Stomach problams/electrolytes/energy food

paulmcl89

Hi guys, I'm pretty new to cycling and at a low enough level. I generally drink some sort of isotonic drinks on the bike on longer rides, and maybe an energy gel, especially if there is climbing involved. I might also have energy bars/flapjacks the odd time and eat regular food. I'm usually pretty scared of running out of fuel and maybe I overdo it and get the balance wrong. It seems that the few times I've done longer cycles where maybe there's overnight involved so a few days cycling, it takes a while for my stomach/bowels to get right again. From stomach pains to irregular bathroom visits. I can only guess that it's taking large amounts of electrolytes and sugar, etc., wich I wouldn't quite be used to that is messing with my digestive system, maybe someone can shed some ligt on this also. My question is, is this very common, and how to other people manage, and any advice?
Thanks in advance guys

marcusww

This electrolyte and energy gels give me odd bowel movements too. I think you can easily get sucked in to buying all this stuff. I used to put electrolyte in all my drinks and take gels everywhere but when you really look closely at the science I felt I was just being sucked in by the marketing. Now I put Ribena in my bottles and don't eat anything for less than 30 miles. Even then it is just flapjack.

Grill

How much are you eating and drinking over how long?

crikey

Just eat normally; it's only riding a bike!

You won't die a horrible starvation based death, you'll be fine.

Tomskii

I've had gel stomach. Define longer ride... it's entirely possible you're over consuming for the distance. For my longer rides (75 mile+) I start with 2 carb bottles then switched one to water after I'd emptied it. Try a few different brands, eventually you'll hit one that works for you. I favour torq, which I hit on almost immediately so I can't really comment on other brands, but the maxifuel gels they gave us at the tour ride last year are really nice too. Also: proper food is your friend!

ju5t1n

crikey wrote:

Just eat normally; it's only riding a bike!

You won't die a horrible starvation based death, you'll be fine.

This is very good advice. As a newbie it’s very easy to be taken in by the barrage of info from sports supplement manufacturers and the cycling press … don’t forget – this website, and all the cycling magazines you’ll read rely on advertising revenue from these firms – so their articles will be biased.
As Graeme Obree famously proved - you can do world championship winning rides on jam sandwiches!

djm501

ju5t1n wrote:

crikey wrote:

Just eat normally; it's only riding a bike!

You won't die a horrible starvation based death, you'll be fine.

This is very good advice. As a newbie it’s very easy to be taken in by the barrage of info from sports supplement manufacturers and the cycling press … don’t forget – this website, and all the cycling magazines you’ll read rely on advertising revenue from these firms – so their articles will be biased.
As Graeme Obree famously proved - you can do world championship winning rides on jam sandwiches!

+1

Stop eating silly stuff - a gel is just sugar in the end anyway. Eat something nice. If it really is a long long ride - 100 miles or more then you probably want to eat protein as well.
I do audaxing which is kind of defined as long distance cycling and a typical meal at a control point will be beans on toast with maybe an egg on top. Bowl of rice pudding with some fruit in it too maybe.
On a 200 km audax you'll maybe need that once plus a couple of other stops where you eat a slice of cake and/or flapjack.

apreading

yummmmmm... ...cake!

Dont forget sausage rolls/pasties with brown sauce if available too!

Seriously, you need to find your own blend of real/scientific food intake.

If on a long ride, I tend to have 1 bottle with High5 energy powder in it and one just water (I only drink water at home and get fed up with flavoured drinks on the ride).

I will have gels, but nowhere near the 3 per hour that High5 say - maybe 1 an hour but probably not until after half distance or maybe just a single one within 1/2 hour of end of ride just to get me over the line.

I love the Mulebars and Clif bars for food and probably have one an hour of these. You can substitute them for flapjack or nuitrigrain which do a similar job, albeit much cheaper but with less science...

But from a psychological perspective, I REALLY enjoy a stop at a bakery/cafe to get some real food too - if doing 100k or more I would always try and stop for something like djm says.

RiderUk

Went out for a 30 mile ride last night, instead of filling up my water bottle with an energy sachet I simply used tap water with Orange Squash.
Quite frankly, I didn’t notice any difference.

apreading

At 30 miles, I am not surprised - over that distance, the most you would want to consider is a short stop for a snackbar half way - just to break the ride up as much as anything else.

Over 30 miles or a couple of hours is the point where you just start to think about re-fuelling because before that (if you have fuelled properly) you should have enough energy in your body.

Only reason this might change is in very hot weather or when pushing hard and sweating alot.

team47b

energy gels are about 25 grams of complex carbs.

they are concentrated carbs, or technical name 'gloop'

they require 500ml of water for each gel, without this amount of water it will prevent absorption into your system and render them ineffective.

you could just eat a banana (7 inches/118gm, your banana may vary) to get the same 25 grams of carbs and not need to dilute it in your stomach as you do with gels

apreading

Apparently White Mashed Potato with some salt is the way - even better than banana!!!

https://www.gymnasticbodies.com/forum/t ... d-bananas/

I found this is quite a good, easy to understand article: http://www.runningforfitness.org/book/c ... le-running

Mikey23

im sure thats your problem. i dont bother with all that stuff either. one bottle of dilute apple squash for anything under about three hours. perhaps a cake and coffee stop if i think ive earned it

team47b

apreading wrote:

Apparently White Mashed Potato with some salt is the way - even better than banana!!!

Mashed potato is faster at raising blood sugar as it's a simple carb, bananas have fibre which slows down absorption, gels are slower release.

But peeling a banana on a bike is faster than eating a plate of mash

Mindermast

You can check here for the amount of food you need on a specific ride. It is not as much as you might think.

I usually drink tap water with a little bit of salt - tap water is very good in my area.

For food, it is probably best to eat, what you are used to eat at home. Be careful with sugar, it gives you a fast but very short boost and after that, you feel worse than before.

ballysmate

team47b wrote:

apreading wrote:

Apparently White Mashed Potato with some salt is the way - even better than banana!!!

Mashed potato is faster at raising blood sugar as it's a simple carb, bananas have fibre which slows down absorption, gels are slower release.

But peeling a banana on a bike is faster than eating a plate of mash

No problem eating the mash, but the steak and kidney pie and gravy that goes with it..... messy.