On the other hand, erring on the side of being slightly hungry means you can quickly and easily get back to feeling great by eating some carbohydrate. To make matters worse, the only remedy involves slowing down, cooling down, sipping water, and waiting. Eating more than you need or can process quickly means you have food hanging around in your gut too long, and that leads to nausea. Overeating is one of the most common mistakes I see during longer rides and gran fondos. On the bike itвЂ™s better to be a little hungry than to be over filled. Overeating is worse than eating too little

If that same rider is racing or in a fast group doing 800 kilojoules of work per hour, then 40-60 grams of carbohydrate per hour may be necessary. IвЂ™d recommend this rider aim for 100-150 calories of carbohydrate (25-37 grams) per hour during rides longer than 90 minutes. For example, 500 kilojoules/hr is good ballpark for the work done by a medium-sized, moderately-fit male cyclist riding at a sustainable endurance pace. If youвЂ™re riding with a power meter I recommend consuming enough carbohydrate calories to replenish 20-30% the kilojoules of work youвЂ™re doing per hour. I find itвЂ™s better to gauge carbohydrate intake by a riderвЂ™s hourly kilojoule output. You only need to aim for the high end of the range вЂ“ or train your gut to absorb up to 90 grams/hr вЂ“ when your rides are long enough and/or strenuous enough to deplete carbohydrate stores. That doesnвЂ™t mean you always need to consume as much as you can possibly absorb. The standard sports nutrition recommendation of 30-60 grams of carbohydrate per hour of aerobic exercise is based on the fact most people can only absorb about 1 gram of carbohydrate per minute. What you eat during rides is therefore affected by not only the length of the ride, but potentially by intensity demands as well. Similarly, the interval workouts that build the fitness that makes those high-power efforts possible are fueled by carbohydrate. Cycling is an intermittent-intensity sport, meaning there are periods when of low- to-moderate intensity that are primarily fueled by fat, but there critical moments of group rides or competitions are higher intensity efforts that require carbohydrate. If you donвЂ™t have carbohydrate available, your power output, ability to repeat hard efforts, and likelihood of success all go down. There is a time and place for training with low carbohydrate stores, but when itвЂ™s time to go hard in interval workouts or competitions, those high-intensity efforts are fueled by carbohydrate. At first, the detriment is small, but it gets worse the more dehydrated you become. Dehydration slows gastric emptying and slows gut motility. It doesnвЂ™t matter what you eat or how much if you are dehydrated that energy will either make it to working muscles more slowly or stay in your gut long enough to lead to nausea. Your nutrition strategy can only work if you are well hydrated. Cycling Sports Nutrition Principles to Remember Hydration drives nutrition strategy

What to pack on a mtb ride