My favourite snack bar for cycling is homemade banana, peanut butter, dark chocolate and salted caramel flapjacks.
Rolled oats are great for a slow release of energy. Bananas for potassium which helps with endurance and reduces the chance of cramp. Peanut butter is pure protein and very high in energy, salt caramel helps replace salt lost through sweat and the bitterness of the dark chocolate chips balances out the sweetness of the caramel perfectly.
Costs next to nothing, tastes great and works.
Yummy!
My bigger ride feeding comprises of
Breakfast: eggs(hard boiled or fried) on multigrain or rye toast
30-45mins digestion
Pre ride: 1 large banana
4hr rides : 3 cheese and marmalade toasties(multigrain or rye) spaced evenly-ish apart, or all 3 at 2hrs. Depends on the route and whether i am out to rip my legs off, or cruise. 1 large banana in the last hour and 2 water bottles of plain water taken in regular sips.
Post ride: glass of milk, more water, and a protein heavy meal with some carbs, veg etc.
1-2hours rides:
Breakfast as above and then cheese on toast if not riding within 30-45mins following brekkie. 1 large banana pre ride and sometimes another when i am out. 1 bottle of water.
My diet is low carb as i am pre-diabetic so heavy on protein(mostly chicken, some fish, some lamb/beef mince) with lots of various veg, lots of salads, 2 eggs a day, and always some daily cheese and peanut butter.
No caffeine(found this goofs with my blood sugars), zero alcohol, the odd apple, and the odd small sweet treat, but only during/post hard exercise as exercise wakes up my insulin response and it behaves normally for a few hours.
Daily calculations to work out how much Magnesium i am eating and top up with pills to suit, Choline is taken care of with 2 eggs, and take a variety of supplements(multi, iron, Vit C, Vit B etc) depending on what real food has gone in my cakehole. Sometimes i weigh food items.
This is the most strict i have been with food, but i do not want to go full diabetic if i can help it. Knocking carbs right down to a bare minimum in daily meals has been really good for me and in ways i didn't imagine. The blood sugar spikes have gone, which is understandable, but each ride now i feel physically the same.
Before the diet it was a lottery as to how i was going to feel. Sometimes as flat as a pancake with wooden legs and sometimes full of beans yet it didn't follow a pattern of food intake.
A REALLY big surprise has been regarding my mental health. I get way less irritable, anxious, angry etc than i was getting when my blood sugars were flip flopping all over the place and am way more calm and relaxed. That has been a revelation.
like saddles it is a personal thing and depends on what you want to achieve. My drive is to stay healthy and fit because i let myself go for a good while and got incredibly unhealthy. A non-cycling, overweight, smoking, alcoholic with liver and kidney function red flags and high blood pressure. It has taken a few years now, but all that has been reversed.
but that's a purely physiological gain from my perspective....it a journey to somewhere, as i hate circular rides with no purpose!
