Nutrition

TORQ USA-Why Should I Fuel

December 13, 2016 by TORQ USA

*This Article was contributed by TORQ USA whose products are based around science and natural ingredients for optimal performance. You can find their products in our I Love Bicycling Shop.

To help you better understand the fueling process, we’ve strung together a series of short animations to demonstrate exactly what happens to your body when you exercise without ingesting any carbohydrate (0g per hour), compared with some carbohydrate (30g per hour), significant carbohydrate (60g per hour) and optimal carbohydrate consumption (90g per hour)…

After working through this short section, please take the time to read through the TORQ Fueling System background where we explain how the optimal delivery of carbohydrate (90g per hour) is only possible if all of the carbohydrate you consume during exercise consists of 2:1 Glucose Derivatives:Fructose. That said, the animations below clearly demonstrate that ‘any’ carbohydrate consumed during exercise will benefit performance. The question is, how fast do you want to go, or how long do you want to last?

Firstly, it’s important to understand the differences between ‘Endogenous’ and ‘Exogenous’ carbohydrate:

Endogenous (ENDO) refers to carbohydrate that is stored in your liver and muscles – called ‘Glycogen’. Even on a diet rich in carbohydrate, the most you can expect to store is around 500g or 2,000 kCals (and that’s if you’re a well trained athlete – the less conditioned you are, the less you can store). When your stores are full, they’re full – so continuing to ingest high degrees of carbohydrate in the hours approaching exercise will have no effect on your stores if they’re already saturated. To clarify this point, it would be like leaving the tap running on the bath – once the water level reaches the overflow, the bath will get no fuller however much water you keep pouring in. This is a vital concept to understand and it’s where many people go wrong when it comes to fueling for optimal performance. One final and very important point to note about endogenous carbohydrate stores is that when they run out, your metabolism will grind to a halt and your pace will drop off dramatically. This is called ‘Bonking’ in cycling or ‘Hitting the wall’ in running.

Exogenous (EXO) refers to carbohydrate consumed during exercise and this can be in the form of energy drinks, gels, bars or chews if you consider the Fueling System items from the TORQ range. Any carbohydrate consumed during exercise, even if it’s a banana or a candy bar, is still considered exogenous carbohydrate. This carbohydrate enters the blood stream and is burnt preferentially over your endogenous stores. Exogenous carbohydrate isn’t stored, it’s used straight away and the more you can get into your blood, the less of your stored carbohydrate you need to use. It’s important to note that for high intensity endurance activities, it’s impossible to supply sufficient exogenous carbohydrate to halt the depletion of your endogenous stores, all it will do is slow down the regression. The TORQ Fueling System section of this website explains how all exogenous carbohydrate sources are NOT the same and how 2:1 Glucose Derivatives:Fructose formulations have been proven beyond doubt to deliver at a faster rate and higher volumes of carbohydrate than any other.

Play the short clip above. This demonstrates how a cyclist relying entirely on endogenous stored carbohydrate quickly drains his/her stores and becomes fully glycogen depleted after 1 hour and 20 minutes. Note that the exogenous needle doesn’t move at all, because the cyclist isn’t consuming anything whilst exercising. All of these animated clips assume a very high intensity effort, >70% VO2, (the effort is exactly the same in each example) and you may have to play each of them a few times to gain a clear understanding of what’s going on.

In the clip above, we demonstrate how every time 30g of carbohydrate is consumed, the use of exogenous carbohydrate slows the burn rate of the endogenous stores, the overall benefit being, the maintenance of pace/performance for a longer time period. In this example, the cyclist lasts another 10 minutes as a result of low level fueling.

The clip above demonstrates how consuming 60g of carbohydrate per hour extends time to exhaustion further still through the greater preservation of endogenous stores.

And finally, if you play the clip above, notice how much longer the cyclist can sustain his/her performance when consuming 90g of exogenous carbohydrate per hour.

The clip above summarizes the 4 different strategies of 0g, 30g, 60g and 90g exogenous carbohydrate consumption per hour and hopefully this makes our message crystal clear when you see all 4 cyclists exercising together.

As well as explaining why you should fuel, hopefully these examples have made it very clear that the greater the exogenous carbohydrate absorption per hour, the better your performance will be. Not all energy products are the same, because a number of factors can affect carbohydrate absorption/delivery rates. You will only be able to consume 90g carbohydrate per hour if you consume fuel that consists of 2:1 Glucose Derivatives:Fructose and this is backed extensively by a significant number of peer-reviewed published research studies.

Incidentally, just in case you’re wondering, if we were to run a series of animations showing what happens during lower intensity endurance exercise, the results would be exactly the same in relative terms. In each example, the cyclist would last longer, but the same principles would apply – the greater the exogenous fuel intake, the longer the cyclist would last.

In the final clip above, we pull all of these principles together and demonstrate how fueling ‘affords’ a higher pace over a given time. In order for the athlete consuming 0g of carbohydrate per hour to be able to sustain a consistent pace for a 2 hour effort, his/her pace needs to be moderated downwards to avoid bottoming-out the endogenous stores and bonking – this means riding slower. On the other hand, the athlete on 90g of carbohydrate per hour can afford to push on at a far stronger pace, cover a larger distance and still finish with fuel in the tank. In this example, the well fueled rider covers 10 more miles over the same time frame and still has 25 to 30% of his/her endogenous stores remaining at the end of the effort. The fact that the endogenous stores are less damaged despite a higher intensity effort is actually fundamental to understanding the principles of the TORQ Recovery System. If you fuel diligently, you will not only have performed better and created a bigger training stimulus, you will also have kick-started the recovery process.

It’s not just better fuel, it’s better fueling.

We have partnered with TORQ USA to offer you their high profile line of products to help you achieve your cycling goals and objectives.

Cramping, Electrolytes, & Hydration…

December 10, 2016 by TORQ USA

*This Article was contributed by TORQ USA whose products are based around science and natural ingredients for optimal performance. You can find their products in our I Love Bicycling Shop.

Cramping and hydration are two subjects that many people consider to be inevitably linked (like Fish & Chips or Gin&Tonic), but this isn’t necessarily the case. Dehydration can cause cramping for sure, but you might want to look at a few other things first…so lets…

WHAT LEADS TO CRAMPING?

The most commonly overlooked cause of cramping is actually ‘over-exertion’. You could be doing absolutely everything right from a hydration perspective, but it’s just that you’ve asked your body to do more than it’s used to doing. It makes sense really doesn’t it? If you’re calling upon your body to do stuff it’s just not used to doing, it’s going to say ”Look mate, you’ve asked a lot of me in the past, but this is new territory. You must be joking, thus I’m going to punish you with pain…” (queue titanic contraction of hamstrings and calves).

The solution is simply to introduce some harder, more focused riding into your week. The more riding you do, the higher your cramp threshold will become, so in short, you need to build up your fitness. Bizarrely, if you fuel and hydrate yourself properly (which will be discussed later on in this article), this will allow you to maintain a higher power output on the bike for longer, which in turn will put your muscles under more strain, which can then lead to cramping! I do think it’s very important not to get ‘cramp hang ups’ though, because cramping due to over exertion has to be a good thing. It’s a clear indicator that you’re overloading your muscles and causing adaptation. When I get to the point in my ride/race that I’m getting little twinges of cramp, I know that I’m breaking into new territory and pushing the boundaries. Once I’ve rested up afterwards, I’ll be stronger for it, so the rewards will be sweet. The diagram below shows how short term over-exertion will bring rewards in fitness providing you give your body sufficient time to recover.

Remember that over-exertion comes in two forms, duration-based and intensity-based. If you can ride for hours, but cramp up on climbs or in races, you need some more intensity in your training, so think about doing some intervals or shorter harder rides. On the flip side, if you’re good at the fast stuff, but cramp on longer rides, you need more endurance, so try to get out and ride for longer (i.e. base riding).

A BIT MORE ON DEHYDRATION…

With this said, dehydration can’t be ignored as a cause of cramping. Quite simply, if fluid and electrolyte intake doesn’t equal fluid and electrolyte loss, you will start to dehydrate, so you need to address high perspiration rates by putting more fluid and electrolytes back in to your body. Normal table salt is made up of Sodium and Chloride (2 of the electrolytes), but you will also need Magnesium, Potassium and Calcium – 5 ‘core’ electrolytes all together. Electrolytes are necessary elements for muscular contraction, so it doesn’t take a genius to work out that if you start to lose these valuable salts, your hardware’s going to start coughing and spluttering. And no, there is no one magic bullet electrolyte, thus we cannot overstate this, you need to sufficiently maintain adequate levels of all core electrolytes as well as some other nutrients. A bit further into this post we get into electrolytes in more detail.

The diagram below demonstrates the potentially catastrophic effects of dehydration. For every 1% of bodyweight you lose through dehydration, you get a corresponding 5% drop in performance. This is a huge performance loss and by way of putting some figures to it, a slightly dehydrated individual who usually kicks out 300 watts at threshold (time trial effort) will drop off to around 285 watts. Suffice to say that races are won or lost by much smaller differences in power than this. If dehydration reaches 4-5% of bodyweight, performance drops a whopping 20-30% and a fluid loss of 9-12% can be fatal.

The physiological effects of dehydration are interesting. The fluid losses cause blood volume to drop and as your blood plasma loses water, it becomes thicker. This decreases blood pressure, which then reduces blood flow to the muscles and skin. As less blood reaches the skin, thermoregulatory efficiency (the control of body temperature) is reduced and heat is retained within the body. The worse the dehydration gets, the more pronounced this cycle becomes.

PREVENTION…EVERY RIDE/RUN IS DIFFERENT

In order to prevent dehydration, you’ll need to consume fluid, as well as fuel sufficiently. For the purpose of this post, we will focus on the hydration part. So, how much fluid you take on board will depend entirely on the environmental conditions that you’re exercising in. If you’re exercising indoors or in dry or hot conditions, you’re going to lose more fluid than in cooler or more humid conditions. The paradox is that you actually feel like you’re losing more fluid in humid conditions when actually you’re not. Sweat drips off you, but because evaporation rates are lower, you won’t actually perspire as much and your thermoregulation systems will be much less efficient at driving heat away from your body. So as not to confuse the matter though, let’s make this assumption: You will perspire more and have greater fluid losses in hot than cold environmental conditions: You will perspire more at higher than lower exercise intensities and finally: You will perspire more in dry than humid environmental conditions.

When perspiration rates are high, you should aim to consume as much fluid as possible. Pure unadulterated water will not hydrate you as quickly as an energy drink mixed at a 6% concentration though because of the osmolality (potential to diffuse) in the gut. Sports drinks that are marketed as ‘Isotonic’ are designed for this use, but providing your energy drink is mixed at 6% (60 grams of carbohydrate per liter or 16oz H2O) it will be in balance with your body fluids and will hydrate you rapidly. Hint hint…check out TORQ Energy…it’s really good at knocking two birds out with one stone…

As an aside, it’s a little known fact that we are actually self-hydrating organisms. Through our metabolism (oxidative phosphorylation), we actually produce water as a bi-product and according to Wilmore & Costill, authors of ‘Physiology of Sport & Exercise,’ during rest we actually produce 150 to 250ml per day. In addition to this, a 155lb cyclist will also produce about 150ml of water per hour during intense exercise. During very cool weather, this would help to explain why one has to get off the bike to have a pee every now and then. It’s a combination of this canny self-hydrating mechanism and perhaps drinking a little too much for the environmental conditions.

ELECTROLYTES, WHATEVER THEY ARE, GIMME GIMME GIMME…

Last and by no means least, lets get a little deeper into electrolytes. These are dissolved salts that are capable of conducting electricity, so are vital for muscle and neural (nerve) function. They also play a major roll in maintaining fluid balance within the body. There are 5 electrolytes: Sodium, Chloride, Potassium, Magnesium and Calcium. The last one is less important than the other four and by far the most important are the first two. Having electrolytes in your energy drink has the following benefits:

They help to replace electrolytes lost through sweating (in case you hadn’t noticed, sweat is salty). Sodium and Chloride help to maintain the volume of the blood and also help to transport nutrients into cells so that they can be used for energy production, tissue growth and repair. Potassium is present in much higher concentrations in the muscle cells than in the blood, so losses through sweating are much lower than with Sodium or Chloride. Potassium deficiency would typically be symbolised by muscle cramping. Low magnesium levels are linked to muscle fatigue and cramping too, but again losses through perspiration are less substantial than with Sodium and Chloride.

Electrolytes help prevent hyponatraemia. This is a rare condition that affects ultra endurance athletes and is also referred to as ‘water intoxication’. If you consume water-only or an energy drink without electrolytes over a long period of time, the combination of sodium chloride loss through sweating and the dilution of the remaining salts in the blood steam with the fluid you’re taking in can cause headaches, cramping, loss of strength and nausea. If left unchecked, this could become quite a serious condition.

To summarize, Ed Burkes’s book ‘Serious Cycling’ makes the following recommendations with regard to the amounts of electrolytes that should be present per liter in an energy drink, so check yours (check out details on TORQ Energy hydration & fueling mix here):

Sodium: 400-1,100mg/l [TORQ Energy: 550mg/l]
Chloride: 500-1,500mg/l [TORQ Energy: 940mg/l]
Magnesium: 10-100mg/l [TORQ Energy: 12mg/l]
Potassium: 120-225mg/l [TORQ Energy: 130mg/l]

Note that TORQ Gels also contain all 5 core electrolytes. Following our TORQ fueling system, you can hydrate and fuel with 2x 500ml bottles of TORQ Energy mix (2 TORQ Units), and 1 TORQ Gel per hour to achieve optimal 90g carbohydrate per hour, as well as be fully topped up on fluids and electrolytes for even the worst conditions.

So, in summary, when perspiration rates are high, do not consume bars or gels, just drink an electrolyte-containing energy drink mixed at 6% carbohydrate – and drink as much as you can (up to a little more than a liter per hour). This is the quickest way to hydrate and you’ll be fueling yourself adequately by virtue of the fact that you’re consuming significant quantities of this 6% solution. When perspiration rates are low, drink less or you’ll be taking numerous ‘comfort breaks’ and satisfy your energy needs through more concentrated ‘dryer’ forms of energy like gels and bars.

So, enjoy the heat and stick it to summer. You’ve got this. #Unbonkable

TORQ’s assortment of products to help you achieve optimal performance, not bonk, and stay hydrated for your ride can be purchased by clicking the image below.

TORQ USA Sports Nutrition Products Now Available to Our Readers

December 10, 2016 by Bria Edwards

We at I Love Bicycling are proud to introduce our partnership with TORQ USA to bring you the highest quality sports nutrition. We want to provide our readers with insightly articles as well as quality products to fuel your cycling endeavors. Whether you are a novice rider or professional, TORQ Nutrition products can help enhance your performance on (and off) the bike. Nutrition products should be able to work with your body to make riding easier, not make your stomach and body work harder. This is the backbone behind TORQ Nutrition. Their line of nutritional products including: energy bars, gels, chews, and both active and recovery drink mixes are made with no artificial ingredients. The only ingredients you will find in these products come from natural sources. This allows your body to easily process the carbohydrates so your body is ready for whatever riding you put it through.

With many different nutritional products available to cyclists on the market, it can be hard to sift through which products will work best. TORQ Nutrition backs their products with proven science and an underlying philosophy that they will not compromise on the ingredients used in their products. Therefore we hope you can join us in utilizing TORQ Nutrition in your cycling adventures too! It’s time to say goodbye to upset stomachs due to artificial flavors and sugars, and hello to fueling your body with sustainable natural energy.

Check out this “Cramping, Electrolytes, & Hydration…” article that gets into some of the details of TORQ Performance Nutrition and why it works.

TORQ Nutrition products will be available to readers through the I Love Bicycling Shop.

Learn To Commute Without Getting Sweaty

September 28, 2016 by Adam Farabaugh

A big challenge to riding to work is doing the commute without getting sweaty. You don’t want to show up to work all hot and sticky and not ready to work let alone not being comfortable. Who likes sitting in sweaty clothes waiting patiently for them to dry? Some commutes are simply too long and/or too strenuous to not get sweaty so when that’s the case, you need to be prepared with what you’re going to do. Potentially getting sweaty on your way to work is not a reason not to ride to work. It’s an easy fix and the benefits are great, you’ll be glad you figured out how to arrive comfortably at work.

How Far and How Hilly?

The first thing to take into consideration just for the commute itself is how far is it and what’s the terrain like between home and work. If it’s more than a five mile ride or there is a considerable hill or multiple hills that you need to get over, you will want to wear different clothes for your commute; more on that below. Also, you will want a bike that is easy enough to pedal such as a dedicated commuter, hybrid, road, or cross bike so you are the most efficient on speed and effort.

What’s the Weather?

Another big factor with how to commute without getting sweaty is the weather. If it’s 90+ degrees it’s going to be difficult to even take a breath without it causing you to get sweaty. If it’s cold, you are going to have to make sure you wear extra layers but not too much as you are sweating by the time you arrive at work. Balance is key. Again, we will get into what to wear coming right up.

What Are the Facilities at Your Work Place?

If your work place is less than five miles and you don’t have any considerable hills, you can easily wear your work clothes and not have to change when you arrive. However, if you’re wearing different clothes, you will want a place to change, preferably with a sink, and ideally with a shower. More and more workplaces are incorporating showers and changing rooms just for the commuter cyclist. Is your place of work on board with that yet? If not, bring a small towel and in a bathroom you can lightly clean up. Another good option is baby wipes. They’re small, light, and can just be thrown away saving you the effort of having to take your towel home and wash it.

Options With Your Work Clothes

If you’re going to commute without getting sweaty, there are a few considerations to keep in mind. One is move-ability on the bike. A dress or baggy pants are going to be an issue. It’s definitely been done but riding a bike with a long dress is quite a challenge. It might be a better option for you to bring a change of clothes on days you want to wear a long dress while a shorter dress or skirt can still be ridden in. With pants that have the potential to get caught in the chainrings you can either roll them up, tuck them into your socks, or get one of these handy pant cuffs.

The big thing with commuting without getting sweaty is staying cool. A good way to do that is to keep your shirt unbuttoned a little as well as to roll up your sleeves to maximize airflow.

Options With a Change of Clothes

If you have a longer, more strenuous ride, wearing a different set of clothes is the best option. Pack your work clothes in a bag so they’re ready to go the night before. Then you can wear cycling specific shorts and a jersey if you wish, or simply just different clothes that are cool and functional. Then when you arrive at work, change, cleanup, and you’re good to go.

Effort Level So You Can Commute Without Getting Sweaty

Regardless of if you’re riding in your work clothes or riding in a change of clothes, you don’t want to arrive at work still dripping sweat unless you have a shower available. The trick to this is simply not riding quite so hard on the way there. Make sure you leave with enough time so you can take your time. Enjoy the morning. You’re out riding your bike. Once you get close to work with five minutes or so left in your ride, ease up even more on the pedals so your effort level drops but you still have the wind on you to cool you down. If you do it right, you’ll arrive at work cool and can quickly change or simply walk right in.

Let us know in the comments below what works for you and any questions you might have about bike commuting.

Gluten and Cycling– What Makes It Good Or Bad

September 19, 2016 by Wade Shaddy

It’s almost trendy to despise gluten. But looking at it historically, people have been chewing plant seeds for thousands of years. We even had those flat, cow-like teeth made for munching plants, not sharp, tearing teeth like carnivores. So why is gluten the enemy now? As cyclists, you not only require carbs, but crave them at times. The number of people who are eliminating gluten in their diet continues to rise. Can you do without it? Do you want to do without it? It’s your call.

Celiac Disease

Celiac disease is the biggest reason behind the gluten controversy. Celiac disease is a condition caused by an abnormal immune response to gluten; a disorder that makes the body attack gluten in the digestive system, damaging the lining of the small intestine. That, in turn, can prevent important nutrients from being absorbed. But here’s the kicker– experts estimate that only about 1 percent of Americans have celiac disease.

But how do you know if you have celiac disease? The symptoms include diarrhea, skin rash, and anemia. You may be tired, bloated and depressed. The only way to know is to be tested. The first test is typically a blood test to detect antibodies signaling an abnormal immune response. If your blood test comes back positive, a biopsy is performed to confirm inflammation in the lining of your gut.

Sensitivity Versus Celiac

In all fairness to gluten though, celiac disease may have few or no symptoms. For that reason, only about 5-to-10 percent of cases are diagnosed in the U.S. So here’s the other part of the controversy; some individuals may be sensitive to gluten but don’t have outright celiac disease. This group may feel better on a diet with less gluten.

For the majority of cyclists who don’t have celiac disease, if you function better, can maintain your speed, climbing abilities, and endurance on a gluten free diet then by all means do it if you want to.

Health Reasons

People typically choose to go gluten-free for health reasons including less inflammation and better immune system response. If your immune system is weak or you feel tired and fatigued all the time, a gluten-free diet might make you feel better. There’s a tremendous upside and virtually no downside to doing a trial run. Worst case, you will eliminate a lot of processed foods from your diet.

Gluten and Inflammation

Inflammation frequently comes up in discussions about nutrition but is highly controversial among health professionals. It involves an adverse reaction to gluten in people who do not have celiac disease. Even without a diagnosis of celiac disease, a number of people feel better when gluten is eliminated from the diet. Science is still inconclusive on what’s been termed “gluten intolerance”, but some experts think sensitivity leading to bloating or digestion changes could be an inflammatory response to gluten. As a cyclist, gluten and cycling could be important for this reason alone.

Wheat Allergy

Wheat allergy is also frequently brought up in association with gluten. Estimates for allergies to plant products determined by the diagnostic standard are scarce. But some information indicates that a wheat allergy is relatively rare and estimates are that it probably affects under one percent of individuals. It’s more likely that a wheat allergy is a prevalent reaction to a perceived allergic reaction to plant food.

What is Gluten

So what’s wrong with trying a gluten-free diet? To begin with, gluten-free is saying no to nutritious foods — foods that power your cycling. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye. It’s that stretchy stuff that makes baked food rise — it’s the glue that holds bread together. Gluten also shows up in many whole grain foods related to wheat — barley and rye, bulgur, farro, and spelt to name a few. Some celiac disease experts warn patients to steer clear of oats as well.

It’s a Protein, Not the Carb

So now that it’s established that grains can be terrible in some cases — hang on for a minute. The problem with grains is not the carbs — it’s due to a protein — not the carbohydrates. Gluten is just another name for protein. Gluten and cycling is not the same thing as carbs and cycling.

Don’t Give Up Carbs

You don’t have to give up your carbs. There are lots of alternatives to carbs with gluten. Here’s a few of them:

Rice
Corn
Oats (specifically if you get the gluten-free version to avoid contimaination by gluten)
Quinoa
Chia seeds
Beans and lentils
Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes

Alternatives to Gluten

It’s amazing what you can find in your local grocery store. For example corn pasta or brown rice pasta, is just an example of what you can find. Gluten-free bread isn’t hard to find either. You can find actual loaves of bread in your local stores or look online and you’ll see gluten-free flours which let you bake your own gluten free breads or pastries.

With all that being said, you might be considering a gluten-free diet, just to see how you feel, and if you feel better that’s fine. But at least one study says that there’s no benefit to your cycling performance. And that any perceived benefit is because you’re watching what you’re eating, including healthier foods like eating less processed foods, more fruits and vegetables. Another reason why you might feel better is the placebo effect, which can go a long way.

At least one professional cycling team is gluten free. “I was pleasantly surprised,’ says Christian Vande Velde, Garmin-Transitions’s team leader, who was the first member of the team to experiment with going wheat-free during the racing season. ‘I just had all-around better digestion, and digestion is the biggest thing in utilizing the energy I consume.” So the gluten and cycling comparison in this example is somewhat evident.

Gluten and cycling are not mutually exclusive. If you feel better, fine, go ahead and go gluten-free. Studies and testimony never really prove anything or that gluten has negative or positive effects on anything. All you can really do, is if you suspect that you might be suffering from celiac disease, gluten allergy or sensitivity, that you go gluten free and see how you feel, or alternatively, get tested by a health professional. Don’t follow national trends just because everyone else is talking about it. Decide for yourself.

5 Electrolyte Products To Keep You Rolling Strong

September 15, 2016 by Corey Davis

What is the importance of electrolytes during exercise, better yet what is an electrolyte? An electrolyte is composed of sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, bicarbonate, and hydrogen phosphate. All of these minerals are vital for basic human functioning. During exercise electrolytes are lost due to sweating and need to be replaced quickly in order for the muscles to continue firing at its highest state. Dehydration is the effect of to many of these electrolytes being lost; severe symptoms of this include dizziness, weakness, and vertigo.

Replacing electrolytes can be relatively easy because they are found in many things such as fruits, vegetable, specific electrolyte products, and many more everyday foods. Too many electrolytes can also be a bad thing, such as too much calcium causing hypercalcemia. All electrolytes are not created equally either. Some are much more important than others. For instance excessive sodium that is lost during exercise will decrease performance dramatically and can cause cramps if severe enough. There are many electrolyte products on the market though to help you avoid this!

Sometimes after a bike ride or run, drinking a massive sports drink is not in your best interest to replenish electrolytes after working out. Most of the big name sports drinks out there are full of carbohydrates in the form of sugar and simply want you to drink more of their product. Complex carbohydrates are good for endurance athletes, but not simple sugars that are found in most sports drinks. Steve Born at Hammer Nutrition said “Complex carbohydrates (polysaccharides) are the best choice for endurance athletes, as they allow your digestive system to rapidly and efficiently process a greater volume of calories, providing steady energy”.

5 Electrolyte Products We at ILB Have Used Regularly Over the Years

Below are a five electrolyte products to help you recover quicker and ride stronger that we at I Love Bicycling have used many of times! They’re listed here because we think they’re some of the best in the industry. Find what you like, both taste wise as well as performance wise, and stick with it.

Boulder Salt

“Boulder Salt is a balanced blend of sodium, magnesium, potassium and calcium, developed as a nutritionally superior alternative to sea salt and traditional table salt.” Boulder Salt is $29.99 for a pack of 60 individual single-serving packets. This is one of the less well known electrolyte products but has received excellent reviews from users. It’s formulated based upon what pure spring water should taste like with the proper amount of minerals. This ratio is also what your body needs for good pH levels as well as electrolyte levels. It’s also a good substitute for table salt on your food and gives a nice, different touch to dishes.

Torq Nutrition

Torq Nutrion offers electrolyte products, one being a hypertonic solution that is claimed the “fastest possible way to hydrate”. It is “formulated with 2:1 Glucose: Fructose derivatives” and contains no artificial sweeteners, colors or preservatives. It contains 5 key electrolytes and has multiple complex carbohydrates for not only good electrolyte levels but also energy levels as the 2:1 glucose: fructose ratio gives you quick energy as well as longer lasting energy. The taste is also exceptional being tasty yet not too overpowering. This solution sells for $25 for a pack of 20 or larger, more economical sizes are also available.

nuun

Nuun has several hydration electrolyte products to help replace lost electrolytes. Some of them include the active, energy, plus, and all day products. All of there products are used to fight cramps and improve recovery. Nuun has a very wide range of flavors and prices range but typically around $7.00 for 10 tablets. They are also very handy in that they come in little tubes of 10 which can be added individually to bottles. They also are just electrolytes so don’t have any carbs which are great to have before going to bed with a big ride the next day.

Skratch Labs

Skratch labs offers an exercise hydration mix that include simple sugars, but also electrolytes and real fruit flavoring. The mix is non-GMO, gluten free, dairy free, vegan, and kosher. Skratch prides itself on going beyond the expected point to create, simple good products for athletes. Skratch hydration mix sells for $19.50 for 20 16oz servings.

Clif Bar

Clif Hydration Mix is made with 90% organic ingredients and contains sodium and carbohydrates. The Cliff hydration mix claims to be “less sweet and lighter tasting compared to other sports drinks”. This hydration mix is $19.99 for a 15.5 oz pouch. This electrolyte product is one of the most well known products on the market and continues to help cyclists hydrate properly!

Alcohol And Training And Its Effects On Recovery

July 30, 2016 by Josh Friedman

After a hard day on the bike, you feel like you can reward yourself with a beer (or three). You are a little dehydrated from the ride and a little hungry, although you feel great. What effect does alcohol and training have on your body? What does it do to your recovery? And how will it affect your ride the next day?

Alcohol and Training Basics

The cognitive effects of alcohol are well known to everyone: impairment of coordination, decision making and sensory perception. Beyond the cognitive effects, there are other effects that alter metabolism, muscle function, thermoregulation, cardiovascular function, and neurological function.

Metabolism

Alcoholic beverages have calories that your body uses for energy, but they also alter your metabolic processes. It impairs glycogen synthesis, blocking your muscles from their energy source. Insulin production increases, further inhibiting glycogen synthesis and storage.

Muscle Function

With less accessible glycogen, muscles have less available energy. Additionally, alcohol and cramping have a correlation although the exact mechanism is unclear, although dehydration associated with alcohol may play a role.

Thermoregulation

Alcohol is a diuretic, forcing the body to urinate out excess fluid. It is also a vasodilator, leading to increased fluid loss through evaporation. A night of drinking is usually a sweaty night. Less fluid leads to increased cardiovascular effort and decreased evaporative cooling. This leads to an elevated core temperature.

Cardiovascular Function

The dehydration leads to lower blood volume, higher viscosity, and more effort for the heart. This leads to less efficient delivery of oxygen to the muscular system and decreased performance ensues.

Neurological Function

Alcohol is a depressant, leading to slower cognitive ability. It impairs absorption of B vitamins, which are critical to neurological function, along with zinc, which is critical to immune support. It also impairs sleep quality, a critical time for the body to repair itself.

Performance Effects of Alcohol

Small amounts of alcohol have limited affect on aerobic performance. Over the threshold results in a more dramatic decrease in aerobic performance. In an endurance sport like cycling, any small loss of aerobic performance leads to big losses out on the road.

Larger performance losses occur through inhibiting the regular thermoregulatory processes. A higher core temperature leads to greater loss of fluids through sweating. Less available blood volume because of sweating causes higher cardiac stress and effort. This results in decreased efficiency due to less oxygen getting to the muscles and higher energy requirements to keep the blood flowing.

Lower available glycogen means less energy for the muscles. This leads to less time to exhaustion and when you do ingest more carbohydrates, the synthesis to usable adenosine triphosphate, or ATP, the fuel for your muscles is inhibited.

Recovery Effects of Alcohol

The biggest recovery effects of alcohol and training are through disturbed sleep. Limiting sleep limits the time that your body can repair itself and perform important brain functions. When you sleep, your body produces human growth hormone (HGH), a powerful chemical that promotes cell growth and regeneration. Without HGH, your body would begin to fall apart because no repair processes would occur.

All of the effects of alcohol on performance also come into play for recovery. Your body is not working optimally, leading to diminished performance in all of the body systems – dehydration, compromised delivery of glycogen, an overtaxed cardiovascular system all lead to poor recovery.

This leads into training the next day. A hangover still exhibits symptoms of your body working sub-optimally. Your body is still recovering from the effects of you essentially poisoning it. One night of five drinks can lead to three days of recovery for your body from the drinking.

You Are Human

Humans drink alcohol; it can be social, it can be for the taste. Consider the effects of alcohol and training and what effects it will have on you and your riding goals. Remember that unless you are on the razor’s edge of cycling performance, an alcoholic drink will not make or break your season. Go enjoy yourself, but not too much. Your riding requires it. You enjoy that too.

How To Make Your Own Homemade Energy Gel

July 27, 2016 by Josh Friedman

If you regularly read this site, you already know how great it is to make things on your own and hack otherwise pricey on-the-bike food and drink. Here you will learn how to make your own homemade energy gel. Outwardly, off-the-shelf gels in fancy foil packets seem like engineering marvels that can pick you up out of a bonk and back to pedaling efficiently. The reality is that they are easy to make bursts of easily accessible carbohydrates, both for your body to use and for you to find the ingredients.

The Ingredients

For simplicity’s sake, you could shove a honey bear in your pocket and be done. Honey is a great source of quick energy but one, it is very viscous, making it a bit hard to choke down when you are already having a rough time on the bike and two; a little work on your part will provide your homemade energy gel with a bit more nutritional value.

Along with honey, you will need brown rice syrup, which is thinner than honey and it will still provide carbohydrates, and blackstrap molasses, which is quite thick but has a lot of potassium to provide electrolytes. Along with the three sources of carbohydrates, you will need another source of electrolytes. You could put pure salt in, although it will not help the texture. Opting for something like Elete electrolyte drops will give you the electrolytes and reduce the viscosity of the gel. If the mixture is too thick, it will be difficult to choke down.

Take one tablespoon of each sweet ingredient (honey, rice syrup, and molasses) with an eighth of a teaspoon of salt or six drops of electrolyte concentrate. Blend together either by hand or in a blender. This homemade energy gel should be about equal to two gel packets. That was pretty easy, right? Now you can experiment with flavors and textures.

Get a Flask

You have to get that homemade energy gel in your pocket for your ride and then into your mouth without making a mess. Use a refillable gel flask. It will cut down on garbage, can hold more than one shot of gel, will not leave gel in your pocket from finished packets, and is overall less prone to making a mess at any stage.

A Note on Gels

If you have ever read the instructions on a gel packet, you have seen that it says to drink anywhere between sixteen and twenty four ounces of water with each gel. That is a full bottle of water. Over the course of a long ride, you would need six or seven, or more, full bottles to wash down each gel. It is not the most efficient way to get energy into your body. Gel should be the last resort energy, when you are on your way to bonking or need a final kick to get you to the end.

The reason gel needs so much water is that your body needs fluid to digest it. With solid food, your body uses mechanical digestion to break it down. With a gel, there are no solid elements but it is too thick to go directly to your bloodstream. Your body pushes fluid into your digestive system from your bloodstream to dilute the gel and then deliver it back to your bloodstream. This is why gels require large of amounts of water with them.

Homemade Wins Again

Homemade energy gels are great for the same reasons all the other homemade foods on this website are great; the satisfaction of making your own food, tailoring your nutritional needs and tastes, hacking the system, and being able to whip up what you need when you need it. Continue to impress your friends with your own homemade energy gel.

How To Make Your Own Homemade Energy Bars

July 20, 2016 by Josh Friedman

Doing anything yourself is more rewarding than using the factory made, corporate version of whatever you need. Homemade energy bars give you that good feeling of doing it yourself and the chance to accommodate your tastes and nutritional needs. You will also impress your riding friends when you pull them out mid-ride. At first they will balk at the idea until you give them a taste.

Getting the Right Nutrients

During the course of any endurance activity, you will need carbohydrates to sustain your energy levels. Your homemade energy bars will need to have a base full of carbohydrates to give you the quick, accessible energy that your body requires; this will be the majority of the energy in your bars. Along with the carbohydrates, your bars should have some fat and protein to provide longer term energy and provide the full spectrum of available calories.

Using the Right Ingredients

A tremendous benefit of homemade energy bars is that you know exactly what your ingredients are. There is no bar wrapper with undecipherable or unknown ingredients. There is no mystery of how the bar will taste when you pull it off of the shelf. You can also ensure that you there are no potential allergens and that everything is easily digestible for you; no off the shelf bar is personally tailored to your needs.

You can also make offbeat flavors and use unique ingredients. Once you have the basic recipe down, feel free to experiment and get creative with your ingredients.

The Basic Recipe

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups dates
1 cup cashews

You will need a cup and a quarter of dates (the softer the better – Medjool are the best. Pitting them at home usually gets you a better date too) and a cup of raw cashews (if you are allergic to nuts, sunflower or pumpkin seeds are a good replacement). Put the dates in a food processor and process until they turn into a ball rolling around on the blade. Put the ball and any scraps in the processor in a bowl. Now process the cashews until they are fully ground but before they turn into a fine flour. Put the cashews in the bowl with the dates. If you don’t have a food processor you can do it the manual way with a cutting board and chopping knife. You won’t get the dates and cashews cut up quite as small but they will still work just fine.

Knead the dates and cashews together in the bowl. At first it may seem like they will not hold together. Keep going until the mixture is no longer sticky and you can form it into a loaf. Place the loaf in the refrigerator for a few hours to solidify. Remove from the refrigerator and cut into bars. Another convenience of homemade energy bars is that you can cut them to whatever serving size you would like.

This recipe is easy to double or triple, depending on the capacity of your food processor or your patients to do multiple batches in your food processor.

Additional Recipes

Once you have mastered the basic recipe, it is time to make different flavors and also to experiment on your own. The key to experimenting is to substitute sticky ingredients with sticky ingredients and dry ingredients with dry ingredients. A crowd favorite are mint chocolate bars. Substitute an eighth of a cup of cashews for an eighth of a cup of cocoa powder and add an eighth of a teaspoon of mint extract oil to the cashews. The rest of the recipe remains the same.

Moving on to a complex recipe (which is only complex compared to the basic recipe; these are all pretty simple), you can make a carrot cake flavor. Shred an eighth of a cup of carrots and squeeze out as much moisture as possible. Add a quarter of a cup of raisins and seven-eighths of a cup of dates and process. If the mixture does not seem sticky enough, add a few more dates. Now substitute half a cup of walnuts or pecans for half of the cashews and process with a half of a teaspoon of cinnamon. This may take extra kneading to work out the moisture and form a nice loaf.

Homemade Energy Bars for the Win

Homemade Energy Bars leave you feeling great in a lot of ways – the satisfaction of making something yourself, the energy they provide, the delicious taste, envy of your friends and the healthy choice you made. That is worth sacrificing a little of your time for, right?

An I Love Bicycling Extra – How To Wrap Your Homemade Energy Bars

Step 1: Place the bar in the center of a piece of aluminum foil.

Step 2: Fold in one of the long sides to the center of the bar. You can optionally fold back about 1 cm to create a better seam.

Step 3: Fold over the opposing side to the center overlapping by one to two centimeters. Also, fold back the center to create a better seam.

Step 4 & 5: Fold one end and then the other underneath the bar on the opposing side of the seam.

Step 6: Open by only undoing one end of the bar and separating the seam. Then enjoy.

Pedal Away The Pounds E-Book – Just Released

July 17, 2016 by Adam Farabaugh

The modern day lifestyle is largely built around working too much, not having enough time to do the things you love, and stress from those two that leads to eating foods that aren’t always the healthiest. All of this on top of not exercising as much is just about the perfect recipe for being heavier than you otherwise would like to be.

There are a lot of diet and exercise plans out there to get you to lose weight but they don’t always focus on the right things and, let’s be honest, aren’t always the most fun or appetizing. The key to losing weight and keeping it off is to do it in a way that is fun, manageable, as well as tasty. This approach then isn’t something you just do for a period of time and go back to what you were doing originally. It is an approach that creates a healthy, balanced lifestyle that leaves you feeling great, doing the things you love, with the body you want.

Riding a bike is one of the best ways to increase your activity level and lose weight for a number of reasons:

It is soft on your joints (a potential issue if you’re carrying a few extra pounds).
Gets your heart rate up.
Can promote muscle growth.
Overall is just fun to do because you’re traveling at speed covering more ground exploring more places.
Additionally, it is also something you can easily do with others which has even more benefits.

Combining the benefits of riding a bike with eating the right foods at the right time will give you the body you want as being active and eating certain types of foods was what nature intended and have you ever seen a fat wild animal?

In our Pedal Away The Pounds – A Guide to Cycling & Weight Loss E-Book we will give you the tools you need to first ride a bike whether you’re a first timer or have ridden before on a regular basis.We will then get into the basics of food and why you should know what things are and how your body reacts to them. Following this is a detailed look at exactly what we should be eating and how to prepare it as well as shop for it. Then we get into what to eat surrounding your ride because you can’t exactly have a full-course meal while out on a ride. This then leads us into alternative ways of eating and why they are good or bad. Summing up the book is then a chapter on the little things that contribute to your weight; things like sleep and addiction. Accompanying this book is also an 8-week training plan to get you rolling on the bike and burning more calories.

We hope you embrace our approach to weight loss and that it’s not just something you do for a set period of time but rather as a way to adjust your lifestyle permanently toward that of a healthy, enjoyable, productive lifestyle.

Where to Buy The Pedal Away The Pounds E-Book

33% Off The Cover Price Discount Code

Used discount code: startnow (all lowercase, all one word) to save 33% off the cover price of Pedal Away The Pounds through Sunday, July 24th.

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