Eating and drinking properly

On monday's 7HW social ride, I had a chat with a fellow cyclist. He rode the King's Tour of the Quabbin Century. Right around mile 50, the route goes up route 202. He's done it a few times and every time, he bonks on the climb up route 202. That got me thinking.

Why is that? I rode with Gary for the double metric. He bonked around mile 75, but Gary is a pro at cycling. He knows the importance of drinking and eating properly during a long ride. I emailed him after the ride to see how he did. Gary has the legs and the conditioning. When he bonked, he realize his body needed fluids and calories, so he stopped at the mile 75 rest stop to refuel and rehydrate.

From my own experience these last 2 years, eating and drinking properly makes a huge difference. There have been times when I bonked at 50 miles on a 60 mile ride. What I notice is that I didn't drink enough or get enough calories that morning. Say it takes 4 hours to ride 60 miles. Going at 15mph average a cyclist weighing 140-150 lbs will burn about 2-3K calories. The human digestive system takes several hours to digest food and it takes several hours to properly hydrate.

On Saturday, I made sure to drink more than usual and consume extra calories. On the day of the ride, I try to drink 1 water bottle per hour. If the weather is hot, add another bottle per hour. On Sunday I went through 5 bottles of water and 3 bottles of Gatorade. At around mile 100, I started to get a little dehydrated, so drank the last of my water. At every rest stop I ate 1 banana and 1 PBJ sandwich. During the ride I ate 2 Clif bars.

I don't use Gu or that stuff, since I don't like the taste. It feels nasty to me. There's a reason why professionals use it though. Liquid calories are absorbed more quickly into the body and doesn't require the lengthy digestion process.

I'm still a newbie when it comes to cycling, but listening to my friend dave and my wife has helped reduce the learning curve. My lovely wife, whom I think is hot has been very patient with me. She has been giving me advice on cycling, but it's taken me a long time to "learn" it. It's not that I don't listen, it's that I'm not ready to implement it. It's similar to the advice my friend dave gave me. The first year I was trying to get used to a road bike, so I just wasn't able to follow his advice. Once I felt more comfortable, it became easier. Note, that easier doesn't mean easy.

As an example, dave suggested I use water bottles instead of camelbak. The reason I preferred camelbak was it felt safer and easier for me. I simply didn't have the skill to reach down, grab the bottle, drink and put it back without crashing. I was so focused on handling the bike that using camelbak was more comfortable. As my skill improved, I felt more comfortable using water bottles.

The same thing happened with shifting and learning when to shift. Early in the season, my conditioning isn't great, so at the bottom of a hill I shift to a lower gear. As I get stronger, I shift up and get out of the saddle. Sometimes, as much as we want to follow others advice, we're just not able to. It's part of being human.

A great example of this is mountain biking. I love spending time with my wife and kids on mountain bike, but my handling sucks. That's not modesty either, it's the blunt truth. When I look at videos on YouTube of guys doing amazing things on a mountain bike, it's painfully obvious my handling is pathetic at best. Even on a road bike, my handling isn't good or great. When I looked at the elite guys on 7HW rides, they are completely one with their bike. I'm not one of those. Where I lack in talent, I make up with passion. I feel better when I ride daily.