A beginners’ guide to … eating and drinking while on the bike

We’ve got plenty of advice on what to eat and drink when on a long bike ride, but what about the actual physical skill of doing so? If you’re new to longer rides, you might never have had to grab a drink or bite to eat while still pedalling and it can look and feel quite intimidating – how do you stay upright and keep going in the right direction?

There’s definitely a trick to it, but one that you can surely master with a bit of practice. In this guide we’ll go through all the advice you need to stay fuelled and hydrated on your bike.

Why do you even need to eat and drink while riding?

It’s a valid question. If you’ve only ever ridden to work or other short rides, you’ve probably never thought about how to eat or drink while on your bike – you’ll never have needed to. But if you’re planning some longer rides, joining a group or taking part in an event like a sportive, it’s something you’ll need to be able to do.

Longer rides mean you need to fuel and hydrate properly and while café stops are thing on many club rides, you’ll still want to be able to eat and drink on the go. Your club mates will not be pleased with you if you’re constantly wanting to pull over so you can have a bite to eat.

Even on solo longer rides, you don’t necessarily want to break up your own rhythm to have a drink.

On a sportive, with hundreds and potentially thousands of other riders, it’s not just annoying if you keep pulling over to eat. It could compromise your own and others’ safety. Conversely, so could not being confident in your ability to eat and drink while riding.

For some sportives that I’ve taken part in, the organisers insisted that all riders should be able to fuel up while still pedalling. This is even the case where there are dedicated feeding stations – it’s best not to rely on just these for eating and drinking as you’ll need to be able to fuel yourself between stops.

How to do it

You need to be able to ride safely and comfortably with just one hand on the handlebar. Go somewhere traffic free with plenty of space to ride around. A park at a time when kids or dogs are unlikely to get in your way is ideal.

Then simply practice taking one hand off your handlebar while riding. If you’re very new to this, just briefly lift one hand and keep riding straight, then put your hand back down again. As you get more confident, you can keep that hand off the bar for longer. Practice steering one handed until you feel confident you can control the bike.

One thing to look out for is that you don’t wobble the handlebar when you raise or replace your hand. You need to be able to stay straight so you don’t risk going into the path of a fellow rider or towards the curb. Make sure you can continue to look where you’re going and that you feel safe.

Gradually build up the amount of time you can comfortably ride one handed, then start practicing reaching for your water bottle, taking a drink and putting it back, taking something out of a top tube bag or reaching behind your back to take something from a jersey pocket.

Again, it’s fine to take your eyes off the road briefly in order to locate your water bottle but mostly you want to be looking in the direction you’re cycling. You also need to be able to stay cycling in a straight line. Get comfortable holding something in one hand while controlling the bike with the other.

Practise until you’re confident that you’ll be able to do it on the road in a group with other cyclists.

Get the timing right

Now that you’re confident in your new skills, it’s time to take them out on the road. If you’re riding in a group, it’s particularly important to choose the right time to eat and drink, and even if you’re on your own, you’ll want to pick the moment.

If you’re riding on the road, avoid eating and drinking when you’re navigating traffic or being overtaken. You want your full attention on the road at these times. Make sure you’ve got plenty of space and time.

Similarly, if you’re riding in a tightly packed group of cyclists, drop back and wait until you’ve got a bit of a gap between you and any other riders. Don’t attempt to refuel while going downhill, travelling across tricky terrain, negotiating junctions or very twisty roads – all these require both hands on the bar and your full attention.

How and where to store your food and drink

You can make things easier for yourself by planning where to store your food and drink. A couple of bottle cages on the frame of your bike will make reaching for water easy, but even easier is a bladder pack on your back.

A top tube bag that’s right in front of you will be easier to access than jersey pockets so think about filling this with snacks you’re more likely to nibble on regularly. Use your jersey pockets for larger food items that you’ll be reaching for less often.

If you’ve bought things like flapjacks or muesli bars, tear open or remove the wrappers before the ride – it’s much easier than trying to do it on the fly. But only fully remove wrappers from foods that aren’t likely to fall apart in the bag.

If you’ve made your own snacks like banana bread or flapjacks and you need to wrap them in something, tin foil is much easier to unwrap than clingfilm. It’s better for the environment too.

What to take

Some foods are better suited to eating while cycling than others. On a hot day, you want to avoid chocolate as it’ll just melt in the heat. Similarly, soft fruits that will get squashed in your pockets, anything sticky or smelly (for the sake of your fellow riders) should be left at home.

Foods that are high energy and easy to pack are ideal. Energy bars, muesli bars, rice cakes, banana bread and flapjacks are all good. Strawberries and the like will turn to mush, but dried fruit and bananas work well. On hot days, the latter can be frozen in advance to provide a refreshing and energising snack.

Some cyclists swear by peanut butter and jam sandwiches, but you’ll need to wrap them in tin foil. Jelly sweets can provide a sugary rush of energy – cycling legend Beryl Burton is said to have been a big fan of jelly babies.

‘Liquid calories’ are an easy way of getting energy while cycling. They’re easy to consume and easy to store on the bike. Several packs of gels will fit in a top tube bag and are easy to rip open, while energy drinks can go in a water bottle.

That’s really all there is to it – now you just need to go and put some practice in!