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Non sicky energy intake on the bike

Hi everyone

So I did a the 3 counties (97 miler) sportive yesterday in preparation for the Newcastle to London 24hr 300 miler in August, and I'm really struggling with taking on energy that won't make me feel sick. I have a High 5 powder in my water which is ok for the shorter runs, but yesterday after about65 miles I started feeling really sick. I had been supplementing this with jelly babies and 9Bars, and it was only when I ditched the remainder of the drink and went with water only that I started feeling better. So my question is - should I rely entirely on solid food only for my energy needs and perhaps slip a zero tab in my water, or is there a specific energy supplement that I could put in the water which won't make me feel dodgy. Oh, I've also discovered that gels over a long period are a big no no too.

Thanks

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27 comments

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ChuckB | 8 years ago
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The best presentation I have encounter about cycling nutrition

http://www.uctv.tv/shows/Nutrition-for-Cycling-Fueling-Your-Human-Powere...

University of California, San Francisco, Oscher Center for Ingrative Medicine
Nutrition for Cycling: Fueling Your Human Powered Vehicle
Medicine of Cycling -- Mini Medical School for the Public

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jstone1 | 8 years ago
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Agree with Colin, ride all day, but not too much protein. Get the fats in and make sure you're able to burn them at higher intensities more effectively! Another useful resource here (well, it was for me) :
http://eatingacademy.com/how-a-low-carb-diet-affected-my-athletic-perfor...

The issue for most is going to be the time it takes to switch from the "carbs are essential" mindset and rethink your daily fuelling. Taken me about 4 months. Early on any all-out-sprint type efforts seemed to be worse but they're getting better again now...and the really weird one is a reduction in "air hunger", I thought I was losing it as I didn't seem to need to breathe as hard for a given heart rate but turns out it is an effect : https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=76353.25

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Colin Peyresourde | 8 years ago
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Most of the above advice has been fairly unscientific, and I'm not going to claim to be a nutritionist but choosing a mixture of different sources is the way forward.

There's a finite limit to how many calories your gut will absorb per hour (which decreases the harder you exercise) and the more complex the food compound the harder it is to process.

The answer is that you need to ensure you don't work at 'full gas' if you're guzzling proteins and fats. If you do the calories will just sit undigested in your gut.

So what about carbs? Well as you probably know High 5 2:1 in suggests simple sugars are the easiest way to get calories into your system. But overload that system and a) you'll get diarrhoea and dehydrate yourself b) you won't absorb all the calories (which is why (a) happens) c) you shut down your bodies own carb processing.

The main solution is to go easy on the carbs, having High 5 4:1 seems to kind of help, but mixing up the calorie sources does help. But as one of the earlier posters suggest learning to let your body cannabolise itself (convert glycogen, fats and proteins into energy) is key. Everyone wants to avoid the bonk (it's just painful in a very uninspiring way), but if you eat and drink a little regularly you'll find that you will have plenty in the tank as long as you're not in the red for too long because your body will naturally process its own resources. It does need a top up (water is the most important thing and carbs thereafter) but it can effectively convert its own resources....unless you're diabetic.

Try stringing it out, but keep a gel or two to keep you out of trouble.

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NickK123 | 8 years ago
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I have been through the same process and came to the conclusion that after 100K of hoovering sweet stuff I felt nauseous. Spoke to a fellow cycling club mate and he suggested trying something savoury to alternate with. So last Sunday on the Evans' Milton Keynes event I had a small quartered pork pie with me in my jersey pocket - brilliant! So, had mix of 2 gels, small number of jelly babies, High 5 tablets in the water and pie! It might be an advert for the potential 'fat lad at the back' but it broke the cycle of high/lows with eating sweet stuff. Will be speaking to a nutritionalist in the club to see if there is something more suitable than pie (but I hope not!)

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DavidC | 8 years ago
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Dry-type sausages — cabanossi, salami, or some such thing.

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runskiprun | 8 years ago
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hmm, I shall train for the London 100 on biltong and droewors. I know I can eat both, and if it works, I'll be the fat lad with one leg riding at the back with some meat tucked in his jersey (and some haribo for the last hour!)

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peterben | 8 years ago
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Agree with adamtaylor about the Torq pink grapefruit, very drinkable.
I make my own energy bars, combination of oats, chia seeds, dried cranberries and cherries, pea protein, toasted pumpkin seeds, maple syrup and coconut oil. if you soak the oats and chia seeds overnight you get a nice moist bar.

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pdows47 | 8 years ago
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I agree with trying proper food. Have a look at Allen Lim's book (the feedzone cookbook). There's lots of proper food in there that I find really good for my stomach, as I get gut rot with some of the highly processed stuff. Also look for drinks like Skratch Labs which are made with real fruit, and was created by the same guy. Or OTE, that's all made with real food and agrees with my stomach

I realise this sounds like an advert, but I promise it isn't, I just like the stuff Lim makes

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mattydubster | 8 years ago
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Thanks for the replies, there's quite a lot of slightly different variations. I'm starting to think that getting my energy intake through my fluids perhaps isn't the be all and end all so I may just switch to either a tasteless sodium/electrolyte tablet or even a very small amount of my High5 in the water. I reckon 'real food'/salted nuts/flapjacks/homemade schnizzle etc could be worth a pop, and I seem to remember that I've had success with dry fruit too. I suppose it also helps knowing that during my 300 miler there are 7 stops, of which 2 will be serving a hot meal!

Not so sure I can give up the jelly babies though - towards the end of my sportive, after I had dealt with the sickness, they actually went down really well and proper lifted my spirits up whilst biking into a headwind!

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crikey | 8 years ago
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Cheese and jam sandwiches.

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Flying Scot | 8 years ago
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American hard gums from lidl and high 5 plus caffeine one tab (not 1.5) in a 750ml bottle.

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Flying Scot | 8 years ago
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American hard gums from lidl and high 5 plus caffeine one tab (not 1.5) in a 750ml bottle.

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jstone1 | 8 years ago
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You carry a huge tank of fuel with you, it's called fat. Just need to train your body to use a much higher percentage at higher power outputs, which takes time & effort, but works (well, has worked for me, but I'm just another N=1 experiment on this). Best result is you don't need to keep stuffing sickly sweet sugar in and putting your system through massive sugar induced highs and lows.

http://www.samiinkinen.com/post/86875777832/becoming-a-bonk-proof-triath...

My version of the ham and cheese sandwich would be just the ham and cheese, some salted nuts, plain water.

But, @alotronic is right, it's all very personal.

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AJ101 replied to jstone1 | 8 years ago
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jstone1 wrote:

You carry a huge tank of fuel with you, it's called fat. Just need to train your body to use a much higher percentage at higher power outputs, which takes time & effort, but works (well, has worked for me, but I'm just another N=1 experiment on this).

This - TOTALLY! You can train yourself to switch over to more fat burning even when you're not riding. High protein with slow carbs 6 days a week. Junk on the 7th day.

Protein for breakfast with minimal carbs so you are absolutely full and then go out riding all day. You'll be surprised how far you can go without a midmorning carbcrash kicking in and making you feel empty.

Seriously, you can ride all day like this, and, if like the majority of the population you've got a bit of extra weight around your middle you'll feel pretty good knowing you've got a route to burn it direct whenever you want.

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alotronic | 8 years ago
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Very very personal!

I can't abide energy products if my ride is longer than about 6 hours.

Up to six hours I will use an energy bottle and a nuuns bottle, and munch my way through a commercial cereal bar every 45mins to an hour. This will do for moderate power output. After 6 hours it all just makes me want to gag.

If I am doing a properly long ride (12 hours plus) I will take spare peanut butter sandwiches (!) bananas. Along the way I will have real food (baked potatoes) and drink chocolate milk and water. 3am - coca cola!

Basically real food is good, but is hard to carry. I think someone did a study once on the power of the ham sandwich - perfect mix of carb, fat, protein.

Don't be too fooled by the marketing. There's plenty online about making your own energy drinks and bars. Home made flapjack or riceballs are the business. And probably the best thing for the intensity and distance you are aiming for. Then you can keep the gel for that last hour  1

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adamtaylor | 8 years ago
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Personally, I really like Torq's Pink Grapefruit energy powder. Quite natural tasting and not too sweet. Keep in mind that if you switch to electrolyte tabs, as some have suggested, you'll need to replace the calories no longer in your drink with something else.

I usually supplement with Clif bars or other solid food: bananas, flapjacks, figrolls etc. Gels are an absolute last resort because they're typically disgusting.

If it's an easier ride just grab some cake at a cafe.

Unless you're deliberately trying to lose weight, don't forget about breakfast either.

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Paul J | 8 years ago
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Aldi cola bottles and jelly mix work for me. Not too sweet, and still easy to digest.

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Simmo72 | 8 years ago
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can't be done with all these sports gel foods, the classics work just as well at a fraction of the cost
jelly babies
flapjack
fig roll
banana

Must admit though I like the high 0 cal tablets, not too strong, I tend to use less than stated and it keeps the cramp away on a long, tough.

I read somewhere average body can only process around 200 calories an hour effectively so anything else take on is a waste and leads to feeling bloated and horrible on the bike. Following this model seems to work for me, little and often.

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medic_ollie | 8 years ago
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Flapjacks are a god send. Especially earlier on a big ride.
Malt loaf is good too.

Being a student I can't really afford much of the fancy sports nutrition stuff so at the moment I'll have a zero tab and then have solid food such as above or things like biscuits or peanut butter sandwiches.

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Daveyraveygravey | 8 years ago
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I have a VERY sweet tooth; I can eat a whole big bag of Maynards wine gums (or skittles or jelly babies or Tooty Frootys) one after the other in about 10 minutes. The two exceptions for me are Liquorice Allsorts, have to stop half way through a bag or I feel sick. Jelly babies are the extreme, I can only eat about 3 of them without becoming nauseous.

I also get very thirsty so even at this time of year on a 4+ hr ride I'll take 2 x 750 ml bottles, one full of water and one full of SIS mixed up from a tablet and a half.

I take a couple of gels too, but like you can't take more than that. I like Coop flapjacks, they are £1 and a good size, can be taken out the wrapper on the bike.

Fig rolls are good, you can wrap 6 up in some foil, again easy to get at whilst pedalling, not sticky and don't disintegrate.

I am steering clear of the "specific" energy products these days, it doesn't have to branded "sports" or whatever to do the job - in fact I took a mini pork pie on Ridelondon last year, was brilliant! Savoury stuff balances up all the sweet & sickly energy products.

I will have chocolate milk after a ride as a recovery drink. Not sure how it would be on a warm day!

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Yorkshie Whippet | 8 years ago
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I'd suggest ditching the jelly babies as their aren't much more than pure sugar, which will require water to dilute. If you have an engery drink the body has no spare water to dilute the sugar and therefore strips water from other functions. The digestive tract being one of the first. So you could end up with jelly babies just sitting in the stomach. The other reason is that I found jelly beans did make me feel good but for a short time and then the crash, follwed by a spike.......

My current set up is one bottle of energy mix, one bottle of hydration mix, Hi5 Iso-gels and a few oat bars. I'd prefer to feel hydrated than sugared.

Like other's have said it's personal preference.

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stenmeister replied to Yorkshie Whippet | 8 years ago
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Yorkshie Whippet wrote:

I'd suggest ditching the jelly babies as their aren't much more than pure sugar, which will require water to dilute..

I agree, they aren't enough to sustain you but the nurse at my medical practice said they are good if you bonk and just need a kick start. I guess that's why Wiggle keep giving away small packets of Haribo sweets.

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stenmeister | 8 years ago
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I've never been a fan of High 5 for that very reason you state. I much prefer SIS Elderberry drink.

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userfriendly | 8 years ago
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My secret super weapon: chocolate milk.  36

It's also a very decent recovery drink, but I mostly gulp the stuff down while on the bike. Perfect ratio of carbs, protein, and fats, plus electrolytes and all that other good stuff.

Caveats: it's got to be chocolate milk from The Co-operative, all others I've tried were too sweet or odd tasting. And I've had people tell me they couldn't drink milk while doing exercise / cycling, but I'm not entirely sure they've actually tried it.  10 It works pretty well for me.

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dafyddp | 8 years ago
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It's a personal thing of course, but for me, when I'm doing 100 miles or so, I prefer:
Start the day with a substantial breakfast (omelette and bowl of muesli)
Harvest Valley granola bar around mile 30
Cafe stop at mile 40 - coffee, cake and a sausage roll. Or a sandwich.
Harvest Valley (protein) bar around mile 75, and a handful of jelly babies.

Ti drink, I like Ribena (or any bog-standard squash) with a pinch of salt over specialist drinks which always taste artificially sweet to me, plus you can dilute to taste more readily.

caveat: I'm not the quickest on two-wheels (steady 14mph over this sort of distance), and if you're travelling at a faster pace, a more technical diet might be better?

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Anthony.C | 8 years ago
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You could try putting less powder in your drink, I use High 5 and the recommended amount makes me a bit sick so I put about 25 % less in and have no problem.

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Poptart242 | 8 years ago
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You could try NUUN tabs as they're flavourless?

And for food, try something a little more natural if your stomach isn't getting on with gels and bars - GCN's Uber Bar recipe (on YouTube) is and awesome and foolproof way of making some brilliant cycling-specific flapjacks.

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