Nutrition during rides

HAZBRO · Post by **HAZBRO** » 19 Sep 2013 15:13

I did a 65 mile ride on Wednesday, all in one go, with 5 digestives biscuit's being the only food I had, I managed to do it, I was averaging 18mph, for the first 40 ish, it came down 1 mph by the time I got to 65 , and my legs filled up with lactic acids as well, I think I was going a bit too fast, Im not sure I'll be able to cope but im still doing it. I guess I can only try!

Also more food is needed as well I think!

Andy_Craddock · Post by **Andy_Craddock** » 19 Sep 2013 18:10

HAZBRO wrote:I did a 65 mile ride on Wednesday, all in one go, with 5 digestives biscuit's being the only food I had, I managed to do it, I was averaging 18mph, for the first 40 ish, it came down 1 mph by the time I got to 65 , and my legs filled up with lactic acids as well, I think I was going a bit too fast, Im not sure I'll be able to cope but im still doing it. I guess I can only try!

Also more food is needed as well I think!

It's all about pacing and yes you will definitely need more than 5 biscuits.

Make sure you drink plenty and eat well the day before. Golden rule on longer rides is if you get hungry or thirsty your too late.

I tend to have a shot block on the half hour, then a bite of food on the hour, supplemented with drinking at least every half hour which I have an alert on my garmin to remind me.

HAZBRO · Post by **HAZBRO** » 19 Sep 2013 19:41

What sort of food do you take with you? and do you put powder in your drink?

Post by **CakeStop** » 19 Sep 2013 19:44

Do some sums Harry - say 400 calories per hour x hours taken. Then work out what you need to eat to make sure you don't finish more than 1000 cals down. I think it'll be a bit more than 5 biscuits.

Mark Patton · Post by **Mark Patton** » 20 Sep 2013 11:23

Harry, you should stick with the above distance of around 65 miles but instead of burning yourself out experiment with eating different foods at different intervals, try to finish feeling good instead of having the tank 100% empty. Establish how often you need to eat and what foods work well for you. Then once you have figured this you can go for a century or even higher mileage feeling comfortable that you will be able to complete the ride without putting yourself at risk or in danger.

Tim · Post by **Tim** » 20 Sep 2013 22:46

Harry, I think the general thinking from sports nutritionists is you should aim for 1.5g of carbohydrates per kg of body weight for every 20 min of endurance exercise. So for me at 70kg that's 315 grams per hour.

This is v hard to achieve with solid foods, as an example a banana is roughly 50g so I'd struggle to have 6 an hour! So energy drinks and gels with some solid food is ideal.

Obviously if your riding easy you burn less carbs but on a fast 3hr+ ride following the above ride should help you avoid hitting the wall.

HAZBRO · Post by **HAZBRO** » 20 Sep 2013 23:24

So by eating within a ride you don't go boom! Wait wat, and here's me thinking its all about fitness!

So theoretically your average citizen could jump on a bike and ride 100 miles given the right food?

Im 56 kg, so how does it work for me?

Tim · Post by **Tim** » 21 Sep 2013 07:15

So 84grams every 20mins of carbs or 252g per hour for you. I think off top of my head.

No, average citizen would struggle for few reasons mainly: their metabolism during exercise, muscle strength and cardiovascular fitness would be worse as they are untrained so instead of burning a mixture of fats and carbs they would be burning just carbs so would run out / hit the wall sooner. They could do it by going v slow/easy which means they will be in just fat burning zone so will take 10-15 hours, same as a lot of unfit and overweight people finish the London marathon each year but in 7-8hours

Post by **CakeStop** » 21 Sep 2013 11:36

I was reckoning you start with 1000 kcals stored in a readily accessible form so don't need to start replacing unless the ride will exceed that and that for a longer ride you don't need to replace all the calories burnt.