On Tuesday, May 26, 2020 at 12:01:55 PM UTC-7, wrote:
On Tuesday, May 26, 2020 at 7:58:40 PM UTC+2, Frank Krygowski wrote:
Riffing off the "bonk" thread:

For most of my family's bicycling career (now approaching 50 years) we
took various snacks along on rides greater than 25 miles or so. But
somehow, with changes in life and changes in riding habits, we seem to
have gotten out of that snack habit.

On a couple of recent mid-30 miler rides on country roads, my wife
didn't bonk, but she certainly ran out of steam. During one of them, I
happened to find a gel packet buried in my bag, so I gave her that. It
helped noticeably; so we should get back to carrying snacks.

But I'd prefer something a little more like food, a little less like a
medical infusion. Since we're no longer performance riders, actually
stopping the bike to eat would be OK. even though on solo rides I prefer
to keep moving.

What are people's preferences for on-bike snacks?


--
- Frank Krygowski


My favorite food is no food. Sometimes it is a necessity. In that case low volume food with as much as possible readily available calories ; preferably liquid. Medical infusion is perfect. I'm riding bike not having dinner. If your wife didn't bonk but ran out of steam the food didn't help, the rest did.

That stuff you're speaking of disappears in minutes. It is in a form that is directly taken into the bloodstream through your stomach and isn't necessary to get into your intestines. But it is burned very rapidly. There is another form that is oily and it takes several hours to absorb and burn. I have a bottle of it around here somewhere but you cannot feel it working. You only notice the delay in exhaustion.