mid ride blahs

[Grog]

Hey CC -

Let me chime in. I'm no nutrionist, but spontaneously I thought:

3 gels and a sport drink for 40 km? Isn't that a lot of sugar? Any reason why you have so much? I wonder if you could actually be crashing from too much. In 40 km (1h30m max?) I would perhaps have two gels, or one gel and one drink. Or, in that specific case, one gel with a bottle of water/drink mix, holding on until breakfast, then not much besides water... (And probably no coffee if I was going to ride more than a few kms after breakfast...)

And then the toast & jam with coffee, that takes some energy to digest as well... Coffee can play nasty tricks on you.

One component that's missing is how hard you were working during the ride. Were you giving all your spare change? Or just riding along?

Keep us posted with your experiments...

[solveig]

I think Grog may be onto something. I haven't experienced this on the bike as much as in regular life, but it sounds like the sugar rush/crash cycle. Also, it looks like you're eating plenty of carbs but not a lot of protein. From what I understand, you wouldn't need much protein during the ride for rides of the length you're describing, but you might need more post-ride and in the rest of your daily diet. I consciously upped my protein about 2 months ago, and that, along with less sugar, has leveled out my energy rush/crash cycles as well as my moods.

Good luck!

S