best stuff to eat before a race

[Shimano15]

I'm going to start racing soon, what should I eat to get the best possible performance.

[Machina]

easily digested foods that won't stay too long in your stomach. examples are white bread instead of wholegrain, soy milk instead of dairy, oats instead of conventional breakfast cereals.

[efahl]

I ate a 1 lb bag of M&Ms the night before the state TT champs once, and won my age group the next day. (Not that I recommend it.)

[slowrider]

Pasta, rice, the normal stuff

[rockymtnway]

Don't experiment on race day. Develop a pattern in training you carry into your races and you'll be fine. I do oatmeal or oatmeal bars, orange juice with protein powder, clif bars and clif bloks. All of it works for me, but like I said, I train with this stuff. I think most people's stomachs wouldn't be very keen on orange juice 90 minutes before a race, but it works for me. Back in my running days, I used to eat refried mashed potatoes on race day but for some reason that never transferred onto the bike.

[Skillgannon]

Make sure if you'r eating energy bars or downing energy drinks that youve tested them on at least a couple of other rides before the race - making sure you can get at them (if they're bars) making sure they're easily digestible, wont cause any undue reactions that will leave you sitting on the road in the middle of nowhere, etc. etc.

[clingenpeel]

Eat at least 2-3hours before your race.

I eat oatmeal, made with water, & vanilla protein powder. I mix in a scoop of peanut butter, honey, and a banana. Like the previous post said, you need to try things out before you race. The above is the same breakfast I eat almost every day. My suggestion would be this off season to try different things before a hard weekend ride one day. Same thing goes for fueling strategies during the race....and also right before the race.

The HAMMER stuff works for me , so I consume a small water bottle with HEED and a gel, about 30 minutes before the race. Alot also depends on distance....the longer the race, the more fuel you need. I mix HEED, Perpetuem and some Hammer gel to get a 300+ calorie bottle that's not too sweet. I carry two of these bottles, and depending on temp, I pick up 2-3 more bottles during the race. I take the Hammer Endurloytes, one 30 minutes before the race, and one per hour. I use the caffeineted GU's, about one per lap, and for long races break up granola bar pieces & put in my back pocket.

You can train your brains out, but when it comes down to the end of the race, if you've got nothing left in the tank, it won't matter.