The professional peloton has been consistently breaking speed records over the past two seasons in nearly every World Tour event. There’s no doubt that we have seen equipment and training improvements, but another driver is nutrition. Pros and amateurs are fueling with more carbs than prior generations and it is allowing them to ride longer and faster.
Reports of cyclist fuelling with 60-120 grams of carbs per hour are common post race. Fueling requirements and tolerances vary greatly between individuals based on total work, body weight, musculature and gut tolerance. It’s always best to test fueling strategies in training before racing. Even from one race day to the next, your needs can vary based on the effort, the weather conditions and how much glycogen you have stored in your muscles. Keeping notes in your training diary helps you recall what worked and what didn’t.
Ashlin Barry, has been working with Dr. Allen Lim from Skratch Labs to figure out what works best for him and his gut. Over the last few months, he’s been trying to figure out what works best for him in longer and shorter races. As an example of how much he’s consuming in a race, last weekend, he won the US National Championships, and below is what he drank in the 2 hour 5 min race over 86.4 kilometre in which he burned 2,133 kilojoules at an average of 283 watts–all of his calories came in liquid form and he didn’t consume any solid food, bars or gels. Three hours before the race he ate a carbohydrate rich meal and then didn’t consume anything until 5 min before the race start:
- 100 grams Skratch High Carb Drink Bottle 5 min before start
- 50 grams of carb per bottle (30 grams HCDM + 20 g SDM) – 2 in cages at start
- 1 Skratch Drink Mix (20 grams of carb) and 1 bottle water in feed to spray on body to stay cool.
Skratch products are designed to be easily digestible. They have a wide range of high carb, hydration and recovery mixes, as well as energy chews and bars.
Read Dr. Lim’s 5 Tips for Better Fuelling and Hydration>>
