Ride Nutrition help - NAUSEA !

chris217

Ok , I ride regulary, long distance stuff 5 - 6hrs + in the saddle.

i have a real problem with nutrition and having the stomach for the right nutrients. essentially after a while of riding and downing gels etc by body seems to reject them , my stomach feels tight and extremely nauseous.

wondered whether i was eating too much sweet stuff so tried small savory snacks and this helps but any thoughts / comments on how to sort this as its a real pain.

cheers

jocksyboy

everyone is different. just keep trying different combinations until you find one that works.
I went through about 4 different energy drinks and gels before I found one that didn't give me chronic indigestion.

If i am riding over 70 miles or so will usually have something savoury cheese rolls or such like.

colsoop

Try reducing the number of gels you use, maybe save them for the last part of your ride as they tend to be quick release carbs. Do you know if the gels have caffeine in them, you might be overdoing the intake of caffeine if so.
For the bulk of your ride go with something more solid like bananas and flapjacks or other bar alternatives.

sampras38

Chris217 wrote:

Ok , I ride regulary, long distance stuff 5 - 6hrs + in the saddle.

i have a real problem with nutrition and having the stomach for the right nutrients. essentially after a while of riding and downing gels etc by body seems to reject them , my stomach feels tight and extremely nauseous.

wondered whether i was eating too much sweet stuff so tried small savory snacks and this helps but any thoughts / comments on how to sort this as its a real pain.

cheers

Everyone's different with regards to what they can stomach on the bike but I would perhaps can the gels for now in favour of real food. Why not try the odd banana, flapjack or fig roll? You'll get the carbs and hopefully it won't make you sick. Use gels for the end of the ride if you really need them. And of course plenty of fluid.

saturnfive

I really sympathise with you - I used to get nauseus quite a bit on long rides (MTB but no difference really). It's pretty galling when your legs could do more but your stomach won't let you take on the fuel to keep you going. Here's what's helped me so far:

Carb Drinks: I think energy drinks are a really good way of fueling but something in them definitely upsets me. I think it was the Aspartine but I'm not sure. On SIS I'd always start to get nauseus around 5 hours in, it seemd. At any rate I now use pure Maltodextrin powder with a bit of squash mixed in for flavour and I've found that much, much better. It's also much cheaper. I chuck a couple of Nuun tablets in if it's hot too.

2:1 Carb Drinks: There is some research that shows you can take on more calories per hour during excercise by combining Maltodextrin with Fructose (optimum ratio: 2:1) as they are digested by different parts of the gut. Rather than taking on more, of course you could split them. (ie: instead of 80g malto you use 50 malto and 30 fructose)..I've not really noticed any difference doing this but it might help by spreading the load on the gut You can get Fructose in Waitrose etc. next to the sugar.

Solid Food: I also try to eat some solids, as I've found just carb drink makes my stomach feel very empty so I try to eat a bit every hour too: marmite sandwhich, oatcakes, bagles etc. I find the marmite great as, like you said, sports nutrition tends to be very sweet and it's really nice to have that savoury / salty taste when you can't face any more sweetness.

Fasted Rides I do one commute a week without breakfast (I read that this "fasted" riding may help to improve fat burning, not sure if that's true though). I'm not trying to lose weight but I reason that better fat burning capability would reduce the requirement to take on calories during the ride, so that should help lessen the work that the stomach has to do.

Staying Aerobic: I think the harder you go, the more stress on your stomach, so if you can keep at a fast but steady pace instead of caning it up all the hills, your digestion might be less likely to rebel.

This is just stuff I've read / picked up from podcasts so take it with a grain of salt. I'm no authority on this - just a mountain bike enthusiast who's trying to get better at endurance distances but hopefully it might help a bit!

If it's any consolation, I was just reading an article about Chris Eatough (world 24 hour solo MTB champion six years running) and he said that in one of his 24 hour races he was throwing up from hour 5....

ut_och_cykla

Just eating gels is probably not a good idea especially if you are not drinking plenty of water with them .
As others have already said - find some easily digested real food that works. White bread jam or marmite sarnies (no butter), ripe bananas, rich tea biscuits , raisins etc. Eat often & little and drink water or carb drink that suits you - test at home first! And mix according to instructions - too rich a mix will tend to fasten in stomach!
Personally I use Power Bar products as the glucose/fructose mix and trace of BCAAs works well for me. But I've previously used Maxim which sometimes gave me stomach cramp - thier bars on the other hand are super!

chris217

Cheers guys , really useful, definately think i poss overdo the gels .....its just became a little complacent and also they are easier to store in you pockets

and eating solid food seems to help settle things, and yes quite a lot of the gels etc do have high caffine content

thanks again.

SBezza

I just eat normal food, for me gels are used for racing only, as it is impossible to actually eat anything then.

With drinks, you have to try and find out what works best for you, fructose can upset the stomach if consumed in relatively large amounts.

BeaconRuth

Chris217 wrote:

wondered whether i was eating too much sweet stuff so tried small savory snacks and this helps but any thoughts / comments on how to sort this as its a real pain.

How much plain water are you drinking on your rides? Sounds to me like it's a hydration issue. Don't forget that an energy drink is likely to contain the optimal balance of carbs and water, so any extra carbs (i.e. solid food, gels) need extra plain water. Many people make the mistake of drinking energy drinks, taking gels and solids - leaving themselves seriously short of adequate water to metabolise it all.

Ruth

chris217

Ruth thanks, hydration could be an issue, try to drink a little and often but poss not enough.

i have two 750ml bottles on the bike which i fill with the appropriate concerntration of SIS or TORQ carb powder.

then at feed stops i just fill up with plain water so i sould be drinking enough but i suppose if by that time i am feeling sick then unlikely to want to consume anything really.

amaferanga

Gels are for racing and emergencies. Your long bike rides must have been costing you a fortune if you've been surviving on gels!

Like others have said - eat real food.

chris217

Ok so i need to eat real food how does this work in practice ?

what do you eat / carry on a 5 - 6 hour road ride and how do you carry it - in foil etc

better get my lunch box ready !!

cheers

amaferanga

Flapjacks, muesli bars, soreen, peanut butter and jam sandwiches for me (soreen and sandwiches usually wrapped in foil). Not that I do such long rides often any more, but anything over 100 miles and I'd be stopping to get a sandwich and extra snacks somewhere so I wouldn't have to carry too much with me.

ut_och_cykla

If I go on a 5-6 hour ride I take one water & one carb bottle, a banana, some jam sarnies, a power bar or two and maybe a gel or two just incase, plus if its hot carb powder for another bottle. wrap sarnies , extra powder etc in plastic bags. Food in jersey emergency gels in small saddle bag.

I don't ride very fast and I can always top up at petrol stations (for food & water). I eat well the day before and have a good breakfast. As long as you're not riding that far everyday or riding stupidly hard all the time you don't actually need that much food - just enough to stop you bonking - but this is just what works for me.

When I was on a 6 week tour I ate just normal meals at normal times and drank fruit juice diluted with water on the bike. I didn't lose hardly any weight, never bonked and had some very long concurrent days cycling.

ireland57

I have some stomach dramas when riding as well.

I try to keep gels until absolutely necessary (mostly don't need them) or as mentioned above, later in the ride; plenty of sipping fluid (see below); solid food - e.g. banana, home made fruitcake, oat/banana bars. That's about all I can handle on a long road ride.

Any more than a mouthful of water at a time while riding I'm in strife so I.....have a mouthful every 5 mins switching between water and electrolyte (depending on weather); I carry a 500ml water bottle in my jersey on +3hrs; sometimes nut and chocolate bars or mostly honey/nut bars.

Cut down on the sugar until later in the ride; eat the most natural food you can handle.

chris217

Thanks, v useful. i have def been overdoin the gels and sweet stuff.

now need to re-think and add solid food, think this will improve things.

cheers

Ron Stuart

A lot of good advice above and there seems to be a pattern emerging regarding gels.
Gels can be a great boon to a long ride, race, sportive, or Audax but I wouldn't advise anyone to start taking them till at least 60% into the event and in your case maybe more like 75%.
By the way I was in the Algarve in February and watched a lot of the Tour of the Algarve. The last stage was a 17km individual TT and I watched a lot of the riders warming up and some were sucking on gels (before the start) I cycled from Lagoa (start) to the finish at Portimao to see the back enders finish. I spent some time with my camera a little way past the finish and witnessed a lot of the riders absolutely exhausted and some were being sic. Maybe a side effect of the gels/exhaustion? :shock:

saturnfive

Also it's quite remarkable how different eveybody's physiology is: Some people, it seems, can do a 5 hour ride on half a banana and others (like me) start to crash if I don't eat something after an hour...

rls

I used to do long distance Audaxes and I'd carry a bag on my handlebars full of bananas, energy bars, sandwiches etc and would be chomping down about 3 miles into the ride and probably over ate! Now though I tend to use one to two bottles, depending on the length of the ride, containing water with the plain Maxim powder (bought in 2KG eco tub), mixed with a bit of squash. I then eat Clif bars whenever my stomach feels empty.

On the last 80 mile ride I did I used both bottles and ate a couple of Clif bars and didn't lack for energy at all and my stomach was just fine.

Personally I can't touch energy gels as they all seem to upset my stomach very quickly.

ut_och_cykla

saturnfive wrote:

Also it's quite remarkable how different eveybody's physiology is: Some people, it seems, can do a 5 hour ride on half a banana and others (like me) start to crash if I don't eat something after an hour...

I think also it is a matter of practice and pace - plenty of the first and not too high for the second. You can get your body used to most things inluding eating too much or managing without food.

SBezza

Chris217 wrote:

Ok so i need to eat real food how does this work in practice ?

what do you eat / carry on a 5 - 6 hour road ride and how do you carry it - in foil etc

better get my lunch box ready !!

cheers

For 5-6 hours in the summer I would probably have 2 bottles, one with water, the other with energy drink, and probably about 4 bars. I generally don't eat anything for the 1st 1.5 to 2 hours (breakfast is still digesting), and then probably have one every hour. If I need more water I just stop at a shop and buy some. In the winter the amount of fluid will change, as I just don't drink it as quick. Mid ride stop at a shop for a can of coke is always a option for me as well if feeling underfed.

You can get the body used to using it's available resources, but if the pace/effort is too high then it will use glycogen more rapidly, and you then have to eat more to keep this topped up.

I hardly ever carry a gel, as there is normally a shop/garage you can stop at to refuel if you are really in trouble.

ded

Ron Stuart wrote:

Gels can be a great boon to a long ride, race, sportive, or Audax but I wouldn't advise anyone to start taking them till at least 60% into the event and in your case maybe more like 75%.

Yeah but as said elsewhere that depends on your physiology AND training. 60%-75% into the Marmotte puts me at the top of the Galibier probably - if I've waited until then to start refuelling I'm in trouble!

I use gels on long rides and I have (occasionally) had that bloated feeling described above but I have also done quite a few long rides exclusively on gels and energy drink with NO issues. I read something recently (in a Triathlon magazine???) that said something like "the gut is a trainable organ and you should work on that in training too". Saying "use real food" is fine if you want to cruise around where there are petrol stations to buy snacks but I'm not lugging 3 bananas, some cheese sandwiches and a couple of sausage rolls up the Galibier or Hardknott! Gels are the way forward then - and if I haven't trained with them how do I know which ones I can stomach and which I can't? (I like High5 stuff by the way - SIS tastes like wallpaper paste to me...)

Ruth had a good point above - you need to think about the balance of energy from all sources. Shoving a marmite sandwich in on top of loads of energy drink might settle your stomach (urrr, marmite :shock: ) but may contribute exactly nothing to your energy levels...

chris217

how do I know which ones I can stomach and which I can't?

i guess we need to sample them on a training ride and see what happens.

my history with gels is impressive, Saturday the day before the event i would purchase numeros gel type substances....without prior testing and ' wolf ' them down on race day....I have been using all sorts of gels anything in fact, bad really and especially Torq Gels, they are great but some have garana and the do a banana and toffee one that and some of the SIS gels have high caffiene content....

solid food and very limited gel use for me from now on !!

SBezza

ded wrote:

Ron Stuart wrote:

Gels can be a great boon to a long ride, race, sportive, or Audax but I wouldn't advise anyone to start taking them till at least 60% into the event and in your case maybe more like 75%.

Yeah but as said elsewhere that depends on your physiology AND training. 60%-75% into the Marmotte puts me at the top of the Galibier probably - if I've waited until then to start refuelling I'm in trouble!

.

I think you have got that wrong, there is nothing wrong with refueling with proper food and drink, it is just gels IMO should be used as a last resort, or a quick pick me up, there is no sustained release of carbs into your body like normal food.

Eat normal food for the majority of the ride, and if required use a gel towards the end of the ride.

chris217

"Eat normal food for the majority of the ride, and if required use a gel towards the end of the ride"

good advice / summary

ded

SBezza wrote:

Eat normal food for the majority of the ride, and if required use a gel towards the end of the ride

This is the crux really, how do you get food into your system for long events/rides? This IS good advice as long as you are working at a low enough level that you want to and can eat and digest normal food. Riding up and down ridiculous hills in the Lake District or up enormous French mountains, most of the time, I can't. For me, it's just not a practical solution. Gels and energy drinks are... On a long slowish training ride I can, and do, use "normal" food but I would also use gels so that I know which ones I like/can tolerate when I am working hard.