“I has been a great week for me. I feel much more comfortable on the bike and I think that is due, in part, to your advice to eat more on the bike. I really worked on that this week and especially on the 80-mile ride I did. It seems to have worked.” — from one of my client’s weekly reports.
Summer is here and you’re probably planning a long ride. You may be looking forward to the club’s 50-miler or riding a 100K with a friend. Or finishing your first century. Or competing against others in a grand fondo. Or having more fun and finishing your local century without feeling trashed. In addition to your training your success depends on your nutrition! Here are 14 tips to help you ride your best.
Sources of Energy: Carbs and Fat
When you are riding on level ground at moderate pace you are burning primarily fat for energy. As you start to work harder, for example picking up the pace or climbing a moderate grade, you keep burning fat but also start burning more glucose, which comes from carbs. As you ride faster or the hill gets steeper you burn more and more glucose and keep burning fat. Protein only provides about five percent of your energy.
Glycogen Stores Are Limited
Glucose is stored in the body as glycogen. Even the skinniest rider has enough body fat for an endurance ride but not enough glycogen. Through endurance training you can increase your body’s capacity to store glycogen by 20 to 50%. A fit roadie can store about 450 grams of glycogen in your muscles, blood stream and liver, which will produce about 1800 calories of energy, enough energy for only a few hours of hard riding.
Primarily Eat Carbs
Because you can only store a limited amount of glycogen be sure to eat sufficient carbs. Carbs should provide about 60% of the calories in your daily diet. Carbs include dairy products, fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, legumes, seeds as well as sugary foods and sweets.
Carbo-Load
To be sure your glycogen stores are full, starting two to three days before a big ride eat more carbs. At each meal cover your plate primarily with carbs and think of protein as a condiment.
More information: Carbo-Loading A Coach’s View
Pre-Hydrate
Starting two to three days before a big ride be sure to drink enough fluid so that your urine is an ample pale yellow stream (unless you are taking supplements, which could produce yellow urine as you urinate them out of your body.) Primarily drink water and clear unsweetened fluids and avoid alcohol. You’ll probably gain a little water weight, since your body stores water with the glycogen. Don’t worry; you’ll use the water during the event.
Pre-Ride Breakfast
Eat a good breakfast — 500 -1,000 calories — a couple of hours before the start of the ride. Primarily eat complex carbs with a bit of protein and fat. For example, eat whole grain cereal with a banana and skim milk or multi-grain toast or bagels with low-fat yogurt and berries. Drink a couple of cups or glasses of fluid, for example a glass of juice and a cup or two of coffee or tea. That much caffeine won’t cause you to urinate excessively. By eating several hours in advance you give yourself time to digest the calories and to relieve your bladder before the start. An hour before the ride, eat a snack such as a banana or energy bar.
Eating During the Ride
The American College of Sports Medicine(ACSM) recommends consuming 25 to 60 grams of carbs (100 to 240 calories) per hour after the first hour of exercise. Note that the recommendation is only for calories of carbs. Sports drinks and gels are generally 100% carbs. Most energy bars are a combination of carbs, protein and fat. Remember to eat before you are hungry. If you have trouble remembering to eat, set your computer to beep every 15 minutes.
More information: Nutrition for Performance what to eat and drink during rides of different lengths.
Drink to Satisfy Thirst
If you start the event fully hydrated, then as long as you drink whenever you are thirsty, you’ll be adequately hydrated. We used to be taught “Eat before you are hungry, drink before you are thirsty.” The former is still good advice; however, current research indicates that drinking too much can lead to hyponatremia (low blood sodium), a potentially fatal condition.
More information: 12 Myths About Hydration
Don’t Bonk or Hit the Wall
Your brain needs fuel and metabolizes primarily glycogen for energy. If your muscles burn through all of your glycogen stores, then you bonk, that awful fuzzy-brained feeling when all you want to do is stop. Similarly, when your muscles exhaust all of your glycogen stores suddenly you hit the wall and your muscles feel like lead.
More information: How to Avoid Bonking
Eat a Mix of Carbs
Research shows that you can digest more carbs (up to 90 grams or 360 calories) per hour if you eat a variety of carbs, for example, a sports product with sucrose and maltodextrin or a bagel and a banana or fruit newtons. On your training rides experiment with different types of carbohydrates to see what tastes good and agrees with your stomach.
Sports Food or Real Food
Sports drinks, bars and gels are convenient; however, they don’t provide any performance advantage over fruit, pb&j sandwiches, granola bars and cookies.
Experiment of One
Test your nutrition during your training rides. What tastes good and digests easily varies among riders. Don’t just rely on advice from other riders, the media or even me! Experiment to find out what works for you.
Nothing New
Try to find out from the ride organizers what food and drink will be available at the stops. If they don’t provide the particular food and drink that sit well in your stomach, then bring your own. Don’t try anything new during an event. If you’ve just been eating energy bars, then don’t grab a brownie at an aid station. But if your training rides include a stop for coffee and pastry and then lunch, take advantage of these during your event.
Keep It Simple
Is all of the above too confusing? Over the years I’ve experimented and learned that as long as I drink sports drink to satisfy my thirst, eat something — a banana, granola bar, fruit newtons, pb&j — every hour, and ride without going anaerobic I’m cruising comfortably. You’ll have a better ride and more fun if you develop and follow your own simple nutrition program rather than getting hung up on too many details.
Do You Eat to Ride or Ride to Eat?
If you eat in order to fuel a PR, then view stops as aid stations, not as rest stops. Grab what you need and eat and drink on the bike. As a two-time winner of the Race Across AMerica told me, “If you aren’t on the bike, you aren’t going anywhere.” If you ride to so that you can more and enjoy a variety of foods, then for you stops are social opportunities. Enjoy the snacks while talking with others.
Whether you eat to ride or ride to eat — be sure to eat and drink! Is this a great sport, or what?
My sources include The Cyclist’s Food Guide, 2nd edition by Nancy Clark, MS, RD and Nancy Hegmann, MS, RD; Nutrition and Athletic Performance, by the American College of Sports Medicine; Advanced Sports Nutrition, 2nd edition by Dan Benardot, PhD, RD, FACSM and Distance Cycling byDan Kehlenbach and me.
More information
My eArticle Nutrition for 100K and Beyond combines the best current research and my 40 years of riding and coaching to teach you proper sports nutrition. I explain the types of fuel, how to estimate how many calories you burn on a ride and what to consume during the ride. I also explain what to eat before and after the ride. My 17-page Nutrition for 100K and Beyond is just $4.99.
It is included in my bundle of three eArticles Endurance Training and Riding:
- Beyond the Century describes training principles and different training intensities and how to integrate these into program of long rides. Although written for roadies doing longer events all of the principles also apply to shorter events. I lay out an 8-week plan to build up to a century and then a 200-km ride (about 125 miles), plans which could be easily adapted to shorter rides.
- Nutrition for 100K and Beyond provides you with the information you need to fuel your engine before, during and after endurance rides.
- Mastering the Long Ride gives you the skills you need to finish your endurance rides. Effective training provides your base, and proper nutrition gives you the fuel. The key to success is to use your smarts to complement your legs.
The 50-page Endurance Training and Riding bundle is $13.50 ($11.48 for our Premium Members).
Coach John Hughes earned coaching certifications from USA Cycling and the National Strength and Conditioning Association. John’s cycling career includes course records in the Boston-Montreal-Boston 1200-km randonnée and the Furnace Creek 508, a Race Across AMerica (RAAM) qualifier. He has ridden solo RAAM twice and is a 5-time finisher of the 1200-km Paris-Brest-Paris. He has written over 40 eBooks and eArticles on cycling training and nutrition, available in RBR’s eBookstore at Coach John Hughes. Click to read John’s full bio.
fruit cake is a great snack on the bike. nutritious, delicious, compact energy!
the only problem is that recently was proved that “carbo load” is counterproductive.
the only problem is that recently was proven that “carbo load” is counterproductive.
“Your brain needs fuel and metabolizes primarily glycogen for energy. If your muscles burn through all of your glycogen stores, then you bonk, that awful fuzzy-brained feeling when all you want to do is stop. Similarly, when your muscles exhaust all of your glycogen stores suddenly you hit the wall and your muscles feel like lead.”… This is accurate for most people who eat a SAD diet. If you have shifted (adapted) to a low carb low junk food lifestyle with 100 grams of carbs or less per day then you can ride at an aerobic level without extra carbs (bars or sugary drinks). Your liver will provide enough glucose for your brain and your body will be burning ketones. Sometimes I come home from an 80 mile ride with glucose level at 59 mg/dL and ketones at 2.0 mmol/L. That just says I am using ketones in preference to glucose. I have not bonked because the brain can use up to 60% ketones and muscles/organs much more. These adaptations are very convenient for long slow distance riding. Do not try this if you are a Type 1 diabetic, If you are a racer you will need some junk carbs and this will be fun until you begin to develop the “insulin belly” as you age.