I Love Bicycling

I Love Bicycling is a website that is geared towards cycling for beginners with road cycling tips, training articles, nutrition tips, weight loss, how to’s and bike repair articles.

Cycling Nutrition: A Guide to Meal Prepping

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While cyclists talk about dropping kilos, diet and weight loss might not be the answer. Weekly meal prepping and planning trumps the latest trend. Diets all work in the beginning, but they are not really creating healthy habits. You are constantly reminded of what you shouldn’t put in your body, instead of reminding you of what you should be adding to your diet.

Weight loss plans remove fat, and carbs and reduce portion size. However, the simple concept of adding good quality foods to your diet will help fuel you properly, losing weight in the process. Meal prepping ensures you have what you need ready and available when you’re hungry, keeping you from backsliding into bad habits.

What is Meal Prepping?

Meal prep can mean something a little different to each person, so you have to find a system that works for you. At its simplest, it’s preparing some or all of your meals for a week at one time. The goal is to save you time as well as remove the common tendancy to eat what is easiest rather then what is best for your body. If you have a system down for breakfast and lunch, then just prep dinners for the week. Or, if you find yourself always rushing out the door in the morning and grabbing a croissant on the way to work, then prepping breakfast will be important for you.

How to Meal Prep

Although meal prepping will save you time and money in the long run, it does take an initial investment. Start off with some quality tupperware containers, BPA free is best as you will be using them to reheat meals. Also, having them all the same size will help you stack them easily in the fridge.

Step 1: Plan

Sit down on Saturday or Sunday night before your weekly grocery run. Start with broad strokes and general meal ideas. Having a plan will help keep track of the quality of calories you are adding, as well as a general idea of the quantity of calories. From there, you can start getting specific. Unless you’re already a super clean eater, prepping some plain chicken and broccoli for 5 meals a week just won’t cut it. Try planning two to three different meals, so you only have a couple days of the same thing. It’s not a fail-safe solution, but seeing fish taco Tuesday is exciting, for one, and two, if you’ve shopped for the ingredients and they are in the fridge already, it’s much harder to order Pad Thai from across the street. The meal plan will take all of 10 minutes, and will help you fuel your work week, and your weekend rides.

Step 2: Shop

Knowing what you are cooking for the week makes doing a weekly grocery shop easy. No more wandering around the grocery store impulse buying. Having the bulk of your produce at the beginning of the week allows you to get home and unwind instead of adding the task of picking up groceries on the way home from work. It doesn’t sound like much, but with the food already in the fridge, you can start food prep earlier, and get to the good part! Picking up a couple of missing or forgotten items during the week is more manageable once the bulk has been taken care of.

Step 3: Prep

This is the part that will take the longest, but once you get into it, it can actually be a lot of fun. Use the time to catch up on some podcasts, or hang out with you significant other and prep together. Again, there are a lot of different ways to go about this, so you have to find what works for you. You can completely pre-cook a couple meals and then split them into containers to last you the week. Or, you can get everything ready to cook so it’s easy to throw together after work. Vegetables can be especially tedious to wash and chop, but once done you’ll find you use them a lot more readily.

Fueling For Your Ride

Cyclists should be focusing on what they can add to their diet to improve energy levels before, during and after rides. The calories and nutrients that you deprive your body of during the week will leave you feeling flat by the time you get to your next ride. Challenge yourself to be more mindful of how your body feels during a ride. Were you dropped that last time you rode on an empty stomach? If so, then try different approaches to see what works for you and has you feeling your best both on and off the bike.

Replacing Junk Food

Meal prepping and planning isn’t about sticking to a strict diet, but being mindful and planful when it come to what you’re putting in your body. We all have moments of weakness, but when you’ve taken steps to avoid the temptation altogether by having healthy, nutrient filled meals on demand, it’s a whole lot easer to forget about the junk food.  Snacking is the most dangerous part of your diet. Chips and salsa is great if they accompany Fish Taco Tuesday, but not great if they creep into a nightly routine.

Planning your snacks will help. Nuts and dried fruit are a cyclist’s best friend (try dates, figs and apricots they are underrated). Keep these in the pantry so they are easy to grab when a salt or sugar craving springs up. These nutrient-dense snacks can be sweet, salty and fatty but they are also providing your body with valuable resources that corn chips can’t.

If you’re trying to lose weight, riding your bike will be the biggest tool at your disposal. Adding volume to your weekly regime will shift your current caloric balance in your favor, but be warned – adding kilometers will also have you craving more food (pro tip: add good calories)!

If you are training with any kind of intensity, losing weight might be harder than you think. When you train with intensity your body will add muscle while shedding fat. This change in body composition replaces dead weight with functional muscle mass. This is why focusing on a number goal it’s always the best option. Instead, paying attention to the quality of the foods you put in your body will allow you to ride more, faster, and more frequently.

6 On-the-Bike Snacks For Your Jersey Pocket

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If you’re out on a ride when hunger strikes, there’s nothing worse than empty jersey pockets. On the bike snacks allow you the right food at the right time, not only keeping the hunger pains away, but also feeding your muscles and fighting off fatigue. A great guideline is that if you’re going to be out for anything over an hour, then take some snacks along.

That being said, as much as the right foods can have a positive effect on your ride, the wrong foods can have the same amount of impact. Sweet snacks may be tempting when the blood sugar is beginning to drop, but it will just cause a bigger crash later. Having the right snacks with you, stashed in your jersey pocket, will set you up for a great ride.

The Best On-The-Bike Snacks

What makes a good bike snack? It’s not just about giving you energy, but also its portability and durability. Things that will get squished or even melt will not be the most appetizing when you’re out on a ride. Here are some the best on the bike snacks:

Bananas

Bananas are nature’s energy bars, already wrapped and ready to go. Packed full of potassium and carbohydrates, you really can’t beat it for a mid-ride snack.

Energy Bars

You’ll want to be picky with which energy bars you take with you on your ride as so many are packed full of sugar they can have as much nutritional value as a chocolate bar. Check out the ingredients and go for ones with more whole grains, dried fruits and nuts as opposed to processed sugars. Even better you could make your own!

PB & J

The classic peanut butter and jelly (or honey) sandwich is a standby for a reason. Not only is it delicious, but it provides a great boost of lasting energy. Substitute the bread for a wrap so it doesn’t get squished and you’re on your way!

Trail Mix

Dried fruit and nuts are a great source of concentrated carbohydrates and potassium. Trail mix is also a great thing that you can make just the way you like. Head to the bulk food section of your grocery store and buy the mixins! (Maybe take it easy on the chocolate though).

Dried Fruit

If the idea of nuts and seeds is a little dry, go for some dried fruit. It’s sweeter alternative, and is convenient to carry around. Most dried fruits retain their nutritious content, so feel free to snack away!

5 Great Muscle Recovery Foods

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Post-workout recovery has different meanings for every individual. This could include activities such as ice baths, stretching, or just elevating your legs. One of the most important recovery aspects that tends to get neglected is proper nutrition after exercise. What you eat and when you eat can help your body recover quicker and replenish lost energy stores. Eating the closest thing available or what you’re craving is not always the best option but these muscle recovery foods will be sure to have you on the road to feeling great and having a stellar next ride. muscle recovery foods

5 Great Muscle Recovery Foods

Not sure what you should be eating post-workout? Here are 5 great muscle recovery foods to have you feeling great on your next ride.

#1 – Quinoa:

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One of the most important energy stores to replace after a ride are carbohydrates. As a general rule of thumb, you should try to begin to replace lost carbohydrates within twenty minutes of your ride. Quinoa is a great substitute to rice because it is highly nutrient dense. It has 6 grams of protein per cup and contains all 9 essential amino acids; something no other carb source can claim. The one amino acid that particularly helps sore muscles is lysine, which quinoa is high in. Quinoa provides carbohydrates, high amounts of protein, and even anti-inflammatory properties so it should be a regular “go-to” for your after workout meals.

#2 – Salmon:

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In addition to replacing carbohydrate stores, you will want to consume protein. Salmon is a great choice as it contains bio-active peptides; a small protein that has anti-inflammatory properties and helps joint function. Another great benefit of salmon is the amount of omega-3’s found within it, which help with muscle soreness and reduce swelling. In addition, omega-3’s influence the metabolic response of muscles to nutrition as well as the functional response.

#3 – Avocados:

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These small green fruits sure pack a punch! With twenty-two grams of fat in just one cup, it can be used as a healthy alternative to not-so-healthy traditional toppings like mayonnaise. The fat is also monounsaturated which means it’s the healthy kind that you want more of in your diet. These healthy fats support good heart health, immune system recovery, and vitamin absorption, particularly vitamin C,E,K, and B. With all of these qualities, avocados are also great for brain health and can help improve memory and learning capabilities.

#4 – Berries: Specifically Blueberries and Cherries (if you call them a berry):

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Berries in general are high in antioxidants but blueberries and cherries in particular have a high ORAC oxygen radical absorption capacity . This means that they neutralize free radicals which form as a result of exercising. The overall thing, in blueberries in particular, that can help muscle recovery is the phytochemical content which has been studied, albeit with loose benefits found, to see if it helped muscles after a strenuous exercise

#5 – Water:

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Drink water after riding is a no-brainer but drinking enough is often an overlooked challenge. Ideally you don’t finish a ride super dehydrated but it does happen. It’s important that the first thing that you start to get back into you is water, be it on its own or through a recovery drink to help get other quick nutrients right after. One of the reasons that being dehydrated can hinder muscle recovery is that it reduces blood plasma volume. This in-turn makes it difficult for energy and nutrients to reach the muscle.

There of course are more than 5 muscle recovery foods but if you include these foods in your diet on a regular basis after your rides, you should feel a difference later in the day as you won’t be exhausted. Additionally, you will have improved energy levels as well as less soreness the following day along with just how good you feel on your next ride. Eat right, feel great!

Cycling Nutrition: Common Mistakes to Avoid

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Cycling nutrition is about more than just what you’re eating. You have to take into account how much energy you’re spending, and ensuring you are getting the right nutrients at the right times to feed those muscles. Whether your goal is weight loss, or to simply feel better and stronger on and off your bike, there are some mistake you’ll want to avoid.

As we reach the end of January, those New Year’s diets and resolutions may be already slipping into the background. That may not necessarily be a bad thing. When we focus too much on diets or what we can or cannot do and eat, it is easy to fall off the bandwagon. You want to establish a healthy lifestyle, rather than a simple health kick that will come and go before you can experience any real changes.

Here are some of the most common nutrition mistakes that cyclists make.

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Skipping Breakfast

It doesn’t have to be a full-meal deal, but you want eat at least some breakfast, especially if you are planning on riding later. You have been effectively fasting overnight, so giving your body some fuel first thing will set the tone for your day and get your energy up. Not convinced? Here’s what eating breakfast will do for you:

  • It boosts your metabolism.
  • Keeps your blood sugar levels stable during the day
  • Reduces risk of craving or overeating later.

That being said, don’t go stock up on breakfast cereals. Think smoothies, oatmeal (not the instant kind), fresh fruit, eggs, and whole grain toast.

Waiting too long to eat in between meals

If you don’t eat, then you’ll lose weight, right? No. Not only can that mentality can create the starve-binge eating pattern, but it’s also hard on your body. If you go too long without eating, when you do eat you are more likely to eat too much or eat the wrong things. This surge of insulin sends fat storage into overdrive, which is counterproductive to weight loss.

You should never go more than four hours without eating. Snacking can be your friend! Avoid high sugar snacks that will spike your blood sugar and then lead to a crash, but instead nibble on foods that will sustain your energy levels throughout the day.

Not fueling properly

When you’re just starting out, or are focusing on weight loss, you may think that it’ll speed things up if you don’t eat before, during, or after a ride. However, if you’ve ever experienced undernourished muscles on a hard climb, you know this is not the case. You can get away with gels and bars on shorter rides, but if you are going out for hours at a time, you need to be fueling your body properly. You should also eat a small meal before your ride so you go in with energy to spare. (This does not mean carbo loading! See below…)

Carbo loading

There’s a bit of a misconception when it comes to carbo loading. Despite popular belief, it is not eating as many carbohydrates at a meal the night before a ride or event. That gigantic plate of pasta the night before your big ride is not carbo loading– it’s just a really big dinner. Most athletes do not even need to carbo load. The need arises if you are going to be pushing yourself at moderate to hard efforts for 2+ hours without access to food.

The goal of carbo loading is to ensure that you have maximum glycogen in your body for an an endurance ride or race. Glycogen is the fuel that powers your muscles, but there is an upper limit to how much glycogen a body can store. Recent research has revealed that it is most effective to do a short but intense workout before carb loading. This will make your muscles hungry for carbs so they will grab and store them for the upcoming event.

Post-ride binge

You’ve just finished a hard ride, so you’ve earned that large pizza, right? Not so much. It’s easy to eat just about anything that comes across your path after a ride, so make sure the right things cross your path. Plan a post-ride snack or meal ahead of time to save yourself from temptation.

Eating too late at night

Life gets busy, and it’s not always realistic to be sitting down to eat dinner at 5pm. Especially if you are training after work, you may not get home from the gym or a ride until 8pm. However, eating a big meal right before heading to bed can not only affect your sleep, but it also increases fat storage. The easiest fix is to try have your main meal at lunchtime, then have a small meal in the evening before you go to bed.

Eating too fast

With packed schedules it can be hard to have the time to sit down and eat slowly, but it’s important. Eating too fast results in eating too much. It takes about 20 minutes for your brain to catch up and tell you’re body it’s full, so if you just plow right through you’re going to miss those signals altogether.

Undereating and focusing too much on weight

It may tempting to starve yourself to reach that ideal weight and achieve that lean look in your lycra, but there are much healthier ways to get there. Eating disorders are surprisingly prevalent within the cycling world, and we need to be careful with our habits and our words (and how they may impact those around you). We should replace talk of losing weight with eating healthy and training hard.

TORQ USA-Why Should I Fuel

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*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)…

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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:

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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.

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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.

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TORQ USA Sports Nutrition Products Now Available to Our Readers

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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.

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Recovery Shakes For Cycling

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Intervals over, race finished, epic ride complete, or evening hammer fest with your buddies; your legs are screaming. They are broken down and need fuel to return them to their normal state. A quick and convenient way to get that fuel quickly to your muscles are recovery shakes.

Training and Muscle Damage

Heavy training will cause muscle damage. It is imperative to repair that muscle damage, in the form of microscopic tears in the muscle, so you can come back stronger from training. Those microscopic tears is the muscle soreness that you feel after a hard ride. Without proper recovery, training will be for naught.

Why Recovery Shakes?

Recovery shakes deliver the protein and carbohydrates quickly that muscles crave. Protein diluted in a solution is more easily absorbed by the body than solid food that the body needs to fully digest. There is a finite window to replenish the muscles’ protein and glycogen supply to start rebuilding and recovering after a ride or race. It is easy to keep recovery shakes on hand in the form of mix, whether it is at home or on the road so you can always be on top of your recovery regimen.

An added bonus of recovery shakes is if you choose the right ingredients it will taste almost like a milkshake. It will feel like a treat after all the hard work on the bike, but what you are really doing is treating your body right by providing proper nutrition.

The Magic Ratio

Many recovery shakes are not targeted to cyclists. They have a lower carbohydrate to protein ratio, usually around two to one. These products target muscle focused exercise without much of an aerobic element. Their goal is to build muscle as quickly as possible.

Cycling demands a higher ratio of carbohydrates to protein, typically a four to one ratio. The reason is that all of the aerobic and anaerobic work depletes the body’s supply of glycogen, the main fuel for forming ATP, which fires the muscles. A gym workout lifting weights will not have nearly the same impact on glycogen levels as a four hour ride. Recovery shakes contain protein to repair muscle cells damaged from the ride. The body breaks the protein down into amino acids, which it then allocates as needed to rebuild proteins for cell repair.

Types of Protein

There are many different protein-based recovery shakes available. Not only are they different brands, but they have different protein in them that have different properties. Some recovery shakes may have more than one form of protein in them as well.

Whey Isolate

Whey isolate is derived from milk. Twenty percent of the protein in milk is from whey. Isolate has little to no fat or lactose. This has a higher concentration of protein than whey concentrate.

Whey Concentrate

Whey concentrate has a bit of lactose and fat, although not much. It is also derived from milk. This is the most common form of protein you will find in a recovery shake.

Casein or Milk Protein

These terms are interchangeable. Eighty percent of the protein in milk is casein. The body absorbs it more slowly than whey proteins, over the course of hours. It has a higher glutamine content than other proteins, which supports the immune system.

Egg White Protein

Egg white protein is not all that common anymore. It was once believed that eggs were the perfect recovery protein, but that is no longer true with better technology to extract protein from other foods.

Plant Based Proteins

There are many plant based proteins – soy, hemp, pea, rice, etc. There is protein in everything; as long as someone can extract it cost-effectively and it is nutritionally beneficial, it exists somewhere. Plant based proteins are a must for vegans. They are also helpful for those that are lactose intolerant or those with allergies.

Common Recovery Shakes for Cycling

Most companies that make cycling-specific recovery shakes make it with with the right ratio of carbohydrates to protein. Clif, Gu, Vega, Hammer, Endurox and many other have some form of recovery shake tailored to the needs of a cyclist’s recovery. Try out a few to see which one agrees with your palate , stomach, and muscles.

Make the Most of Your Training

To make the most of your training, it is necessary to get the best recovery possible. Doing the right thing in this situation can also be very easy – grab a recovery shake after a ride and let your body take over with the important fuel needed for optimal recovery.

Nutrition for Cyclists – A Basis

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Eating right can be hard at the best of times, especially for those of us who like to exercise as a hobby. With a passion for cycling often comes a need for a balanced diet – and this is even more true when you opt to cycle for long periods of time, or even on a more professional level. Nutrition is a minefield of do’s and don’ts for many areas of exercise, so knowing the right nutrition for cyclists of any ability is essential if you want to get the best out of your ride. Let’s take a look at the right kinds of nutrition to help you to become not just a healthier cyclist – but a faster and stronger rider, too.

Nutrition for Cyclists – Carbohydrates for Fuel

If you are a keen cyclist, you’ll probably know that carbohydrates can be your best friend. While it’s no secret that they are the body’s main energy source while cycling, knowing a weekly and daily requirement for carbohydrates may not be so easy.

Carbohydrates need to support your cycling routines and not hinder them, and the reality is that too large a portion can lead to peaks and dips in energy that can actually leave you feeling lethargic. A good rule of thumb is to aim to eat a fist-sized portion of low-glycaemic carbohydrates to ensure that you get a steadier release of energy as you ride. Low-glycaemic carbohydrates burn slower than others, so eating foods such as wholegrains, fruit and vegetables will promote the right intake. Add these to each meal, or carry small portions as snacks when you head out for a ride to obtain optimal nutrition for cyclists.

Powerful Protein?

Many sports enthusiasts will tell you that protein is muscle food and therefore not essential nutrition for cyclists but getting a good amount of protein when you ride will work to support your overall health – mainly in terms of immune function and recovery. As protein is responsible for tissue maintenance, it will aid the recovery of any muscle damage that you experience during your ride and this can be particularly important if you are riding on a more professional level.

Try adding beans, lean meats, fish, and dairy (potentially)  into your diet for a no-fuss boost of protein, and as these foods tend to be more filling than sugar-filled carbohydrates, you’ll feel fuller for longer, too!

Vitamins and Minerals

There are two main types of vitamins that you need to ingest for good nutrition for cyclists; fat-soluble and water-soluble vitamins. Fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, and K) are stored within the body to be used at a later date while water-soluble vitamins (B vitamins, folate, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, biotin, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, and vitamin C) are needed daily to ensure a balanced diet. Fruits and vegetables are a rich source these in general and this is why nutritionists everywhere promote that you eat 5 pieces each day. Opt for a range of colors when you buy fruit and veg for a balanced diet- and in darker shades – to really get a well-rounded amount of each.

Minerals such as calcium, iron, and zinc are also necessary for good cycling nutrition, but as these are only needed in small quantities, your intake of 5-a-day should more than suffice.

The Right Amount of Calories

Whether you ride your bike on a personal or professional level, it is important to remember that cycling will require you to increase your calorie intake. This is because you will need to replace the extra calories that you burn whilst riding.

Knowing how many extra calories to ingest can be a problem as simply upping portion size and eating more calorie-rich foods can cause you to consume too many calories. A great way to keep on top of the right amount of calories for your needs is to multiply the distance you travel in miles by 40-50 calories. Try to keep towards the lower limit if you’re a slower or lighter rider and consume towards the top end if you typically cycle faster or are heavier as you will be burning more calories to cover the same distance. This calorie calculator can help to estimate calories burned while riding.

Timing Pre-Ride Nutrition

It is really important to have a good plan for timing pre-ride nutrition for cyclists. Nobody wants to ride hungry or with a belly full of food, so be sure to eat at the right time! Experts suggest that eating a your pre-ride meal at least 90 minutes before a ride is the best way to go, but eating small, regular meals throughout the day and downsizing your three main meals to allow for the right snacks at the right time will help ensure that you are properly fueled, whenever you decide to jump on the bike.

Dairy and Cycling – Pros and Cons

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There’s not doubt whatsoever — and science will back this up — that milk is the gold standard of nutrition…for a calf. If you research the information provided by the National Dairy Council, dairy products are promoted as one of the pinnacles of sports nutrition. However dairy and cycling doesn’t necessarily always play together well. Look at nature as an example; humans are the only species that actually go back to drinking milk after being weaned off.

Dairy and Money

The reason for the controversy around dairy and cycling centers around profit. The pricey cost of dairy products make it lucrative for manufacturers. Gold medal cyclist Kristin Armstrong, former spokesperson for chocolate milk, (more on this later) is a perfect example of the dairy industry using a cycling superstar to promote dairy products.

Benefits of Dairy

But lets not be overly harsh on them either, dairy products can be very important to your health. They are a good delivery systems for foods such as yogurt, flavored drinks, spreads, and a wide range of other products that contain compounds and nutrients that are essential to good health and performance. Protein is a prime example of one of the benefits of milk.

Questions From the FTC

The Federal Trade Commission took claims that milk was the gold standard of nutrition to the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) , to look into the scientific basis of the claims made in those goofy “milk mustache” advertisements. The outcome flies in the face of milk. Mark Hyman MD., has published a variety of reasons why milk may not be the perfect food.

Dairy and Cycling

“Dairy may cause numerous allergy-based infections ranging from ear infections, to respiratory, to gastrointestinal and skin symptoms. Anyone who suffers from these is recommended to have a strict 2-3 month dairy free period to see if symptoms ease.” Says Dr Michael Greger.

Dr. Spock

Dr. Benjamin Spock, probably the most respected pediatrician of all time, takes it a step further and recommends a life-long elimination of cow’s milk.

What is Milk

  • Most milk comes from pregnant cows; therefore carries a lot more estrogen to your diet. Estrogen is another story in itself.
  • Cows are often fed antibiotics, engineered hormones, pesticides, and other chemicals that flow directly to your milk.
  • Human milk has 10 times as much essential fatty acids and three times as much selenium as cow’s milk.
  • Adult cows get the calcium they need from plants, not milk.
  • It still remains widely accepted that calcium in dairy products strengthens bones and can help prevent osteoporosis.

Other Nutrient Sources

Some scientists agree that it’s better for us to get calcium, probably the most touted benefit of milk, from other food sources. Calcium, potassium, protein and fats, also in milk, are readily available in whole plant foods — vegetables, fruits, beans, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and even seaweed if you like sushi.

Lactose Intolerance

Then there’s the lactose intolerant issue with dairy and cycling. The majority of humans naturally stop producing significant amounts of lactase, the enzyme needed to properly metabolize lactose, the sugar in milk, sometime between the ages of two and five. Most mammals stop producing the enzymes needed to properly digest and metabolize milk after they have been weaned. Dairy causes digestive problems for about 75 percent of the population.

Constipation Issue

Constipation (this one is tricky for cyclists) with dairy and cycling is controversial and it can be a problem. According to pediatric testing, milk can cause constipation. And it’s a well known fact that cheese causes constipation.

Diabetics Take Note

Early exposure to cow’s milk has been implicated in the pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes. Albeit, in all fairness to milk, these test have typically centered around exposure to cow’s milk at an early age.

Mucus and Cycling

A study done in 2005 — these are really dated — published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, researchers were unable to detect any measurable mucus increase. Dr. James Steckelberg is a consultant in the Division of Infectious Diseases and a professor of medicine at the Mayo Medical School. He has this to say about mucus: “Although drinking milk may make phlegm (mucus) thicker and more irritating to your throat than it would normally be, milk doesn’t cause your body to make more phlegm. In fact, frozen dairy products can soothe a sore throat and provide calories when you otherwise may not eat.”

What This All Means

  • What this all means to you is that you should think about what you’re putting in your body. If dairy products work for you the so be it, but you’re more likely to have fewer health issues by sticking with water or sports drinks.
  • Based on the limited research, milk appears to have favorable alterations in protein metabolism. The results of this study suggest that dairy can be an effective post-exercise rehydration drink and can be considered for use during and after cycling by everyone except those individuals who have lactose intolerance.
  • Milk’s nutrients—protein, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and water—are rapidly absorbed and metabolized by the body to produce energy during cycling and help to replenish nutrient stores after activity. New research shows that milk is just as effective than commercially-available sports drinks and can increase muscle growth
  • Some cyclists may be fond of believing that a glass of chocolate milk is the perfect beverage. But although it has a good carb-to-protein ratio, the average store bought chocolate milk has a lot of high-fructose corn syrup — if you’re comfortable with that.

It’s Your Call

If you’re considering dairy and cycling as part of your regimen, it boils down to personal choice. But dairy is not a secret weapon. You can perform at your highest levels without it. The nutrients dairy provides can readily be obtained from other sources. On the other hand, unless you have a reason to avoid dairy products, it is worth considering the benefits of dairy. Dairy can make a contribution to your energy and nutrition goals and your post ride recovery.  As an added plus, dairy products are delicious and what would life be without them.

How Much a Pro Cyclist Eats

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How Much a Pro Cyclist Eats

Pro cyclists ride their bikes a lot and thus burn an absurd amount of calories. For optimal performance these calories must be replaced with optimal nutrients and of sufficient quantity. How much a pro cyclist eats depends on their training and racing load as the more they ride, the more they eat. With the high activity level, metabolism follows suit and even if a professional rider isn’t training as much, their body is still burning ‘hot’ and metabolizing a lot of food. The average cyclist typically isn’t going to come close to the calorie consumption of a professional cyclist but they can try.

How Much a Pro Cyclist Eats For Breakfast

On a big training or racing day, the typical pro road cyclist is going to consume between 1,000 and 2,000 calories to prepare for the task at hand. This is generally going to be an assortment of oats, rice, pasta, eggs, bread, pastries, fruit, and sometimes juice and most of the time coffee; ample coffee. They will eat this number of calories at least three hours before the ride to ensure that it all isn’t just sitting in their stomach when they try and go hard.

How Much a Pro Cyclist Eats While Riding

A pro cyclist eats a lot on the bike as typically the length of races range from three to six hours. Liquid food simply can’t provide someone with enough calories without potentially getting an upset stomach so real food is eaten. Depending upon intensity, a pro rider can burn anywhere from 500 to over 1000 calories per hour and the general goal is to replace half those calories each hour. This is done by eating little pre-made sandwiches typically of ham, sometimes cheese, maybe jelly or Nutella or if you’re in Europe, Eurocrem. Also, rice cakes, bars, and an assortment of cookies will be eaten along with gels and other quick digesting pre-packaged foods toward the end of a race. Because the main energy source is from carbohydrates namely in the form of sugar, things like candy bars and Coke’s are also eaten and drunken in ample quantities.

How Much a Pro Cyclist Eats For Dinner

With a big day of racing or training behind a pro rider, dinner is thoroughly looked forward toward and enjoyed. The breakdown of the body after a hard workout is reparable by eating the proper nutrients; namely protein, carbohydrates, and fat with sufficient vitamins and minerals. The riders who can eat the same as or more of what they burned simply will be able to recover faster and become stronger as the body has what it needs to repair itself. For dinner, meals generally revolve around a main carbohydrate such as rice or pasta depending upon where you are in the world. The exact protein as well as side vegetables depends also on where you are in the world as in Europe there are a lot of different things available than say compared to Asia and cultural differences as say compared to the United States. Quantity wise, many pros will eat three full plates of food to recover and fuel for the next day’s ride or race.

Differences in Consumption During Training and Racing

There are two big differences to what and how much a pro cyclist eats relative to if they are racing or just training. Typically at races the menu is just whatever the hotel or restaurant is serving although a number of the larger teams have their own chefs to ensure their riders are getting exactly what they need. When out racing you can’t always have what you would normally make at home while training where you can make exactly what you want. Also while home training, pros are generally in a constant battle with losing weight. Training is the time to do it so calories are often limited so even though a ride may have burned 5000 calories, they may only replace 4000 of them.

While pro cyclists can eat a lot of food, they can also ride relatively far and fast on very little food and can rely on the efficient conversion of fat to energy. This is also where they differ from the average cyclist. Their bodies are so tuned at being able to eat, digest, and turn large quantities of food into energy that they can also use those energy stores and convert them to energy far after the average cyclist would have bonked and gone home.

The Totals

The grand total of what a pro cyclist eats in a day can range from 3000 calories on a shorter day to upwards of 9 and 10,000 calories on massive race or training days. That’s the equivalent of one and a half to five times what the average person eats in a day. That’s simply a lot of food. When races roll into town, race hotel kitchens are briefed ahead of time as to the quantity of food that is needed otherwise they would simply run out before everyone had their fill. The more you ride the more you eat. To eat as much as a pro cyclist it would not only take a lot of riding but also years of building your metabolism. The more efficiently you can convert a lot of food to helpful things in your body to rebuild muscles, the better cyclist you will be and whether the pro had the natural talent or gained it over the years, they have their eating dialed.

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