325kcal/hour sounds pretty reasonable, and is in the ballpark of what the body can process while working hard.

Though over 12 hours, eating the same thing can get monotonous, and deep in an ultra-type event it's always good to look forward to eating/drinking rather than cramming yet another gel down because you know you have to.

You do have your planned stop, and the opportunity for ad-hoc stops to handle that. But you might also just throw in various other things as part of the plan.

For example, if at hour 8 your body starts craving something salty or savory, good to just reach in the bag and find something other than a gel.

I also try to use "sciency" gel nutrition drink as the primary, but also throw in little packages of peanut butter crackers, etc, to break things up.

Didn't he say that he'll have one gel per hour and four solids in total for the whole 300k/12h.. ? Which, to me, sounds quite low - about 40 g per hour.

Thank you!

So actually it was planned to go about 120 to 150kcal (plus the coffee&cake stop).

Plan is to ride 25km/h which would be around 120bpm HR (though I don‘t know how my body will react after 6-8-10hours).

I can imagine feeling the crave for something salty/savory. Any processed things that you would recommend?
Beef jerks?

If not, I‘d probably go with the standard
Ham and cheese sandwich.

I‘m not much of a solid food eater during my middle distance tris or my long rides. So that‘s something I have to learn.

Yes, that was the plan.

It‘s should rather be a low effort ride with a HR of 120 to 125 which would be below my Zone1 (131-139).

I know my fueling on a hard effort for a middle distance or the pure 180km bike leg (have only done relay and never a full distance).

I just don‘t now how to scale it down.

Uncrustables are my go to on long long days.

Pack 2-3 frozen. Compact, lightweight, thaw into a great boost. Go down pretty easy.

More fuel. Less solids. More carbs and sodium in beverage form. Possibly more water too, depending on how sweaty you'll be.

If you use less solids, and more liquid fuel, you can absorb more kcal (carbs) per hour, than 325/hr, with much lower risk of GI distress, and much less hydration-related gut sensitivity.

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Brutha notha mutha! Absolutely. Any ride I do that exceeds 150 miles, there are Uncrustables involved at some level.

Yeah, I misread his post. I agree that those are rookie numbers that he needs to pump up.

Dear mister bonk, you are going to bonk, both from being undertrained and under fueled. For fuel you should probably eat 4 gels a hour at least, or Gatorade and whatever else to get a ton more food in yah 400 to 600 cal per hour eating constantly, only carbs and electrolytes

I would never eat any gels on a 300k "tour" at 25kph,let alone one an hour. Real food,my honey/chocolate mix and electrolytes would be the go for me. If it was a race then maybe a few gels but I really only carry gels as "emergency food" if I am blowing up and am still too far from home to struggle on.

I‘d challenge the undertrained aspect (at least to a certain extend), to avoid the underfueled is why I am here.

So you would 400 to 600 cal per hour is a general and doesn‘t depend on the effort I am cranking out?

Your plan of taking one gel per hour and a total of 4 solids during the whole race is underfueling. Anyway, maybe you will survive especially as your plan is to go very slow.. (Well, with such low amount of carbs you'd go slow even if your plan was to go fast.) And of course, you can stop to eat at aid stations if and when you get hungry.

Still: not optimal.

Howdy, if you are in Germany stop by a Bakerei beforehand, grab 2-3 weltmeister brotchen-cut open, slather PB and Honey. put it back together, cut in half or quarters, wrap in tin foil. Sweet savory carbs protein !!! This got me fastest IM time at Regensberg

Crazy idea: eat when you’re hungry. If you’re doing a slow long ride, you don’t need a nutrition plan. Just ride until you need a break, stop at a gas station or café, get a hotdog, a coke and an ice cream and enjoy the view (or whatever there is to enjoy).

Yeah, after all the feedback, this is what I‘m going to do. Pack some proper solids and see if and when I need them.

Thank you. Seems like a total different view than most of the other replies.

I marked some cafes and gas stations along the way, so I have plenty of options if needed.

Well, you might have noticed that the community on this forum at times tends to be a little overly concerned about not being in full control of everything. Such as sticking to scheduled watts, HR and exact nutritional intake on each single ride…

My personal opinion is that gels and bars are great for competition - and to have as a backup if you need them during training rides, and I always bring them when I go on rides that are +1.5 hours. Most often I don’t need them, but if I do they’re good to have.

On a long slow ride, it is however much more fun to stop and enjoy the surroundings. It doesn’t affect the impact of training if you do actually take a couple of breaks. And personally I enjoy real food (and ice cream) much better than gels and bars.

I do want to believe that even on ST many understand that there are more than exactly one way of doing these things. That said, the OP specifically asked for help/opinions on his nutrition plan and said he doesn't want to stop at cafes and gas stations unless "actually needed". Furthermore, I got the impression that this 300k gravel tour was not just "any training ride" but at least to some extent a special occasion, even if not a race per se. Based on the given information, it would have been quite weird if people would have advised to just stop at a cafe when hungry...

Quick update on the tour.

Took on the challenge on Saturday and, spoiler, couldn't complete!

As per the feedback, I packed some sandwiches and more solids to eat.

Alarm went off at 04:20, I had cereals with milk and coffee for breakfast (around 400kcal)
Took the train to the starting point and started my ride at around 06:30 with aprox. 14°C temperature.
Took it easy with around 125 bpm and 25kmh as planned for the first 67k until my first stop. Up until then I only had a gel and a bar and around 1,2l of water.
Stopped for an espresso and a "butterbrezel" + had half of my packed sandwich plus

On the second leg (55k) of the first half, I ate a gel, a bar and the other half of the sandwich (assume around 300kcal).
I arrived at the turning point a little later than planned for cheese cake and a larger cappuccino (another 400 kcal)

I could already feel that my body got quite hot and it would worsen on my way back.
I paused a little longer than planned, just to cool down a bit more

On the way back, it was already 32°C and a strong, dry and hot headwind of aprox. 10 to 15 kmh.
I basically had to stop every hour to sit down in the shade for a couple of minutes.
First 30 km onto the way back I had a gel and stopped for 2 scoops of ice cream.
After another 15k I planned to stop at a cycling cafe, but unfortunately this was closed. The worst was, that short before the cafe, I emptied my water bottles over my head to cool down and then had to ride another 10k to the next supermarket.

I loaded up on cola and powerade + salty crackers which basically was enough to bring me back to my starting location.

I missed my "riding time" goal for the 243km by around 20 minutes (09:43 vs. 10:03)
But my total time was 1h longer than I planned (11 vs 12) because I had to do so many stops to cool down in the shade.

By my arrival at my starting point, it was 63k to go, but I was basically done physically and mentally.
Could I have pushed through it? Probably yes after another round of fueling and pausing, but my bottom hurt and every stone and uneven surface was killing me :D

So I think it was paced okish & fueled not very well (and rather on the edge of underfueling), I clearly underestimated the heat and the tax of the hot winds to my body.
Thanks to everyone who talked me out to go on only 1 gel/bar per hour, kind of saved the day, although I couldn't completely execute the nutrition better.

Will try again once it's early autumn maybe.