By Two of my clients recently had nutrition problems during long rides. Although most roadies won’t necessarily ride this far, the lessons apply to any endurance rider.
Brian’s Century
After DNF’ing he wrote, “I rode well at first, but around 50 miles my gut stopped working and it felt like I was bonking despite eating regularly during the ride to that point. I crawled from there to the 75-mile mark. I don’t have an accurate count, but I know I ate 100-calorie energy gels 3 or 4 times per hour at a minimum, so at least 300-400 calories for each hour. I’m curious, am I eating more than my gut can process and making myself sick? I know I tend to bonk if I don’t get in ~250-300 calories per hour, but could it be I’m overdoing it at 300+?” Brian bailed at the 75-mile mark.
Coach Hughes explained that a rider can digest 60 gm (240 calories) per hour of one kind of carb (glucose or sucrose or maltodextrin, etc.) Brian could digest 90 gm (360 calories) per hour of two different types of carbs, for example a gel made of maltodextrin and a sports drink with glucose. During an endurance ride he is burning a mix of triglycerides (from fat) and glucose (from carbs). Every rider – even the pros – has enough fat to fuel a ride. Glucose is stored in the body as glycogen and glycogen stores are limited to several hours of hard riding. Protein contributes only about 5% of your energy while riding. Brian should eat carbs. Fat and protein both are harder to digest.
Brian reported that on his next ride he used a new feeding strategy, “A Luna bar (~200 cals) at the top of the hour, then a GU (~100 cals) at the bottom of the hour for 300 calories per hour. My gut was happy and I seemed to have enough energy.”
Coach Hughes explained that the carbs in Luna bars are from rolled oats, rice flour, brown rice sugar and organic cane sugar. The carbs in GU come from maltodextrin and fructose. Brian is eating a variety of types of carbs, which is good. However, one Luna Bar has 190 calories but only 104 calories from carbs. GU has 100 calories all from carbs. So Brian is actually eating just 204 calories / hour of carbs, not enough to sustain an endurance ride. I suggested he try adding a sports drink to his on-the-bike nutrition.
Although they are heavily promoted none of the sports nutrition products are superior in terms of performance. I eat assorted cookies and breakfast bars and drink green tea sweetened with sugar. My nutrition is just as good as the sports stuff, tastier and cheaper. My eArticle Eating and Drinking Like the Pros: How to Make Your Own Sports Nutrition includes recipes for home-made solid food, bars, drinks and gels.
Will’s 24-Hour Race
Will covered 307 miles in 16:37 (18.5 mph) before the race was stopped because of lightning.
Will wrote, “My crew and I had several times where we weren’t tracking carbs, but just total calories and I got in to trouble twice. Once for not taking in enough carbs (total calories were fine but the carbs were low!) and the second time for taking in too many calories at once. My gut shut down and it took a solid 50 miles for everything to wake back up. Put me in a world of hurt for a few hours, but I recovered again.”
Coach Hughes told him the same thing that he told Brian. He needs to eat carbs and can only digest digest 90 gm (360 calories) per hour of several different types of carbs.
Will also tried caffeine, which is a known ergogenic aid. He wrote, “Unfortunately we only had Coke and Starbucks espresso drinks that had dairy in them (I don’t do to well with dairy!). Any suggestions because I really need to get this dialed in?”
Coach Hughes said that the pros often drink de-fizzed Coke. Some gels contain caffeine. Will could make coffee before the event and drink iced coffee. During the Race Across AMerica I used caffeine pills. Now I drink cold green tea with sugar in it. The key is to experiment on his next long rides to find out what improves his performance without screwing up his stomach.
Every endurance rider can learn from Bryan and Will’s experiences!
My eArticle Nutrition for 100K and Beyond combines the best of current research and 40 years of riding and coaching experience to teach you what to eat before, during and after endurance rides. The 17-page Nutrition for 100K and Beyond is only $4.99.
Nutrition for 100K and Beyond is included in two bundles:
Endurance Training and Riding includes 1) The Century and Beyond; 2) Nutrition for 100K and Beyond; and 3) Mastering the Long Ride. The 48 pages Endurance Training and Riding cost-saving bundle is $13.50 (10% savings) and, as always, just $11.48 for our Premium Members (includes their everyday 15% discount!).
Preventing Cycling’s Ailments includes 1) Nutrition for 100K and Beyond; 2) Butt, Hands, Feet – preventing pain in cycling’s pressure points; 3) Preventing and Treating Cramps; and 4) Gaining a Mental Edge – using sports psychology to deal with discomfort. The 56 pages Preventing Cycling’s Ailments cost-saving bundle is $15.96 (20% savings) and, as always, just $13.57 for our Premium Members (includes their everyday 15% discount!).
Green tea for a ride drink to get some caffeine is a good idea but some people who are susceptible to certain type of kidney stones should not be drinking green tea, or any other type of tea due to the very high oxalate content found in teas, and oxalic acid aids in the forming of kidney stones. How much tea is too much? Doctors suggest that those who suffer from oxalate kidney stones to avoid tea altogether.
What about real food? I make all my own cycling food with whole grains and other real, unprocessed ingredients, and have never had a problem keeping myself energized and fed on longer rides, without gut issues.
For years I’ve avidly followed the writing of Jan Heine of Bicycle Quarterly. Several times he mentioned liquid food replacements such as Ensure Plus for long endurance rides, which pack 350 calories in an 8oz bottle. I tried it and found it easy to swallow and provides a good energy boost that lasts, and no stomach upsets. I drink 1/2 a bottle every 30-50 miles. Chocolate and strawberry seem to work best. My boxy handlebar bag allows easy access.
Many years ago we used to do a 170 mile team time trial and so tried to optimize feeding strategies. We used mostly home-made liquids and ended up with a mixture of Gator Ade (for carbs and salt), Mountain Dew (for carbs and caffeine), 7-Up (for carbs) and corn syrup (for carbs). The only sports drink available in those days was Gator Ade and it was too low in carbs and didn’t taste good after hours in the saddle. We started with Gator Ade and Coke but the taste was pretty disgusting. Our taste testing gave us a mild but citrusy mix. We did one ride with just Gator Ade and Mountain Dew but it was too much caffeine considering how much you took in over that distance. The 7-Up was a carbohydrate diluent for the Mountain Dew to get the caffeine levels right. I never looked into whether we had a diverse mix of sugar types but the drink was effective and well-tolerated. The one thing I would like to have changed was to have a maltodextrin source because all the simple sugars resulted in your teeth getting a coating of “little green sweaters” after a few hours.