Experimentation with Clif Shot Mocha Gel

This summer I've been experimenting with nutrition and trying to figure out how to avoid lulls in energy. The first two years I didn't have any issue with cramping or dehydration, since most of my rides were less than 1 hour. On the longer rides, like centuries I didn't push myself. My goal was to just have a good time and finish.

At this year's King Tour of the Quabbin double metric, I managed to stay with the A guys for the first 100 miles. Right as I was getting dropped at mile 99, our average was right at 20 mph. Luckily, the last rest stop is at mile 100, so I was able to regroup. I saw lots of 7HW people at the last rest stop and tried to cram down as many calories as I could.

When we took off again, my legs were feeling tight and I felt a little dehydrated. As I expected, once they kicked it up, I couldn't hang on. I managed to tag along with some 7HW people and finish the ride with an average of 19mph. After KTOQ, I started to pay more attention to proper hydration and eating. Before that, I tried to follow the rule of drink before your thirsty and eat every hour.

Now that I've been experimenting with Clif shot gels, I've noticed a few things. If I eat 1 gel right before I start my lunch ride, I'm able to push hard going down reservoir street. At the turn around point my legs feel fine. If I eat a nectarine, plum or asian pear before a ride, I'm able to push hard down reservoir, but I start to fade half way up reservoir. I've also tried eating a gel at the turn around point to see if that helps. So far it feels like it doesn't help going up reservoir, but I do have more energy at the end of the ride.

The last few times I climbed Wachusett summit, I ate a gel 15 min before the climb. As a result, I've beat my personal record several times. In the past, I would eat a Clif bar 15 min before the climb, but that wasn't enough time to digest. The only way to know "when" to eat the clif bar, I'd have to experiment to gather some data. Since it's close to the end of the cycling season, I will leave that for next year. I like the taste of clif bars, but they are hard to eat at 22mph. On group rides where we stop to rest or regroup, I can cram down half a bar.

I don't pretend to know nutrition science and my methods are 100% guess work. But even without rigorous scientific method, I've been able to increase my lunch ride average up to 20mph. One could argue that is the natural progression through the season. I honestly don't know. Slowly, I'm learning about how to feed my body so that I get consistent performance.