Nutrition on the road - What, How and Why?

You once sat using a turbo trainer for 8 hours just for a laugh and you eat about 40 foil-wrapped packets of caffeinated sludge every time you go out on your bike. No normal human should be listening to your views on "long distance" cycling OR nutrition as you're not normal in either respect, you big freak.

Yeah but I'm not riding for 'fun' during these stupid rides. It's race-specific training and part of that involves training the gut to handle the fueling requirements of the event. Your body doesn't 'need' protein or fat during long rides - it needs carbs. Adding too much protein or fat to your gut just slows down your guts ability to get carbohydrate into your muscles which makes your job of pedaling harder/slower.