Re: Commuter food use

Helen Deborah Vecht wrote:
CoyoteBoy <james.buckle@xxxxxxxxx>typed

Im fine with my healthy food, but i have to eat so often when I cycle
that its difficult to find things that are quick and not just cake
(clive knows where im coming from!). Local to me at work are a micro-
Tesco, Greggs bakers and Spa. Anything remotely healthy in tesco is
either horribly cheap quality and tastes like card, or costs a small
fortune (£3 for half a portion of sushi and salad anyone?). Greggs is
either cardboard overpriced sandwiches or lovely steak bakes and cakes
- not ideal daily. Spa - multiply the cost of anything by 1.5 and cut
the choice by 75%.

Sainsbury's potato cakes powered me through some Audaxes. Cheap,
pannier-proof but a bit salty.

I doubt you need as much as 2000 extra Calories for the commute you
describe.

18 miles at an average of 18 miles per hour, both the heart rate
monitor calorie counter and the stomach average the estimate at
somewhere between 1600 and 2000 calories per day. I and my riding
friend have been tracking it for 4 months.

I was doing 15-16 miles at 17-18mph...

But that doesnt work - sure your extra bunch of porridge might help a
little, if you can force it down in the morning (I can barely eat in
the morning,it knocks me sick)

That's where we differ. I could eat in the morning and had a second
breakfast on arrival before work.

and butter/jam and sugar is not good
fuel food - thats the sort of food that makes me feel better for an
hour then hits me with a headache.

Again, not a problem I had.

I tend to cook two evening meals
(usually rice or pasta) and take the second for lunch, but I'm still
hungry and lose weight doing this.

I speak as someone who did around 120 miles' commuting per week and
stayed just as fat as ever. Poor performance during times of attempted
weight loss deterred me from dieting.

Im not sure how fast you do it but I cant fail to lose weight when
doing 120 miles a week, even eating two main meals a day. I do treat
is as a training ride though, I am pushing at 80% max heart rate
pretty much the entire journey. I'm happy as it makes me fit, but it
certainly doesnt cost less than driving/train-ing.

I probably pushed more than 80% on some rides (HR 170 most of the way...)

I ate many 'wrong' foods and enjoyed them. I dropped my commuting milage
when doing a lot of Audax, so usually didn't exceed 250 miles/week.

I'd eat a bowl of cereal before setting off and another on arrival,
Large portions of normal foods at lunch and supper and cake at teatime.

I wish I could eat in the morning - I must have an odd stomach. If I manage to force anything down (bit of museli or something tastey with lots of fruit in) im /ravenous/ by 10 and have to eat all day to stop my headaches and hunger pains getting out of control. If I eat sufficient in the morning to stop the hunger I feel bloated and sick and it greatly affects my ride (feels like my body switched off acid production overnight and its all just sat there fermenting)! I have to get up very early to get my stomach into gear in time for the 7:30am start, as a) it doesn't wake up for 45 minutes or so and b) If I eat closer than 30 minutes to ride time I get nasty indigestion! That means being up an hour earlier than with any other form of transport, which is a pain.
Also with the nights drawing in im unable to stay late with the bike, unless I invest in some nice pricey lighting with a long run time my offroad lights only last ~ 2 hours and I cant fit a charger in my rucksack along with everything else lol!

I just find everything conspires against cycling in. If I did a boring 9-5 office job and didnt have to carry anything, had nice fooderies around with plenty of option instead of el-cheapo micro-tesco boredom food and no selection, and didnt have to ride back through croxteth and walton late at night it might not seem like such a chore. I really do enjoy the riding.

I have found - julian graves (half price shop 30 minutes walk from work at lunch) do a protein shake thats not all the calories I need but seems to fill me up and work wonders on the recovery times though.
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