17
votes
Accepted
Do fat cyclists bonk?
Bonking occurs when your body cannot metabolise stored fat (and muscle protein) fast enough to replace the glycogen reserves, you deplete the reserves in your muscles and liver, and eventually you run ...
- 49.1k
14
votes
How to avoid the road bike physique
This would be a great problem to have for most of us roadies. Simply eat more if you find yourself losing more weight than you care to lose.
You can alternatively balance with more strength based ...
- 1,313
14
votes
Accepted
Why is lactose never mentioned as a fuel for cycling, either for short fast races or endurance?
Glucose (dextrose is the same thing) has a special role in metabolism - as well as being a nutrient sugar in its own right it's a vital intermediate in breaking down more complex sugars, starch, and ...
- 57.3k
14
votes
Accepted
From the perspective of a cyclist, what is a common way to hydrate throughout the day?
Very unlikely you were dehydrated from such a short ride. If you were dehydrated post ride, you almost certainly started out dehydrated. Humans evolved to the top of the food chain by drinking when ...
- 49.1k
11
votes
Accepted
Is there an established system (intervals, total intake) for fueling over longer rides to avoid a drop in performance?
Some physiological principles can inform the discussion:
Riding burns a lot of carbs. The more intensely you ride, the more your energy comes from carbs.
Simple sugars get to your muscles about 15-20 ...
- 29.7k
10
votes
What ingredients are necessary in a sports drink when you must drink a lot?
In the past I was used to buy sport drinks - like Gatorade - spending a lot of money and always in doubt about their efficiency.
But my sport Nutritionist suggested me a simple, natural and efficient ...
- 288
10
votes
Ride a Century Without Stopping?
I've almost done this, and its not "easy" but it should be possible.
However a non-stop 100 km is much harder than simply doing 100 km. Try working up do it. I don't know what your current distance ...
- 121k
9
votes
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How quickly can the body restore energy reserves mid-ride/post-bonk, and how do we optimise this?
I'm interested in how we can maximise restoring energy stores (mainly glycogen, but I'm deliberately being vague) either between closely spaced rides or on long rides.
On a ride
Here your ability to ...
- 30.5k
9
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Why is lactose never mentioned as a fuel for cycling, either for short fast races or endurance?
Lactose requires the enzyme lactase to be digested. According to the Wikipedia article on lactose, "in most mammals, the production of lactase gradually decreases with maturity due to a lack of ...
- 2,661
8
votes
Do I need to be aware of my diet?
General answer to: 'Do I have to be more aware of what I am eating or is it just fine for me to eat whatever I want...?' I'm pretty sure a doctor or nutritionist would tell you that you should eat a ...
- 75.5k
8
votes
4L of water and 2 max protein bars. Is it sufficient for a four hour ride?
I'll concentrate first on the carbs side, because the water depends on so many factors.
Gels are around 30% non-sugar carbs with the rest water, according to the SIS ones I have here. They're ...
- 57.3k
7
votes
Ride a Century Without Stopping?
it would seem to me that nutrition, hydration, waste disposal and arm fatigue would be the greatest challenges
Nutrition: isn't that hard, although if you haven't already, you might want to spend ...
- 2,997
7
votes
When should I use an energy gel?
Great you are experimenting with these things. Food and energy input, along with hydration, is something any endurance rider needs to be on top of. Everyone is different and you can't know what works ...
- 49.1k
7
votes
Accepted
Glycogen depletion, post-brief-ride recovery, and diet adjustment
This is most likely a mixture of fuelling and trying to do too much too soon.
It sounds like you routinely eat a fairly low carb diet, which is not in itself a bad thing, but will mean that it's ...
- 18.3k
7
votes
Accepted
Blood sugar spikes from high GI foods - a problem?
During a short ride you mostly fuel with pure sugars and as simple as possible - so mainly glucose in gels. For longer events you also want more complex sugars that take longer, but still mostly carbs ...
- 16.1k
6
votes
Why does hunger have a much more drastic effect in cycling than in other endurance activities?
The short answer is that it is purely down to your individual training level and mechanical efficiency in each of these disciplines.
Bonking is a result of fully depleting your glycogen stores. Once ...
- 18.3k
6
votes
Glycogen depletion, post-brief-ride recovery, and diet adjustment
It's been a while since I researched this, so don't take it as gospel, but ...
There are several stages in the sequence toward metabolic exhaustion:
When you first start to exercise, the muscles (...
- 53.4k
5
votes
Eating while biking
I am not entirely sure this is really a bicycle question. It amounts to "I can't eat my usual lunch while riding a bike. What should I do".
Fundamentally you can take two different approaches. First, ...
- 23.3k
5
votes
Accepted
Ride a Century Without Stopping?
You've essentially just described the 100 mile time trial, which is fairly popular event in the British time trial scene (and perhaps elsewhere, too).
The idea in a time trial is simply to complete ...
- 3,981
5
votes
How to avoid the road bike physique
Elite cyclists work very, very hard for that emaciated physique! It's not exactly natural -- they're working to drop as much unnecessary weight as possible in order to climb faster. While I think bike ...
- 51
5
votes
Accepted
Touring on meal replacements (Soylent or alternatives). Anyone tried? Thoughts, impressions?
Just living off that stuff requires your digestive system to adjust, so if you try it you should build it into your diet well in advance, and as a major component. Don't forget to take into account ...
- 57.3k
5
votes
Glycogen depletion, post-brief-ride recovery, and diet adjustment
I run on carbs, so my diet is very different to yours. But plenty of people do ride low carb, even keto. It's a conscious lifestyle decision for them though, and others only have carbs at all towards ...
- 57.3k
5
votes
Blood sugar spikes from high GI foods - a problem?
For what it's worth, I participated in an ultraskate 2 years ago. The principle is easy enough: push on a skateboard as far as you can in 24h.
Skateboarding is less efficient than cycling, but I think ...
- 150
5
votes
Is there an established system (intervals, total intake) for fueling over longer rides to avoid a drop in performance?
As I ramped up my distance, typically at endurance paces of 20-23km moving average (compared to a maximum of about 25km/h on rides up to 200km), I realised that what work for me was simply:
Fuel early,...
- 57.3k
5
votes
Is high-carbs consumption during Z2 rides efficient for weight-loss?
In general, take caution that people here most likely don't have formal training in nutrition. That said, if you were to ask a professional like a dietitian, they might not be familiar with intense ...
- 29.7k
5
votes
Is high-carbs consumption during Z2 rides efficient for weight-loss?
I never take in anything like that much, and not pure carbs. I reckon on recovery feeding both in the evening and the next day*. This is what works for me. I'm not trying to lose weight, but was ...
- 57.3k
4
votes
How to avoid the road bike physique
+1 on the weight work. I read of a report that demonstrated reduced bone density in professional cyclists, attributed to the very smooth loading/unloading of stress on the leg bones in the pedaling ...
- 41
4
votes
What ingredients are necessary in a sports drink when you must drink a lot?
When answering this question, we all need to keep in mind how hot it is, and how hard you're riding. Unless it is both very hot, and you are riding very hard, then you will be just fine with only ...
- 12.1k
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