How To Fuel Your Rides

Why Am I Hungry?

As your big day – whether it’s a sportive or charity ride – looms closer, you will find that your training naturally ramps up. If you’ve been following along with our series of articles, you’re already acquainted with the ideas of Consistency and Progression as the bedrocks of cycling fitness. (If not, you can look back at them later. Links at the bottom of the page)

However, as your rides become longer and more frequent, there's a topic that is ever more vital to your success: fuelling your rides.

It might seem like a no-brainer that the more you ride the more you need to eat. But trust me when I say that unless we consciously think about it, fuelling our bodies adequately during and after rides isn't something that most of us naturally do.

Simply put, riding a bike, like any exercise uses more energy than when we are sat down doing very little. So, we must give our bodies the fuel they need to get our training done – fuelling our rides. Sounds easy, but it can often go wrong…

The Gradual Realisation…

When you first started preparing up for your sportive you probably weren’t that fit and not riding regularly. The demands on your body wouldn’t have been that great if all you were doing was the odd ride or two, and like most of us at that stage you could get by without fuelling properly. When riding is sporadic, what you eat in daily life can take you a long way, and a slice of cake from the café stop might be enough to get you through your weekend ride.

However, ask yourself this: As your training has ramped up, how often have you got back home feeling totally flat for the last half hour or so, yet still had half your drink in your bottles and food stuffed in your pockets? And then when you finally get back indoors, you suddenly realise just how empty you are and end up sitting comatose, staring at the kitchen floor for ten minutes before you can even think about moving?

This used to be me, more times than I care to admit. And it’s a dead giveaway that if you have experienced it too, you haven’t been getting your fuelling right.

The Answer: Fuelling Your Rides

So what does fuelling your rides really mean? It’s not just grabbing a quick snack at the café stop but eating and drinking consistently throughout your ride, and trust me, it’s going to be a lot more than a single piece of cake!

Here we can all take tips from the pros – they have to eat so much during their rides that they actually have to train themselves to be able to do it. The teams have nutritionists and sport scientists to help training and they recommend the levels people should eat.

Many women aim to consume 90gms of carbohydrate per hour, and men 120-130gms per hour. That is a lot, especially when the average gel has 22gms of carbohydrate, a bottle of drink 40gms and an energy bar 35gms. Almost one of each per hour of every ride if you are a woman and more if you are a man….

What can we take from the pros?

They’re eating so they can finish their rides strong, not completely depleted like I used to be and maybe you are too. You’ll never see a professional coming home from training and staring at the floor in a post-ride daze.

So why does fuelling matter so much? Well, it’s twofold. First off, it means that you can train properly, riding with more power and finishing feeling strong. And secondly, it sets you up for quicker recovery. You will have not gone so deep that you can’t ride again tomorrow. The simple act of eating properly means you can train better and for longer.

And this brings us to the magic thought about fuelling and how it can affect our overall fitness. Read this next passage a few times for it to sink in.

The connection between fuelling, training, and recovery is a continuous loop. When you fuel your rides properly, you can train for longer durations at higher effort levels (or power). Because you are fuelled, the effective recovery that follows ensures that you can train harder the next day, promoting continuous improvements in performance and overall cycling fitness.

Got it?

It might seem obvious that what you eat, and drink affects your performance. As a cycling coach I have experienced myself, and seen others demoralised by not getting their fuelling right. Training for a challenge ride means being fitter than you once were. Adding consistency and progression to the mix means that you will be doing more riding and needing more fuel. And as we have just discovered, eating properly on the bike not only improves each ride but more importantly, kick starts our recovery so that we can go again in a day or two’s time.

Putting Theory into Practice

So, what does all this mean when riding? The key is to start fuelling early and then keep eating and drinking regularly throughout your ride. Never allow yourself to get thirsty or hungry, because by the time you can feel those familiar sensations you will already be running on empty. You should train yourself to fuel instinctively, without ever having to think about it.

What should I eat?

There’s no shortage of sport nutrition brands available, and they create great products designed specifically for riding and recovery. But they all have their own unique flavours and textures. So, it’s a bit trial and error until you find one you like.

Real food is good

My golden rule is to use sports nutrition but supplement it with real food. Things like bananas, dried apricots and even wraps with peanut butter work for me and are all good to take on a ride. But food is personal, so take the time to find things that work for you.

The key is that on rides you should aim to eat the real food first, saving the sport nutrition for later. Quite often on long rides I will have gone through my banana and wraps, had a gel or bar and drunk some energy drink, but then find myself craving more real food. I listen to these cravings and will stop at a garage or village shop for a bag of crisps or sandwich. I think it’s the salt my body is after….

Finally, I will keep a gel or two back to use them in emergencies towards the end of long rides – that caffeine boost can really help. But it is a mistake to only carry and use gels on your rides as they will, after a while, mess with your digestion!

When it comes to drinks, I always carry two bottles on my bike and have one with carbohydrate drink and one with water. Often, when we start feeling low in energy on the bike it is fluid loss that is the cause (especially if we have been eating well). Hydration is vital and drinking water as well as a sugary drink helps keep your fluid levels up. A good trick is to alternate the bottles during your ride: one gulp from the energy drink, the next from your water…

Tips for… Fuelling your riding well

• First, accept that what you eat on the bike today will impact how that ride ends, how well you recover and how ready you are to train again tomorrow.

• Practice eating and drinking regularly during your rides. Start after 30 minutes of riding, especially on long rides.

• Use a mixture of real food and sports nutrition products. Eat the real food first.

• Think beyond your cycling and look at how nutritious your everyday food is as opposed to just giving you energy. Your body needs highly nutritious food to support your training and recovery.

Find out more about consistency here:  Consistency, The Secret of Endurance Performance

And read about progression here:  The Magic of Progression

Discover More...

The blogs from the Cent-Soulor are here to help you prepare for your challenge ride and over time, they will cover many aspects of how to think about getting fit on a bike. My goal is to help you enjoy your big rides rather than endure them and more importantly find fulfilment from the open road.

If you want regular ideas and tips to support your cycling, please sign up to get my 5 Key Principles of Cycling Fitness guide in the form below.

And if you could benefit from more structured support then the Cent-Soulor could help. It is a purpose-built, progressive, and consistent training program designed to take you from 0 to 100km in just 16 weeks.

Breaking new ground in cycle coaching, it’s video and written instructions guide you through each week and every ride. You're told not only what rides to do but how to do them. Background videos reveal the context of why, helping you build fitness, confidence and skill.

The Cent-Soulor: 0 to 100km in 16 weeks.

 www.cent-soulor.uk