I was diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis and with the HLA-B27 gene back in 2010 and have controlled my condition since 2014 with a Low Starch Diet. In 2016 I started riding to help with my fitness and movement, and started racing in 2017. But I find that my anaerobic capacity is limited and in races over 100Km I really start to suffer with my energy reserves. Before a big ride or race my teammates generally carb load and since listening to the TrainerRoad podcast I always here about Carbs and Carb loading as a must. But with my condition of not being able to eat starch I basically cant eat any carbs. Does anyone have any advice on an alternative to fuelling your body if Carbs are out of the equation?
I too am HLA-B27 positive and have a diagnosis of AS. I’m glad to hear that you’ve been able to control it with dietary changes. I’m not aware of alternative fuel sources that have as good an effect as carbohydrate, if there were people would be talking about them. Carbs are king when it comes to fueling. You could try the high-fat route and tailor your racing to longer endurance events where high-power, sugar-fueled efforts aren’t necessary. Even then I think the body is still reliant on some form of sugar.