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At a previous cycling camp, I was talking with Dave, a then 50-year-old father of two who was training for an annual cycling weekend with friends. He was making progress, but was frustrated with his performance during long rides—once he passed three hours, he started having stomach trouble.
As he rattled off a list of what he consumed each hour on the bike—half an energy bar, one gel, a bottle of sports drink, and a bottle of water—I realized that despite riding for years, he was eating and drinking too much. He needed to revisit his cycling fueling plan and how exactly he eats and drinks for each ride.
The American College of Sports Medicine recommends 30 to 60 grams of carbohydrate per hour of exercise, but few athletes understand the reason for this amount. The average person can process, or oxidize, only about one gram of carbohydrate per minute, no matter how much is consumed. The bottleneck isn’t your muscles; it’s your intestines, which can transport glucose from food you eat into your bloodstream only so fast. Dumping more carbohydrate into your gut doesn’t necessarily increase the absorption rate, but it can increase your chances of an upset stomach.
To avoid this, here’s exactly how to plan out your cycling fueling, including what you should consume on short-, medium-, and long-distance rides. This way you can ride on and strong with little interruptions.
General Tips for Your Cycling Fueling Plan
It’s easier than you think to overload on carbs. Take Dave as an example: His half an energy bar (23 grams of carbs), one gel (27 grams of carbs), and bottle of sports drink (about 50 grams of carbs) meant he was taking in about 100 grams of carbohydrate every hour. Early in his rides, he was doing great because he was getting all the fluid, energy, and sodium his body could handle, but after a few hours the excess carbohydrate sloshing around in his system was making him nauseous, bloated, and ill.
One of the easiest ways to optimize your carbohydrate intake during rides is to think about your hydration and your energy needs separately. While you need to drink fluids to stay hydrated, hydration needs can change based on the environment, duration, and intensity of the ride. Carbohydrate needs will generally stay between 30 to 60 grams per hour for most riders during most types of efforts.
Different types of sports drinks have varying levels of carbohydrates, therefore it’s important to pay attention to how many grams of carbs per hour you’re getting in a particular product depending on how much you’re drinking. A simple solution is to drink water or an electrolyte drink based on your fluid needs and eat light, digestible snacks like fig bars, dried fruit, and bananas, or sports nutrition supplements, or both to satisfy your calorie needs. If you’re drinking only water, you’d want to get your electrolytes from sports chews or gels.
Also, research suggests that by consuming energy foods that contain a mix of sugars (such as glucose and fructose, or glucose and maltodextrin) instead of just one type of sugar, you can bump oxidation to as much as 1.75 grams per minute. Translation: The sugar leaves your gut and enters your bloodstream faster so you’ll have more readily-available energy when you need it most, as in during a race. Though many riders do not need to take in this amount of carbohydrate per hour, research suggests an association between high rates of carbohydrate intake (about 60 to 100 grams per hour) and better race performance.
Over the course of three days at camp, Dave made subtle changes to his on-bike eating habits. He set an alarm to beep every 15 minutes as a reminder to drink, instead of guzzling an entire bottle at once. He added granola bars and fig bars to his stash of energy bars and gels for variety. As we rolled past the four-hour mark, Dave was taking long turns at the front and chatting happily in the paceline as if the ride had just begun.
To find the same success as Dave, here’s an overview of the best cycling fueling plan—what to eat and drink on rides of various lengths—so you can pedal farther, faster, or ideally, both.
How to Fuel Short Rides
Ride Duration: 1 hour or less
Primary Concern: fluid replenishment
What to Drink: plain water or a low-carb, electrolyte hydration drink
What to Eat: Most people start with enough stored energy for a 60-minute workout, but carry a banana just in case you’re out longer than expected or you start to fade.
Bonus Tip: For optimal recovery, eat a regular meal with healthy carbohydrates and protein within an hour of finishing an intense workout.
How to Fuel Medium-Length Rides
Ride Duration: 1 to 3 hours
Primary Concern: fluid and carbohydrate replenishment (30 to 60 grams per hour)
What to Drink: 2 bottles of electrolyte drinks, with 0 to 60 grams of carbs per bottle
What to Eat: 0 to 60 grams of carbs per hour from food, depending on the carbohydrate content of your drinks.
Bonus Tip: Don’t wait until your hungry or thirsty to eat and drink. Take small nibbles and sips from the get-go.
How to Fuel Long Rides
Ride Duration: 3 hours or more
Primary Concern: fluid, electrolyte, and carbohydrate replenishment (30 to 60 grams per hour); food boredom or palate fatigue
What to Drink: about 1 bottle of water or electrolyte drink per hour, with 0 to 60 grams of carbs per bottle
What to Eat: 30 to 60 grams of carbs per hour total, including carbs from your drinks. Digestion can get harder as rides get longer. To offset this, stay hydrated by drinking water and electrolyte fluids, eat more solids at the beginning of the ride, and switch to easily digestible snacks and sports products like blocks, chews, gels, or carbohydrate-electrolyte sports drinks during the final part of the ride.
Bonus Tip: Supplement bars and gels with carb-rich, low-protein, moderate-fat “real” foods like rice cakes, PB&J sandwiches, or roll-ups. Don’t worry about specific amounts of protein or fat, just eat what tastes good so you keep eating. Savory foods offer a welcome change to your palate when you have flavor fatigue from sugary foods.
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Dr. Namrita Brooke is a full-time endurance sport coach and sport nutritionist advising active individuals and amateurs to professional athletes. She is also an adjunct professor in the Department of Movement Sciences and Health at University of West Florida. Professionally, she also serves on the Board of Editors of the Sports Nutrition Care Manual and remains involved in nutrition and exercise-related research, student mentorship, and coach development. Namrita's personal athletic experience ranges from ultra-endurance mountain biking to off-road triathlon, cross-country mountain bike racing, gravel cycling, duathlon, cyclocross, running, and trail running. Her research background includes hydration and sports drink research, and the interaction of nutrition, physical activity, and the brain.
