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 ...
mattnz's user avatar
  • 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 ...
sjakubowski's user avatar
  • 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 ...
Chris H's user avatar
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14 votes
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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 ...
mattnz's user avatar
  • 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 ...
Weiwen Ng's user avatar
  • 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 ...
Marcelo Rodrigo's user avatar
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 ...
Criggie's user avatar
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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 ...
Rider_X's user avatar
  • 30.5k
9 votes

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 ...
rclocher3's user avatar
  • 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 ...
Argenti Apparatus's user avatar
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 ...
Chris H's user avatar
  • 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 ...
Useless's user avatar
  • 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 ...
mattnz's user avatar
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7 votes
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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 ...
Andy P's user avatar
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7 votes
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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 ...
Vladimir F Героям слава's user avatar
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 ...
Andy P's user avatar
  • 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 (...
Daniel R Hicks's user avatar
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, ...
Móż's user avatar
  • 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 ...
Will Vousden's user avatar
  • 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 ...
Cat's user avatar
  • 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 ...
Chris H's user avatar
  • 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 ...
Chris H's user avatar
  • 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 ...
Eric Duminil's user avatar
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,...
Chris H's user avatar
  • 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 ...
Weiwen Ng's user avatar
  • 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 ...
Chris H's user avatar
  • 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 ...
Pack Fill's user avatar
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 ...
whatsisname's user avatar
  • 12.1k

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