Fuel smart on the bike - Easy sport nutrition tips

In case you missed it, check out my previous two blogs discussing:
Cycling nutrition: keep is simple
Debunk the myth: Do you need sport nutrition?

EASY FUELING TIPS

HYDRATION

For triathletes, I recommend 1 water bottle cage for every  hour of training, up to 4 cages. Your hydration set-up should be on your bike at all times but certainly this will come in handy for your longer rides. If your bike does not hold 4 cages, you can alter the set-up with a bottle on your aero bars, two rear cages, set up an additional hydration system (ex. bladder if built in on the bike) or have, at minimum, 3 cages and plan to stop in training after 3 hours. I have 4 cages on my bike (2 in the frame, 2 in the rear) and I am very comfortable grabbing the rear bottles and moving around bottles as I am riding. As you can see from Karel's picture below that he has his bottle on his aerobars with computer attached on top of the cage. He only has three cages on his bike. 

GELS

Rather than fumbling with gels, use a gel flask. It's an efficient way to get a swig of gel whenever your want and you can wash it down with water (at aid stations in racing) or carry an extra bottle of water with you in training. 1 gel requires about 8-12 ounce of water to help empty it from the gut so small amounts consumed more frequently is an easier way to get those bursts of energy you are looking for. To practice, I recommend to start with 1 gel per hour, no more than 2 gels in a flask (and fill with water). Your gel intake should be on top of your liquid nutrition intake. I do not recommend to prioritize consuming hourly calorie needs from gels when instead you can simply get a sport drink powder to fill your water bottle to meet calorie and hydration needs. 

KEEP IT SIMPLE

Simplify your fueling strategy. It is extremely inefficient and many times dangerous for you and for others around you to fuel with 2-3 different energy sources during your ride (ex. pills, solid food and water or gels, water, solid food or sport drink solid food and gels). You absolutely need, at minimum water and electrolytes when you ride and typically this is at minimum 20 ounce of water and 400 mg of sodium (100-200mg of potassium) plus electrolytes like magnesium and chloride. But when it comes to the energy that you need to keep your glycogen tank filled, brain staying alert and muscles working effectively, carbohydrates are your best friend and they need to be consumed in a way that they empty from the digestive tract quickly so those sugars can be taken up by the working muscles with the help of insulin. I typically encourage at minimum, 200 calories per hour from a sport drink for longer rides (ex. more than 2 hours) up to 300 calories as a start for men and women. The best strategy for you athletes is to rely on liquid nutrition as your primary fuel. You make it super simple this way to meet your calorie/carbohydrate, electrolyte and fluid needs.  I recommend between 50-75g of carbohydrates per bottle (glucose, glucose/fructose or glucose/maltodextrin/fructose combination).

TUMMY SATISFIERS

Solid food, chewy blocks, beans and pills all have their place in your bike fueling regime but everything needs to serve a purpose (ex. to benefit your effort/experience on the bike) and it needs to be practical in training and in racing in multiple conditions. I find many athletes do really well with a little solid food in the gut, but small amounts at a time. Open your bar prior to the ride in the package and stick in your bento box or jersey pocket so it's easy to consume, immediately when you need it. Have a small bite as needed, every 20-40 minutes. Blocks are also just fine for a little energy burst or different consistency than gel so to make it easy, cut the package in half so you don't have to fumble with a large package in your bento box or jersey as it gets hard to squeeze a block from the bottom of a package. Sport beans (or any small, loose candy) can be challenging to handle and consume at high speeds or on technical courses and many times, it is challenging to get "energy" from these options - so it's likely you are using them as a fun treat. I would learn to pass on these for a safer ride. As for pills, if you are using electrolyte or amino pills (I do not advocate caffeine pills) under the direction of your sport RD, I recommend to create a range of times when you will consume these and just slow down. Always bring extra as pills like to fall out of coin purses, bento boxes or containers or get smashed. 

TRAIN YOUR GUT

Most of all, you need to train your gut to tolerate nutrition on the bike and work your way up in nutrition. It can take up to 6-8 weeks to get comfortable consuming sport nutrition during a workout. Never be afraid to fuel your body while cycling but first you need to get use to consuming nutrition on the bike. Perfect your bike hydration set up and practice using water in a gel flask (sipping and returning to your jersey pocket or bento box). Practice moving around your bottles - this is a great drill for newbie athletes and coaches must understand that many new (or even veteran) triathletes are many times, not comfortable removing their hands from the bars or can't make this a habit if most of the riding is indoors in a controlled environment without gravity and wind affecting the ride. So practice, practice, practice - take  3-4 filled water bottles on your bike on a casual ride to get more comfortable with your bike fueling regime. Practice grabbing things from your pockets, bento box, etc. as you are riding so that you never have to put yourself into a scenario when you are underfueling due to lack of skills/knowledge on the bike. 

EXCITE YOUR TASTE BUDS

My last little secret tip is to change up the taste of your nutrition. This is especially important for the endurance triathletes. . Do not use the same flavor gel on the bike as the run as your taste buds will get very tired of the same taste. For the last hour of your long ride (or in a race), make 1 bottle be different - choose your absolute favorite sport drink and let this be a different flavor then the rest of the bottle flavors in a 3-4 hour ride/race.  Also, if you always get tired of consuming sport drinks and gels during long rides/races, have something that you can chew on once an hour (ex. 30-50 calories of bar or block) that is an entirely different flavor than your sport drink to help keep your taste buds excited. I don't encourage spicy but perhaps something bland or just a different taste/texture all together. 

Cycling nutrition - keep it simple

 

If I had to describe Greenville cycling in one sentence it would read
"Beautiful, hilly, hard, bumpy, nature, country, farms, bike-friendly."

We absolutely love our cycling playground but easy riding doesn't get mentioned much, outside of the Swamp Rabbit Trail. (SRT). From downtown (where we live), you can find a side-road or jump on the SRT and in 6 miles you reach the first mountain, Paris Mountain, which sits right next to Paris Mountain State Park. (where Karel does his Mountain Biking).

In about 7 miles, you are out on some of the most beautiful country roads, with hardly a car in sight. The roads are not always paved well so  a smooth ride is always a treat when you can find one. Turn after turn, hill after hill, every ride requires concentration and focus and strong legs and a strong heart...and a very well-fueled body. 

The endless farm-like and nature-views that extend for miles make Greenville, SC absolutely magically for riding. A typical ride (for most of our routes) is around 1000 feet of climbing per hour on the country roads. We don't even bother looking at our speed or mileage covered because a solid 4 hour ride may average 16mph. It's hard to control your power because there is so much climbing and rolling hills so most of our rides is by RPE and we often do a lot of specific effort/cadence/heavy gear work rather than a MS of specific power zones. We never have an average ride even close to 18mph despite some fun descends and smaller rolling hill sections. Bottom line, every ride makes us stronger because you have to be strong to ride in Greenville, SC. 

Cycling in Greenville, or on any challenging terrain, requires exceptional use of bike handling skills. Never have I found having electronic shifting more beneficial than in my new cycling playground (which also comes in handy on race day as I can shift my gears in my base bars and aero bars with the push of a button). 

But in addition to great cycling skills, keeping up with sport nutrition is critical. I can easily feel exhausted after 90 minutes of riding, just because of the nature of our routes. We often get a hilly and windy ride which makes things a bit more interesting...and exhausting. And because we have so many routes to choose from, we don't get use to any routes....we never follow the same route twice - there is always a new discovery of a new road or we return home in a different direction than we came. To be honest, there are no boring rides - every ride comes with an added feature, from suffering to beautiful nature views. 

Although I have always been adamant about my coaching and nutrition athletes perfecting their fueling on the bike by relying on liquid nutrition, it is just as important that you have good skills to keep up with your fueling strategy no matter what fueling regime you follow. I see many triathletes who are not comfortable riding their bikes outside or are still progressing with bike handling skills on challenging terrains and this only increases the likelihood  that meeting nutritional needs will be compromised as safety on the bike is just as important as good nutrition to stay focused and alert.

If you aren't comfortable removing your hands from your bars or grabbing a bottle while climbing/descending or riding with others, it is very hard to meet your fluid, electrolyte and calorie needs. I can't tell you how many times I have seen/heard athletes with cages on their bike and filled water bottles that they are unable to grab/reach. Riding in windy or chilly conditions also makes it difficult to stay up with fueling so it is imperative that you simplify your fueling regime....immediately, as race season is approaching and learning how to fuel on the bike is just part of your athlete development. 

Stay tuned as I will next offer a few very easy tips to help you increase the chance that you will meet your nutritional needs on the bike, no matter the terrain, workout or race. 

After reading, if you have any questions, send me an email and I can help you perfect or simplify your cycling fueling regime.