No energy after longer bike rides

[michelle76]

Hi,

I'm new to biking and have been building up my distance over the past two months. I've been biking about 3 times a week and increase my distance by a few miles each week.

It seems anytime I bike 15 miles or more (max so far has been 20), about a hour after the ride I have no energy. A wave of exhaustion comes over me and I end up having to take a nap and it takes me several hours to recover.

If I ride in the morning, I eat a bowl of cereal, toast, juice and some fruit. During the ride I drink water mixed with Gatorade. I also bring along a energy bar to have during the ride if I feel hungry. After the ride I will have some water and eat a meal. What am I doing wrong? I really like biking and feel ok when riding to go farther, but I'm worried that I'm not getting the right amount of something to feel so exhausted when I'm done.

Any suggestions or ideas would be great! Thanks in advance

[TrekTheKaty]

How long does it take you to ride 20 miles? How many ozs of fluid are you taking in?

I would guess you need to eat and drink more. I'm a big advocate of protein before riding. Otherwise, you need more for breakfast. I would also plan a snack stop, instead of just eating if you feel hungry. Sometimes, I get distracted and forget to eat--then I'm ravenous. I also love a post-ride smoothie.

Dehydration is a common cause of fatigue.

[crazycanuck]

Another idea would be to read Nancy Clark's Sports nutrition guide-there may be more tips there for you.

[Skierchickie]

Can you just be, well, tired? From exercising? You say you are new to cycling - what about other exercise? If your body isn't used to it yet, and you're still building/toning new muscles, working your cardio system, etc, why wouldn't you be tired? If I'm not tired after exercising, then I figure I didn't work hard enough! Especially early in the season (early in ski season I'm always beat after a workout, and the harder I worked, the more tired I am).

I'm just saying, this could be perfectly normal. If you've always been really active, just at other things, then that would be different. But if you've been fairly inactive, and you just started riding pretty recently, then you SHOULD be tired. Your body needs to get used to this. I wouldn't worry just yet.

[Biciclista]

Michelle, welcome to TE.

Assuming you are eating enough and hydrating yourself sufficiently, if you have not been an athlete all your life, you might just be building muscle and not strong enough yet.
When I first started riding, even short rides over flat terrain totally wiped me out. With time (and i do mean years) I have gotten so that I can ride 40 easy miles in the morning and feel quite normal in the afternoon.. So, keep talking to us and keep riding.

[RolliePollie]

When I first started riding, even short rides over flat terrain totally wiped me out. With time (and i do mean years) I have gotten so that I can ride 40 easy miles in the morning and feel quite normal in the afternoon.. So, keep talking to us and keep riding.

This has been my experience too. My first season, pretty much any ride would do me in. I'd need a nap or I'd just lay around for the rest of the day. This is my third season of riding and as long as I eat enough, I usually still have energy left even if I do a longer ride.

Try eating some eggs or something for breakfast. I agree about the protein. I love my carbs, but you need some protein with your breakfast. My favorite pre-ride breakfast is eggs, pop-tarts (I know, horrible...but they keep me full for a long time and I like them!), coffee, and milk or soy milk.

[jusdooit]

I hate to be a little disagreeable, but maybe you're eating too much. A 15-20 mile ride shouldn't take over 2 hours even at a 12/mph pace. Everything I've read says you don't need to worry about eating during a ride if it's less than 2 hours long. Is it just possible that you're having a sugar crash? Meaning you've eaten too many carbs and your body crashes coming down off all that sugar. Yes I said sugar because that's basically how your body treats carbs.
Just a thought. I may be right or I may be wrong.

[kenyonchris]

Hi,

I'm new to biking and have been building up my distance over the past two months. I've been biking about 3 times a week and increase my distance by a few miles each week.

It seems anytime I bike 15 miles or more (max so far has been 20), about a hour after the ride I have no energy. A wave of exhaustion comes over me and I end up having to take a nap and it takes me several hours to recover.

If I ride in the morning, I eat a bowl of cereal, toast, juice and some fruit. During the ride I drink water mixed with Gatorade. I also bring along a energy bar to have during the ride if I feel hungry. After the ride I will have some water and eat a meal. What am I doing wrong? I really like biking and feel ok when riding to go farther, but I'm worried that I'm not getting the right amount of something to feel so exhausted when I'm done.

Any suggestions or ideas would be great! Thanks in advance

If you are in reasonable shape to begin with (and you didn't specify your age, general activity level prior to biking, or general fitness level) you will feel fatigued...but it should be a different kind of tiredness then that fatigued, stressed, long-day at the office exhaustion. If you are in really poor shape to begin with, you are probably going to feel like that for a while...you might back off a little. But if you are in moderate shape and just new to cycling and 15 miles makes you continually bone-numbing tired, you might:

Get a general check up and check that you are not anemic....this can often be a problem!
Have them check your thyroid level.
Check to make sure any prescription/over the counter drugs are not messing with your body when it is stressed.

Then look at your nutrition/exercise plan. You really might need to back off a bit!

[tc1]

All those carbs for breakfast and no protein? If I did that for a 15 mile + ride I would be so exhausted by the end I couldn't lift my bike back onto the bike rack. I know because I have tried it. Add some protein that your body likes and digests easily to your breakfast.

[malaholic]

+1 on adding some proteins. DH also swears by a glass of chocolate milk post-ride...something about it having the right ratio of carbs to protein to be a good recovery drink. Alternatively, you could try Recoverite or some other similar post-ride specific supplement.