Feeding on the Fred Whitton HELP!!

ro63rt

I'm doing the Fred Whitton Sportive for the first time this year & apart from the usual Carb Loading a few days before.

What do people do on the way round for food? How often to eat & what to eat. Also what about water, what do people do for refills?

I was thinking an energy bar every hour & may be a gel every half.

Tom Butcher

I wouldn't worry too much - there are a couple of feed stations which provide ample flapjack and bananas etc. I did carry some Hi5 powder and added that to a couple of bottles I topped up during the ride. You've paid for the food so you may as well eat it - tastes a lot nicer than gels and energy bars too. Carb loading isn't really necessary either - have a few pints the night before and enjoy it.

StuWalker

ro63rt wrote:

I'm doing the Fred Whitton Sportive for the first time this year & apart from the usual Carb Loading a few days before.

What do people do on the way round for food? How often to eat & what to eat. Also what about water, what do people do for refills?

I was thinking an energy bar every hour & may be a gel every half.[/quote

Good idea. Did it for the first time last year and suffered severe bonk on Hardknott despite hoovering up the flapjack at both feed stations (5 squares at each one I seem to remember). My lesson from this was that the 1st station isn't till Buttermere after 54 fairly hard road miles, so if you haven't been taking on bars/gels before this, you are probably running the tank down. Therefore, take on the bars/gels at the frequency you suggest, from about 1hr into the ride, but have the flapjack and scones anyway - just don't spend too long at the feeds as you'll never get going again!!!!
n.b. looking for sub-7 this year after doing last weekend's Wrynose ride in 6:34: however they only had bars/gels at the feeds on that one - must have got through 10-15 on the ride - never want to see another one again, though Sunday week I'll have to!