Energy tablets,drinks,bars and gels ect ect

Northwind

I am interested to learn more about how the tour de france is relevant to my commute.

querhoch

well, it works like this. If you're a roadie then ALL RIDEZ ARE SEERUS TRAYNING!! and you have to treat even the shortest commute as though it was a competition and keep a detailed diary of average speed, calories burned, how smooth your newly waxed legs felt against your lycra and how many other riders you passed heroically.

njee20

With Strava and that ones commute is now more competitive than the Tour de France.

I have about 40 segments to do, compared to their meagre 21 stages. I employ a full time nutritionist, who thankfully knows what he's talking about, have a following car with a selection of wheels too, 20mm climbing wheels for the 100 foot Col du Morden, then the 80mm deeps come out for the Central London sprints.

If traffic's light I may even break out the TT bike.

Relevance of TdF to ones commute!? Pah! You need to sort yourself out.

**may not be 100% serious**

larkim

A friend of mine used an energy gel once, described it as being like cold, sweet semen in your mouth. I wanted to know how he knew that....

I'm no endurance biker, but I regularly run 8-10 miles, so runs in excess of 1 hour (and in excess of what you might normally consider as a daily commute on a bike). You don't need, and won't use, any food supplements or nutrition that you take either at the start of one of those runs or during the run itself. You might get a nice sugar rush to the brain which helps you to fight the urge to stop and rest, but it won't make it into being usable energy in your legs.

TdF riders are taking on energy constantly throughout a day on the basis that, say, if they eat a high energy bar at 10am they'll be using that energy at 12noon, and if they didn't they'd have run out of energy stores way before the end of the riding day. But what they aren't doing is eating something at 11am and using it at 11.15am.

If you want your ride to work to burn off any fat, the current thinking is that doing the ride without taking on any food before hand will start to use your fat reserves and teach your body how to burn that stuff. Then have a healthy breakfast when you arrive at work, perhaps a little more than you would have had if you'd driven, and you'll fuel up for the day.

Matt

njee20

Actually most gels (many of which are perfectly palatable) will have an effect within that time, however it's not long enough to have exhausted your glycogen supplies, so it's supplemented an adequate energy supply.

You're right about riding without breakfast though, preferably having had a low carb meal the night before. Caffeine helps too, so a caffeinated electrolyte tablet doesn't go a miss. Done it a few times, it's pretty miserable frankly, and you have to be reasonably in touch with your own body to not run into trouble, but it's a way to do it.

schmako

Lucozade Sport and Mars Bar's do the job!

cooldad

cyd190468 wrote:

Moronic drop off the page smiley fail.

njee20

Good contribution. You're now going to say "aaaah, I was only kidding, lolz, you all fell for my stupidity".

bennett_346

He's not Yeehaa...

paulmgreen

:-)

danlightbulb

Amazed no one has mentioned one of the most basic, cheapest and nutrient dense foodstuffs available. Better than any protein drink or energy drink. Has everything the body needs.



http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/research-review/milk-the-new-sports-drink-a-review-research-review.html

Of course as with everything we eat these days someone will be along to say how bad it is for us and recommend soya and lentils.

bennett_346

Surely milk is just water, fat and sugar?

danlightbulb

Almost perfect balance of fats, carbs and proteins. Plus water, vitamins A,B,C,D,E,K, niacin, calcium, sodium, magnesium, phosphorus and more.

And a lovely 370 calories per pint. No quicker way to get calories than downing a pint of milk. I love the stuff tbh.

mcnultycop

I always use milk for recovery following any exercise and as a source of protein post gym. Milk is superb for this.

bennett_346

None of which will have any discernable benefit over just eating breakfast, as many have suggested. No offence but did you read the OP? By the time he has drunk a pint of milk on his ride it wont have kicked in and given any benefit until he's been at his desk for half an hour.

Also i do not class sugar as a good carbohydrate for cycling.

danlightbulb

bennett_346 wrote:

None of which will have any discernable benefit over just eating breakfast, as many have suggested. No offence but did you read the OP? By the time he has drunk a pint of milk on his ride it wont have kicked in and given any benefit until he's been at his desk for half an hour.

Also i do not class sugar as a good carbohydrate for cycling.

All carbs are sugars in their base form.

I never said it would be any better than eating a breakfast, but it would certainly absorb quicker due to the fact its a liquid, so it will give a faster energy boost than solid food would.

bennett_346

Ok, lactose then.

cooldad

I find a big slug of milk (out of the bottle natch, being single) feels great when I get back from a ride feeling thirsty.
I don't commute (35 miles along motorways isn't exactly fun) but I never leave the house without a sh1t, shower and breakfast.
And a lot of coffee. I don't do smilies or mornings.

cooldad

cyd190468 wrote:

cooldad wrote:

I find a big slug of milk (out of the bottle natch, being single) feels great when I get back from a ride feeling thirsty.
I don't commute (35 miles along motorways isn't exactly fun) but I never leave the house without a sh1t, shower and breakfast.
And a lot of coffee. I don't do smilies or mornings.

Just add some coffee and its a latte!

Coffee should be hot, strong and brown. Lattes are for wimpy roadies. I bet you love them.

And you're probably partial to lattes as well.

Newfish

This thread made me chuckle.

On a side note, is coffee/caffeine really a good idea for longer rides? I did my longest ride ever a month or so ago (4hrs) and had some caffeine/sugar based drink in my camelbak, half way through the ride I had a huge energy slump and had to stop, by the end I was half dead and dehydrated.

Now I know that I didn't have the fitness level anyhow so that's by the by, but would the drink solution have exacerbated the dehydration situation? I have started doing more miles recently but definitely feel it when I don't eat properly.

On the subject of gels/bars, would having one 20 mins or so into the ride, (and the every half hour there after, for longer rides) be a good way to sustain energy levels throughout a ride? My rides usually last 1-2 hours.

The OP still hasn't said how long his commute is, which would make a difference, also what they have for breakfast.

chrisw333

Newfish
For 1-2 hours you don't really need any energy bars or gels etc, so long as you've eaten something in the few hours before you go out. Keep hydrated (maybe an electrolyte tablet in the drink for longer rides on hot days) and maybe a flapjack or museli bar if you do get peckish, but really no need to go overboard for a 1-2 hour ride.

If you're out for 3-4 hours then yes, its probably worth munching on something. Again flapjack type stuff will do, but mule bars (apple flavour) are nice if you want something more sports specific. Every half hour is probably way too much unless you are really hammering it though.

chrisw333

flapjack

oh I see. f l a p j a c k.