Eating and Drinking advice for Bicyclists

Fill ‘er Up: Our Pedal-By-Pedal Eating Schedule for a SuccessfulCentury

I staggered into the mini-mart, eyes glazed, hallucinating about cookiesand caffeine. I was 75 miles into Colorado’s 100-mile Triple Bypass, a ridethat crosses three high passes, and I had honked big-time.

But it wasn’t untilthat night, after I’d had ample couch time to reflect, that I figured outhow it had happened.

My nutrition diary on the day of the event looked something like this:

Skipped breakfast, ate two bagels while driving to the start. At the firstrest stop I grabbed a banana to eat later because it was so crowded. Atthe second rest stop I bypassed the sports drink, filled my bottles with plainwater and munched a couple of cookies. The third stop was at the base of12,000-foot Loveland Pass. that crosses three high passes, and I had honkedbig-time.

I don’t like to eat before a big climb, so I carried a coupleof granola bars. Result: At the top I was exhausted, with 25 more milesand 10,666-foot Vail Pass still ahead.

Suffice it to say: Lesson learned.

THE RULE OF THUMB

Do as I did and engrave this truism on your stem: On long rides, your paceis primarily determined by what you eat and drink, not by how much you’vetrained. Because we have only enough fuel (glycogen) stored in our musclesto ride for a couple of hours, eating carbohydrates is vital. The other crucialelement is H Even the slightest dehydration can thicken the blood and takea progressively bigger bite out of your performance.

PRACTICE EATING

Like a good pedal stroke and a well- timed shift, eating right is a skillthat needs practice—especially if you’re relying on it to carry you comfortablythrough 100 miles of riding.

• Start each day with a balanced breakfast to refuel your muscles after yourovernight fast. The old favorites are still a cyclist’s best choice: cereal,bagels, muffins, fruit, milk and yogurt.

• To ensure energy for an after-work ride, eat a carbohydrate-rich lunch:A low-fat sandwich, vegetable sticks, fresh fruit or juice, and yogurt.

• At dinner, replenish the fuel you’ve used during the day. Cover your platewith vegetables and a large serving of pasta, rice, or potatoes. Meat (orother protein source) should be about the size of a deck of cards.

•Avoid alcohol, which dehydrates you and slows down the recovery process,making your training the next day less effective. And drink at least eightglasses of water a day.

• Find out what the ride organizers will be serving at the rest stops. Doyou like their sports drink and snacks? If not, bring your own.

• Practice eating and drinking during your training rides. Use cues—for instance, drink at the top of every small hill. Or go by your watch—drink every10 minutes and eat every hour.

THE WEEK BEFORE

Start filling your tank well in advance.

• Increase the amount of carbohydrates you eat to top off your glycogen stores.

• Don’t eat more food—rather, increase the proportion of carbs. For example,cut down on your meat serving and substitute another roll or more rice.

• Drink a couple more glasses of water each day. Your body stores glycogenalong with water, so you need the extra fluid. It’s good to gain a few pounds—it’s merely stored water which you’ll use during the ride.

THE DAY OF THE RIDE

• Eat a good breakfast, just like during training. Get up early enough soyou finish eating about two hours before the start. Drink several glassesof water.

• During the ride, down a large (24- ounce) bottle of water plus 300 caloriesevery hour. Regular consumption is the key. An energy bar is about 200 caloriesand half a bottle of sports drink is 100 calories, just to give you a benchmark.

• Start the ride with two tall bike bottles (24 oz. or so each). Fill onewith water and the other with a sports drink—a brand that you’re familiarwith from training. If you can’t stomach the rest-stop offerings, or you don’twant to risk trying a new concoction without testing it in the field first,pack your favorite drink powder, pre measured into baggies. A tall bike bottleof sports drink has 150—250 calories, de pending on the brand.

• Every 10 minutes drink either water or sports drink. At the end of thefirst hour, each bottle should be half full. At the end of the second hour,both bottles should be empty. If you have fluid in your bottles as you approacha rest stop, finish it up before you refill them.

• Take advantage of the freebies by re filling your bottles (one water andone sports drink) and replenishing your snack stash at every rest stop. Anotherrule of thumb: Always carry 400 calories (two hours’ worth of snacks) in yourpocket. Examples of 200-calorie (more or less) snacks include one energy bar,four cookies, two energy gels, a sliced bagel with jam, two bananas or twogranola bars.

• One hour into the ride, eat the first snack. (The snack plus that hour’ssports drink provides 300 calories). You’ll probably get to the first reststop at hour two, where you should eat 200 calories. Keep the second snackjust in case it takes longer than planned to reach the next rest stop.

• Keep eating and drinking like clock work and you’ll arrive at the finishpleasantly tired, not bonked—ready to ride again tomorrow. Which brings usto:

POST-RIDE PIG-OUT

• Plan to ride again the next day? Then pay attention to what you eat inthe two hours afier the ride. This is the “glycogen window,” the period oftime when your body is most receptive to restocking all that fuel you burnedup while breaking your personal record. Studies also show that adding proteinto the post-ride feed increases the amount of glycogen that gets stored.

KEEP IT HANDY

Don’t stash your food and water away like some paranoid squirrel preparingfor winter. Keeping it in easy reach often means the difference between finishingwell and simply finishing. Here’s how:

• Tote food in your jersey pockets only, not in a seat bag or backpack.

• Carry two bottles on your bike.

Drink one, and squirt the other at your buddy in celebration as you nearthe finish. Just keep track of which one is sports drink.

• If a backpack-style hydration system is your thing, you have somethingof a mental ad vantage—the proximity of the tube to your mouth makes it likelyyou’ll sip more often. On the other hand, it’s more difficult to toll whetheryou’ve been drinking enough every hour. Find out before the event how faryou’ll travel between rest stops and plan accordingly—carry just enough waterto get you through. No need to carry unnecessary weight—20 ounces of waterfor example, weighs 1.3 pounds. Experience will tell.

• Put your sports drink in a bottle, not a backpack—it’s too hard to cleanbladders thoroughly, and you risk attracting mean microscopic wigglies.

Sweating for Science

Think you’re drinking enough on rides? Think again

What does riding on an ergometer in a heat chamber for an hour really doto your body? I had the chance to find out recently, at the Gatorade SportsSciences Institute in Chicago. Despite drinking 25 ounces of Gatorade I losta pound of body weight during the ride. (And I thought I was drinking frequently!)I needed a whopping 17 more fluid ounces to replace what I lost. Had I continuedwith the insufficient fluid intake for a three-hour ride, I would have lost2% of body-weight, affecting my performance considerably. I also sweated out1,128 mg of sodium during the hour and replaced only 29 (or 26%) from theGatorade. Even if I had drunk enough sports drink to retain my weight, I wouldonly have replaced 497 mg.

Lessons? Drink, drink, drink during the ride. I need 10.6 ounces every 15minutes to stay hydrated—and I’d still be low on sodium. So afterwards? Bringon the salted pretzels.

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