Benefit to eating more carbs than needed During Ride?

Nutrition
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Is there a benefit (especially wondering wrt recovery) to eating carbs when they aren’t really needed for that ride?

I am not talking about training your gut to handle max carbs for a race…just day to day for someone who trains 5-6 times per week but not racing.

So say I do 60-90 at endurance pace. from what I understand, I don’t need to eat any carbs for this ride (assuming I’m eating well off-bike). Would there be benefit to eating a little anyway just to not tap into my glycogen stores? so I am more ready for the next ride?

tyty

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There’s a clear benefit for your dentist for sure, especially if you are going to eat/drink those fast carb energy drinks/bars/ gels 5-6x/week for several hours on end

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I’d say that maybe, in theory, there may be some benefit. However, you’re probably not at the point that it would even matter much anyways. 60-90min exercise 5-6 days per week is great, but no need to be guzzling sugar water while doing so. Just be sensible.

I tried that ‘Saturday’ app trial that was discussed on this forum and my biggest takeaway was to just use cheap table sugar and a pinch of salt for in ride nutritions and that I was over hydrating for rides like that . 60-90 min endurance pace might call for 1 bottle with 40-60g of sugar in it, but you could skip. I always brush my teeth after too.

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Taking on sugars/carbs while you ride won’t affect the rate of glycogen depletion in your muscles, but it can spare liver glycogen. Yes, it can be an advantage (small, if any, for a shorter ride) to sip on carbs, but know that muscle glycogen will likely not be spared regardless of choosing to do it or not.

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Like @KWcycling said. Be sensible. I wouldn’t have any fun if all the cycling I did wouldn’t allow for a while pizza every now then. Hard to do when you’ve guzzled you calorie allotment on the ride.

I’ve been thinking about what @The_Cog said about ingesting more carbs immediately after training vs during for better glycogen recovery since you can’t spare muscle glyco during excercise. Makes a lot of sense to me. Of course as long as the workout is still sufficiently fueled.

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