Road Cycling

[oli collett]

As for eating on the bike: I don't think it's necessary (or even possible on the ride itself) to get enough calories to replace what you've burned on the bike. If I do a ride and burn 1800 calories, I think I would make myself sick trying to get that many calories on the ride. You have to accept that you will generally have a deficit afterwards.

Eating around 60g of carb and hour is enough. Anymore, and you're going to cause yourself some serious gastrointestinal issues.

Eating the same amount of calories as you burn on a ride is bonkers. You should be able to ride a decent distance on just a big breakfast, or look at training towards doing that to improve your efficiency at burning fat when riding so you don't need to constantly be munching on food to keep you going!

 

[madindehead]

Eating the same amount of calories as you burn on a ride is bonkers. You should be able to ride a decent distance on just a big breakfast, or look at training towards doing that to improve your efficiency at burning fat when riding so you don't need to constantly be munching on food to keep you going!

Yeah. Sorry, I was replying to DanF's post about diving calories total/calories in flapjacks to see how many to eat.

 

[oli collett]

Yeah. Sorry, I was replying to DanF's post about diving calories total/calories in flapjacks to see how many to eat.

yeah i know, i was agreeing!

 

[The Mad Rapper]

Tackled most of the Haddenham Howler climbs this morning, bar Whiteleaf because I ride that semi-regularly and wanted to save some juice for unfamiliar territory. The full is 80 miles but the first 50 contain all the climbs with a 30 mile leg stretch to round off.

https://www.strava.com/activities/548011660

Misjudged Bledlow Ridge, I'm familiar with it but was running out of puff come then end but still PR'd by almost a minute off a 14 minute climb.

Bledlow Ridge caught me out the first time I did it with the club as well. I went off far too fast, died half way up and got overtaken by everyone. The start is deceiving

 

[madindehead]

yeah i know, i was agreeing!

Got you. Sorry, I'm a bit tired, so confusing myself

 

[BennyC]

Yeah, you need to tighten the top cap first with the stem bolts loose, so that it presses the whole stack down on the fork steerer tube. Once that's done, tighten the stem bolts. You can then back the top cap off a bit if you want.

Loosen all the bolts, tighten the top bolt to 3nm, tighten the stem bolts to whatever the stem/steerer is rated for

Thanks guys.

Strava kcal estimates are dodgy even with a PM. What did Garmin Connect say?

With a higher average power output than that I tend to burn 35-42kcal per mile so I'll eat a 330kcal flapjack every 10 miles if I'm on an imperial century or longer. I'll often not be hungry at all if I do that.

If you can keep going on lower kcal then it's probably worth saving a few for a nice enjoyable meal afterwards anyhow

I'll chime in if I may

On a 'short' ride (30-35m/2,000ft) I can get by on very little around 200/250 calories and still maintain a decent average 16-17mph. I can manage this fasted too (I've used IF for 8 years, so I'm accustomed to training fasted).

But if I start to tip 40-50m+/3,000ft then I'll usually eat 6-800 calories and have a couple of hundred before setting off too. Historically I've tended to trickle in calories evenly spread over the ride but will experiment over the next few (today included) with a greater proportion eaten earlier/midway but still something towards the end to perk me up.

I always keep some 'emergency ermergherd bonk' supplies in my tool kit and often take a gel or two as well if I find myself struggling or particularly hungry. Always take more than you need.

I find when on the turbo, with an accurate Garmin user profile (weight/height), I will maintain on 100% of the estimated burn 750/850 cals/hr for around 25 miles worh of distance. TrainerRoad overreads and I find Strava to under-read. But when out on the road I find my Garmin to overread and strava to be around 80% accurate. For a while I just took 70% of Strava and maintained (my calories/macro's are tracked religiously and accurately.).

For the sake of ease now I just take 500~ calories an hour and will adjust based on any tough climbing or windy conditions.

 

[DanF]

my toilet is agreeing with you, half a box of flapjacks in one sitting hasn't gone down that well

normally I'd just do one bar over a 50-60km training ride. Not been doing much longer in the last few months.

 

[BennyC]

Bledlow Ridge caught me out the first time I did it with the club as well. I went off far too fast, died half way up and got overtaken by everyone. The start is deceiving

Yeah, I've ridden it probably around 6 or 7 times and was just blowing a bit towards the top but the PB is justification

Turns out there's two 'Aston Hills', one over by Chinnor which is a nice steady 4-6% for about 2 miles, really lovely scenery feels like you're in a different country as it's around 4 lanes wide and kind of like an Alpine climb with tall fur tree's and high rocky sides in places.

https://www.strava.com/segments/786889

I could have sworn this descent was signed 'Aston Hill' too and as I was whizzing down spotted a 16% sign, of course these signs are an average but I ride plenty of other hills 15%+ which are only signed as 10% average

https://www.strava.com/segments/1429249

Out of interest which club do you ride with/where bouts are you?

 

[FrenchTart]

Re kcal on rides, the strategies for shorter rides are quite different to those for longer 100+ mile ones. Garmin Connect kcal with a PM are also a fair bit more accurate than pretty much any other method.

Where the cut off point between "endurance" and regular (or even short/fast) rides is varies massively from person to person of course. However, if you're on an endurance ride you'll absolutely have a better time if you take in kcal that reflects your actual use rather than anything arbitrary.

I wouldn't recommend that people going for short to medium length weekend rides follow the above eating strategies.

 

[lordrobs]

Another point to note is that Garmin Connects calorie calculations are crazy, mine are often in the region of double what Strava estimate.

Most I've eaten on a ride is a breakfast bar and a gel but then again I do have built in reserves

 

[FrenchTart]

Another point to note is that Garmin Connects calorie calculations are crazy, mine are often in the region of double what Strava estimate.

Most I've eaten on a ride is a breakfast bar and a gel but then again I do have built in reserves

If you've got your profile set up correctly and you're using an HRM then Garmin Connect will be pretty accurate. A PM more accurate still.

Strava I found to average out to be roughly right..ish.... with the correct setup but it essentially doesn't properly take into account the terrain and (not at all take into account) wind/drafting/etc.

edit: By "right..ish" I mean that Strava could be up to 50% out but over the course of many rides you'll probably end up at a figure that is roughly right :s

 

[SoliD]

30 to 40 miles I'll usually eat a banana only . if anything. I usually burn about 35kcal a mile (with pm). Up to 40 if I put some effort or its a bit hilly. Only when I do a 50 + will I take more or if I know it's going to be hard.

Obviously the harder you go the more you'll burn and if you want to keep going hard you'll need quick release stuff.

Also if you're doing multi day I always use energy drinks to keep the energy topped up without making you feel stuffed full of food. I always prefer to eat proper food over gels etc if I can, find my stomach copes better. Altho gels are handy for longer rides as they're so small and pack an energy punch.

 

[slipd]

Hey guys,

Had a lite ride out today and the chain rub on my top/bottom gears (front mech) was really irritating me so when I got in I decided to 'adjust' it... Now, it's a long story but where do I start with resetting my gears back to normal

I mean as if I'd just fitted a new setup. I played about with everything, including dropping the the front mech because it was about 4mm off the top chainring. Incidentally, how do you know at what angle to keep the mech at? Is it level with the top chainring when the chain is on the bottom ring and the top sprocket on the back? I ran my finger along the chainring and it seemed fairly level with the mech.

As an overall starting point though should I be starting with the rear mech? Yes, I messed about with that too

Thanks.

 

[ShiWarrior]

Yeah, I've ridden it probably around 6 or 7 times and was just blowing a bit towards the top but the PB is justification

Turns out there's two 'Aston Hills', one over by Chinnor which is a nice steady 4-6% for about 2 miles, really lovely scenery feels like you're in a different country as it's around 4 lanes wide and kind of like an Alpine climb with tall fur tree's and high rocky sides in places.

https://www.strava.com/segments/786889

I could have sworn this descent was signed 'Aston Hill' too and as I was whizzing down spotted a 16% sign, of course these signs are an average but I ride plenty of other hills 15%+ which are only signed as 10% average

https://www.strava.com/segments/1429249

Out of interest which club do you ride with/where bouts are you?

that's where I live, between Chinnor Hill and Aston Hill

 

[PermaBanned]

Hey guys,

Had a lite ride out today and the chain rub on my top/bottom gears (front mech) was really irritating me so when I got in I decided to 'adjust' it... Now, it's a long story but where do I start with resetting my gears back to normal

I mean as if I'd just fitted a new setup. I played about with everything, including dropping the the front mech because it was about 4mm off the top chainring. Incidentally, how do you know at what angle to keep the mech at? Is it level with the top chainring when the chain is on the bottom ring and the top sprocket on the back? I ran my finger along the chainring and it seemed fairly level with the mech.

As an overall starting point though should I be starting with the rear mech? Yes, I messed about with that too

Thanks.

http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/front-derailleur-adjustment

http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/rear-derailleur-adjustment

 

[FrenchTart]

Hey guys,

Had a lite ride out today and the chain rub on my top/bottom gears (front mech) was really irritating me so when I got in I decided to 'adjust' it... Now, it's a long story but where do I start with resetting my gears back to normal

I mean as if I'd just fitted a new setup. I played about with everything, including dropping the the front mech because it was about 4mm off the top chainring. Incidentally, how do you know at what angle to keep the mech at? Is it level with the top chainring when the chain is on the bottom ring and the top sprocket on the back? I ran my finger along the chainring and it seemed fairly level with the mech.

As an overall starting point though should I be starting with the rear mech? Yes, I messed about with that too

Thanks.

Check out the GCN videos on setting things up. Also, the Sheldon Brown pages. You'll want to start from scratch as you've already said.

Have you messed with the limit screws?

edit: PB has posted the video links

 

[oli collett]

Re kcal on rides, the strategies for shorter rides are quite different to those for longer 100+ mile ones. Garmin Connect kcal with a PM are also a fair bit more accurate than pretty much any other method.

Where the cut off point between "endurance" and regular (or even short/fast) rides is varies massively from person to person of course. However, if you're on an endurance ride you'll absolutely have a better time if you take in kcal that reflects your actual use rather than anything arbitrary.

I wouldn't recommend that people going for short to medium length weekend rides follow the above eating strategies.

Eating more on longer rides is all well and good but 300kcal+ per 10 miles as you suggest amounts to well over 500kcal per hour, which your body is really going to struggle to digest and for the majority of people will be far, far too much. I doubt tour desk France riders get to that level of calorie consumption

Trying to intake close to what your burning is really problematic - for a start you will ideally burn a fair bit from fat burn on an endurance ride, a percentage which varies from person to person so it's never simply a matter of saying I'm putting x amount of kj through the pedals so I can put x kcal in.

 

[FrenchTart]

Eating more on longer rides is all well and good but 300kcal+ per 10 miles as you suggest amounts to well over 500kcal per hour, which your body is really going to struggle to digest and for the majority of people will be far, far too much. I doubt tour desk France riders get to that level of calorie consumption

Trying to intake close to what your burning is really problematic - for a start you will ideally burn a fair bit from fat burn on an endurance ride, a percentage which varies from person to person so it's never simply a matter of saying I'm putting x amount of kj through the pedals so I can put x kcal in.

Indeed, on longer endurance rides taking in enough kcal is exactly the issue.

I actually don't take in what I burn when taking in ~330kcal per 10 miles (to use my particular example). Aside from it being under what I burn in 10 miles, that's a target and realistically it will often be missed. At other times I'll eat more (e.g. around lunch time) too. Over 500kcal per hour is easily hittable in terms of kcal burn for someone of my size travelling at a reasonable pace. At a moving speed of 17-19mph in a city area you'll cover about 15 miles in an hour, which in theory would be a little over the magic 500 mark, discounting any kcal from simply being alive.

Yes, some of your calories burnt will be from fat stores but even if you assume something like 33% you're very much heading into the realms of the extra kcal you gain being used up by you simply living.

As I mentioned above, I'm not talking about an eating strategy for short or medium length rides, or for training for a specific goal. This is how you should eat on long distance endurance rides where the goal is simply to complete the ride and if anything to slightly over-eat as the negative effects from doing so are far less bad than those from failing to provide your body with enough energy.

 

[alexisonfire]

I'm fairly happy with riding in a deficit and normally only eat around 300kcal on a 25-30mile ride and nothing before. On a larger ride with lots of climbing i normally have a banana prior and 250-300kcal per 20miles!

The best rides are 15miles and 1000kcal of cake & coffee

Edit: As an example, on todays ride (33miles 2200ft) i had a banana (100kcal) prior and a 140kcal oat bar mid ride.

 

[SoliD]

I doubt tour desk France riders get to that level of calorie consumption

You'd be surprised, on hot days they'll be gnoshing back the drinks which have about 150cals per bottle at the rate of 2 or 3 an hour, along with gels, and proper food.

Good article here on how much they consume! http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news...o-eat-to-compete-in-the-tour-de-france-182775

Stage 18 at this year’s Tour de France features three category-two climbs and one hors catégorie ascent over 186km in the Alps. On these climbs alone SiS expects its riders to consume six electrolyte drinks, three energy bars, two isotonic gels and a caffeine gel; more if the heat ramps up.

Also this is my favoured approach, but I'm talking 80mile rides plus. Much better to ensure you have some energy at the end than getting into the bonk zone!

This is how you should eat on long distance endurance rides where the goal is simply to complete the ride and if anything to slightly over-eat as the negative effects from doing so are far less bad than those from failing to provide your body with enough energy.