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Video: How to eat and drink while riding

New video shows you how to replenish your reserves safely on the fly

A new video from British Cycling shows you the right way to eat and drink while you’re racing.

As part of the Racesmart series designed to encourage better racing, former professional rider Dan Lloyd explains when to eat and drink, and when not to try it – in crosswinds or on a descent, for example. He says that the best place is on a flat, straight piece of road without too much wind, and when the pack isn’t going too fast.

The video advises you to practise in training so that you can develop confidence riding with one hand on the handlebar as you eat or drink, before trying the same thing while riding in a group.

It also suggests that you cut off the tops of energy bar wrappers before the start of your race to save time and effort out on the road, and that you have a system for knowing which pocket contains each type of bar or energy gel so you can always get what you need first time.

Mat has been in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. We send him off around the world to get all the news from launches and shows too. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now over 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.

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3 comments

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russesllowens | 2 years ago
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WolfieSmith | 9 years ago
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Cutting the tops off energy bar wrappers too? Wow. I've just realised where I'vd been going wrong with bananas all these years. No wonder they've tasted so bitter on the bike..  4

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gareth2510 | 9 years ago
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Not to eat or drink going downhill...hmm common sense no?  39

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