to me is what cycling and food should be all about.

This means that after cycling the century with my wife on the tandem, we have a quick pint at the finish, then get into our kitchen to help with the food preparations for about 250 hungry cyclists, partners and families (in addition to the century route, there is a 55-mile route and a 20 mile easy and safe family fun ride). Fortunately I have some very good friends who are chefs and food writers and who come along and really cook up a storm. This is post-ride cycling food at its best.

Here's the menu from last year.

This year's ride will take place on Sunday 27th June and all are very welcome!

MP

[yellow truffle]

Here's the menu from last year.

Marco_Polo, that is an amazing menu. Has anyone else encountered a post ride feast by the sponsor like that one. Maybe I need to take a trip to the UK. Good job on the organization of such an event. I am sure your friend is very proud.

My best experience with post ride food is the Trek 100 in Milwaukee, WI. They have a bbq grill (hamburgers, hot dogs, veggie burgers, chicken breats, bratwurst, and some other meat products - hey its the Heartland), serve a multitude of sides, 3 kinds of beer from a local brew house and for your car ride back home, Starbucks' offering is: free Frapachinos. The best during ride food I experienced was sushi (not the Trek 100). One of the members of the cycling club is a sushi chef and he prepares the rolls right in front of you. What better nurishment than rice (carbs), tuna (protein), nori-seaweed (salt).

What are some of your better tasting pre, during, post ride meals prepared by the sponsors?

[Boris_A]

After eating plenty of Power Bar and GU, I'm usually of the "Eat whatever the body wants" school of thought.

I remember of a extensive university study about sport drinks (Gatorade and the like), that a mix of aple juice and water (50/50) is a highly effective way to get a lot of minerals, a quick resorption and intake of some carbos.

Let's not forget: Branded drinks are marketable, no names not.

As for power bars: as I mentioned, on my rides I had dried fruits (bananas and pears) out of my back pockets enough for a lifetime. But I'd prefer them anytime over those somewhat artificial and expensive bars.

what they put in those feed bags during some on the racing events, Is it specific to the person?

I was a bit familiar with Euro pro racing, so I try to answer your questions:

Usually, the contents of the bags are similar, but still individual, according to personal preferences. Rice-cookies, low-fat sandwiches, fruits and similar, all easy to eat (on the bike) and to digest food.

And is this the only time eat?

In longer stages, you have usually two "ravitaillements" = places where people of the team are placed a the side of the road and the riders pick their bags. Some stuff is eaten immediately, other is filled in the back pockets for later use.

I know they have water carriers, but do they have snakc carriers, too?

"Water carrier" is an expression for those who work for the team leader(s). They drop back to the service cars and carry water, food, cloths, whatever to the peloton, make the pace, lend their bike in case of a mechanical accident and so on.

Edited March 4, 2004 by Boris_A (log)

[Marco_Polo]

Has anyone else encountered a post ride feast by the sponsor like that one...What are some of your better tasting pre, during, post ride meals prepared by the sponsors?

Actually, yellow truffle, there's an epic ride in the Heartland that I've wanted to do for years, RAGBRAI, the Ride Across Iowa. A friend in Washington DC does it every year and he has said that the food all across the state is fantastic: simple, homecooked, filling, delicious. In fact he's gone so far as to say that it is worth the cycle just for the homemade FRUIT PIES.

Have you done this or do you know anyone who can confirm my friend's opinion on the pies? He's usually quite reliable, I add, and is a true aficionado of both cycling and food -- he came over to Britain two years ago to ride the Nello century (not least because of the post-ride feast), and while he was here, he got married -- the day before the ride. (I was never entirely sure that his wife was over-the-moon to have to cycle a hundred miles the day after the wedding...)

MP

(edited to add link for RAGBRAI)

Edited March 4, 2004 by Marco_Polo (log)

[jsolomon]

Actually, yellow truffle, there's an epic ride in the Heartland that I've wanted to do for years, RAGBRAI, the Ride Across Iowa. A friend in Washington DC does it every year and he has said that the food all across the state is fantastic: simple, homecooked, filling, delicious. In fact he's gone so far as to say that it is worth the cycle just for the homemade FRUIT PIES.

Have you done this or do you know anyone who can confirm my friend's opinion on the pies? He's usually quite reliable, I add, and is a true aficionado of both cycling and food -- he came over to Britain two years ago to ride the Nello century (not least because of the post-ride feast), and while he was here, he got married -- the day before the ride. (I was never entirely sure that his wife was over-the-moon to have to cycle a hundred miles the day after the wedding...)

MP

(edited to add link for RAGBRAI)

I have many many friends who have gone on RAGBRAI throughout the years. From what I've gathered from them, these pies are simply the normal fare you will find at cafes and the like in small towns in the Great Plains/Midwest.

The stories I keep hearing, though, are more about the heroic amounts of beer to be drank there.

FYI, I run with the Nebraska Hash House Harriers who have been known to join the RAGBRAI occasionally.

[yellow truffle]

Have you done this or do you know anyone who can confirm my friend's opinion on the pies?

The stories I keep hearing, though, are more about the heroic amounts of beer to be drank there.

Marco_Polo, never did the RAGBRAI, but I would have to agree with jsolomon, its all about getting wasted, drunk, high, staying up late, etc. And the age of those doing the party is not an issue. Old and young alike are drinking and smoking. I hear its a total blast.

The pies are great. I have not done pies in Iowa, but have done so in Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania. This is Amish country. And they make good stuff. The fruit pies are very simple, but will humble anyone to how great a simple, home made, fresh, fruit pie can be. I am a fan of the rhubarb pie. I am sure the pies in Iowa will be just a good.

I did the Heartland AIDS Ride (sponsored by Tanqueray) 3 times. It started from St. Paul, MN to Chicago, IL. The places that we went through were great. We had a sampling of their foods. Nothing remarkable, but tasty when you are sweating and hungry. I wish that there was something like that for the whole USA.

The book by the Sterns' "Roadfood" and "Eat Your Way Across the USA," are inspirational in my roadtrips. Wouldn't it be nice if there was similar publication that aimed towards cyclists (under 100 miles a day). Ride on back country roads and eat those famous _______.

You all ride much more than me.  A long ride in my lexicon is actually shorter than a long run (10 mile ride vs 13 mile run).

I would rather ride 100k (62.1 miles) than run 13. Heck, I would rather bike a double century (miles) than run a marathon.

[kappaw]

I also did the Heartland Aids Ride for two summers. I was never hungry but the Frappacino Fridays by Starbucks were some of the best caffine that I've ever ingested.

[Fresser]

I've just got back from my usual Wednesday afternoon ride, a pretty miserable, cold, wet, winter 35-miler (if I'm honest)...    My first big ride of the year is this Sunday, a 200k cycle over the lanes and valleys of Devon. So I'll be eating lots of pasta over the next days.

Marco_Polo I hope you are ready for your ride. I know how it feels to do the first ride of the year. I hope that you have enough miles under your belt so far this year to do a 124 miler. I dont do this until May. Where do you live?

Are there any eGullet'er cyclists in the Heartland?

Aha! The cycling geeks have invaded eGullet!

Yellow Truffle was kind enough to poke me in the ribs (electronically, anyway) and invite me to join in, so here I am.

For skinny people, bicyclists do gorge on substantial amounts of food--both during a ride and after. My eating habits might be a little different, as I'm diabetic and thus cannot carbo-load the way some cyclists might. But after the typical 35-miler, I usally guzzle some orange juice or other piece of fruit for an energy (and glucose) boost.

Bicycling Magazine has specific diets for century rides (100 miles in a day), and they recommend ingesting protein within two hours after the big ride. Personally, I find dried plums (doesn't that sound nicer than "prunes?") to be a great snack during the ride, as they provide fructose to prevent bonking (exercise-induced hypoglycemia) and are nice 'n chewy.

So when are we starting up Team Gullet--the eGullet cycling team? To quote the irrepressible Tommy, "I'm in."

Edited March 5, 2004 by Fresser (log)

[Marco_Polo]

For skinny people, bicyclists do gorge on substantial amounts of food

Mmmnnnn, there does seem to be a definite connection between love of cycling and love of eating. Come to think of it, one of the main reasons I cycle what many (but not me) consider to be an absurd numbers of miles is so that I can eat in what some (but not me) might consider outrageous quantity. The reason I eat in outrageous quantity is so that I can cycle further...

I cycle therefore I eat

or is it

I eat therefore I cycle?

An eGullet team for an eGullet century? Sounds great. Who's cooking?

[yellow truffle]

Tour de France, forget it.

Tour de Donut.

Official Site for the Tour de Donut 2003

Article from the American Profile

Article form the Telegraph

[Marco_Polo]

Tour de France, forget it.

Tour de Donut.

Thanks, Yellow Truffle! You made my day. This about the funniest thing I've read in ages.

[yellow truffle]

25 donuts.

I see an international competition brewing here. Watch out for those Japanese hot dog eating champs. They are going to have some sort of strategy to eating this stuff.

Hungry, I cant even eat a half dozen Krispy Kreme donuts. Are there Krispy Kreme's in the UK.

[Marco_Polo]

Hungry, I cant even eat a half dozen Krispy Kreme donuts. Are there Krispy Kreme's in the UK.

Indeed they have. Fiona Beckett, the food-and-wine matching author, in her latest Match Report, states that the definitive combination is, wait for it, Krug and Krispy Kreme.

Now if such sustenance were to be offered on the Tour de Donut...

Reminds me of the Bordeaux Marathon where runners are offered glasses of fine claret at the stops in lieu of water. My wife, who prefers running to cycling (that's an understatement), and who has run the Paris Marathon, has always had a hankering to do the Bordeaux.

MP

[budrichard]

Food bags are called 'musette's' http://www.trekbikes.com/accessories/produ...category_id=740

As to what's in them, each team and individual has different ideas, needs and wants. They all consist of high caloric food that is easy to digest, eat on the fly and somewhat palatable.

'Water carriers' are correctly called 'Domestiques' which means what it says. They not only bring water bottles from the team car but anything else that is needed. They also protect the team leader in a group of riders and allow the team leader to draft off of them, thereby saving enegy for the end of the race.

Actually the only simliarity between bicycle racing and touring is that most touring is done on two wheel bikes while all racing that I know is only done on two wheels.

The energy output in watts and speed is much higher in racing than in touring. Until you are in with a pack of racers at almost 30 mph and experience the 'suck' from the peleton, you will have a difficult time believing the speeds that the peloton is capable of. -Dick

[yellow truffle]

Reminds me of the Bordeaux Marathon where runners are offered glasses of fine claret at the stops in lieu of water.

Wow. I had never heard of such a thing. I should start training for marathons.

Check out this article from Food & Wine, its a great read.

Marathon du Medoc - official website

[Marco_Polo]

Marco_Polo I hope you are ready for your ride. I know how it feels to do the first ride of the year. I hope that you have enough miles under your belt so far this year to do a 124 miler.

Well, I managed to do the Lanes and Valleys 200K yesterday, first long ride of the season, and survived.

I'm not particularly proud of the following, in fact it's rather appalling to put down in black-and-white an historical record of all the junk and gunk and sugar that I scoffed. But in the interests of eGullet, I made a careful note of everything that I ate and drank along the way (as well as before and after).

For the record, this is what I ate and drank:

For breakfast (6am at home): Big bowl of leftover spaghetti alla amatriciana (with pancetta and chillies) topped with grated farmhouse cheddar and baked in the oven. Pint of water. Cappuccino.

30 minutes before the 8am start in Clover Leaf Cafe, Honiton: 1 egg salad sandwich + 1 cup of tea with sugar (never normally have sugar in tea, only when I'm cycling)

1 Fruit & Fibre bar + 1 bottle Lucozade Sport lemon (while riding up to km 21, a lovely route to the south coast at Budleigh Salterton)

1 hot croissant (at km 21 control in Budleigh)

1 homebaked flapjack + 1 bottle of water (while riding up to km 58)

Pot of tea and big wedge of homemade fruitcake (at km 58 tea stop control in Tiverton)

1 homebaked flapjack + 2 bottles water (while riding to km 108 - tough leg into the wind, climbing to the top of Exmoor, very hard work - ride overall had nearly 6000 feet climbing)

Bottle of orange juice + packet of salted potato crisps (at km 108 control in pub – could not face the roast carvery lunch at the Royal Castle pub, Dunster - dominant smell was of overboiled cabbage, the place was heaving with locals and it was very hot - we escaped as quickly as we could)

Farmhouse cheddar and Branston pickle sandwich + 1 bottle Lucozade Sport pink grapefruit (km 115) (the Branston pickle was a serious but not catastrophic mistake)

Packet of salted potato crisps + 1 homebaked flapjack + 1 bottle of water (km 158)

1 bottle of water (while riding to finish)

At finish at Clover Leaf Cafe, Honiton (5.20pm): pot of tea (with milk and sugar), bowl of hot soup and bread roll and butter

1 hour after finish (at pub) 2 pints of Draught Bass, packet of crisps, packet of salted peanuts, 1 pint of Branoc (you may wonder why the Bass then the Branoc - reason, quite simply, was that my favourite pub, The Bridge, was shut until 7, so we had to go to another pub while we waited for it to open; good though Bass can be, Branoc from the Branscombe Brewery is one of the most deliciously quenching beers in the world)

At home: roast chicken with roasted vegetables on a bed of rocket. Glass of Italian red wine (Rosso di Montefalco)

Apart from the first and last items, this was a pretty rotten-sounding diet and probably difficult to understand for non-cyclists. But constant energetic activity for nine-hours plus makes massive demands on the body, which simply needs to be refueled. I would have liked a hot meal somewhere along the way, but nonetheless the constant eating and drinking kept me going pretty well. It was a hard ride but I never got the dreaded 'bonk' (which happens when your muscles run out of glycogen as an energy source - believe me, it's a terrible feeling).

Point is, I suppose, on such occasions, any thoughts of good or real food normally go out the window as you try desperately simply to refuel in order to keep going. And frankly, I prefer the above to munching sports bars, or sucking down gel or other 'scientific' performance foods.

It's a pretty poor admission to make on this site, but we're talking about no more than food as fuel. At its most basic level, that is really what it is all about for all of us, isn't it? Staying alive. Keeping going.

MP

[GG Mora]

Congratulations, matey. No need to justify the food intake! My longest ride ever was 90 miles, and I DID NOT eat enough during or after the ride. I bonked about 5 miles from the finish (and was in good company) and the following day I was able to do nothing besides eat and sleep.

It really is hilarious to see non-cyclists reactions to what cyclists eat and drink. THE HORROR of realizing that they drink Coke while riding the Tour de France! I have a friend who is hands-down the most committed and obsessed cyclist I know: does the 30-mile round trip commute to work (at a bike shop, of course) through the Vermont winter. It's not at all unusual to see him pedaling home at 6 in the evening, in total darkness, sub-sub zero temperature, near blizzard conditions. I did a Sunday afternoon ride with him once, along with 2 other riders...total whiner all-gear-no-guts types. We stopped at a convenience store to refuel, and the geeks got all over the Gatorade and Power Bars. They were mortified when Bill (the REAL rider) sprung for a large Coke and a big box of off-brand sugar cookies.

[yellow truffle]

1 hour after finish (at pub) 2 pints of Draught Bass, packet of crisps, packet of salted peanuts, 1 pint of Branoc (you may wonder why the Bass then the Branoc - reason, quite simply, was that my favourite pub, The Bridge, was shut until 7, so we had to go to another pub while we waited for it to open; good though Bass can be, Branoc from the Branscombe Brewery is one of the most deliciously quenching beers in the world)

Now that's what 'm talking about. I am going to have to try that Branoc. I wonder if I can get this in the Heartland. I am sure I can, but it sure it would not taste the same.

Marco_Polo, Glad to hear you finished the ride. So the question is, did you gain weight after the ride. I have been on a few centuries where I gained, instead of lost weight. lol.

[Marco_Polo]

So the question is, did you gain weight after the ride.

Thanks GG and Yellow.

GG, sorry to hear you experienced the dreaded bonk big time. Sounds like you nearly got it spot on if it only happened five miles from the finish. Hope you've got some good rides planned this year.

As for weight, believe it or not, I actually dropped a couple of pounds (not from dehydration either). But I'm sure it will be back on soon as I've been eating almost non-stop ever since...

Speaking of which, I'm a firm believer in the calories-in, energy-expended school of weight management. Eat more energy than you expend, gain weight; burn more calories than you eat, weight loss. Never could really understand anything else. Food combining, Atkins, this-or-that-flavour-of-the-month, all way to complicated for me, though they might work for others. For me it's simple: eat whatever you like, exercise like a madman.

MP