Excellent points, thanks for posting @Stefanie ! I want to underscore the importance of foods from mixed sources (not just simple sugars or only carbs) and eating in general. The old but eternal moto of never eating anything new is also worth remembering.
You can use the longer weekend rides to test nutrition and hydration.
@reservoircat how was your nutrition on and off the bike? I know you had it on point (as we discussed), so if you would, please share some insights.
So funny you posted this, Stefanie, because I just posted over on another channel about how I messed up the nutrition aspect of my riding while in Spain. When Iâm home, I have it dialed in. I know what to bring for the miles or hours and weather Iâll be dealing with. And when we did Backroads, they have you stop so often and feed you so often, I didnât need to think about it. But on this recent trip, I didnât pay enough attention and I paid for it at mile 50. ButâŚyou live and you learn, right? 
Nutrition is my biggest concern when Iâm not the one controlling it nor am I familiar with the area and can buy my own.
This is why I havenât said anything to my husband about it. I want to talk to the organizers about food appropriate for me and my diet.
Having a great to look forward to sounds like a great idea. There are reasons but I saw a lot of it was junk foods. Which I really donât consume.
I could pack my own foods but that leaves less room for clothing.
These tips are great!
Is that because it will not agree with you/your stomach or as a matter of principle? I ask because it is very difficult to do a multi-day cycling event solely on whole foods. It would be hard to get enough calories unless you are eating a lot of nut butters.
@Coach_Theia kind of both. If I eat processed foods I feel hung over the next day. Foggy head, my tongue gets funny, and kind of tired. The foods I saw were pop tarts, m&mâs, ice cream, Oreos, those kinds of foods. I am doing a long ride this weekend so I will start by trying some foods to eat on the bike such as Picky bars, PB&J on GF bread. I can also bring some dates as well.
Lightly salted potatoes are also really good @Gossimrr especially if you donât want something sweet
well thatâs a bit rough to eat day after day after day⌠you need portable stuff, so maybe you stuff your pockets with the bars you like and perhaps some trail mix/something savory/salty and supplement that with whatâs in the aid stations. You can bring a duffle bag with bike food (thatâs what I do) for the week and load your pockets. Also, if they have SAG you might be able to put a string bag in it with sunscreen, snacks, electrolyte mix, etc.
Sorry I have been MIA! This is a reallllllly long post so I apologize in advance ha. I will provide a brief review of CaNDakâŚstarting wiht a link to a YouTube Video where they interviewed my friend and finish off with a little overview of my nutrition on the bike. Below is the video.
The Ride:
This is a super nice LAID BACK ride. It is a relatively small groupâŚwe were under 100 total if memory servesâŚand the average ageâŚincluding two teenagers and a young woman in her early 20s was over 62!! There were folks of all ability levelsâŚsome on e-bikes and the boy scouts who ran the rest stops under the expert supervision of a super-den-mother named Becky, were tremendous. Some folks have family drive the routes in camper vans and do their own thing for meals but I opted for both the meal plan (we were largely in the middle of nowhere and camping every night) and I opted for tent service so I didnât have to deal with a tentâŚand it poured one night and was spitting rain one of the days so not having to deal with a wet tent was fairly awesome. My tent was all set up with my luggage already in it at each overnight. Best $500 I have ever spent. I had my fears that I wouldnât be able to eat muchâŚfully expecting the meal service to be mostly garbage and I was wrong! At each over night volunteers from the local townâs service organizations or boy scouts prepared both dinner and breakfast the next AM. For lunch you were on your own but there were roving aid stations that had PBJ sandwiches and protein/oat balls and pickles and hydration options and the organizers also convinced a couple of rural restaurants that were on the route to be open for us and it was kinda phenomenal. Yogurt, fruit and granola as well as an egg-based dish were always among the breakfast options (ride is a benefit for youth wrestling programs and therefore there were some high protein and low fat options always as the two youngest on the ride were on the wrestling team!) There ride is Saturday to Saturday the first full week of August - - so seven days of riding - - and the route is different every year. This year we were in the âRendez-Vousâ region of far northeast North Dakota.
The biking bits:
We started in Pembina where you camped the first night, rode to Walhalla for the next overnight (57 miles), from Walhalla to Langdon (51 miles), Langdon to Devils Lake (first century option here otherwise I think it is approximately 85 miles), where we stayed on Governorâs Island for two nightsâŚthis was a ride that you could easily add on to in order to hit a century which I did⌠and I only made five turns which is one of the most mind-bending things about NDâŚâlife in the vast lane.â The weather was insanely bad on this particular dayâŚpeople dropped like flies on this oneâŚdemoralizing headwinds and spitting rain. I had taken it fairly easy up until half way through this ride because my friend I was with was experiencing back pain and I wanted to ride with her. This turned out to be a blessing for me and I think one of the reasons the ride went so well for me so my advice based on this experience is this: GO CONSERVATIVLEY for at least the first two or three days. Socialize on the bike. Have fun easy rides and get to know other people doing the event. My friend (along with 80% of participants) bailed halfway through this ride and âSAG-wagonedâ it to the next overnight spot at which point I decided to see what I had in the tank. I donât mind a headwind. I just applied enough pressure to the pedals that felt like I could go forever and paid no attention to my speedâŚand towards the end of the ride I felt fairly awesome so I added on and made it a 100 miles. They give you a sweet little patch if you ride 100 miles and this was my first century since 2012. Completely pain free thanks to Theiaâs training and my LBS (shoutout to Peregrine Cycle Studio in Chicago!).
The next day was an optional 60-ish mile route around Devils Lake and I rode with my friendâs second cousin who happened to be at the ride (they hadnât seen each other since they were kids and didnât plan this - crazy small world). Anyhow he is a fantastic cyclist and was riding with his friend who apparently had recently lost like 100 pounds and was just getting into cycling and fitness generally. The two of them held the perfect pace for me to ride with them - I will call it a moderate pace. I was worried I would be crazy tired from the century given I had negative-splitted it but I recovered decently well and spent a little time in their draft. After the second over-night in Devilâs Lake was another 100 mile opportunityâŚthis day was dry, hot hot hot and sunny. My friend and her second cousin have family roots going back generations in one of the towns relatively close to where we were going to ride so we went off course and paid our respects at the local cemetery where many of them were laid to rest and then went on to the town of Pizek where they are from and checked out the local J-Mart (the only store in town so everything from meat to carpet is available at the J-Mart!) Then from Pizek we headed to the next overnight in Park River. 107 miles total (with only four turns!!!) and I got my second century patch! I also saw a baby mooseâŚI took some pictures but did not unclip for fear momma might be close and I might have to see what kind of sprint I could pull after nearly 100 miles. Park River was fantastic but a huge storm passed through. Crazy lightening for most of the night. I was nice and dry and safe in my tent as the boy scouts positioned the tents they were in charge of in such a manner that if it did rain (and boy did it rain!) we wouldnât be anywhere near pooling water. Another shoutout to the boy scouts and a great reason to opt for the tent service. From Park River we headed to Hallock, MN just over the borderâŚone of the few times I understand that CaNDak will do an overnight outside of NDâŚHallock is just an awesome little town. This was 66 miles and some glorious tail winds for most of it. I rode solo because my friend was not riding and her cousin had to shorten his trip and stopped a day earlier. I wanted to see what I had in the tank and managed to average just over 20MPH solo for 66 miles. I am pretty amazed I did that, especially after so much ridingâŚmore amazed maybe than even completing two centuries with a decent day of riding in between. The next day was a return to the start in Pembina - very short 30-ish miles so I decided to see if I could ride my bike to Canada since i had my passport card with me. I found one other sucker to go with me - a nice fellow who like me assumed there would be some kind of clear demarcation or gate of some sort preventing us from accidentally crossing into Canada and âŚthere is not! So in order to get to Canada we had to do something that is apparently legal in NDâŚwhich is ride our bikes on the interstate. The shoulder was super wide so it was fine and it was early enough on a Saturday that the only traffic heading in to Canada at Pembina was large trucks who tend to be very good / courteous drivers in ND so it wasnât stressful at all. Apparently however when you cross into Canada you are actually already in Canada before you go through the customs check point so a Mountie was chasing us across the field (he was on foot not a horse but I still like calling them Mounties) He pointed out a tiny obelisk in the middle of a large field and stated the following which is more or less a direct quote: âThat right there is the 49th parallel donâtchaknow?!â He had to run our IDs and my poor compatriot only had his drivers license with him as he wasnât actually planning to go to Canada with meâŚjust to make sure I got there OK. We were nice and polite at this point as the Mountie was actually quite angry with us and we were a little nervous things might head south but after some small talk the Mountie warmed up a bit. Once we had our IDâs run we were free to go in the duty free store and I purchased a bunch of maple syrup (which btw, add a little salt to maple syrup and keep it in a squeeze bottle and you have an excellent and rather tasty source for on the bike carbs and electrolytes!!!). We then rode back to Pembina and had to go through US Customs on our bikes which was funny. The US border agents were surprisingly the super nice ones and one chuckled that having folks roll through on bicycles as a career first for him. Then it was back to Pembina for a final shower and good byes to folks we had ridden with all week. In total during the 7 continuous days of riding I did 480 miles but climbing total over those 480 miles was only 3200 feet LOL. This part of ND is pretty flat. Two thirds of the climbing was Pembina Gorge on I think day 2 or 3⌠a 5% mile long climb that a lot of folks spoke of as if it were Ventoux LOL. I do highly recommend this ride. It is chill. There is NOTHING fancy about it - - there were folks that were woefully unprepared fitness wise and folks who were very prepared. There were folks on e-bikes (many had multiple batteries but still couldnât do 100 miles) There was an ebike group that had a truck with them and one would drive to the half way point each day with extra batteries and then would switch with one of the other riders who would take the truck to the campground. There were folks who managed their own tents. There was a bike mechanic from Valâs Cyclery in Minot traveling along side us. The people both in the ride and in the overnights were the kindest folks. There was a woman who was possibly over the age of 90 who did it by herself (everyone kept an eye on her though) The boy scouts had portable charging stations and even managed to charge some bike batteries and C-Pap machines. There was a shower truck and roving port-o-lets just like at the pro-tours but most over-nights also had another option for showers. I was very grateful I remembered to bring my noise cancelling headphones because woweeâŚin a tent city you can hear every snore and fart like it is in your own tent lol.
NUTRITION:
Do not use a multi day ride as an opportunity to lose weight. You likely will lose a pound or two anyways but donât TRY to lose weight. My non-negotiables were a big breakfast every AM before the ride and a decent amount at dinner too.
I wear a camelback because I find I will drink more than if I have bottles alone. Apparently it actually makes you more aero to have a little humpback there anyways. I never put calories in mine (well not never but not usually), as I like to keep things from growing in it. So I use LMNT - two sticks per full camel back. LMNT is super salty. I nearly died from hyponatremia once and spent three days in the hospital so when it comes to electrolytes I am a bit obsessive. If you have never tried LMNT before I would start with half a stick. It is A LOT of sodium, which I need, but others might have a heart attack. I also use the camel back because I will drink more if I have it on vs. reaching down to grab a bottleâŚthis is particularly important in dusty conditions like dry gravel so you arenât putting a dirty bottle in your mouth. I keep bottles on my bike but they are more there for refilling the camelback (both in case I miss a rest stop and run out of water but also it is just easier to refill the camel back from a bottle)
My friend had gifted me this cool box that mounts on my handlebars and has a lot of room for goodiesâŚalso the camelback has pockets for goodies so between the two areas I could stash stuff I had my tools just in case and food for myself plus extraâŚyou never know when you drop something or come upon someone else who is unprepared and needs some calories. My absolute favorite on the bike fake food is Clif Shot Bloks and my close second favorite are sports beans by jelly belly- - especially the sour flavors. The best food for YOU is the one you will readily eat that is also converted quickly to energy. I also keep salt tabs (salt stik brand). As I noted earlier, you can DIY a tasty âgelâ by mixing a bit of salt and maple syrup and put it in a small squeeze bottle. I will have a PBJ sandwich and fruit for later in the ride but I begin consuming my fake food during the first hour on the bike - usually around 45 minutes in since I just had breakfast. Then I try to take in a little here and there every 30 minutes. If you wait until you are hungry it is already too late. I learned that doing Ironmans. Figure you have roughly 1000 calories of blood glycogen to play with. If you are like me you will burn about 3000 calories during a century ride so you need to take in 2000 calories during that ride to avoid bonking. I can process a lot of calories an hour comfortably - - my IM coach was a large male and I could process more calories on the bike than he could. It is an ability that has nothing to do with size or genderâŚor at least very little. The equation is unique to each individual so you have to play with your nutrition to dial it in during those longer back to back rides. I made a rough calc of how many calories I would burn on the bike and stocked up on my bike nutrition accordingly so I had the full weekâs supply - - most stayed in my luggage but I brought the daysâ needs with me plus extra just in case and kept it in reach in my little bike handlebar box where I could easily get to it. I did not want to rely on the aid stations having something that seemed palatable to me while exerting myselfâŚalso the less you rely on the aid stations, particularly if they involve people helping themselves to a cooler full of sandwiches and the like - - the less likely you are to pick up a nasty bug. For that reason I also recommend having hand sanitizer on you! You DO NOT want to get a stomach bug on a week long cycling trip.
I donât know how Theia will feel about this but if you have never âbonkedâ before then you may want to purposely do it in order to be acutely aware of the symptoms (you get easily irritated / grumpy / hangry and start making bad decisions)âŚand do this in a controlled setting with someone who knows what you are trying to do cuz they will likely spot the change in your personality before you do and alert you to the fact you need to eat. This can help you to learn what your limits are in the event you have to ration calories due to some calamity.
AnywhoâŚif you are still here thank you for reading this far! Any questions I am happy to try and answer. I highly recommend CaNDak âŚwhere else can you ride a century and make only four turns?!! ha!
-Liz
What a great adventure Liz, congratulations! Loved reading all about it. 
Wow @reservoircat what a great time! Thank you for sharing all that. It sounds so much fun and so well organized 
@reservoircat what a great story. I love the adventure you had!
Can you please show a picture of your box and noise cancelling headphones brand.
My husband said in the âtent cityâ on his ride there was someone snoring. This person kept yelling âstop snoringâ. And my husband was like how will that make it better. I asked him âdid you ever hear the person snoring?â He said ânoâ so I asked âhow do you know itâs not you!?â. They also had a CPAP area for those on machines.
@Gossimrr it was fun and I am envious that you have a similar trip to look forward to! The box it Route Werks and you can mount your Garmin on topâŚand I think there is a Wahoo adaptor. I have these stacking Raveman lights too. Headphones are just some JBLs I got at TargetâŚthey have a 40 hour battery life. I also recommend a charge packâŚthey are like 20 bucks on Amazon now and will help out if all the charging stations are in use.
