How can I eat to maintain stable energy during my ride?

The sun is shining and you’re going out with friends for a favorite two hour ride. You want to keep them honest so are going to push hard. Some extra energy is going to be useful. It would be easiest just to eat it all in one go. Trying to eat 45 grams per hour of carbohydrate for a 2 hour ride is a total of 90 grams. So why not just eat a packet of biscuits half way around? You can do better than that.

That pack of biscuits would quickly raise your blood glucose and then lead to a dip shortly afterwards. Maintaining stable blood glucose levels during your ride will stop you from feeling like you are on an energy roller coaster with spikes of high and low energy, hunger or even lightheadedness. Research(1) has shown that eating 10 to 15 grams of carbohydrates in one go will reduce the use of your carbohydrate reserves while helping your blood glucose level to remain stable.

Spacing these small amounts of carbohydrate regularly throughout your ride would be the best approach. This would mean, for 45 grams per hour, eating a 15 gram portion of carbohydrate every 20 minutes. Choosing something tasty would make this easy to remember, it could even be a reward for a cheeky sprint that would test your friends.