Fuel for Ride Q

Dellphinus

I'm seeing (what appears to me) to be conflicting information WRT eating prior to and during a ride.
Examples: Eat no less than an hour before a ride. Start eating 1/2 hour into and for the duration of the ride, to prevent depletion of Glycogen reserves. Carbo load several days prior to a ride.
This quote from a well known (but I din't know how well respected magazine):
"When to Eat
 Nibble solid food almost continuously during long rides.
Don’t wait until you start feeling hungry, because by then it’s
too late for food to digest in time to replenish energy.
 Don’t attempt to build a reserve of energy-rich carbohydrate
by eating large quantities at the pre-event meal or during
the event. It takes 12 to 24 hours to digest and store carbohydrate
in the muscles and liver in the form of glycogen. In
other words, your fuel tank is filled by the spaghetti, rice,
potatoes or bread that you eat during the 2 or 3 days leading
up to the event."
(emphasis added)
In the same page, they state it takes 12 to 24 hours to process and convert food, and then recommend you eat continuosly during a ride. Something doesn't add up.

WHAT'S THE SCOOP? When should I eat prior to a ride, and during? Eating more than an hour before, and every half hour or so during seems to make sense, and seems to work. I would like to know if what I eat an hour before really gets used that day, cause I've been indulging myself with pancakes (I love em) on long ride days, and rationalizing it's OK cause I need the fuel for the long ride.