SNACKS!!!!!!!!!! This week I want to talk about on bike nutrition. The cool part of on bike nutrition is it’s pretty similar for indoor and outdoor. As an overarching rule, maybe eat/drink a tad more inside. The increase in heat generally means more calories burned. I’ll break down nutrition into a couple parts. We’ll start with the types of nutrition, when to take them and I’ll finish with "real" food vs packaged(think like blocks and gels). As a general rule, you’re not eating enough. World tour pros are now aiming for anywhere from 100-190 carbs an hour. AN HOUR. For reference, this would be an entire 20oz bottle of skratch labs, 1 skratch bar, 2 servings of skratch chomps(1 bag) and 1 Gu gel(actually only 90 grams of carbs total for this combo…). every hour. Obviously we are not racing world tour level, but you get the idea. Fueling the ride will truthfully change your riding.

The foods: sports nutrition is an interesting market. We’ve been sponsored by Power bar up until this year. They make the whole bevy of options from gels to chews/blocks/chomps.gummies etc, to the good ol’ bar. Personally I’ve always been a fan of skratch labs, and more specifically, Dr. Allen Lim. Dr Lim has always been a proponent of real foods. preferring to use things like chocolate chip cookies(i’ll come back to this) potatoes, bananas and rice cakes. Before I go further, what’s the purpose of food on the bike? We need to fuel the efforts we’re doing and for endurance sports, primarily the body uses carbohydrates to fuel the muscles being used. Allen Lim designed Skratch labs products using real foods. the main ingredient in the lemons and limes drink mix? lemons and limes. For myself, I stumbled on skratch as it was recommended to me when I was having gut distress when using gels and such. I found the bars and chomps from skratch didn’t upset my stomach when in efforts and they tasted light enough to not bother me. This is my long winded way of saying try a couple different brands to figure out what works for you, and more importantly, NEVER DO IT ON RACE DAY. use your training rides to also train how and when to eat on the bike.

Gels: Gels are the simplest, fastest way to get carbohydrate(sugar mostly) into your system. It’s exactly how it sounds: a semi liquid that digests rapidly to provide carbohydrate into the bloodstream. There are two types of gels: isotonic and non isotonic. Gu branded gels are non isotonic. SiS and Maurten are isotonic. Isotonic gels do not need water when eating. A big mistake I see is riders taking a Gu, not drinking water with it and actually dehydrating and having stomach issues. Take the gel with a mouthful of water. SiS and maurten you can just consume. The invention of the isotonic gel has truly started the high carb phase we’re in now. The ability to just consume gels and never worry about it upsetting your stomach changed the game.

Bars: the original power started this. Granola bars, power bars and nutrigrain bars etc. all fall in this category. These are more complex forms of carbs and take longer to digest. As a rule, I start with bars and my drink mix, and switch to faster forms (gels and chomps) later into the ride.

Chomps/Blocks: These have quickly become my favorite fuel source. easy to digest and require some chewing. It tricks my mind and body into thinking it’s eating real food, but in a rapidly digestible state. Again, my personal favorite is Skratch chews. Think like a sour patch kid. It’s a gummy bear/worm consistency with a sugar coating. delicious. Fast sugar into the system.

I’ll take this time to explain how I like to consume food. going back to Allen Lim’s idea of real food. I prefer to eat things that require actual eating lol. Skratch bars, Uncrustables, Blocks, Chocolate chip cookies are always my first choice, especially on long days. Having a "full" feeling stomach lets me know that for the time being, I’m fueled. I also love that it doesn’t upset my stomach when eating "real" food. Story time! One of Allen Lim’s first forays into this real food theory was chocolate chip cookies. His team was complaining about the sponsor food they used. The bars being hard and almost impossible to eat when the temperature dropped below 45*, and caused stomach issues when too many were consumed. When he looked at what the bars were made of, it made complete sense to him that they were causing distress. His logic led him to a couple questions: what is the purpose of the bar? What are the ingredients? What does an athlete need? When he thought about it, he realized at the core the rider needs salt, carbohydrate, sugar and protein. When he thought longer, it dawned on him that a homemade chocolate chip cookie is in fact carbohydrate, sugar, salt and protein. So he started making the riders cookies. As an added benefit, the riders felt like they had a secret weapon because the other teams were confused why they were eating cookies. For Dr. Lim, it was easy to get his riders to actually eat. They weren’t scared of gut rot, they loved the taste and mentally it boosted the riders thinking they had a secret over the rest of the peloton. Next came the rice cakes. Simple, easy food that the riders wanted to eat. perfect.

As an example, I’ll give you what I eat on two different rides. Most of you have probably seen my beloved 12.4 mile lunch loop. 12.4 miles, 491 feet of elevation roughly 36(KOM) to 45 minutes. For this ride, ill consume a bottle of Skratch mix(20 grams of carb) and usually half a pack of chomps/a gel depending on my current food inventory. generally this ride is just to get out and enjoy bicycles. When attempting a KOM, I’ll add a gel to this. I usually also have had an actual lunch prior to this. For those that have done the VeloTechs Saturday morning coffee ride and know the route/company in which we ride with and the level of spice in which it’s ridden at know its a good one(im hoping to bring this back for spring and summer). 36.31 miles, 1039ft of elevation. For my best rides breakfast is usually peanut butter and jelly. On the ride, I’ll have 2 20oz skratch bottles(pineapples because it’s the best flavor, I will fight you over this), 2 packs of Skratch chomps, A skratch bar and up to 2 SiS gels(also pineapple, fight me). I front load the bar, then chomps, then the gels.

It does take time to get used to eating on the bike. You must train that too. Always practice on training rides. Race day is never the day to try new fueling strategies or new foods. If you couldn’t tell, I prefer to eat actual food first. I found this to be best for me and I encourage all of my athletes to start here, but always try and figure out what is best for you. It takes time, practice and a couple fails to work out what’s best for you. Don’t be scared to try new things. When riding a metric or longer, I love uncrustables. Again, real food being my go to.

Other tips and tricks: One of the best ways to tell if you’ve fueled correctly is when finishing the ride, you shouldn’t feel blown up, tired yes but not blown. Secondary to this is that you shouldn’t feel like you’re starving and need to raid the snack cabinets. Having a level mind to think about a proper meal, and the ability to make that meal without also consuming an entire family sized bag of doritos while cooking means you nailed it. Practicing your fueling strategies on long rides and repeated hard efforts will let you glean some insight into what may work for you on race day. My best ride last year came from LEw Saling memorial TT. I warmed up with an entire bottle of skratch labs, and took a gel on the start line. This was perfect for the roughly 28 minute effort. I probably could have taken one more gel somewhere in the middle, but I never felt like a bonk was coming. I’ll try this this year! I hope this explains at least a 10,000ft view of on bike nutrition. As always, this is just a starting point!

Enjoy the snacks!