looking to use gels on longer rides

john74

recently ive been upping my milage to around the 50 to 75 mile per ride mark and thinking about using gels. Im just wondering how often i should use a gel on a long ride? ive read that you need 60-80 gms of carbs per hour, the gels i was thinking about using contain 22gms does this mean i need to consume 3 gels per hour?
Im very confused as on longer rides i seem to suffer glycogen depletion and bonk. Any info would be great.

amaferanga

Presumably these rides are at a pace where you can eat a muesli bar or a bit of soreen every 30-60 mins?

In which case you don't need gels, you just need to eat and (maybe) drink more.

phreak

Don't forget your energy drink as well. For most UK rides I tend to use gels as a last resort as you get a bit more time to munch on solids. When climbing for an hour or so though it's a bit harder to eat solids so it's gels all the way.

aidso

Make sure you try 1 or 2 before you rush out and buy a large cache. I bought 2 Energize ones and nearly boaked everywhere. They do the job but I would rather rely on something a little more "natural".

vorsprung

john74 wrote:

recently ive been upping my milage to around the 50 to 75 mile per ride mark and thinking about using gels. Im just wondering how often i should use a gel on a long ride? ive read that you need 60-80 gms of carbs per hour, the gels i was thinking about using contain 22gms does this mean i need to consume 3 gels per hour?
Im very confused as on longer rides i seem to suffer glycogen depletion and bonk. Any info would be great.

The body has enough carb type energy (glycogen) in it to last 90 minutes or more depending on the rate of work

The figure of 60-80g of carbs is for when the rider is going at a good rate. At lower rates of exertion, some carbs are used but the body will also burn fat. It's better to burn fat in the sense that carbs can be used up fairly quick but even a lean rider has vast fat reserves.
See this article for details
http://www.ultracycling.com/nutrition/calories.html

Absorbing carbs, even easy stuff like gels takes a while. I've seen estimates from 10 minutes to an hour for gels and energy drinks. Eating things that contain fat slows up this process

What I usually do for rides of 100km or so is eat something after 1 hour. This means that the energy should come on stream before the stored carbs run out. Then I eat something every hour. I would guess from previous experience of gels that two or three an hour would be appropriate.

Don't forget that the stuff that has been in your gut for hours will give some carbs. That's why a bowl of porridge in the morning is good until lunchtime. Porridge is full of carbs but is relatively slow release.

dawebbo

No science in this, but I find a SiS gel every 50mins-1hr when racing is about right for me.

Ron Stuart

Don't do what some pros do and start sucking them before they start of a TT then finish the TT and puke up.
Best to take the Energy Drink plus solids (easily digested stuff) on training rides but take a gel encase you get the hunger knock before the end of the ride.
If doing an event where the intensity is greater then drink plenty again eat them solids and on a 80 miles event take one small gel at 50 miles and another at 65 miles approx. For a hundred miler I go similar but I don't take a gel till 70 ish and again at 85 miles ( but I would drink (water) and eat at feeds as well as whilst riding.
If it is hot then a Nuun tablet or similar every other bottle refill, to help stop the cramps. Little ham or cheese sandwiches (salt) work well as does malt loaf and fig biscuits.
Try stuff out on your training rides but don't get used to too much training on gels just find the ones that you stomach likes the best. There seems to be a trend in the market to provide huge gels in sachets (more expensive) avoid if possible as the old maxim of a little and often is much wiser and puts less demand on the digestive system, especially if there is a big climb coming up shortly.
Oh, just one other little point, please take your wrappers home or bin them at finish, don't copy the peloton.

interpol

Leave gels towards the end of the ride and plan it so they kick in for the climbs of the specific ride. You should be able to eat earlier in the ride, a little often. I tend to avoid eating and drinking a carb drink, it can give me bad guts. I take water when eating and take the carb drink in between. Also if I only take gels I get hungry so honey on brown bread butties and flapjacks tend to work for me. Nothing scientific about this it just seems to work for me from experience.