I'm doing a 24 mountain bike race in a couple weeks, and am wondering what the best thing is to eat (between laps and also before/during the race). It's a relay race so I'll probably only be doing 2 or 3 laps (about 18 km each). We're camping at the site, so there's not going to be anywhere to cook/heat up food.
Any tips on what I should do for food??

Thanks for any help,
Heather

Awesome! I love to bike!

gluten-free power bars (there's several threads on this site w/ gluten-free pwr bar/high protein/energy bars.

Peanut Butter

Bananas

gluten-free Trail Mix

individually packages fruit cups

buy some gluten-free bagels and spread PB or something on them

You could bake some muffins ahead of time

That's all I can think of so far...GOOD LUCK! Is this race in the states?

Clif Nectar Bars, nuts, beef jerky, dried fruit, vitamin water. :-) and flax crackers.

Thanks guys, for the suggestions!

The race I'm doing is in Canmore, Alberta, Canada, but if you're into biking, they do have ones in the States as well. Not sure where you're from, but this website lists all the races they do: www.24hoursofadrenalin.ca

Heather

I checked out the site. Pretty cool! I've seen something simliar to this before....GOOD LUCK TO YOU!!!

I have a question -- besides what to eat, how much/how often would you need to eat for such a thing? I get awfully peckish after just an hour of mountain biking.

eleep

That's a good question... I'm always so hungry after mountain biking, and I love going home and just eating tons. That, and showering, is the best thing about biking

I've done a couple of these races before, and have always eaten pasta and whatever I've felt like without putting too much thought into it. One year we even had a barbeque and ordered pizza. Now I'm worried because I don't want to try anything there that I haven't eaten before and there's not enough time to make anything in between laps.

Heather

I have a friend who tries to enter that race every year. I'm not sure if he is going this year.

If you have a cooler, you could bring some premade pasta salad with lots of veggies and add beans or meat for protein.
Lara bars are now in Canada and they are yummy.
Powerade
Peanut butter and rice cakes
Jerky
Applesauce cups

Hi Heather,

Not sure if your race is done already, but I suggest Vega meal replacment powder. Very easy to digest, no cooking required. I have been using it now for over six months as a supplement and find that it works really good. Vega also has bars as well. All Vega products are gluten-free. You can check them out here: www.myvega.com.

For solid food, I find rice pasta salad with beans keeps me going during longer races as well. You can eat it cold as well.

Mike

Heather,
I have never mountain biked - but I have ran for 13 hours...so I usually combined simple and complex sugar with little protein and fat. I have PRed on Lara Bars, Almond M&Ms, a little cantelope, V8 (880 mg of sodium), Endurolytes (All of the electrolytes), and Hammer gels (as backups). They are my staple race foods. I suppose you need to run and eat at the same time...so try stuff training and see how it works. You don't want to take a lot of fructose in because it causes stomach distress and brings water into the stomach. If you are reading labels of gels, look for maltodexrin. It is absorbed faster than a complex carb (vegable, brown rice), but slower than glucose (honey). Hammer Gels and Gu are gluten free, as are lara bars, and Almond M&Ms. The sodium and calcium in V8 are good - remember that with out electrolytes your brain can not function. They are also needed for muscle contraction. You should shoot for 200-250kcal an hour. I usually average about 220 on long races. In short races, like marathon length, I just stick with 4-5 gels and water. Good luck....Lisa