How to Fuel for Your Next Long Bike Ride (100 miles!?)

An average performance on the bike can often be the result of a poor nutrition plan. As opposed to all that hard training you did leading up to the 100 mile event. So in this video, expert Sports Dietitian - Steph Cronin - will share with us a nutritional strategy you can implement on your next BIG cycling event or bike ride.

#cycling #nutrition #100miles

[irvingabbott]

Welcome back my Friend, its great to for you to take breaks and come back

[matthewvelo]

Steph's comments on training your gut are spot on. Even though I'm a cycling hack I remember trying to get the calories in on mutli-day patrols was challenging even with enough fluids. So many of us ended up with the runs until you conditioned your gut. Cheers Cam & team.

[garyoneill]

Awesome videos from Steph Cronin, Cam. GREAT advice. I think she has touched on every nutrition mistake I have made. still make, apparently, after yesterday's effort. 😮

[Terrierized]

Building a good team Cam 👍 Thanks Steph

[seascape]

Thanks to your videos, I now know how many carbs to eat and liquids to drink during my ride. What about calories or are they much less important? i.e., if I know I will burn 1500 calories on my ride, what’s the proper amount of calories I should consume?

And how do nutrition needs change between your 30’s, 40’s, 50’s etc.? (fwiw, I haven’t been a 70kg athlete since my high school days, way too long ago, sigh :)

[MrAngelJr]

Thanks for this guide. I'll try to apply it on my next long rides. Cheers!

[dtmateo]

I used to carb up days before big rides and then religiously eat and hydrate during the ride but there were times when I still felt weak and sometimes bonk towards the end. Ever since I became fat adapted on a keto diet I don’t even need to eat anymore. Just constant 600ml/hr hydration with half of it on electrolytes.

Carbs work but there are better options that cyclists need to explore. I’m proof of that.

[jamesmckenzie]

I like Steph and her team's advice.

[BalancedMentality]

In my experience, that's all not so hard, I am not a super good cyclest, but good at eating 😄.
I got some iso pouder mixed by a friend, which is just fructose, maltodextrid and salt.
On my training rides I consume about 80 grams per bottle, about one bottle an hour.
Propper fulling boosted my performance a lot.
I didnt needed any gut training to do so. 😄
Liquid fuel is much easier than eating bars on the bike.

[gavinbutler]

Always great content. Awesome new with Steph joining RCA

[abegoldberg]

Great info - Steph sounds very credible. Thanks for sharing your knowledge! Questions - 1) You reference grams of carbs vs calories per hour. Can you reverse that and target calories? I'm targeting 270-360 cal per hour (63-84 carbs per hour) on the bike for 70.3 approx. 2:45-3:00 hours on the bike. I tend to drink all of my calories so that could be up to 3-4 scoops per bottle. Would you count the water in your food bottles as "water"? - 2) I'm using UCAN (product with NO sugar). Do you have any experience with that product? Thanks again! Cheers!

[alanmanzie]

Steph ... what training tip can you give to a 75 year old guy? I am still riding over 100 miles / week. Thanks, Big AL

[JuanRivera-wgiv]

I have noticed that I do not feel hungry when riding. When I do is usually too late and end up with zero energy

[marcusantonyledulx]

This video is highly informative and appropriate for competitive cyclists. I regularly do 200-400 km rides & as a very ordinary but regular rider, my speeds are 25 kmh. I find that in moderate wind/temperature conditions I don't need to eat for the first 150 km & hydration is by feel. I never bonk in these conditions. Technically I under hydrate but my urine stream always remains a light straw colour. Ordinary fitness riders (me!) tend to emulate these videos & end up over drinking & over eating. Significant numbers of marathon runners die each year from over hydration! Combine that with the ease of riding light weight carbon bikes & we have a cycling overweight rider problem. It's very obvious that bikes are lighter and general cyclists are getting fatter.
How about a video targetted at everyday riders.

[ytpadyt]

In muscles stored: 1g glycogen+4 g water. So if you have 400g of glycogen and 1.6 kg of water and you use all that energy, your weight loss is 2 kg ☝️

[tiiimmmaaayyyy]

60g to 90g of carbs per hour, plus a litre of water per hour, plus 300ml of water per gel? I'm going to need a trailer :)

[DieterWoestemeier]

I'll need nature breaks every 30min if I drink that often. Any suggestions?

[seascape]

Any suggestions on how to fuel through big temperature swings during a ride? There’s often a 30 degree F / 16 degree C change during my rides, and when it gets hot, I can’t eat or drink anything, even though I know I should. I just crave something to cool me off, but after 2-3 hours my food just tastes too warm, and I’m not a fan of insulated bottles or containers.

[calebgonsalves]

I wonder whats your stance on energy bars, the ones that are seeds, oat rice honey and sugar, they have a good deal of calories but not that many carbohydrates

[jonathanweatherill]

Stupid question but would you count your carb drink or electrolyte drink towards your overall hydradration plan or should I be taking in plain water as well. Heavy sweater and not really possible to put back anywhere near what I lose both cycling and running. Also morning workouts would you count you pre ride carbs towards your ride total intake or at least towards the first hour intake?