Mountain Bike Rider: I need energy

Diet is important. I do some trailquests and, trying to keep a good pace throughout the day is important, so I have faced some of the same issues for these.

Carbs are important. So pasta up the night before. For breakfast, have cerial. This is a good food for slow release energy. The other thing that you are going to need is to do is make sure that you don't cramp up. You need a source of potasium. Thats why so many of the old school riders will chomp bananas.

You need a carbs drink. Water alone will not do the job. You need a quick way of replacing the energy that you are using and liquids are the best. I tend to Ride with SIS Go (Lemon and Lime or Tropical are my faves). Unless you are dragging a water bowser behind you, you are stuck with whats in your bottles and your Hydration pack. So it is worth weighing out the amount of powder that you need to refil your pack, pouring this powder into a zip type freezer bag and popping this in your back pocket. That way, if you need to refil, you are not stuck with water.

Energy bars. You want things with plenty of fruit and natural sugars, like honey. You can make your own flapjack to achieve this. However, I like the SIS Go bars. However, another company has come up with Pinacolada bars and I am sort of getting adicted to these.

Jelly Babies. These must be Bassets or it won't work. Quick, easy, get you up the next hill, sugar. Yum. Freezer bag again, this time with jelly babies.

Go Jells. Pop these regularly, perhaps every couple of hours. I also like the Cafien based. Many people will use these before a race. However, I use them for a cafien kick in the second half of the ride.

The trick is not to have a big meal. Eat the odd mouthful often and it will keep you going. All of this fueling is fighting a losing battle. You have two hours of energy built into your legs. You have about half hour in your internals. After that you hit the wall. To avoid this you fuel. Many tour riders will munch mars bars in seconds to keep themselves fueled. But the truth is that you will use more during the ride than you can put it. All you are doing is ensuring that you don't hit the wall during your ride.

When you stop riding your body will act like a spong for about 2 hrs. You will metabolise anything you put into your body 4 x faster than normal. Many people say that you should protien at this stage. Not a bad idea, but ballance this with carb replacement. Fats and salts are good. So order a bacon pasta with your bear and crisps. (I sometimes leave out the pasta bit and opt for a bacon butty, but the beer and crisps is a constant).

By refueling within this 2 hr window, it means that your overnight recovery should be smoother than not. This means that you won't ache so much the next day and will be able to ride, after a cerial breakfast, the next day.

Luck

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Lived fast and didn't

Rides - SCUD Misile (Seldom cleaned used dialy)
AKA a Giant XTC 4 with some mods.