Fueling whilst racing

Gene Hunt

Morning,

I have my first crit on Friday (first race ever in fact) It will last 90 mins in hot temperatures (in Dubai). Do people even eat during a race? I realise I will have to drink, but was wondering if a quick gel or something would help me through the last half hour?

Ta,

GH

P_Tucker

90 minutes? Wouldn't bother. Energy drink will be sufficient.

gsk82

put a gel up each leg ofyour shorts, hanging out the end so you can easily grab it

oldwelshman

gsk82 wrote:

put a gel up each leg ofyour shorts, hanging out the end so you can easily grab it

Whats wrong with jersey pockets?

P_Tucker

oldwelshman wrote:

gsk82 wrote:

put a gel up each leg ofyour shorts, hanging out the end so you can easily grab it

Whats wrong with jersey pockets?

A 90 minute race should be undertaken in a skinsuit.

amaferanga

P_Tucker wrote:

oldwelshman wrote:

gsk82 wrote:

put a gel up each leg ofyour shorts, hanging out the end so you can easily grab it

Whats wrong with jersey pockets?

A 90 minute race should be undertaken in a skinsuit.

Why?

emx

amaferanga wrote:

P_Tucker wrote:

oldwelshman wrote:

gsk82 wrote:

put a gel up each leg ofyour shorts, hanging out the end so you can easily grab it

Whats wrong with jersey pockets?

A 90 minute race should be undertaken in a skinsuit.

Why?

he doesn't know why - he just likes the 'sound' of his own voice....

Sheptastic

amaferanga wrote:

P_Tucker wrote:

oldwelshman wrote:

gsk82 wrote:

put a gel up each leg ofyour shorts, hanging out the end so you can easily grab it

Whats wrong with jersey pockets?

A 90 minute race should be undertaken in a skinsuit.

Why?

It looks PRO.

gsk82

Sheptastic wrote:

amaferanga wrote:

P_Tucker wrote:

oldwelshman wrote:

gsk82 wrote:

put a gel up each leg ofyour shorts, hanging out the end so you can easily grab it

Whats wrong with jersey pockets?

A 90 minute race should be undertaken in a skinsuit.

Why?

It looks PRO.

cos it saves you wobbling about mid pack while trying to reach behind you to grab one from your pocket

P_Tucker

Sheptastic wrote:

amaferanga wrote:

P_Tucker wrote:

oldwelshman wrote:

gsk82 wrote:

put a gel up each leg ofyour shorts, hanging out the end so you can easily grab it

Whats wrong with jersey pockets?

A 90 minute race should be undertaken in a skinsuit.

Why?

It looks PRO.

Word. Also, since you don't need food, and a skinsuit is lighter AND more aero, the real question is: why WOULDN'T you wear a skinsuit in a 90 minute race?

Gene Hunt

Because its my first race, and I don't want to look like a right cock! 8)

No food it is then, just drinks.

Ta

Herbsman

gsk82 wrote:

cos it saves you wobbling about mid pack while trying to reach behind you to grab one from your pocket

Got to agree with this. I don't wobble but it's easier to grab it from the thigh than from the back pocket

Slimbods

P_Tucker wrote:

Word. Also, since you don't need food, and a skinsuit is lighter AND more aero, the real question is: why WOULDN'T you wear a skinsuit in a 90 minute race?

- Because they're expensive vs jersey n shorts
- Because it's harder to hide your belly in em, 90 mins is a lot of breathing in
- Because it's still chilly
- Because you feel silly
- Because there's nowhere to put your phone
- Because it's harder to take a pre-race piss

They make ace base layers if you're shy though

amaferanga

Slimbods wrote:

P_Tucker wrote:

Word. Also, since you don't need food, and a skinsuit is lighter AND more aero, the real question is: why WOULDN'T you wear a skinsuit in a 90 minute race?

- Because they're expensive vs jersey n shorts
- Because it's harder to hide your belly in em, 90 mins is a lot of breathing in
- Because it's still chilly
- Because you feel silly
- Because there's nowhere to put your phone
- Because it's harder to take a pre-race wee-wee

They make ace base layers if you're shy though

Why do you need your phone on a road race?

Tom Butcher

To get a lift home if you get dropped ?

Still can't see what's wrong with back pockets for food though - if you can open a gel while riding then reaching to your back pocket for it shouldn't be a problem.

Slimbods

amaferanga wrote:

Slimbods wrote:

P_Tucker wrote:

Why do you need your phone on a road race?

In case you puncture a tub or crash and the car doesn't spot you. Even in a 1.5 hour race, you've got a long walk back to your car.

amaferanga

Fair enough, but since I don't take anyone racing with me I'd have no-one to phone anyway. And in my (fairly limited) experience racing there's always someone around to give you a lift back (I've only punctured once and was picked up by the race organiser and driven back to my car).

DubaiNeil

Slimbods wrote:

P_Tucker wrote:

- Because it's still chilly

Not at 08:00 in Dubai in May - t'will be about 28C, so not hot (for us) but a fair distance from "chilly"

Slimbods wrote:

Even in a 1.5 hour race, you've got a long walk back to your car.

Not on a criterium - it has a 5.6km lap, the very worst case would be a 2.8km walk...

Gene - I'm going to have some gel type blocks in my back pocket, in case I feel the urge to eat something. I'm not sure the pace (in the B race anyway) is going to be "hot" enough that it won't be possible to eat for the whole 90 minutes...

I'm more worried about running out of fluid rather than food though...

See you there

Neil (your neighbour!)
[/b]

racingcondor

I would take a caffinated gel (and probably not use it) and fill my water bottle with an electrolyte drink. Gel in the leg of my bibs for the reasons above.

Don't take anything you have to chew to a crit, you'll regret not being able to breath.

For a crit the only thing I'd have in my pocket should be my locker key (and then only at Hog Hill).

Gene Hunt

Well, all good advice. Luckily I have a caffeine gel lying around and a cupboard full of isostar isotonic. It sounds like that will do, preceded by a hearty bowl of porridge for breakfast. Lets see how far I can go before I blow up, I think I could be slightly out of my depth!

markyboy2005

Oi GH....That Caffeine Gel you offered me, tell me it was in your pocket during the race..... well done on the result....Dubai Neil, how did you get on?

DubaiNeil

Absolutely pants is how I got on!

Came in 28th after blowing myself up on the hour mark, just as the pace started to pick up to chase down the 5 guys in the breakaway.
I foolishly led the pack down from the hairpin to the bowl, then lost touch on the climb out and had no friends left by the time we got to the back straight. The tail of the pack was only about 50 metres in front as we reached the timing mats but I just couldn't get back on.

I then spent the last 1/2 hour tootling around on my own

Was fun though, and I suppose I can learn to be less stoopid

Lessons learnt:

1) 1 bottle of sports drink & one of plain water would have been better than 2 x sports drink 2) Don't arrive at the time requested, as I spent a good 40 minutes hanging around after riding there - nice and social, but that wasn't the aim of the day! 3) More training on recovering from efforts required,. All the "steady state" riding we do is completely different to that experience 4) Get a group of friends to work as a unit (the Irish guys were a good example) 5) Get more races in the calender so we can improve!

Neil

Herbsman

I had a 70 mile race today and blew my stomach up. All I ate was an energy bar and a gel, but I think the fact that both drink bottles contained energy drink (6% glucose, 2% fructose) made it hard to absorb the gel.

I took two energy bars and two gels AND two bananas. Needless to say, I overestimate how much I need to eat. This is through fear of bonking...

1 bottle of plain water next time.