Everyday Eating: Setting Up for Success

Everyday Eating: Setting Up for Success

IF YOU WANT TO HAVE A STRONG, SUCCESSFUL RIDING EXPERIENCE, it has to start at home. Your body is a complex system that prefers to run on healthy, natural foods. If fast food and processed, packaged meals are a huge part of your diet, you’ll likely struggle when it comes time to pedal. Your body simply can’t get the balanced nutrients it needs because the calories are devoid of real energy.

Cycling gives all of us a great incentive for eating healthy: It’s called the power-to-weight ratio. This scientific term basically means the less weight you carry, the easier it is to pedal—especially up hills. This doesn’t mean you should be starving yourself to get thin in the hope that you’ll be the first to the top of the climb. In fact, it’s just the opposite. If you undereat and don’t keep your body stocked with calories, you’ll lose weight but you’ll be sacrificing your power in the saddle as well. Lucky for you, cycling while eating a healthy, balanced diet will make you stronger and help to shed some pounds.

There are a million excuses why you don’t eat better. When it comes down to pushing the pedals, making healthier choices will not only better fuel you on the bike but also help make you feel supercharged all day long. That maple bar may look like a delicious energy boost, but in reality, it’s likely to drag you down because it’s the wrong ratio of what you need and in a less digestible form. Don’t be fooled. We need carbs, fats, and sugars, but we need certain types more than others, and in the right proportions.

Fueling Up for Your Ride

If your ride is less than an hour and a half at an easy to moderate pace, you don’t have to pay too much special attention to how to prepare your body. Just eat what you would on any regular, healthy day before.

The longer and harder you ride, the more it helps your performance (and how good you’ll feel on the bike) for your body’s gas tank to be as topped off as possible. If you’re planning on riding longer than an hour and a half, you need to take care starting with how you eat the entire day before. It takes anywhere from 12 to over 24 hours for your body to fully digest food and stock up stores of glycogen that you need as you pedal. That means what you eat the day before is as—or more—important than what you eat the meal before a big ride. By stocking up the day before, you’re ready for your ride with a full tank. Because digestion is a fairly long process, you don’t want to try this the morning of, or you’ll just end up with a lead gut and valuable energy you could be using for your legs being taken up by your digestive system trying to break down breakfast.

A lot of people hear the term “carbo loading” and think that it’s fair game to slam down as much pasta as you can the night before a big ride. But loading up doesn’t mean eating a larger dinner than you usually would. Instead, think of it as dedicating a higher percentage of your meal to the carbs—but eating the same amount overall. It works best if you up your carbs a bit for 3 to 4 days before a big ride. For example, switch from two eggs to one and an extra piece of toast in the morning. Instead of heaping on plate after plate of pasta, have a small trout fillet pan-fried in olive oil with larger servings of rice and veggies than you might normally have and a serving of roasted sweet potatoes on the side. You’ll build up your glucose reserves and your vitamins and minerals while giving your body a little protein to keep you muscles rested and in balance.

The morning of your ride, again focus on a higher-carb breakfast. Even though you were resting, overnight your body dips slightly into your glycogen stores, so you want to top them off one more time before you head out for a big ride or race. The key here is whatever you eat, make it easy to digest. Avoid high-fat meats—like bacon or breakfast sausage—and get your protein from a source that’s also carb-rich, like yogurt or oatmeal. Give yourself a good dose of carbs in the form of cereal, pancakes, potatoes, or toast. Adding in light protein, like eggs or milk, will keep you satisfied a little longer. Whatever you do, stick with foods you enjoy and eat enough—around 400 to 550 calories’ worth. Some of us will get race–day or club–ride performance jitters and won’t feel like eating. The absolute worst thing you can do before a big ride is not eat breakfast.

If it’s a while after breakfast or your last meal before your ride, it’s good to add in a little pre-ride snack like a banana or an energy bar. Even something as simple as a handful of almonds can make a big difference. If you feel hungry, eat. Going into a ride well fueled will make it easier to push the pedals, plain and simple. Not only that, but studies have found that our bodies are smart little computers: You burn more calories after you’ve eaten than if you start exercising after fasting.

Getting Fluid

Since much of the water in your body is ingested through your small and large intestines and then carried through your blood to your muscles, where it’s absorbed, it takes a while to become completely hydrated. Like filling your fuel tank, hydration is something you should work on starting the day before your ride because you can only absorb so much water in a short period of time.

Try to drink around 1½ to 2 liters the day before. When you wake up, start first thing with 0.18 to 0.2 ounces of water per pound of your body weight. Drink that same amount at least four more times throughout the day, concentrating on fluids like water, tea, coffee, or a little juice. Avoid sugary drinks like sodas or flavored coffees. Remember—you can drink a little less if you hydrate by eating water-heavy foods like fruits, veggies, or smoothies.

The day of your ride or race, start the day with a tall glass of water. Overall, make sure you get another 0.18 to 0.2 ounces of water per pound of your body weight before you hit the road—but this time add a dash of salt. “In the body, where water goes there is sodium; to improve the absorption of water, you need a bit of sodium,” advises Dr. Sims. The sodium will also prevent you from having to hit the bathroom 10 times before the start of the ride because the water will stay in your body, where you need it most. Though it’s important to hydrate on the bike as well, you’ll be sunk if you start out in a deficit. It’s simply impossible to catch up if you start behind, and being dehydrated is the quickest way to feel like crud on the bike—and the slowest to be able to bounce back from.