When to carb up?

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Originally Posted by jusdooit

Nutrition is so individual & unfortunately takes a lot of trial and error. I usually eat some type of pasta dish the evening before.Then breakfast is either cheese grits or english muffin with peanut butter. I don't tolerate real food on the bike well, so I use a gel every 10-14 miles depending on the intensity of the ride.

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I think this is important to talk about. I am an "on the bike" eater. Anything over about 35 miles or two hours and I do want to eat something. This is not the case for everyone. If I'm going to ride a century, I snack along the way and usually enjoy a small sandwich around lunch time. I have a couple of friends who are just like justdooit and want nothing more than gels and electrolyte replacement in water. Everyone is different, so we shouldn't rule any particular method out based on our own experiences. The most important thing is to figure it out ahead of time. I would never ride a century with only a 50 mile ride under my belt. The old, "if you can do 50, you can do a metric, you can do 80, you can do 100" doesn't hold water. Particularly in heat, which is a whole other story that gets dehydration into the mix. That will kill you. Literally.

FWIW it's worth I'm not jumping to a century. 54 was my longest. This Saturday I'm going to try 60 and next weekend 62 at Hotter N Hell if there isn't too much wind and I do fine this weekend. I hope to build up to a century, but not until next year.

Oh and 54 was my longest, but not my only 50 miler.

I didn't mean to offend, Karen. I apologize. I either didn't convey what I meant to say or it was taken not as it was intended. I just wanted to say how important hydration is on the bike for a hot, long ride. Again, I'm sorry.

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Originally Posted by velo

I didn't mean to offend, Karen. I apologize. I either didn't convey what I meant to say or it was taken not as it was intended. I just wanted to say how important hydration is on the bike for a hot, long ride. Again, I'm sorry.

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I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound offended. I wasn't offended at all. I just didn't want anyone to think I was crazy enough to jump from 50 to 100 because I agree, unless you're very fit that's not going to work.

I'm taking my Camelbak, 2 24oz bottles and there's rest stops every 10 miles at Hotter N Hell. For this weekend we have a sag driver so if it's too much or too hot I can catch a ride.

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Originally Posted by thekarens

FWIW it's worth I'm not jumping to a century. 54 was my longest. This Saturday I'm going to try 60 and next weekend 62 at Hotter N Hell if there isn't too much wind and I do fine this weekend. I hope to build up to a century, but not until next year.

Oh and 54 was my longest, but not my only 50 miler.

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You should do well on the 100k with a number of 50 mile's already done and your ride on Saturday. You'll know Saturday if your nutrition/hydration plan works well or if you need to think about a few changes. I just looked at the route map and you can also head south on the 50 mile route about 1/3+/- of the way into the 100k if it's too hot or if there is a strong wind coming from the west.

Hotter N Hell :eek:....hopefully not!!! :)

Enjoy the ride!!!!

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Originally Posted by OakLeaf

But my point is, it isn't the distance, it's the intensity. One of the great things about cycling is exactly that as long as you keep the pace something that's easy for YOU, you can literally ride all day and into the night. When you're doing that, you can stay abreast of nutrition by what you eat and drink along the way. It takes a higher intensity before you start depleting glycogen.

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This, exactly.

Our bodies don't actually store all that many calories as glycogen (what, 1500 or so?) and you don't actually want to deplete that, or you will bonk. Sooo, after a couple of hours on the bike, ALL your energy need to come from a combination of what you eat during the ride and stored fat.

Oak is exactly right. At low intensities, you can ride nearly forever. Randonneurs do it all the time. We ride ridiculously long distances over crazy long hours. What we ate the night before or the day before has very very little bearing on how well we ride. At anything more than a few hours, it's the intensity at which you ride, coupled with your fueling during the ride, that will determine your performance on the ride.

(I just finished an 881 mile brevet. I think I ate pizza the night before. I like pizza. Might have had some wine too. And a gin & tonic... ;) Much more important was the 30,000+ calories I ate DURING the ride! )

Mostly, don't overthink it. Eat something you like, something that isn't too heavy or spicy, and don't overeat. Other than that, it doesn't really matter all that much. Really.

Susan

I really enjoyed the TDF glimpses into the feed bags of the riders, those Spanish guys had hardly anything in their feed bags, of course there may be misinformation and product placement here.
I monitor my calorie (estimated) out my 910 (imperfect science) but flat centuries don't even use 2000 calories for me, in a 6 hr century ride with an average HR of 140 (resting 55). So between liver and muscle glycogen and some calories in my bottle and breakfast, and my capacious fat stores. it is all good LOL.