Well - in theory, I'm all for the idea of eating "normal food" on the bike, especially as I'm resolutely NOT RACING. I've been around the block a while, and I've tried the "old school" fasted riding, training on water and all that, and it certainly has some benefits - primarily based around making you MTFU and be prepared to keep riding when the "man with the hammer" comes a-calling - in road-racing there's always a chance you'll miss your bottle/musette and end up riding "sans ravitaillements" for a few hours. But my competitive aspirations were more of Time Trialling - 100mile, 12 and 24 hour rides. Now, back then, the original "powerbar" had just been launched over in the UK, and riding food was small bite sized sandwiches in french bread (ham/cheese/banana&honey), certain wrapped pastries - all the classic stuff. And for a sugar boost, either a can of Coke (full-fat obviously) or a handful of Jelly Babies.

I'd happily ride these days with any of the above as my riding fuel. Problem is, most of the time when I ride, I'm only out for a couple of hours, and maybe 8/10 rides I don't actually need or want anything to eat. On the other 2 days, I'm probably already "running on empty" when I set off riding, and rather than pedal a bunch of junk miles because I hit the wall after 12 miles of my allocated 30+, I'll eat something. If I prepared a sandwich, I'd feel obliged to eat it, come what may. With a half decent quality energy bar (I do TRY and stick with things that are prepared from organic stuff, and are as devoid as possible of processed crap) I can carry it around for 5-6 rides, secure in the knowledge that it's there IF I need it, and it's not "going off" or "going to waste" if I don't eat it. Sadly, the same would go If I were to make my own energy bars (like above) - if they were just sat in the "cake tin" they'd get eaten. I'm Fat and Greedy, I've got no self control - how the hell do you think I ended up weighing 398lb :laugh:

So, I'll stick to taking my energy bars for a ride around the country, and occasionally eating one. It works for me, and thats the important thing. Everyone needs to find a solution that works for them, and their own metabolism and circumstances. Riding on water may well work for some, personally, I find the electrolyte tablets work well enough in cooler weather, but in summer, I need some sugar in the mix or I end up sweating the fluid back out before it can stop me cramping up. Again, it's something I've tested, on different formulas, and at different concentrations. One energy drink in particular really disagrees with me in quite a spectacular way for example - last thing you want is to go to a Sportive for example, and find that the energy drink "on tap" there is that particular formula.

It all comes back to one thing, TEST THINGS THOROUGHLY IN TRAINING. Competitions Races or Special Challenge Rides are no place to be trying something new.