[am1m]

Am in awe of people who cycle long distances, especially on our roads, with our traffic conditions and with our weather! Hats off! How you guys manage to cover over 100km a day is beyond me, much respect!

While not (and never, quite likely) a cyclist, I was curious about this though:

Originally Posted by tatafanatic

One of the easiest ways to optimize your carbohydrate intake during rides is to drink electrolyte hydrating drink while you’re eating light, digestible snacks, like bananas.

I often spend weekends out in the sun and usually I carry water and bananas. Been toying with the idea of switching to electrolytes, but am usually turned off by the though of the 'gatorade' type of drinks. Is there a simple way to prepare something at home? Like a certain proportion of lime, salt and sugar, or something like that? Or just normal ORS sachets? And along with that do you need plain water intake separately too? Thanks in advance for any info.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by am1m

Am in awe of people who cycle long distances, especially on our roads, with our traffic conditions and with our weather! Hats off! How you guys manage to cover over 100km a day is beyond me, much respect!

While not (and never, quite likely) a cyclist, I was curious about this though:



I often spend weekends out in the sun and usually I carry water and bananas. Been toying with the idea of switching to electrolytes, but am usually turned off by the though of the 'gatorade' type of drinks. Is there a simple way to prepare something at home? Like a certain proportion of lime, salt and sugar, or something like that? Or just normal ORS sachets? And along with that do you need plain water intake separately too? Thanks in advance for any info.

Hydration and nutrition choices I have tried on the bike. Add eggs, chocolates, bars, dried fruits, dates, honey sticks, chikki, peanuts, laddus (different types - til, rajgira, boondi, besan, etc).

Cheers, Doc

[papr23]

Originally Posted by am1m

I often spend weekends out in the sun and usually I carry water and bananas. Been toying with the idea of switching to electrolytes, but am usually turned off by the though of the 'gatorade' type of drinks. Is there a simple way to prepare something at home? Like a certain proportion of lime, salt and sugar, or something like that? Or just normal ORS sachets? And along with that do you need plain water intake separately too? Thanks in advance for any info.

I do long distance cycling and I don't worry much about performance. All I care for is to go from point A to point B and wakeup next morning fresh and without any fatigue.
I carry one bottle of Gatorade only if I am going to sweat like a pig. It happens when I am riding or trekking in the hills.
For all other rides, I never felt the need for any ORS type drinks. I believe the meals we eat has enough salts and sugars. I compliment it with banana/coconut water/chikki. I stay away from aerated drinks no matter how tempting it feels to have one.

[GTO]

Mod Note: Moving the nutrition posts to a new thread! Thanks for sharing .

[ninjatalli]

I go by the KISS (Keep it Simple Stupid) format.

- Carry 1 - 2 bottles of water; refill it as soon as the first bottle is done (don't worry too much about only-bottled water; I prefer to fill from the restaurant coolers I stop at)
- Start with a banana and black coffee (sometimes) before I leave and carry one or two bananas (mostly the elaichi variety)
- Coconuts are my go-to food/drink breaks on the road. Especially the ones with malai. Other juices depending on the season (for e.g. sugarcane during the current season, etc.)
- Eat light at the stops I take (generally once every 30 - 40 kms). Either a idli-vada or a poha or even a vada-pav (whatever is available and freshly cooked). And nice hot coffee or tea.
- No packaged food (biscuits, etc.). I used to carry granola bars and sorts but stopped it long ago. Found them not apt for my riding.

For distances over 120 kms, I have found a short nap (~15 mins) mid-way helps a lot than just food & rest breaks. But that's just my body.

[ebonho]

Some further thoughts on the rider staples - bananas, potatoes, and khajur (dates).

Dates are great. Perfect mix of fast release simple and sustained delayed release complex sugars. And you get some fiber too. But they are way too sweet. You need to eat more of them. And they are really sticky/messy and difficult to handle. Either your jersey pocket is going to be a mess, or your fingers, and then your bar tape. No matter how much you lick it clean, the chip chip will persist. Great source of Potassium as well, for cramping. But you need to eat many dates. That issue remains.

Bananas have an inherent problem, which is always an advantage. They have a peel, so they do not make things messy in the pockets, though its a good idea to keep them in a plastic if over a few hours you do not want them to galo and become a soggy overripe brown caramelized mess. It works great. Learned this from a old school racer buddy. Second issue is peeling them without leaving the bars. Yes you could have the skills to ride no handed and peel comfortably. I do not, and do not yet have the guts to practice. So its one hand on the bar, the other manoeuvres the banana as my teeth peel it away step by step to eat it. I tried recently an experiment o cutting an unpeeled banana in half, thinking that I could retrieve each half with peel rom the pocket and squeeze the flesh into my mouth like a gel or a tube of toothpaste. Does not sadly work (I practiced this experiment on my trainer) unless the banana is already a certain degree of soft and ripe. A firm banana just gets squeezed into a mangled mess along with the peel. Bananas too are great for simple and complex sugars (the energy hit is instant, within 5 minutes of ingestion) as well as Potassium. Not great for hard efforts though as I tend to get burn and regurgitation. Great for steady pace long rides.

Potatoes boiled in their jackets are my favourite. So tasty. I eat them as a snack as well. Lol. with salt, like in the photo. Not too great on Potassium. But tops on sugars. And energy. No issues for me on reflux or burn as with bananas either. The energy hit is not as quick in my experience as with the bananas. They are easy to carry. Can simply be removed from the pocket and bit into and so are not messy since you have the peel and can eat the peel. Take a long time to boil, and pressure cooker works best. External salt tastes much better in my experience than boiling them in salt water and having the salt soak into the potato as it boils.

Cheers, Doc

[PreludeSH]

I remember reading milk is good for prolonged hydration since it takes time to get absorbed. Might not be for sudden hydration but will help in sustained long run. I have never tried !

[silverado]

Originally Posted by am1m

Am in awe of people who cycle long distances, especially on our roads, with our traffic conditions and with our weather! Hats off! How you guys manage to cover over 100km a day is beyond me, much respect!

.

Managing Hydration on long rides is a matter of experience. AFAIK you need to be well hydrated 24 hours before the ride, and also sip water at regular intervals well before you are thirsty.

Different body types have different hydration needs, my body sweats a lot so i need to take more water compared to others. Along with hydration stretching is mandatory during breaks.

Nutrition is something i am learning how to manage, even after 3 years and 5-6 100km plus rides. Nutrition and hydration riding in group can be a totally different matter to discuss.

During one of my 100+ ride, i realized i had renewed energy after we had a complete lunch, till that point we were completely drained out.

I recently completed Pune-Gateway 172 kms group NIGHT ride, and this time i didnt face any hydration issues ( i assume since it was night and cold ), but i have not yet perfected my hydration & nutrition requirements and need more rides and experience for the same.

As of now it has been OATS before ride, Bananas, chikkis and protein bars at regular intervals.

[docmoya2007]

Great initiation there. I too watched a lot of videos on this subject. Once a person achieve certain level of fitness, nutrition and hydration requirements tend to get a little lesser.

For nutrition, it is better to do carbohydrate loading 2 hours before the ride. If that is not possible, at least 30 minutes before the ride. And it has to be easily digestable foods. Tea/coffee with sugar, cookies, biscuits, cakes, bread are all good.

And for during the ride, again easily digestable carbohydrates. Earlier chocolate bars are my go to 'fuel on the go'. Now I rely on sweetened drinks like Fast & Up Rehydration salt tablets(3 tablets in 650 ml water), or self made Tang Orange/Lime Juice with one teaspoonful of table salt in 650 ml of water.

For hydration too, I think we can pre load about 1 litre of water just before the ride. Then during the ride ~ 100 ml of water every 15 minutes. Refill the bottles whenever they are empty.

I have never tried potatoes, sweet potatoes, bananas, dried fruits or other fresh fruits, dairy milk and other dairy milk products like paneeer, rasgulla, rasmalai, laddoos, barfi, etc. But I think they are all good 'on the go fuels' during ride. Or even for pre ride carbohydrate loading.

Of late, I try to avoid chocolate bars. They are great source of instant glucose, but they are high on staurated fats too. And cholesterols also.

And yes, there is a thing called Fasted Training too. Where you tend to burn your fat stores, after your glycogen stores is depleted. Try Fasted Training but never Dehydrated Training. So Hydration is more important than Fueling. Good Luck.

[itisravi]

I perspire very heavily and for longer rides (~ 3 hours) of moderate intensity, I used to get a headache after coming back home and resting for sometime. This despite adequate nutrition and hydration (Bananas, dates, water, Enerzal) during the ride. In the end what worked for me was Unived salt capsules. Just one capsule midway during the ride (in addition to the usual items) and no more headaches.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by itisravi

In the end what worked for me was Unived salt capsules. Just one capsule midway during the ride (in addition to the usual items) and no more headaches.

Ah, thank you! I'll try this remedy. I used to drink heavily thinking water was the bigger issue but the headaches persisted.

[anoopGTkrish]

Very helpful thread. Though I'm new to cycling, I've been into sports that require insane amount of cardio - Boxing and Football. My pre and post workout habits even for cycling are designed around boxing as it is easily the most demanding of all the physical activities I've performed. So far it has worked well for cycling as well.


Pre Workout: I take some simple carbohydrates with healthy fats 30 to 45 mins before a workout. My go to ones are - Toast + Peanut Butter, Mashed dates + Oats + Banana + half scoop peanut butter. Eating 30 mins prior helps me avoid
I avoid caffeine induced pre-workouts for cardiovascular workouts as it tends to push my heart rate beyond my usual limits.

Intra-workout: If my rides are within 25 Kms, I generally do not need any additional nutrition during workout. I can just do with a liter of water at max. Anything close to 50 kms, I add the following as intra workout -

1. Whole Truth Peanut Bar - https://www.amazon.in/Whole-Truth-Pr.../dp/B08KXVV8FS
2. ON Amino Energy + Electrolyte (this one contains minimal caffeine) - https://www.optimumnutrition.com/en-...y-electrolytes

Post-Workout: Post workout is always timed with breakfast or dinner. I go with regular food cooked at home and some healthy proteins like egg whites, grilled fish or stir fried paneer. I am not a fan of protein shakes and tend to avoid them. In a worst case scenario of me not being able to meet my macros, I go for Isopure protein isolate. But this is exceedingly rare as I genuinely hate the after taste and bloating.

Other Nutrition Intake: I do a vitamin and mineral panel once a year. Very often I run into Vitamin D deficiency. Depending on the levels, doctor will suggest a weekly supplement of Vitamin D in the form of D Rise capsules or the water soluble powder. Vitamin D deficiency is not something you can afford to have for long if you are into fitness as it has a direct impact on metabolism and bone health. Rest of the vitamins/ minerals generally come from food.

I do cycling as part of my fitness regiment and most of my rides are at decent pace of 25 plus kmph on average with efforts in between. For relaxed group rides of up to 50kms, I generally just carry a bottle of water and a protein bar at max.

[amitoj]

I used to worry about nutrition a lot, early on when I started cycling more than a few miles. And after bonking once, became almost obsessed with nutrition.
Now, not so much For my usual 40 km morning ride, all I need is a glass of milk with instant coffee and a banana before the ride, and a bottle of water for the ride.
For any ride that will last 3 hours or more, I carry another bottle filled with a mix of water and gatorade.
For any ride that will last 5 hours or more, I carry another banana or a couple of cookies or banana bread. I also keep GU energy gels as backup.
Before the pandemic, I used to plan my rides so that there was a cafe 2/3rd of the way for a breakfast stop. Need to restart that.

[amitoj]

I have a weird way of trying out new things. If someone makes a recommendation and I generally hold that person in high regard, I go ahead and try it out. If it works for me, then I read up about it to figure out why it worked

Same was the story with Skratchlabs hydration mix that I tried out instead of Gatorade for my 100K ride last Saturday (Link). As a backup, I did keep a bottle of Gatorade as well but I did not need it at all. The hydration mix came highly recommended from some of the highly experienced riders I know personally, so I went ahead and bought a small packet of it. It comes in powder form that you mix in plain water. I always knew Gatorade had too much sugar so I was happy to find a better substitute. Reading up about it a bit more, I found that Skratchlabs has more sodium than Gatorade, which is what we really need as that is what we lose most when we sweat. Overall I think it served me well.

[babayaga]

I did a 80km flat stretch on 15th August. It was bit of an experimentation that I tried to do this directly jumping from 15km with moderate climbs and least flats to 80km flats. To keep myself fueled for the ride below is what I consumed. Just want view from the group if this is a better way to plan this. I felt , I consumed way to many calories.

1.Ride start - 1 small apple.
2.During ride 2 kitkat, as per calorie info it is 163 calories each.
3.250ml of coke 110 calories.
4.About 500ml of water with sugar and salt mix. Not sure on the calorie. Sugar was less than 1 tsp.

P.S. What is the ideal way to make sure one does not lose muscle vs fat as a result of everyday training. I am a vegetarian.