Funny you mention the great Eddie B - he was originally on his way to Canada with the owner of my LBS but the Canadians said, "we're good, thanks anyway..." so he went to the US.

Ah, what could have been...

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Fear is healthy, panic can be deadly

on my rides i dont eat or drink anything as my rides only go up to 3 hrs. all i do is make sure when i go out to ride its 2 hrs after i eat and when i get home within 30 minutes i get in at least 2 grams of carbs per kg of bodyweight. its possible your riding too soon after you eat because the bodys insulin usually dips within the first 1-1.5 hours after eating which gives you the "bonky" feeling.

You bring up a good point. My problem is in order to get in any amount of decent ride time *and* stay married, I generally leave at about 7:00 am for my rides. Great because the traffic is light and its still cool out, bad because I can never get in a decent pre-ride fuelling. Most of the time I roll out eating a Cliff bar for breakfast.

So I'm likely heading out with a half tank of fuel to begin with...

For me to eat two hours before my rides I'd be getting up at 5:00 am...and I need my beauty sleep. I suppose an alternative would be a little bed-time carbo loading. I've not tried that yet.

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Fear is healthy, panic can be deadly

well i have to wake up at 5:30 to make breakfast just to catch a group ride at 8. If i wake up late then i skip eating and go ride on a empty stomach and just eat 2 gu packets when i have about an hour or so left in the ride. better to bonk at home LOL. but still its better to eat

I know if I don't eat before a ride I'm toast after 1.5hrs. I think you are putting in plenty of calories during the ride, but not enough before.

Maybe eat something right before going to sleep and then wake up a bit earlier (30-45 mins?) to get a small breakfast in your gut might help.

Also, for my early morning rides right after I wake up I down a strong coffee with lots of sugar to get myself jumpstarted. I'm sure that's not optimal, but it seems to work for me.

id say its conditioning but try the ride with only water and see if you die out earlier.

It is probably a bit of both. When you go riding it may have been 12 hours since you last ate, certainly not optimal, regardless if you stuff yourself with sugar during your ride. This is easily testable. I suggest you go test riding in the evening a few times (I don't think the missus would mind as long as you don't do it all the time) having eaten normally during the day. Bring the same amount of energy drinks etc and compare how it feels. If you feel you have better stamina in the evening then you know that nutrition is a major factor, otherwise it is likely conditioning.