Nutrition
Fueling for training
Establishing a good system for fueling on the bike is an important part of seeing results from your training. While you may not need as much fuel for shorter rides (less than an hour), you’ll definitely need to stuff your pockets with snacks and have full bottles ready for longer group rides. It’s always a safer bet to bring more than you need than realize you have no food halfway through a 4-hour ride (we’ve all been there).
We could recommend different bars, gels, and other nutrition, but what works best is different for each person. Some popular brands for gels include Science in Sport (SiS), Gu, Clif, Hammer, and Honey Stinger. A couple of those brands also make good bars and energy chews/blocks. Skratch Labs, Liquid IV, Gatorade, and other brands make some awesome drink mixes. Some dedicated sports nutrition brands can be quite expensive and there are certainly cheaper options out there. We recommend you try out a few and see what works best (The Feed is a great resource for trying out plenty of brands for a decent price).
A very general framework you can use is to eat a bar/gel and drink a full bottle every 1-2 hours.
Fueling for races
Staying fueled during a race is not the same as on a group ride, when there are usually plenty of opportunities to eat and drink while stopped. Even if you’re comfortable eating and drinking on the bike, it’s still more of a challenge in a race situation when speeds are higher and the group around you is more unpredictable. Especially as a beginner, you want to prioritize identifying some calorie sources that are easy to consume quickly on the go. Make sure that your body gets along with your fuel; you don’t want to be testing that out on race day. Here are some tips:
Use a drink mix with plenty of carbs in it. It’s easier to find time to get a few sips of a drink than it is to eat something out of your pocket. In shorter races, you can probably get all the calories you need out of drink mix alone.
If you use high-carb mix, be sure to have a second bottle of plain water or hydration mix. A common mistake is only drinking carb mix which leaves you dehydrated later in the race. Just like in training, drinking water AT LEAST every 15 minutes is a good rule to follow.
Experiment with gels and other quick-to-eat, easy-to-digest foods. As with drink mixes, you can try a few different brands (or make your own) and see what you like best.
Try out these new fuel sources not just on easy days, but during hard training sessions too. A gel that you thought you liked might not agree with your taste buds or stomach as much when you’re working hard.
Experiment with how much fuel you need to take in. 50-100g of carbohydrates per hour of racing is a good rule of thumb.
On race day, make sure to eat a good meal with plenty of carbs before your race, and consider having a quick snack like an energy bar or gel right before you head to the start line.