You go out on a bike ride regularly and maybe you even monitor your training load. You might even follow a training plan. Everything done correctly, right? Well maybe, because a lot of cyclists forget the nutritional strategy. That is a pity, because sub-optimal nutrition affects your performance. Allow us to explain the basic principles of a good nutritional strategy, so what to eat and drink before, during and after your bike rides.

What do you need for optimal performance.

You go out on a bike ride regularly and maybe you even monitor your training load. You might even follow a training plan. Everything done correctly, right? Well maybe, because a lot of cyclists forget the nutritional strategy. That is a pity, because sub-optimal nutrition affects your performance. Allow us to explain the basic principles of a good nutritional strategy, so what to eat and drink before, during and after your bike rides.

What do you need for optimal performance?

Nutrition means fuel (calories) and nutrients, which are both needed for optimal performance and even the prevention of injuries. As a cyclist, your daily intake of food and liquids can be split into the three, well-known macro nutrients. It should consist of 6-10 grams per kilogram of body weight of carbohydrates, 1.5-2.0 gram/kg body weight of protein and 20 % of total calories intake through fat. In general, your daily intake should include 200-300 grams of vegetables, at least 2 pieces of fruit, whole grain cereal products, dairy (substitutes), meat (substitutes), nuts and seeds, 1.5 liters of water/tea, fats like olive oil and enough sunlight or vitamin D3 supplements. Your weekly diet also needs to include fat fish, vegetables and peas. Alcohol negatively affects your immune system and reduces the protein synthesis during the recovery phase after a strenuous exercise and is therefore not recommended.

How much carbohydrates do you need?

Carbohydrates and protein are key in optimizing performance and recovery. Carbohydrates are stored in your muscles, liver and blood in the form of glycogen and are used when exercising. Depending on the duration of the effort you need to replenish this stock. To top off glycogen stores 3-4 hours prior to a hard exercise, a carbohydrate rich meal (200-300 gram, simple carbohydrates) can be consumed. For efforts up to 60 minutes, there are enough carbohydrates in stock in your body, so you don’t need to consume any extra. However, a drink with some fast carbohydrates will never hurt your performance. For efforts between 1 hour and 2.5 hour exercise, 45-60 grams/hour is usually sufficient. For exercises lasting more than 2.5 hours up to 90 grams/hour of glucose/maltodextrin and fructose (in a 2:1 ratio!) is needed. This ratio is important, because when the transporter proteins for glucose in the intestines are saturated, the fructose transporters are still available, partly the reason that explains this larger carbohydrate uptake.

Timing of carbohydrate intake.

There are many strategies for improving performance by (temporarily) omitting carbohydrates from the diet, but to start, you should be able to handle the 90 gram/hour intake without any gastrointestinal distress. Because, in the end, that is what your body needs during a race or a cyclosportive. In general, the higher the quality and volume of the training, the more extreme the environmental conditions (hot, cold, altitude), the more important the supply of carbohydrates becomes. Consuming enough carbs during and post exercise is essential to replenish the glycogen stores, facilitate fast recovery and reduce the impaired immune response. 1.0-1.5 gram/kg body weight of carbs is sufficient in the first half hour after exercise. This can be repeated every two hours over the next 4-6 hours.

How much protein do you need?

Protein consists of essential, partly-essential and non-essential amino acids. Your diet needs to be varied and should therefore contain the essential amino-acids, because the body is not able to create them itself. Your body can only fully recover and facilitate metabolic adaptations with a positive protein balance. It is recommended to consume your total daily protein needs in 6 little portions of 0.25-0.3 gram/kg body weight. The older you get, the more protein you need, up to 0.4 gram/kg body weight. Longer bike rides of 4 hours or more may, in addition, also require ~5 grams/hour protein intake, to replenish the protein that has been used along the way. Post exercise, 1 dairy-based protein portion needs to be consumed within the first hour. Dairy is rich in casein and whey, that both consist of all the 9 essential amino acids and have proven to be the best muscle adaptation facilitators. Optimally, you consume something rich in whey within half an hour after exercise and something rich in casein before you go to bed. By doing so, the faster digestion and absorption kinetics of whey optimize a fast recovery, while the ‘slower’ casein facilitates optimal muscle synthesis during the night. So take that bowl of cottage cheese/quark

What is good hydration?

Last but not least: hydration. Your urine should be pale yellow. This means in general that you should drink 0,5-1L per hour when exercising, preferably not plain water but isotonic sports drinks. This helps to replenish the electrolyte losses and also deliver some of the needed carbohydrates. However, if your stomach isn’t used to these kinds of volumes yet, the advice is to practice this in training. When your post-workout urine runs too dark, then you haven’t drunk enough.

Train your gut.

In summary, start with the basics: make sure you have got your macronutrients dialed in in the right proportions. Thereafter, let your gut get used to the consumption of large quantities of carbohydrates and liquids during training. The biggest mistake we often see is that cyclists have not trained a proper fueling strategy but still expect the body to handle large amounts of carbohydrates come race day. After the finish, replenish your carbohydrates and protein stocks and don’t wait too long doing that! And just wait for a few hours before hitting that tempting, celebratory glass of beer or wine. Bon appetit!