An experiment with cycling and food

ford2600 · 27-06-2014 11:03pm #1

Just said I'd detail my experiences with long distance cycling and nutrition, which have been a hand in hand experiment over the past 10 months or so. One of the main reasons for thread is the very regularl new threads here where lads(probably like I would have been a few years ago) asking what is the best thing to eat for cycling.

To start I have no background in cycling. On greatly reducing my field sports activity at 30, bought a bike in 2006 and did a few few sportives, Wicklow 200, ROK, SKT etc. Continued this until 2012 with limited field sports and some cycling, maybe 2-3k per year.

This increased in 2013 with a nice bit on mtb and approximately 8k on road bike, and with it an interest in fueling it.

When starting on bike, like everyone else I was confronted with the advice of using gels, bars, sports drinks etc, however for most part I ignored them and just fueled myself using normal food.

Having come across the HFLC threads in the training log forum I decided to give it ( a very sceptical) go for 12 months and it coincided with a decision to give audax riding a go also.

Although I had never struggled with weight, fueling myself with fat instead of carbs raised my curiosity, as it wasn't something I had thought of before.

The diet was quite simple, I just cut pasta, bread potatoes and rice. Fruit and veg stayed in varying quantities(always collective very large) and the diet staples in order of quantity are; eggs, nuts, olive oil, coconut oil, greek yoghurt, olives, cheese, red meat(mainly Irish beef and mountain lamb), chicken(minus breast meat), fish, butter, cream, dark chocolate. I eat a huge variety of veg.

On bike I've been fairly busy with over 7k clocked for year, but I'm unlikely to have time for this as year progresses. What can I do now that I couldn't do before on a higher carb diet
* cycle in a fasted state; have done up to 140km before breakfast
* with breakfast can cycle easily to 180km ish. Got to Fethard last Saturday on MF1200, and only ate as unsure as to where next opportunity would be
* I've never come near bonking.
* My total food for day was; fatty breakfast at 5am, on bike at 8am, 185km bowl of soup with cream and butter. I cycled a further 225km and in that time I ate 2 apples, greek yoghurt, olives, various nuts(200g) and a bananna.(speed according to strava was 25.6km/h)

It should be borne in mind, my typical pace depending on distance, elevation etc but is normally in 24km/h-30kmh range, so I'm not fast.

The biggest advantage of diet is avoiding, digestion trouble encountered with big meals on long rides. I need very little. I believe( and maybe completely wrong) diet is most suited to ultra endurance type events, rather than racing.
Although having said that I've never felt as healthy or strong.

I'm not advocating this for anyone just pointing out what is possible for an average athlete with very little adaptation.

For help with HFLC try optimumnutrition4sport
For someone who thinks it's bo11ox to cycle and eat HFLC try anthonycolpo.com. Interesting, intelligent and a little annoying all in one

There are loads more out there.

Pharma · 28-06-2014 11:26am

Agree completely, gels, power bars etc are really only necessary if you are competing at a very high intensity. The average sportive rider or weekend warrior does not need all of these fast release sugary substances.
If you are rolling along at 25 to 30kph on your own your energy expenditure is relatively low and can easily be met by fat metabolism, problem is the modern high carbohydrate diet has almost completely shut down this pathway, if you keep throwing sugar at the fire it never needs to worry about using fat as a fuel.

There are a few things to be weary of, sugar is addictive, giving up bread is very difficult, you will crave and crave for a week or two, but after that blood sugar stabilises and it's easy.

The relatively low carb diet isn't suitable in my experience for racing or running at high intensity, anything above a sustained heart rate of 150-160 for more than 45 minutes and you do needed to have higher glycogen stores.

If you are a casual sportive rider I think it's the best way to go.
1, it's cheaper
2, you don't have to worry about bonking,
3, you don't have to eat horrible sandwiches at food stops,
4, you can eat as much as you like of low sugar foods and keep weight off,
5, you can go hours without feeling hungry when not exercising,

Just because the guys in the TdeF use gels etc doesn't mean sportive riders should, the level of intensity is so different no comparison can be made.

Give it a try, it's not some mad wierd diet, just using the most appropriate fuel for the activity being performed. It's common sense to know that some gel with 50 million chemicals in its ingredients list is not good for you even if it has been put through a trial sponsored by Gatorade.
Rule of thumb, if it glows, reflects light, sparkles or fizzes don't eat it.

colm_gti · 28-06-2014 1:11pm

To chip in, I followed this diet from August last year to maybe Feb/March of this year.

I road raced a lot last year, and this year have pretty much exclusively been racing track, with the odd road race and a weekly long road ride. Not at an exceptionally high level, mostly A3, though am closing in on an A2 upgrade now.

For road racing, mid-season I probably wouldn't advise it from my point of view. Going into a race is fine if the pace was consistent, but I felt I lacked any kick, I couldn't step the pace up if an attack went.

However, following that diet for the off season has certainly made me more efficient. I can now do a decent ride before breakfast, and don't need to eat much on the bike even during a hard ride.

Moving forward I think I will spend off/pre-season following a LCHF diet, but reintroduce more carbs as the season progresses.

What might be a good idea would be to follow such a diet, apart from the day of a race or hard training session where you want to stress your muscles.

An experiment with cycling and food

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