Getting your fuelling spot on for long rides is probably one of the best ways to instantly improve your riding. We all know the basics, but how do you get the timing and nutrition just right to ride faster and enjoy it more? In this video, Conor shares his top tips and speaks to Precision Fuel & Hydration sports nutrition founder, Andy Blow, to get his expert advice on fuelling up like a pro.
00:00 How do you fuel for a long bike ride?
00:23 How much do you need to eat per hour?
01:07 What should you eat when cycling?
1:54 How much is right for you?
03:04 Staying on top of your nutrition during your ride
05:20 How do you hydrate on a long bike ride?
06:31 How do you eat while cycling?
08:10 What to do if you get your fuelling strategy wrong
09:57 What about fuelling with other macros besides carbs?
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What’s your preference for fuelling? What do you usually eat on long rides? 🍌
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37 Comments
What do you typically eat on your long rides? 🍌
I am 70 yo and I ride several centuries and 200 km rides per year. I’ve found water is much more important than carbs. a ziplock bag full or raisins and salted almonds is plenty of fuel for 100 k. I never eat while riding: I stop for a few minutes to eat. For 160 I have a sandwich for lunch, and for 200 I add one energy drink in the last hour. But I don’t ride fast. I never feel “ rubbish”. Take away message: drink plenty of water!
Gummy worms and a gatorade protein bar per 50 miles.
Not quite 100 miles, but I did 151km once fueled only by one banana, one Butterbrez'n (buttered salted pretzel) plus beer, one small piece of cake, one cappucino and a double espresso. I've done plenty of 100km rides without eating anything during the ride. The key to surviving without eating a lot during the ride is to go slow enough that you run mostly on fat. Highly unlikely that I ever run out of that fuel!
But on a serious note, I feel this is one of the many benefits of zone2 training. I used to be one of the "go hard, anytime"-guys when I was young. I've bonked several times, sometimes on rides as short as 65km, and bonk hard. The last two years, however, the bulk of my cycling has been zone 1 and 2, and for a while most of my morning commutes have been fasted. While I am not necessarily faster than before, I now can go much longer… and I've never bonked again. Well, technically I might have, because at the end of some rides I was definitely slowing down a bit, and some rolling hills or traffic lights needed getting out of the saddle (what they ususally don't), but overall it was a gradual adjustment of speed and then a "cap" of available power, instead of the man with the hammer hitting you. But even the capped power runnin of fat only was sufficient to get me home in good mood and without feeling ill…
Could I have gone (much) faster if fueled properly? Sure! But peace of mind and resilience is also worth something.
Conor's hat choice at 1:20 into the video looks perfect for fishing with his grandfather for protein between rides, though I wouldn't bet on him catching anything other than a cold.
Bei längeren Touren (ca. 100km mehrere Tage am Stück) komme ich ganz gut klar mit:
Ein Schokoriegeln zum Frühstück, 20-30km später ein gutes Frühstück beim Bäcker, bei 50-80km je nach Strecke gibts wieder was größeres zu beißen umd Abends ein ordentliches, kraftiges essen. Zwischendurch Protein oder Haferriegel. Andere Süßigkeiten auch. 2-6l Wasser am tag, zwischendurch ne Cola. Essen und trinken muss man bevor man es wirklich braucht. Vor allem Wasser!
Great video, Conor. Anyone got hints on how to set custom alerts on the wahoo element roam?
It depends entirely on the effort you are putting out and even more importantly, the ambient temperature.
I got round a 200km Audax ride in 8 hours with just 3 or 4 bananas. That was in Summer. I always use electrolytes (such as Zero dissolving tablets).
In winter, that same route had me eating in cafes twice and still struggling to get round. It added over 2 hours to my time. Cold weather burns calories faster than people realise.
If you are REALLY serious then you should train using some kind of Fasting routine. 50 mile rides in Zone 2 or maybe Zone 3. Force your body to adapt to burning fat as well as Carbs. Once you do that then the dreaded BONK won't hit you so quickly and so hard.
I've ridden 100 miles or more 94 times (my goal is 100 times) and I learned that, no matter how trivial you start thinking 100 miles is, it will always bite you if you don't take it seriously, and don't prep for it properly. One of my worst days on a bike was on a (usually) relatively easy 200km, when I'd had a few the night before, didn't carry enough food or water. I can still remember those final 50km. Trying to change into 1st gear … only to find I was already in 1st gear.
Did a 250 mile ride last week in 18hrs elapsed 14.5hrs in move. My fav meals on such long rides are dried apricots, dates, raisins. Bannanas are great but they are bulky and heavy, it worth to take a couple of them(or get at local shops). Also apples are refreshing. Gels are for races imho
Before raceday on sunday, it´s not enough to eat a plate of spaghetti the night before. Fueling is starting on Wednesday night or Thursday morning! At Saturday your fueling strategy must already be finished. It´s my experience. You feel full on raceday but it helps enormously
Conor seems to be riding the loudest bike on GCN, has he got everything setup correctly on his bike?
I've done the Seattle to Portland ride in a day (206 miles) as well as Ironman races. Without going into detail about my regimen, I will say nutrition is one of the most important factors. I set a timer for both eating and drinking and did so at regular intervals. It makes the difference between finishing and not finishing. You certainly don't get there on glycogen stores alone.
As my mate Jeff once said – carbs are legal dope!
Don’t take advice from some who wears a cap backwards.
For an ironman, how do you take enough fuel with you to get through 180km?? A bike bag is too heavy??
Why is he wearing a cap back to front, indoors??
As a type 1 diabetic, I can easily vouch for the 60-> g of carbs an hour. My regular cycling workout route is about 50 minutes, which I do at an avg HR of 140-150. If I leave home at a blood glucose level of under 10 mmol/L, I will have a hypoglycemic incident well before I'm back home. A tube of glucose pills with about 40g of carbs will be just about enough to keep me from going hypoglycemic. Healthy, non-T1D people shouldn't of course crash as bad as I do as their bodies can balance their blood sugar – my point is it seems like about 40-50g carbs is the minimum I need to add per hour of 140+ bpm avg hr activity to keep up. Maybe even more. I haven't done a multi hour effort at that rate in a loooong time.
Eat little and often, every 15/20 minutes works for me. Home made flapjack ( made with coconut oil & honey ), jelly sweets instead of energy gels they dont agree with me, in my bottles, fruit squash with 1 gram of salt, and shop bought pan o chocolate in a convenient bag or a jam sandwich.
The guy from Precision Fuel who claims at 05:00 that the brain ONLY runs on glycogen is utterly wrong and thus really creates doubt about both his credibility and integrity because the brain also uses ketones.
When glucose and insulin levels are low, your liver produces ketones from fatty acids and in most instances has demonstrated peak recovery and performance in this state with individuals who are fat adapted, which is why people often speak of feeling alert and functioning at their best when fasted, etc.
I understand he is trying to sell his products but both he and GCN end up looking like fools for simplifying and misleading viewers about such a basic physiological function.
It’s worth noting that feeling fatigue is normal after 6hrs or more in the saddle. Nutrition helps keep the legs turning but it’s fitness that makes the difference in the last hour.
In a group ride, may I add, drink and eat while you are at the back of the group, for safety's sake.
Bananas was the only thing I could tolerate when I was riding
I rarely take carbs for Any workout or ride under 90 minutes. If you fuel correctly before the workout your glycogen levels should be full enough to get you through the workout. Electrolytes with plenty of water is sufficient. Anything over 90 minutes I start fueling from 30 minutes into the ride.
Sodium isn't the only mineral you sweat out and needs to be replaced. Calcium, potassium and magnesium also should be replenished.
Low carb high fat source of energy is for low exertion activity. The fat burning process is way too slow to keep up with the body's needs when exercising more intensely, that's why when you don't fuel properly and run out of carbs, you "hit the wall" or "bonk".
I can easily ride 60/70 miles carrying no food, just a breakfast of oats beforehand and then water on the bike. I did this for several years without issue. However I recently started eating on the bike as an experiment and whilst the performance on the bike for long rides feels no different, I’ve discovered the real benefit is that I no longer have that ravenous hunger later in the day.
What sunglasses are those at 6:38 ?
Golden rule… Eat what you normally eat, race day is the worst time to experiment especially with food stations if available.
Generally good info. Howerver If you are in decent shape you should be able to ride for an hour or two without any fancy sports nutrition products. If you can’t then maybe look at your diet. Fats are what give you long term energy and even fairly lean people have enough for a a long ride. Constantly taking in carbs means you body never learns to access it’s fat stores. I think sports nutrition porducts are more for longer rides, 2 hours plus. I have ridden lot’s of long rides 2 or 3 hours with no or little food and I don’t think my performance suffered. Of course the companies that make and sell nutritiion products would have you believe that you should use it all the time. I would guess that the vast majority of rides are less that a couple of hours.
Real (UNPROCESSED) food is best for me. High on fibre, protein and rich with carbs. It has everything my body needs for any prolonged effort, and it is the most efficient way my body will process the nutrients. You could take sweet potatos on a ride, mais and rissoto balls with bits of dates, some fruits are prime for natural sugars. Quick energy. I prefer fruits over gels any day of the week. Cause who knows whats in those plastics satchels. Nope, no gels for me. Just food.
Also on longer rides; gives me an excuse to stop at a café and treat myself to a lunch or a snack.
I Do always separate hydration from carbohydrates. I drink electrolytes with no sugar. Especially on hot days I think it makes much sense keep things seperated.For my fueling I take gels every 20-30 min. So far it works for me.
Unbelievably this is filmed in and around Avening the village I grew up in. Also top fuelling tips 😂
After years of trial and error and just forcing myself to drink more while riding–even if I'm not "thirsty"–I feel like I've finally got a pretty good handle on it. I did a century this past weekend and felt 100% the whole time. Never bonked. Never flagged. Had tons of energy and power right up to the finish line. In fact, I could easily done another 30 or 40 miles. Nutrition-wise, I hate gels and never use them. I eat real food on my rides–if I eat at all. On the century ride I just did I brought a mixed bag of cookies and nuts from home… and had a couple of small sandwiches along the way… and started with my bottles full of ice and electrolyte drink… and ended with just water the last 50 or so miles. I find it's also helpful to get off the bike every 25 miles or so… at the beginning… more often toward the end of the ride. Find a shady spot, take a piss, stretch the legs and back and arms… eat and drink… then take off again. If I do that I feel MUCH better at the end of the ride–and the next day.
brain can run on ketones too, right? 5:15
Have been focussed on nutrition since I started racing back in the 1980's. But we have a lot better info on optimizing "watering" – and better quick foods such as gels etc. than ever before. Makes doing it right a lot easier. Still, a banana and sandwich can do a lot with the right amount of water.
Flapjacks for me. Stop for couple of bites of these with a swig of water every 25 miles or so.
I can ride 40 miles off 2 pieces of buttered toast without bonking. Haven't tried any more than that tho