Some of this is common sense, some of it is counter-intuitive, and some of it is just fun.
I’m talking about the Audax 200K, and food management.
First recommendation: Eat a good breakfast. Have breakfast at least an hour to an hour and a half before the ride starts. This is the fuel that will power your body when you start to ride.
Second recommendation: Have a quick snack just before we start to ride. This is the fuel that you will be using at the end of the second hour of riding.
Third recommendation: Plan to have a snack at the first rest stop in Greenville. This food will be fueling your climb over Pine Mountain.
Fourth recommendation: Have another snack when we stop in the town of Pine Mountain. You’re probably going to be a bit depleted by this point.
Lunch! After riding 65 miles (and a mountain), we’ll be stopping in Warm Springs, for lunch at the Bulloch House. This is buffet style, country cooking. It’s incredible. Expect to eat a hearty meal.
I get some comments from folks about the idea of stopping on a long ride to eat a big meal. We will sit down for this. We’ll do it in a leisurely fashion. We’ll take a bit of a digestion break after we eat. And finally, I’ll be controlling the pace to a very moderate level for the first hour after lunch. You will have time to digest, and time to gradually warm up. So it works out to a day with two good long rides, separated by a nice lunch break.
Most folks don’t really feel the need to eat much at the rest stop in Gay, GA. It’s only a bit more than an hour after we’ve left the lunch stop. But I notice that most riders do feel the need of a bit of a snack again when we make the stop in Digby, GA. That stop is about 40 miles after the lunch stop, and most have managed to burn down a lot of the lunch calories.
Now here’s the amazing part. When we finally arrive back in Peachtree City, most riders do have appetite for the post ride cold cuts.
Where does all the food go? Face it, we’ll have an actual on-bike time of about eight hours. Those are 400 to 500 calorie hours. That means that the typical rider will burn off between 3200 and 4000 calories. That’s close to three days subsistence for the normal (fairly sedentary) individual. That energy has to come from somewhere.
So one of the themes for this ride is “Eat, Drink, and be merry!”
The frustrating part for weight-watchers is you can't just forego eating, ride 200k, and lose a pound on the scale. The body needs accessible fuel to keep moving, and it won't just suck an extra 3500 calories off your hips while you're riding. I've made the mistake of not eating enough on a ride. Believe me. Bonking isn't fun. You need to eat so you can ride. (and the Bulloch house is good eating! there's only so many energy bars/gels/drinks you can do in a day)
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