Preparing for a long cycle and training each day before.
BMKN
Posts: 222
I know about carb intake I can reach my 450grams per day for my commute to and from work. I have only started paying attention to carbs as I kept bonking on rides and hills. My issue is I am training more as its season. I do about 300k -400k per week. If I do my commute fri usually about 60k I feel great but that sat if I set out to do 120k ride I bonk at 80-90k less than 80 if a wind. I consume 20grams of carbs after 80mins every 20 mins but I still seem to bonk. I could barely walk my bike up drive way today. I had about 120grams of carbs for breakfeast. Serious need of advice?
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Comments
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Start slower on longer rides.0
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Why do you wait 80 minutes before consuming carbs? Approximately after that time your glycogen stores could be starting to run out so you will be close to bonking before you even start eating anything. Depending what your 20g of carbs every 20 minutes consists of it could take a while for them to get in to your system as well.0
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Sounds more like plain ol' fatigue, rather than bonk...0
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Well ive read that u dont need to consume carbs for anything under 90mins of riding so I consume at 80 mins to avoid glycogen depletion. Do you consume sooner? I use gels and mixture of bananas and bars0
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Like I said earlier, if you don't have the fitness to ride the distance at whatever intensity you ride at, then you will tire - regardless of how many carbs you 'consume'. If you are eating plenty, then it is probably not a carb depletion issue. Difficult to be more specific without knowing more about your riding history really...0
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BMKN wrote:Well ive read that u dont need to consume carbs for anything under 90mins of riding so I consume at 80 mins to avoid glycogen depletion. Do you consume sooner? I use gels and mixture of bananas and bars
You sound a bit confused. Glycogen depletion starts as soon as you start pedalling. You don't really need any energy replenishment on rides up to around 90 minutes but that doesn't mean you shouldn't eat in the first 90 minutes of say a 4 hour ride.
The big problem is that on a long ride you could be burning 500-800 calories per hour which equates to maybe 100-150g of CHO (plus some fat) and you can only consume around 60-90g of CHO per hour without experiencing gastrointestinal problems. Therefore unless you start consuming CHO early on you could easily be bordering on a deficit at maybe 90 minutes into a long ride and always struggling to absorb enough energy from that point on.
You can think of your glycogen stores as a bucket of water with a hole in it. If you don't start filling from the top from the start then the bucket will run dry. I use energy drink and solid food on any ride which will last over 90 minutes and I start sipping the energy drink after a couple of miles.
Try consuming your 20g of CHO every 20 minutes after the start of your 120k ride and see how you get on.0 -
Well im riding about 3 years this summer have plenty of miles in the saddle so diatance is not the issue. Ive done ride of 200k solo so endurance isnt the problem. Thanks for clearing that up I will start fueling earlier. Especially if I have a lot of climbing in the ride0
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BMKN wrote:Well im riding about 3 years this summer have plenty of miles in the saddle so diatance is not the issue. Ive done ride of 200k solo so endurance isnt the problem. Thanks for clearing that up I will start fueling earlier. Especially if I have a lot of climbing in the ride
Distance itself may not be the issue. Intensity might be.0 -
hypster wrote:BMKN wrote:Well ive read that u dont need to consume carbs for anything under 90mins of riding so I consume at 80 mins to avoid glycogen depletion. Do you consume sooner? I use gels and mixture of bananas and bars
You sound a bit confused. Glycogen depletion starts as soon as you start pedalling. You don't really need any energy replenishment on rides up to around 90 minutes but that doesn't mean you shouldn't eat in the first 90 minutes of say a 4 hour ride.
The big problem is that on a long ride you could be burning 500-800 calories per hour which equates to maybe 100-150g of CHO (plus some fat) and you can only consume around 60-90g of CHO per hour without experiencing gastrointestinal problems. Therefore unless you start consuming CHO early on you could easily be bordering on a deficit at maybe 90 minutes into a long ride and always struggling to absorb enough energy from that point on.
You can think of your glycogen stores as a bucket of water with a hole in it. If you don't start filling from the top from the start then the bucket will run dry. I use energy drink and solid food on any ride which will last over 90 minutes and I start sipping the energy drink after a couple of miles.
Try consuming your 20g of CHO every 20 minutes after the start of your 120k ride and see how you get on.
Good advice. Would just add that also need to factor in the time it takes to actually digest carbs so they can be turned into useful fuel. Depending on what else is in your stomach/GI and composition of food this can be 30 minutes or more, further amplifying the issue with leaving it late. Also note in passing that if pushing to max there is a good body of evidence showing that protein + carb in ration 1:4 is better than carbs alone. For a very full coverage of this topic and more on nutrition see this webinar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnCmTTNx_Jo&index=2&list=WLFqSKrp5Pdu8pDx4cBxgqBwMartin S. Newbury RC0 -
I went out for a windy 2 hour ride today after my climbing session, I had all intention to take it easy. I started fueling at 30 mins into thr ride with energy drink and then used 2 gels and rest of bottle. I was much fresher today could of kept going but had not enough on me as only planned for 2 hours. Thanks for the help. I wont wait so long in future to fuel up0
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Imposter wrote:BMKN wrote:Well im riding about 3 years this summer have plenty of miles in the saddle so diatance is not the issue. Ive done ride of 200k solo so endurance isnt the problem. Thanks for clearing that up I will start fueling earlier. Especially if I have a lot of climbing in the ride
Distance itself may not be the issue. Intensity might be.
+10
