Fuelling for epic rides — how to get the right food to keep your energy levels up and avoid the dreaded bonk

it is important to replenish your electrolytes; the salts lost as part of your sweat. This is where the use of energy drinks really comes into play.

Or alternatively, opt out of paying ridiculously exorbitant prices for over-marketed staple salts & sugars that are available at 1/10th the price in bulk at super-markets, and just put some reduced-sodium salt (e.g. "LoSalt") into your drinks, maybe along with some sodium bicarbonate and honey.

A pinch of LoSalt (66% potassium, 33% sodium salts), a teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate, 1 to 3 tsps of honey and 1 to 2 shots of fruit concentrate in a large drinks bottle works really well for me. (FWIW, I sweat a lot, and usually encrusted in salt when I dry out).

Ssssshhhh Paul. The Secret Ingredient Service will hunt you down.

The DIY route is great, but only in the 2 you fill at home, in the grand scale of things, electrolyte tabs are cheap, convenient and you can find one to your taste that will be consistent

If you're going on longer rides where you might need to refill, then you can easily bring salt/sodium bicarb mix with you in a suitable container. E.g. I've used a small, plastic, pill bottle in the past. Though, then you may wish to get maltodextrin powder to add in - honey obviously won't work, and ordinary sugar isn't easy to digest. Also, then, you won't be adding fruit concentrate, and you may wish to add some citric acid powder (bigger and asian supermarkets often sell this) (you want about ¾ tsp citric acid to 1 tsp sodium bicarb).

If you really do prefer to buy something pre-packaged, you could also just get some di-oralyte sachets from a pharmacy. Not as cheap, but still usually a little bit cheaper than these energy drink powders.

If you really do want to be absolutely fleeced, then sure, go ahead and pay 10x+ the price for very basic ingredients and buy these sports energy drink powders.

Or mix one bottle to 3 or 4 times concentration and use that to top up your main bottle when you refill.

And enjoy the grilling you get when you buy the citric acid... As I did when making elderflower champagne. Apparently heroin users buy it to cut drugs with!

I should say it was just electrolyte I was referring too with the wee tabs, not energy powder mix, I don't use the latter.

Load up on ham sarnies from the start, preferably in rolled flatbread form, then onto the bars/flapjacks and bananas, only gels if absolutely necessary. caffeine gels, coffee, coke etc are only any good if your body is not used to the caffeine, so if you want that boost, do stay off the stuff for a week before, then it'll be like rocket fuel. (Works for me any way).

Ham & egg butties, potato cakes, flapjacks, jelly babies and in dire straits a gel. Sorted.

Home made sports drink works for me a pinch of salt good squirt of honey and some orange squash. I've not tried the bicarb what does that do?

As for carbs malt loaf is the fuel of choice for me it keeps you going big time, not forgetting bannas the potassium provides a boost that works amazingly well.

I've experimented with shop bought stuff but it's expensive, doesn't taste great and works no better than the stuff I've described above.

Finally y'just carn't beat chocolate and the co-op do a brilliant flapjack with chocolate.

This stuff has got me round the Fred Whitton in 7:38.

Oh dear. It's the same old junk food comments like gels, jam and fried eggs. That's why fit cyclists drop dead with heart attacks. You do not get carte Blanche to eat junk. The best advice on thisarticle is the bananas. The water bit is OK but others have noted the electrolyte controversy. Other than that, make yourself cereal mixes or bars and eat good healthy meals to get the carbs in.

Eggs contain all the essential amino acids; coffee with a raw egg in it and GO

Or if Sir Bradley Wiggins is your name...... " I did 7½ hours on the bike that day in Majorca. I had no breakfast, and didn’t eat anything on the bike all day "

Some sensible advice here although more and more research is coming out to indicate that energy drinks actually contribute to dehydration, ironically, so I now prefer to stick with electro tabs and get my kcals from solid food.

Also, that 1g carbs per kg per hour ratio is on the high side, depending on intensity. A lot of people find that something between 40-60g is the maximum carbs their body can absorb every hour without feeling nauseous. So it's worth experimenting.

Yennings: Yeah, high sugars content can make energy drinks hard to stomach. Some suggestion even that at quite high concentrations they can even *extract* liquid from your blood stream into your intestines (presumably to be re-absorbed again, but later, once the carbohydrate has finally been digested - or you'd end up with bad diarrhoea).

The sickly high sugar content of energy drinks is what made me go mix my own.

Sodium bicarbonate or sodium citrate is found in a lot of energy drinks. It's alkaline/basic (though sodium citrate only weakly so), possibly may act as a buffer against acidic by-products of metabolism. A range of studies suggest this has a small but significant positive effect on performance.

Though, the amounts used in studies are usually a good bit higher than the teaspoon I suggest. Too much sodium bicarbonate can cause heart arrhythmias, so be careful.

Sodium citrate is produced if sodium bicarbonate reacts with citric acid. E.g., if you add fruit juice or concentrate to your drinks bottle with sodium bicarbonate.

Honey is like a magic food for me. A good quality one (like the stuff I brought back from Crete) works best, although any reasonble one works well.

A spoon full before setting off on an evening ride works wonders.

A pinch of salt in your water bottle is a good idea too. No need to buy sports drinks with all those weird chemical ingredients, best avoid all that shit!

Ride food, Bananas of course, malt loaf, flap jack and a few nuts, dates and dried fruit all work for me on longer rides.

Re: not being able to refill home made energy drinks on sportives or long rides, try this:

First bidon is filled and ready to drink.

Second bidon contains very slightly diluted mixture with enough to fill two bidons.

When the first bidon is running low, stop (at feedstation, or wherever) and pour half the mixture from the second bidon into the first and dilute it with water. You now have one bidon ready to drink and another ready to be diluted at the next stop.

This means you can get three bidons worth of your preferred energy drink AND you don't have to lug round the weight of a second full bidon either. You can do the same with shop-bought energy drinks too, if you prefer to use your own rather than whatever brand is being provided by event feedstations.

For a longish ride I use two bottles, one with energy drink, the other with plain water mixed about 50-50 with mineral water. A couple of energy bars. Works reasonably well, for me. Gels don't agree with the beard...
Electrolyte tablets seems like a good idea, though.

Nutrition has changed a lot in recent years and it has for me also. I dont have any carbs and I dont have any more crashes and the recovery is much faster.

1 bottle/hr Water + electrolytes is critical.

Second I eat 70% fat breakfast, 20% proteins and 10% carbs 2hrs before the ride and it last 3-4 hrs

Third: I have some pacanes and almonds + mCT oil during the ride to give another boost

Results: best results in last 20 yrs

I can’t be arsed with trying to mix all the ingredients in specific amounts to pop in my water bottle to make an energy drink. I just buy https://www.bulkpowders.co.uk/complete-hydration-drink.html (link is external)

If you wait until it is on offer (last lot I got was nearly 70% off!) and strangely the small bags worked out cheaper than a 5kg bag, then it costs pennies per 500ml bidon. Last t8me I worked it out at less than 20p per bidon. Unless you really are broke, that is very cheap for a quality product. It comes with a scoop which makes 500ml. I fill one bottle with this energy/ electrolyte mix and the other plain water. Depending on the length of ride I put a scoop or two, or three in small, sealable plastic bags to carry in a jersey pocket. It really is as simple as that to take as much energy/ electrolyte mix as you need. The most I have carried was one bidon plus three small bags for a recent 200 mile ride.

Be careful though, it does look decidedly dodgy taking a bag of white powder out of your jersey pocket at a cafe stop! For added effect, lick a little finger, dip it in and taste test your product befor popping it all in a bidon! For even greater effect, run your little finger around your gums!!!

I have no affiliation to Bulk Powders but have found their products to be fantastic and of course, really, really cheap compared to cycling specific brands. I can refer anyone as a friend and you get 35% off your first order...

PP