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review

EatMyRide nutrition app Fanatic subscription

9
£40.99

VERDICT:

9
10
An excellent app that really helps with understanding the ins and outs of cycling nutrition in an easily digestible way
Free subscription option
Works on Garmin, no need to look at a phone
Plenty of data that helps you perform better even in just a few months
Sometimes a little slow at syncing
Doesn't work with head units other than Garmin
You might need to manually add your Haribo bears nutrition information
Weight: 
0g
Contact: 
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EatMyRide is an excellent app for improving your cycling performance, in which nutrition is often the key to doing well – especially in endurance. I found it intuitive to use and it provides heaps of useful data, tips and advice – plus it comes in free as well as paid subscription forms, so you can try it without financial commitment.

The only slight drawback is that the head unit widget/app is only available for Garmin at the moment, but you can still use the app on your phone to help you perfect your nutrition plan, regardless of your bike computer brand.

> Subscribe now: EatMyRide Fanatic for £40.99

It was designed for endurance athletes and their coaches, with the aim of helping you improve performance by providing personalised nutrition advice and insights to balance your energy burn and intake rates.

Although most cycling computers have some sort of timed nutrition prompt available, the EatMyRide app promised and delivered a lot more than just that. Just in the short testing period I learned a lot more about why my long rides were such a slog sometimes, and how much my ride intensity actually affects my energy needs.

Compatibility and different plans

Getting set up with EatMyRide is simple: you register through the app, and insert some core details such as your gender, weight and FTP. After this, you can create ride nutrition plans and also plan your daily nutrition more broadly around your cycling.

2022 EatMyRide App - personal data.png

At the moment, the app is only compatible with Garmin head units and watches, so if you're riding with anything else you'll need to wait patiently – but then again, you can still use the app on your phone, plan your nutrition and, for example, stick it on a piece of paper taped on your top tube if you don't have a Garmin.

2022 EatMyRide-foodplan on phone.jpg

I tested the product on a Garmin Edge 830, which has a touchscreen, and I definitely think it made things a lot easier to have that. The nutrition plan widget does work on non-touchscreen Garmins as well, but you cannot have the real-time nutrition app on.

There are three membership plans you can choose from: the free, Recreational plan; the Fanatic (as tested) that costs £40.99 a year; or the Pro plan starting at €29 (around £24.50) a month.

The Pro plan is meant for coaches who can offer EatMyRide as part of their training plans for clients.

Both the Fanatic and Pro plans offer you more post-ride data, but even the Recreational plan gives you the ability to create ride nutrition plans – they just won't take account of your personal data such as height and weight, but use a general one instead.

In-app functions

On the phone app, you can use your planned routes as the basis for your nutrition plan. The app supports Strava, Ride with GPS, Komoot and Trainingpeaks, or you can import your route as a file, or plan it manually on the app. I found it really simple to choose my planned route through one of these apps and then I got to the most fun part, planning the nutrition.

2022 EatMyRide-connected apps.jpg

After you've chosen your route, the app will calculate your nutrition plan based on the stats you've given it and tell you how much energy you need, in grams per hour (for example, 47g/h).

2022 EatMyRide-app interface.jpg

You can also define the intensity of the ride which will affect your nutrition needs. I found that very useful – I could see how much more food I needed for the three-hour ride I was doing with a group of fast riders, compared with the one I planned to do in a low heart rate zone.

2022 EatMyRide-choose intensity.jpg

The app then prompts you to choose foods and drinks to fulfil your required energy needs. It has a database of thousands of products to choose from, including the most common sports nutrition brand gels and bars, but also bananas and cafe stop foods like apple pie. Some things were missing, such as the Precision Fuel gels I was using, and my go-to Haribo sweets, but I was able to add these manually, and once done, they stayed in the system so I didn't have to do this more than once. Finding staples such as SiS, Torq and High5 was easy in the app.

> How to eat right for sportives and long rides

This was my favourite part of testing the app, and it's also the one I struggle with the most as a cyclist. I have no issue eating on the bike, but the pre-ride faff of figuring out how much and what I need has always caused me a slight headache. With EatMyRide, once I had chosen what I have available to eat (raiding the snacks drawer), the app gave me a plan that detailed when and what I should eat during my ride.

You can also tailor the plan – to make the apple pie coincide with your mid-ride cafe stop, for example. It really felt like I had my own nutritionist helping me out – which is kind of the idea of the app, to give consumers a light version of the nutrition advice that the pro riders enjoy as part of their training.

Using the nutrition plans – functionality on Garmin

As fun as planning is, executing it is even more important, and in order to do that the EatMyRide gives you the option of sending the nutrition plan to your Garmin computer or watch. This is as simple as clicking 'send to Garmin' on the app – but before this, you need to have the EatMyRide widget downloaded on your Garmin (available in the Connect IQ store).

Here it's worth mentioning that the app allows two different widgets in the head unit. One data screen details your real-time energy needs and allows you to choose what products you're consuming from a very simplified list (eg 'bar, large 40g carbs). You can use this without a nutrition plan, and you can see a colour rating for your fuelling level (from green to red).

2022 Eatmyride app energy consumption

I found this  really useful when I had no time to really plan properly, or when I was doing a route I already know at a pace I didn't really want to specify beforehand. Granted, my energy input wasn't as accurate as with the detailed plan, but this still helped me fuel a lot more efficiently as I saw how many carbs I was burning.

2022 EatMyRide-options on garmin.jpg

The other widget simply allows you to get notifications of your nutrition plan – telling you what product you should be having at a certain time. A screen pops up telling you what product you should have, when, and, for example, if it's liquids, over what time period.

2022 EatMyRide-nutrition plan on app and running on garmin.jpg

I definitely found this the most time-consuming part of getting set up and familiarised with the app. I first didn't understand I needed to allow my Garmin to show the data fields separately, and then I could not log in to the app through the Garmin (it needs to connect with your Garmin Connect app to do this), but in the end I got it all figured out. I had the chance to voice these issues with the app's founder and he assured me that the updates would make the process easier – which they did, noticeably.

And finally, at the end of the ride, you can analyse your performance on the EatMyRide app on your phone. This is also possible with rides that you've not made a plan for, as the app can be connected to Strava, Komoot, Ride with GPS, and TrainingPeaks.

2022 EatMyRide-after ride analysis.jpg

Value and conclusion

I think, at £5.99 a month, this app is very well priced for the functionality it offers – most of which can be obtained free of charge, though with a little less data.

I didn't use the app for every single one of my long rides, but in just the short testing period it's given me more insight into how I should fuel on my rides than I've ever had before. Using it like this, periodically, I think you quite quickly get the hang of how you should fuel yourself, and if a ride feels a bit harder than it should, you can return to more precise planning and tracking.

> Buyer’s Guide: 29 of the best cycling apps for iPhone and Android

The app really made me think of my fuelling strategy in a more holistic way, not purely focusing on the ride food but also about the pre- and post-ride meals and hydration, which the app also gives advice on.

In conclusion, I think this is an app that will help all cyclists, regardless of their performance levels and aims, to have a more enjoyable ride. It's like having a cycling nutritionist helping you, giving you a plan to follow but one that you can still tailor if you feel it's not quite right. You don't have to use the app religiously every day and for years, it helps you learn what you should be doing on certain types of rides quickly, and you can then apply that knowledge even without the app.

Verdict

An excellent app that really helps with understanding the ins and outs of cycling nutrition in an easily digestible way

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road.cc test report

Make and model: EatMyRide app Fanatic subscription

Size tested: Fanatic, per annum

Tell us what the product is for and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about it?

EatMyRide says: "EatMyRide is the nutrition app for all endurance athletes and their coaches. We help you improve your performance. You tell what rides you're doing. We'll provide personalized nutrition advice and insights to balance your energy burn and intake rates."

Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product?

The EatMyRide app is available on both iOS and Android phones and works currently only on Garmin head units. The whole product entails the app on the phone, and a widget and an app on the Garmin (the app on Garmin works independently of the phone app), available to be downloaded from the Garmin Connect IQ store.

The app is offered as a free Recreational subscription, Fanatic subscription costs £5.99 monthly (£3.99 first 3 months) or £40.99/year (£32.99 for the first year). The Pro plan starts from €29 (£24.54) a month.

Rate the product for performance:
 
9/10
Rate the product for value:
 
7/10

The Fanatic subscription on test costs £5.99 a month (£3.99 first 3 months) and £40.99 a year (£32.99 for first year), which is a bit more than the explor8 app, but you're getting more for your money here; go for the Recreational subscription and it'd be a 10 for value as you can get the basic features for free.

Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose

The app performed exceptionally well in creating working, detailed nutrition plans for long rides. They were personalised and I could tailor them to suit my needs – and they did improve my performance. Basically there are two products, as the app on the Garmin works without a nutrition plan – and that one was even easier to use on everyday rides for checking my energy needs.

Tell us what you particularly liked about the product

The additional data, the possibility to have a detailed nutrition plan on my Garmin.

Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product

The initial setting up and syncing took a while – but this is also to do with the way Garmin performs with third party apps, not just the app on test. But, especially the first few times I used the app, I found it hard to sync the nutrition plan with the Garmin.

How does the price compare to that of similar products in the market, including ones recently tested on road.cc?

It's not easy to find nutrition apps like these specifically for cyclists. Endur8 offers tailored nutrition plans and costs £2.99 a month, but it's not really that comparable as it's not solely for cycling and doesn't offer the same level of integration with Garmin.

Did you enjoy using the product? Yes

Would you consider buying the product? Yes

Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes

Use this box to explain your overall score

I think this app is excellent for improving your cycling performance, in which nutrition is often the key (especially in endurance) to doing well. The app comes in free and paid subscription forms, which enables you to try it without financial commitment. I found the app intuitive to use and it provides heaps of useful data, tips and advice. I haven't seen another product like this on the market – specifically one that works so well with Garmin. The only slight drawback (for some) is that the head unit widget/app is only available for Garmin at the moment, but you can still use the app on your phone to help you perfect the nutrition plan, regardless of your bike computer brand.

Overall rating: 9/10

About the tester

Age: 30  Height: 164cm  Weight: 53kg

I usually ride: Specialized Tarmac Sl6  My best bike is:

I've been riding for: Under 5 years  I ride: Every day  I would class myself as: Expert

I regularly do the following types of riding: cyclo cross, commuting, touring, general fitness riding, Ultra-distances

Suvi joined F-At in 2022, first writing for off-road.cc. She's since joined the tech hub, and contributes to all of the sites covering tech news, features, reviews and women's cycling content. Lover of long-distance cycling, Suvi is easily convinced to join any rides and events that cover over 100km, and ideally, plenty of cake and coffee stops. 

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1 comments

Avatar
jaymack | 1 year ago
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'Good to go' by Christine Aschwanden at less than a tenner is probably a better buy for anyone but a proper athlete (and then they should read her book anyway). You don't have to be Napoleon to realise that a cyclist pedals on her stomach and you certainly don't need an app' to tell you to eat and drink, it's kinda built into our biological makeup. Someone will be selling nutritional products aimed at healthy recreational riders next...oh, hang on....

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