To eat or not to eat...

Rocket69

Planning to "bike to work" shortly and was wondering if I should be eating before my ride. The ride is about 15 miles, easy pace. Will be riding at about 7:45 am. Any suggestions would be greatful...

Thanks
Rocket69

tanggoman

dont eat just before riding even for that short distance, it would give you an upset stomach... the safest would be eat an hour earlier before riding. this is not the same for training, though.

brightgarden

ultimately, you'll figure out what works best for you.

when i used to commute to work, i had a 45 minute drive to my starting point, and i ate in the car leaving the hose on my way there. by the time i started out on the bike, it was probably 30 minutes since my last bite.

water is the most important consideration for me, and i always take care to eat when i finish the ride.

Rocket69

What would you eat? Fruit, toast, bagel, anergy bars???

Rocket69

brightgarden

my all time favorite: half a bagel with nothing on it. I don't know why, but it sustains me pretty well.

but when I commuted, it was one red bull (coffee substitute) and a peanut butter power bar. my ride was 10 miles. on the way home, i never ate anything before starting out, but i sometimes munched on something en route.

but there were plenty of times i never ate anything, and i noticed that i was pretty sluggish after a couple of hours at work.

i'm not a fruit person. I like bread. But that's me.

neil0502

I think this one's pretty person-specific. My wife gets nauseous with anything more than a couple tablespoons of oatmeal eaten any less than about 45 minutes before she departs (9 mile commute).

I, OTOH, can wolf down borderline disgusting quantities of food and clip into the pedals as I'm wiping the crumbs off my lips.

Try a bunch of different time/quantity/type of food configurations to see what works for your, but--as others have said--stay hydrated!

Safe travels!

patch70

I do a similar length ride and I need to eat first.