Do we have a nutrition thread?

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My ride this past Sunday was a miserable one and I bonked way early. I was still digging myself out of the dark cave so I hadn’t eaten anything but a slice of pizza the day before, and I can’t usually stomach breakfast anyway (and eating before a ride almost always results in acid reflux), but I know I should be better about it.

Given that I’m entering more and more BMX races and spending more and more time trail riding I think it’s time I pay more attention to what I eat and how it affects riding. I noticed a massive improvement in my own energy when I ate a simple chicken sandwich at lunch before a post-work race.

What do y’all eat the day before a race of whatever variety, and what do you eat on race days?

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When I’m racing I eat small and often. And try to never eat within 1.5 hours of the race start (for cross).

These days I often eat waffles in the morning on the weekend. But, TC, my best races may have been after eating an egg and cheese biscuit and some hash browns from McDonald’s.

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i haven’t done a longer-than-cyclocross bike race in a while. for cross i don’t really worry too much about what i eat. do a gel before the start and that seems to work.

the race i do that takes a lot of attention to fueling is a 3+ hour skate ski race. you have to bus to the start an hour+ in advance of the start and there’s no food at the start. i’ve been eating a protein-heavy breakfast (mostly eggs) before and then bringing a bagel and banana and that kind of thing to the start area.

it’s very hard to eat during a race where there are long sticks strapped to your hands. it’s very hard to drink during a race where there are sticks strapped to your hands and whatever drink you bring is likely to freeze.

oh and the feed zones are a disaster for the first 20k, so that’s not really a viable option.

food wise it has to be something you can slam into your body on a descent that’s easy to open. gu gel packets are good. the untapped maple syrup packets are good. that has to happen roughly every 30-45 minutes and is very very annoying when racing a group. i’m disproportionately good at descending which i think is the only thing that makes it viable.

liquid is much harder. i have a water belt (like a liter water bottle that straps to your body) but it’s hard to use in a race situation. i tried a camelbak style hip pack but the tube freezes even with the insulation. i might need to put the hip pack under my layers? but i don’t think that will solve the hose issue. this year i might try upside-down water bottle in a one-bottle hip pack.

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Ideally, you get a great carb-heavy meal 3 hours before your race or long ride. This is how long it takes for your body to actually absorb it and fuel up your glycogen stores. Make it easy on your stomach. I eat a weird oatmeal porridge every morning with hemp seed, flax, peanut butter, etc in it. It’s about 30g of protein which helps balance out the carbs from the oats and has plenty of fiber.

What you need for BMX is going to be very different than what you need for a long trail ride, however. BMX is going to be much more fast twitch and not using up your glycogen, but you should still be somewhat fueled for the start. Definitely don’t want to go in hungry, but keep it small before the race.

When I raced track, I regularly did evening races and I just ate a solid lunch, then maybe had a clif bar before a night of racing, then a protein bar after, then a big meal when I got home. Much easier to manage.

With trail riding, it really depends on the length. For a 1-1.5 hour after work ride, I can do it off the lunch from 5 hours before, but I need a bar to eat mid-ride. Longer than that and it’s probably better if I eat a light meal before the ride. As long as I keep it small, it wont upset my stomach.

I struggle a lot to eat during rides beyond maybe a bar or two, so eating a calorie dense meal beforehand is the main way to avoid bonking. And if the ride is over 3 hours, I try to actually stop to eat during the ride to ensure I don’t just take one bite of a bar then put it back and end up super underfueled. If you pack a sandwich, actually plan a spot you’ll stop for 15-20 minutes, drink water, eat your sammy, etc while sitting on a log rather than trying to stuff yourself in a 5 minute break.

If your stomach struggles with this, another option I went with for bikepacking was to get Tailwind or something similar - 200 calorie packets you put in a water bottle. I alternating drinking that and plain water to get a constant flow of calories. I still tried to get a bar in every 10 miles or so, but I knew i couldn’t eat enough while riding on an 8 hour day to make up for it, so i brought 2 tailwinds per day just to keep a constant source fo sugar going (straight up candy/sweets doesnt sit well with me, but i can do a little sugar water).

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HY thanks Amy, that’s a lot to go on!

I tried some Nuun tabs and wasn’t a fan but it looks like Tailwind has an unflavored option I’m gonna try out.

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I am perpetually bonking. Part of this is doing rides first thing in the morning with a small breakfast… Part of it is being a hummingbird. I have found that if I eat anything other than straight sugar on a ride I’m in danger of bonking.

Marathon racing I had great success eating three gu an hour, that’s kind of disgusting though.

Bagels, steel cut oats, lots and lots of potatoes really a lot of potatoes. I eat a lot of potatoes. And then a ton of peanut butter to fill in the gaps….During my last three marathon builds, I would eat a big bowl of chocolate ice cream covered in peanut butter straight from the jar after dinner before bed and I was still losing weight.

Costco always has some giant 2 pound bag of gummys for seven dollars and that’s what I get for ride food and usually eat one a month.

You probably shouldn’t listen to me.

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I used to survive long road rides with a gel flask, but now i can’t stomach it. Pretty sure the gels are what fucked up certain sugars for me.

I do ok with maltodextrin based stuff though.

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This is what’s gotten me the last few times. Wake up, grab a coffee, load the car, don’t stop

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This is more ranting than advice seeking since I don’t have a power meter, HR, etc.

I’m in my second year of sucking down 85-100g of carbs an hour and my race results and RPE, are objectively worse than when I was on 30-44g an hour.

10 years ago I did a 3 hour gravel race where I was under constant duress with attacks the entire time, or barely hanging on. It was my second ever gravel event and incredibly hard. Here’s what I ate:

Nutrition was 1 double expresso clif shot, 1 chocolate clifshot, 1 peanut butter powerbar, and one bottle of gatorade.

This is ~100g of carbs, for the entire event. I attacked near the end, was caught, and still able to sprint. Looking at my race reports, this is fairly consistent nutritional intake. ~20-30g carbs before event, ~30g/hour during event.

Closer to today; In 2023 I had the my best race results of all time, at multiple events, on 44g of carbs an hour.

2024 and 2025 I’ve been on 80-100g an hour and my results are relatively poor, my ability to do anything in an event is limited, I can almost never sprint even though I’m riding with people/groups that are well within my ability. My regular diet seems to be good/about the same, my “training” milestones have been slightly better every year and consistent through to today. I train with race nutrition 1-2 days a week but the other days I can’t eat that much or just don’t feel like it.

I’m on multiple carb sources, tried liquid, gel, combination of both, etc.

I think I’m going back to 40-50g/hour and seeing how that goes the rest of the year.

Everyone I’ve read who went to higher carb intake says they’ve found greater success than before, I can’t possibly be the only one whose performance has degraded?

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I got some pizza flavored combos on the rando ride Saturday and they were pretty ok but I’m thinking I should probably lay off the pizza on the off-bike time due to a thing my primary care provider calls a case of overweight and under exercised limited fitness

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is there any other variable beyond the sports an the energy intake that could account for this?

have a good covid or other respiratory illness in the past year?

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I haven’t been able to figure anything else out. No serious or long-term illness, my body comp is slightly better, sleeping same or better, life stress unchanged. I occasionally use heart rate upon waking to check for over-reaching/over-training and nothing there that seems to correlate either.

I don’t have any gastric issues at that carb intake either, at least up to 6 hours.

I’ve thought of getting a blood or hormone panel but my big rides and daily rides have been consistently well, so it seems sort of pointless.

I’ve got a good variety of events in April/May so I’ll be finding out something soon enough.

There is at least one guy that’s against higher carbs. I read one of his articles in the Hammer Nutrition magazine that came with my order over the Summer but it seemed more like an Op-Ed than anything. This article has the high points: Overstuffed And Underpowered | Hammer Nutrition

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I didn’t see this in your post, but are you still eating the same brand/type of carbs as you were in 2023?

I had to do a lot of experimentation to find something that my gut would process during big efforts. I mostly drink my carbs these days.

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2023 I almost exclusively used the same type of Clifbar gel - Strawberry - for every event. 2 an hour no problem all season. Occasionally I’d add a Gu with extra caffeine.

Those gels were discontinued sometime in 2023 or early 2024 and since then I’ve tried most of the major brands of gel and a couple different liquid types, as well as supplementing at various times with plain sugar or sugar+maltodextrin.

My last event was a combo of Hammer/Gu/Roctane gels, sugar water, gatorage, and coca-cola.

I had to do a lot of experimentation to find something that my gut would process during big efforts.

This is what I’ve been wondering. I put in all the carbs (and water), have no stomach problems and feel “fine” but it doesn’t spark. Like I’m running too rich. The carbs are processed but not able to be applied during the event in the time-frame or perhaps in a way I can perceive.

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I know that they’ve done studies that find different groups metabolize caffeine differently and those who metabolize it slowly end up performing worse in exercise when they supplement with caffeine, while those who metabolize it fast get a boost.

It’s apples to oranges, but maybe you need to fuel earlier and concentrate it before your event instead of during?

I haven’t tried the high carb fueling method, but eating a lot never worked for my stomach. I always fueled up the night before and tried to get a big early breakfast that could digest before my race.

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