Fuelling for long cycles

Fiftyplus

Hi,

What are cyclists using for refuelling on long cycles (3hrs). I currently use Cliff bars/bananas, been reading contrasting views re Cliff Bars and their sugar content. I'm pre-diabtetic and wondering what alternatives are there?

Macy0161

I think with pre-diabetic, we could wander into medical advice territory which isn't allowed so I'll try and avoid that.

For where that's not an issue, the general advice is that when exercising you can be less concerned about sugar content, as you're using at the time. fwiw I tend to use a drink bottle mix - I mix my own with maltodextrin, fructose and electrolyte. I think Cliff Bars are tasty as feck, but I've never really been convinced by cycling specific bars compared to "normal" cereal bars - I just use nature valley/ belvita soft bakes if they're on offer, their aldi equivalents if not.

In the past I've made my own "GCN Energy Bars", but haven't in ages. They may be more balanced (with nuts and seeds as well as sweet) if that's a concern. Up on youtube if you google.

cletus

Like above, I'll steer clear of the pre-diabetic thing.

I don't like maltodextrin mixes in my drinks, so it's always just water.

After that I bring Clif bars, jelly sweets, bananas, peanut butter and jam sandwiches or wraps.

De Bhál

water to drink

a couple of these bars also.

https://www.eatnakd.com/

I like the soft consistency. I don't like the Nature Valley type dry flakey bars

nilhg

Does the 3 hr ride have a coffee/cake stop? If it does then you're probably getting most of the fuel you need there.

After that it depends on how hard you're working, 3hrs zone2 and you'd need very little extra carbs if you were used to it and had a decent breakast/lunch/dinner before leaving. A hard 3 hr race would be a different beast altogether...

At coffee stops I have a habit of often having fried egg and toast rather than toast, works well for me as an alternative to cake or bars.

My water bottles are usually 75-85% water topped up with orange juice and an electrolyte tab if it's warm

10-10-20

Can I raise a hand here - it irks me when valid conversations around life-events are curtailed on the basis of being construed as medical advice. I'm not brow-beating those above me in the thread - I know that we can't give out medical advice - but every one of us is on a journey of sorts and life-events occur which impede that journey, and it's often only by talking about these challenges that we learn how to manage and overcome those hurdles.

Maybe a mod can advise otherwise, but if we're not discussing the medical details of the management of pre-diabetes or the prescriptions therein, I can't see how sharing personal experience around how you fed your body during a cycle is off limits?

At the end of the day I could hypothetically be a paraplegic and use a hand-cycle - so would conversation around that be classed as medical advice?

cletus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121937254#Comment_121937254

I'm sure the op is free to discuss his or her condition. I've never been pre diabetic, or diabetic, so I don't have useful life experience there.

I worked as a fitness instructor, and wouldn't have offered advice to diabetic clients re diet, I definitely wouldn't be offering advice to someone who's history I don't know on an anonymous forum.

Discussing the difficulties or otherwise of training with a condition like diabetes is substantially different to offering advice about the type of foods the op should eat while exercising.

68 lost souls

For years I was using tailwind in a bottle and maybe bring an emergency gel in case if bonking. I have recently been using Veloforte range which is all natural ingredients and really nice. Other rides I have been mixing it up with bags of jellies. Before any long cycle I normally have a bowl of muesli. I have been trying to train the gut to consume more than 90g of carbs an hour while training so I can stomach more food on a 24 hour cycle.

dahat

It’s all about the structure & intensity of the 3hr spin. The body will carry enough glycogen to cover 90mins after this period fuel according to the level of work. It’s sounds cliche but fuel for the work required.

I will only carry water with an elctrolyte tablet for the majority of turbo / midweek training sub 90mins. If the plan dictates 4hrs then I will fuel at 70-90 gms CHO per hour.

Pre long spin breakfast is coco pops with white toast & jam.

Maltotrexin with fructose & an electrolyte tab is my cost effective beta fuel.

Real food is then jellies, bananas, Rice Krispie bars, bread (white ) & jam sambo, belgian sugar waffles from lidl etc.

Being pre diabetic is a complication so it might be best advised to have a consult with a suitably qualified sports nutritionist.

kal7

Taking away pre diabetes bit. Over 1 and half hours spin I would be taking fig rolls.

Used to do oat bars, but break up and get bit choky if anyway dehydrated.

Macy0161

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121937180#Comment_121937180

Soft bakes that have the filling are a nice mix.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121937254#Comment_121937254

I'm not pre-diabetic, so have no idea what has to be taken into consideration by someone, particularly in the context of sport. Hence my framing.

The general scientific advice is that going hard on sugars while active is ok, and the evidence is there for much greater carb consumption than previous generations of (in particular) cyclists would've done training and racing. I've no idea does that stand if you are pre-diabetic though.

07Lapierre

Haribo, Banana's and Miwadi!

beggars_bush

Bananas

Rice crispy bars

Haribo

Homemade sushi rice bars/balls

Rice cakes with peanut butter and jam

Pre fuelling is more important

secman

Up to 50 kms, usual 3 heaps of porridge and just a bottle with lucozade sport orange, just dislike taste of just water.

Up around 80+ kms, usual 3 heaps porridge, lucazade orange, a naked bar, a protein bar. If I know the stronger lads want to do a bit of climbing but still keep pace up I'll also bring a gel, wouldn't always use it though, didn't yesterday.

Luckily okay on diabetes front so my menu would be mostly unwise for OP.

Jimbo789

It depends on the intensity of the cycle. A moderately fit person will need to eat very little on a zone 2 ride as you would be burning mostly fat and not glycogen.

While I'm not pre-diabetic, I definitely was insulin resistant, so in the winter I decided to change to a low carb diet during a 2 month base training period. I did almost exclusively zone 1 and 2 and lost around 8kg in that time. During this period, if I tried anything near threshold, the perceived effort was much higher than previously. Initially after the 2 months my FTP had dropped slightly but soon increased when returning to a moderate carb diet during a build training period.

Apart from the weight lost, the main benefit was improving fat adaption, which meant I can now cycle much longer without needing to fuel on zone 2 rides. I have switched to using mostly SFuels products.