The cycling schedule is one of the most frequent concerns among cyclists. Follow our article, and you will find out “is it good to do cycling after dinner”.
Contents
Introduction
The demand for biking after dinner or at night becomes popular with busy people who have a ton of work during the day. However, is it good to do cycling after dinner?
The below content will offer the exact answer for such a common question. It will also come with some useful analyses for bike riders. Let’s dive into it now.
Is It Good To Do Cycling After Dinner?

It has many bad effects.
Negative Effects Of Cycling After Dinner
In fact, the answer to the question “is it good to do cycling after dinner” is NO. It is because your body needs time for digestion. If you go biking right after dinner, you may face some bad impacts related to your stomach, such as bloatedness or vomiting.
A complete digestion process will take around 24 to 72 hours, starting from your eating time. The consumed food, broken down by enzymes in the mouth, goes to the stomach via the food pipe. Next, absorption happens, and the wastes will be disposed of afterward.
You will not need to wait to complete such a process, but some pending hours are necessary. We will define the adequate time in the following part.
Related post:
-
- >>> The Ultimate Collection Of Cycling Advice For Beginners <<<
- What To Eat Before Cycling Class? 5 Foods Fuel Your Body!
- How Accurate Is Apple Watch Outdoor Cycling Calories? – A Great Workout Device
- Which Of The Following Sports Can Be The Most Beneficial In Achieving Cardiovascular Fitness?
- Why Do My Arms Hurt After Cycling?-Here Is The Science Behind
How Long Should You Wait After Dinner To Cycle
The food that you eat is the factor determining the waiting time for activity after meals. In other words, how long you should wait depends on the carbs of the consumed food.
Complex carbs provide more energy but require more time for processing, while simple carbohydrates are vice versa. Thus, the waiting time will be shorter if you eat some fruits and longer if the food is pasta.
In general, you should go biking 2-4 hours after a heavy meal and 1-2 hours after a moderate meal. The time will decrease to 30 minutes if you consume snacks.
You can utilize this for preparing your food prior to biking. If you have 3-4 hours before cycling, you can enjoy a huge meal including a sandwich, pasta, vegetables, and salads.
If the time is only less than 2 hours, reducing it to a moderate-sized meal like full-grain cereal or banana smoothie is a wise choice. Energy gels or sports drinks for athletics can be alternatives if you need something right before biking.
What You Will Miss Out If You Cycle Right After Dinner?
The above content may have made you clear the response to the queries like can we do cycling after dinner or can we do cycling after eating food. However, go through this part, you will find the benefits that you will miss out unless you go biking at a proper time.

A lot of nice changes to your body.
Spending Your Stored Energy Better
The energy in your body is stored in the form of glycogen. If you go biking after your dinner, your body will take energy from the meal, and such stored energy will not be consumed.
On the other hand, if you cycle when your stomach is empty, the body will need to take glycogen storage and make a proper conversion to fuel your muscles.
Burning Fat Efficiently
From the above, you can see the process of consuming the stored fat when your stomach is not full of food. This is the way bike riding helps you to burn your body fat. If you go biking after dinner, you cannot benefit from it.
Producing More Growth Hormones
Riding a bike on an empty stomach will help you produce growth hormones efficiently, which is normally hindered by insulin presence. Do not mistake growth hormones for only getting taller. It’s just a part of the story.
These hormones contribute a large part to muscle building and fat burning. Thus, the better the production of growth hormones, the more effective the fat-burning process. The increase of these hormones will also help you to raise your longevity.
Increasing The Capacity
Your body’s capacity and endurance will grow if you practice biking when your stomach is empty. The secret behind this is the density of mitochondria increases as a result of response to such practice.
The more mitochondria, the more oxygen used by your body. This means it increases VO2 max and produces more ATP and energy. In this way, cycling improves the capacity of your body.
Recovering Faster
If you do not ride your bike after a meal, your body produces more growth hormones and enhances fat burning. Then, your muscle and tissue will heal quicker, leading to the improvement in the overall recovery process’s speed.
Frequently Asked Questions

Before or after breakfast
Should I Cycle Before Or After Breakfast?
It depends on your biking purpose. If you are riding due to your weight, you should make it before your meal. This boosts glycogen (fat) use, helping you achieve your weight loss goal.
However, if your riding is just for leisure, you can enjoy your breakfast first, let it digest, then go on your journey. You can refer to some types of food that are good for cyclists, such as wholemeal toast with eggs or porridge and fruits.
Is It Good To Cycle At Night?
Not really. You can experience less traffic and a quiet atmosphere when riding at night. However, it is not quite safe, and you will definitely need to prepare more. If you can choose day or night to go cycling, you‘d better take the former option.
What Is The Best Time For Cycling?
Morning is the best time of day for biking, as it comes with lots of benefits. When you ride in the early morning, it wakes your body up and makes your day more efficient. It will also help in weight loss, as you see above.
Furthermore, you can get freedom thanks to low traffic on the road. Morning is also the time you can enjoy the fresh and comfortable air, making your bicycle ride more awesome.
Related post:
-
- >>> The Ultimate Collection Of Cycling Advice For Beginners <<<
- What To Eat Before Cycling Class? 5 Foods Fuel Your Body!
- How Accurate Is Apple Watch Outdoor Cycling Calories? – A Great Workout Device
- Which Of The Following Sports Can Be The Most Beneficial In Achieving Cardiovascular Fitness?
- Why Do My Arms Hurt After Cycling?-Here Is The Science Behind
Conclusion
Is it good to do cycling after dinner? You can answer it now, right? Depending on your meal’s food, keep waiting for some hours to avoid negative effects. Such a wait will also help you earn more beneficial changes to your body.
Besides, if you can, start biking in the early morning to have the best cycling experiences. Let’s enjoy your free and airy time on the road.