I haven’t read the entire thread, others may have already commented on this. For an outdoor ride 800kJ/h is quite some work. O.k. it may be pan flat where you live with no interruptions. Or you may be a bigger rider. Still, 800 kJ/h is a lot of work for such a long duration. Fueling on the bike appears to me important for this. 70g/h may be a little bit too low, you could experiment with more. Would help with reducing the calories deficit after a ride. Not sure how much eat during the coffee break though.
If this is only a once a week thing and followed by a rest day I wouldn’t worry too much about small deficit. And fat can be a friend too, perhaps in the form of chocolate.
I made good experiences with sugar water-food (aka fueling the rides). So during the rest of the day I can eat healthy food and dont‘t consume all those other things which are found in processed food.
Sugar is said to increase inflammation and is not good for gum health. But it is still much better than other „unhealthy“ food and provides energy in an efficient way. I eat much better since I fuel my workouts accordingly.
I’m similar during the workday. I know that I’m getting behind on fuel but physically I need to be a bit more full than is comfortable, and sometimes when I do an after-work ride I don’t manage fueling properly (pre-ride and during-ride) which sometimes leads to sub-par or even abandoned workouts from time to time.
Once it’s evening, however - I have no problem getting in too many calories.
Big ride for me today and made a conscious effort to keep eating throughout the rest of the day - finished around 10 am (had 270ish grams of carbs on the bike), breakfast at 11, lunch at 2, and dinner at 6:30. Seemed to really help.
I also focused on re-hydrating. I had three 1-liter bottles of carb and electrolyte mix during the ride. I had two large cold brew coffees throughout the day (these re-hydrate me), but still started to get a headache mid-afternoon. I had a large glass of water with an additional electrolyte tab and that cleared it up. Even though I wasn’t craving salty foods after the ride, maybe I’m not replenishing sodium enough. Will keep experimenting.
Do a sodium test. There are people who lose close to 2000 mg of sodium per L. I’m personally 1100-1200 which is what I mix all my on bike Hydration at.
TLDR, most electrolyte tabs don’t have nearly enough for use on the bike.
Until I got more powerful fans in my basement, I was getting huge salt cravings after big rides. I’m now putting ~100g table sugar + 1/4 tsp table salt in my bottles and this allows me to easily calculate how much I’m getting in. Today was an approx 3hr 3000kJ ride (which is also about 3000 cals) with a full-gas ~20min threshold+ effort near the end (before some easy spinning when Epic KOM was done). I had 600cal smoothie 90min before, ~100g crackers about 45min before starting, then 1 bottle, 100g raisins, and 1 bar @280cals during the ride. That’s about 2000 cals near my ride, but when I was done, I definitely needed more calories, so I had a protein bar and two mugs of ice cream. Somewhat full now but will be okay for a few hours before dinner.
Yes, I should. I make my own carb / electrolyte mix and use Nuun tabs, but they only have 320 mg electrolytes.
Cooling is definitely key. I have a Lasko blower and my basement is very cold this time of year. Today it was 66F and 50% humidity. I burned 2640 kj during a 3:45 endurance ride today.
However, when I travel and ride on an indoor bike at the hotel gym with no fans, I’ll use Precision Hydration 1000mg tabs in my bottles. I only do endurance rides, but my gut can handle that much sodium over the course of a 60-90 min ride.
I’d need 4 of those per L. Pretty cheap to just buy sodium citrate and use that. That’s what I do plus flavored drink mix. Maltodextrin and Fructose if I want carbs.
Also, sodium concentration doesn’t change for me with temperature. Just the amount I need to drink
Just in case you never noticed - one PH tab is only half what the container says. So the 1000 is 500 per, and the 1500 is 750. Still more than the 350 in SIS or Nuun though.
Wow, thanks! I actually had not noticed. I’ve tried the PH 1500 and it upsets my stomach.
The other reason I like the Nuun tabs is because I can get them with caffeine. Almost all of my rides are early in the morning and I definitely need the boost.
