Nutrition on the road - What, How and Why?

No problem. If you have any specific elbow questions shout. Although I'm not an expert it's a bugger to break.

My GP prescribed me the capsules, a friend who's a doctor also said she thinks the white tablets are crap, that's all I know. These are the tablets I buy:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271823604703?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Those are the same ones my GP prescribed for me.

So, all the sports nutrition brands and coaching articles etc say you need 60-90g carb / hour to be at your best. To me, this seems a lot, especially if aiming for 90g.

What do people reckon they're getting on board on longer (i.e., 4+ hour) rides?
And, this may be a stupid question, but if you head out about 90mins after a big carby breakfast, does that count towards the above carb / hour equation?

I eat a fair bit on the bike, but I'm guessing it works out at more like 40-50g an hour tops for longer rides. I do tend to suffer if i eat that much after about 70 miles though, and know i should probably try to get more in. One problem I think i have is i start eating too late in the ride and then smash the majority when i start feeling tired on the second half, by which point it's getting too late...

Above 60 and your into hard to digest teritory unless your trained to do so and using multiple fuel sources.
40-50ish fine. Also depends on the source. Drink powder digests fastee than food.

And if I ate a big breakfast before i went training id be sick. I just has a little nibble and then eat once riding, straight away. Fuel for the future, not for now.

Unless you're fueling to train proper hard to win the local world champs, just do whatever works and whatever you like to do. But sounds like you need to eat sooner into a ride, so you don't get hungry.
If I wasn't training, I'd just eat pain au chocolates at the cafe I stop at every 10miles to get my caffine fix.

I do find drink stuff works well. I rarely use it though as makes my teeth feel grim.

Have been using stuff I made at home a lot over science food recently and not sure it always works effectively enough. Had a lot of my mum's leftover Xmas cake today...

I use myprotein and make my own drink with maltodextrin and fructose mix. Real nice and simple. Cheap too.

Have been using stuff I made at home a lot over science food recently and not sure it always works effectively enough.

Why wouldn't it?

I'll take 40,000 years of evolution over a couple of decades of marketing wank.

I personally don't find it too hard to get an intake of 90 grams of (mixed) carbohydrates during exercise. A combination of solid, liquid and gel carbs makes it quite doable. Dried figs are made of pure win. Below is much scientific food for the brain for those who are interested.

Carbohydrates for training and competition

Abstract

An athlete's carbohydrate intake can be judged by whether total daily intake and the timing of consumption in relation to exercise maintain adequate carbohydrate substrate for the muscle and central nervous system (“high carbohydrate availability”) or whether carbohydrate fuel sources are limiting for the daily exercise programme (“low carbohydrate availability”). Carbohydrate availability is increased by consuming carbohydrate in the hours or days prior to the session, intake during exercise, and refuelling during recovery between sessions. This is important for the competition setting or for high-intensity training where optimal performance is desired. > Carbohydrate intake during exercise should be scaled according to the characteristics of the event. During sustained high-intensity sports lasting ∼1 h, small amounts of carbohydrate, including even mouth-rinsing, enhance performance via central nervous system effects. > While 30–60 g · h−1 is an appropriate target for sports of longer duration, events >2.5 h may benefit from higher intakes of up to 90 g · h−1. Products containing special blends of different carbohydrates may maximize absorption of carbohydrate at such high rates. In real life, athletes undertake training sessions with varying carbohydrate availability. Whether implementing additional “train-low” strategies to increase the training adaptation leads to enhanced performance in well-trained individuals is unclear.

Nutritional Recommendations to Avoid Gastrointestinal Distress During Exercise

Is more carbohydrate during exercise better? and how much is too much?

Maltodextrin powder is the one. Not sweet, not sticky, easy to get 50g in each bottle (assuming you'r drinking about a bottle an hour-ish)
It's also dirt cheap!

@Machine thanks for the science jabber. Quite interesting actually, and I never realised that Ironmen get so little carb from food. Though I guess your guts are all over the shop doing something like that so liquid is easiest (plus the sweat effect obv).

I probably need to bite the bullet and start using drink mixes for long rides, I don't know why i'm so anti. So, @TooTallTim and @skinny, do you just get unflavoured powder (like this http://www.myprotein.com/sports-nutrition/maltodextrin/10530114.html) and then just bang in some squash or an electrolyte for flavour?

And @Scilly.Suffolk regarding home made foods, i didn't really mean it doesn't work, but perhaps that it doesn't work fast enough - for example i have made these https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kgzmFCgLac

They are the most absurdly tasty things in the world, but are more fatty than carb (lots of nuts) and maybe don't give a quick enoguh hit.

Basically, yep. 50-80g per bottle, I don't usually put anything else in there as I prefer it just to taste like water.

I used to live with an Ironman who worked as a personal trainer. I used to give him so much grief about his diet, as i swear he was never in an anabolic state, and he could have been so much better on the bike.
I think @hippy mentioned something about fat, protein and fibre restricting digestion and this guy was scared of consuming too much of those things in fear of upset stomach.
I found that something with a little fibre in helped my guts to deal with all the gels. I often have to ride long distance events with gaviscon tablets, as my body hates gels....

Yeah, that's why I only take on carbs during 24hrs.
The other stuff doesn't help you go any faster and can contribute to gastro issues.

Try different gels? Or bars? Or different drinks?

If you start eating early enough, fats can also be great to incorporate into your endurance foods. I can't remember her name, but this female triathlete who either won or did very well at the Alpe d'Huez triathlon some years back swore by macadamias.
Though many would still argue that it's not as effective as carbs.

She was probably beaten by someone eating gels ;)

The ability to digest fats depends on the % of Vo2 your riding at. Higer %, harder to digest fats. Also digesting fats is something that can be trained to improve.

You're thinking of metabolising fats. 'Digesting' them is still a slower than carbs no matter what pace you're doing. Faster pace makes everything harder to digest.

Ultra runner Nikki Kimball ate shitloads of eggs, cheeseburgers and bacon during while setting the female record for running Vermont's Long Trail (273km)

I think i'm still digesting a beef stew from Sunday..... :) I may be able to use it soon.

And? Is that a supported race? It might just have been the easiest food to find. In ultra, anything is better than nothing. But who's to say on a high carb diet the same runner wouldn't go faster?

Here's an interview with her but it's an hour long so I'm out:
http://www.enduranceplanet.com/nikki-kimball-on-depression-a-fat-adapted-diet-and-ultrarunning/

^^ Reminds me of Lon Haldeman's McDonalds diet.

Yes it was fully supported.

Yeah, she's trained on that - saw her love for LCHF in the interview notes.

What did the fastest male runner eat?

Not sure. On my phone so cba to search who it is, but if its Scott Jurek he eats vegan. He holds the record for the Appalachian Trail (2200 mi) and only ate vegan junkfood during the attempt due to lack of better.

So the conclusion is ultrarunners are all on freaky diets?