help me with feeding and hydration advice...

luv2ride

Had a day off today, and haven't managed to do any great distance beyond 30miles for most of winter after trying to balance family, work commitments, and crappy weather etc. Anyway, thought I'd head up to the Cotswold water park for a nice 55 miler as the weather here was actually very pleasant. Even got the carbon bike out for the first time in months.

Hugely enjoyable, averaging 17mph into the wind. Decided at 25 miles I'd cut things a little short and go for 40 miles instead but the last 5-10 of these were pretty difficult. I had an energy gel at 20 miles (normally take one just in case but rarely use it), and thought I had drank a reasonable amount (650ml with a hydro tab all gone by mile 30). Felt starving at 30 miles so had half an Elevensies bar, closely followed by the 2nd half!

Bike was purring along and the sun was out, so was disappointed to be knackered after only 40 miles. Managed an average cadence of 85 rpm, but as I say I was pretty empty when I got home. Oh, had porridge and blueberries for breakfast (about 3 hrs before ride)

Am I taking on fuel frequently enough? I normally feel like this after 60 miles, but right now a century looks a tad ambitious at the moment. Help!

ralphy1967

I normally plan my big ride out (50+ mile) with a cafe stop. I also have a porridge breakfast with honey and apricots, though i think your 3hr gap between breakfast and cycling is a lot. I cycle around an hour after eating and i don't have any problems while riding. I also munch on a banana and and a couple of slices of Soreen with jam while riding. Though my mate has a breakfast and will sometimes not eat until the cafe stop. I read an article where you should have a couple of swigs of your energy drink every 15mins so i try and do that. I'm unsure if this is a summer thing as obviously you sweat more then so you will need to replenish what you have lost.
Hopefully this will help you

lawrences

The food takes a little while to kick in so maybe try eating before the tiredness sets in and see how that feels.

marcusjb

Don't panic overly if it's a one-off - there are just some days where, for seemingly no reason, I get the knock really easily despite having eaten well before the ride and during it.

But three hours is a long time to eat before riding (as ralphy1967 said) - it was a good breakfast, but your body will have burnt up quite a bit of that energy before you even set off. Eat something closer to setting out next time would be the best course of action. And then little and often for eating and drinking as you ride.

stueys

Eat early, if I'm out for a while I start eating at 20-30 minutes in and keep nibbling every 20 mins in. Little and often is a good mantra, if you feel hungry you've left it too late.

fitnesswontlie

Stueys wrote:

Eat early, if I'm out for a while I start eating at 20-30 minutes in and keep nibbling every 20 mins in. Little and often is a good mantra, if you feel hungry you've left it too late.

+1

luv2ride

Nice one. Even though I was on a day off, I still had to do a couple of work things, which put me back a couple of hours before eventually getting out on the bike. I'll take note about trying to eat an hour or so before heading out, then snacking a little from 30 mins onwards. Thanks again...

wingguy

Luv2ride wrote:

Am I taking on fuel frequently enough? I normally feel like this after 60 miles, but right now a century looks a tad ambitious at the moment. Help!

No. Granted 40 miles is a bit early to be depleted but if your fueling strategy is the same on longer rides you aren't going to be getting nearly enough energy onboard. Eat much sooner before you leave, start eating (or using an energy drink, not just hydro tabs) sooner during the ride, look at how many grams of carbs each gel or bar contains and work on the basis that you can absorb approx 70 or 80 grams an hour.

luv2ride

So, I used to use SIS Go Fuel Electrolyte powder in water, then moved to SIS GO Hydro tabs in water (thought they were effectively the same!). The former seems to contain carbohydrates as well as electrolytes, so presumably that would be better for me?

I've also got some Zero Xtreme tabs with caffeine (free from CRC or Wiggle) - is that a good way of taking on fuel or "energy"? I can work up a sweat just looking at the bike, so have always favoured some form of electrolyte replacement. Am I better off sticking with the electrolyte drink and gettings carbs through food and or gels?

mobydick64

You need carbs for fuel. Electrolytes are just to keep you hydrated. You can only absorb around 70 grams per hour of carbs so aim for that.

I regularly ride 50 - 60 miles. I've learnt that my body can't tolerate much protein on epic rides - I just can't digest it, but I find a little protein does help.

I usually have some quick oats with dried fruit before my ride. My preferred drink is High5 4-1, which is one part protein to four parts carbs. On 30 mile rides I will just take straight carbs and electrolytes and nibble a kellogs twist along the way.Depending on how hot it is, I will drink about a pint per hour.

jgsi

You were kncrcd by 40 miles because your bike fitness is lacking not because you forgot to keep chomping on food every 15 minutes.
Am I being a little blunt..?. sorry..

diy

Its still a little early to be overly critical of your performance. Cold weather, wind and rain etc has an impact. As others have said, its most likely to be down to fitness, not fueling. If you weren't drinking enough you'd probably start to get cramps and IMO you could only be under fueled if you are well under target body weight. Some caffeine is always good to keep you going.

Once you have ruled out general fitness, you can do things like training on empty to improve your ability to burn fat on endurance rides. I normally do 1 or 2 rides a week of 30 - 50 mins without having eaten for the previous 20-23 hours (just milk in coffee). I find it really helps on rides of 8 hours plus, where its almost impossible to keep the fueling up to match the energy spent.