Sarah,
Interesting article indeed. And I was gonna post a nutritional question anyway so here goes:

Since each of my weekend long rides is now a PB, I'm in uncharted territory for me nutritionally. I really struggled riding 2 1/2 hours this weekend and my mph were down. Here's what I ate:

1 bowl of frosted mini wheats with 1% milk and 1 slice of pizza. Walked the dogs for 45 minutes then hopped on the bike.

Drank 24 oz of water the first hour then had 1 packet of hammer gel. Got off the bike to stretch while fueling. Ate a handful of walnuts with dates.

Rode another hour and drank 24 oz of water and 6 oz of pedialyte. At the end of 2 hours got off and stretched again and had a potty break. Another handful of dates and walnuts and one more hammergel packet. Took 2 electrolyte pills. Rode another 30 minutes.

I had absolutely NO energy in my quads by the end of this. The last 7 miles were really tough. Yet the weekend before I had energy to burn but I ate less - I can't pin what I did that differently. Any thoughts or suggestions for me?

Thanks,