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Squaredisk
skinny
rj
Interesting post from Strasser on facebook - on how his body responded to junk food on TCR vs his RAAM diet.
I tried to eat more protein this year, I would down a litre of yoghurt at a stop, if they had any.
Ultracycling Nutrition:
Ensure + Electrolytes vs Cola + Snickers
One of the biggest challenges in unsupported racing is nutrition. In my The Transcontinental Race I was surprised, that my body could take these crazy amounts of gas-station junk food without getting sick over more than nine days. I always had enough energy to continue riding at a good speed.
Even my power output in TCR was a bit higher than in RAAM – of course because of more sleep and more off-bike-time.
While I get my carbo-electrolyte drink “Peeroton Hi-End Endurance” and liquid nutrition “Ensure” in RAAM, which contain a well-balanced amount of carbohydrates, protein, fat and micro nutrients, in TCR I had to ride on mainly Snickers, sandwiches, white bread, Ice Tea and Coke: all of these have high sugar but nearly no proteins.
What I realized after TCR: Recovery takes much longer, I couldn't manage to return to master high-intensity rides for weeks afterwards. The most likely reason is the loss of muscle mass due to lack of protein supply and the body compensating this by drawing protein for vital mechanisms from its biggest storage... the muscle.
Would riding TCR with Ensure make me faster? Maybe.
Would recovery have been faster? Yes. I am quite sure. Recovery after RAAM is much better.
Would riding TCR with Ensure be possible? No. Because you can’t buy it in stores along the way and you can’t carry it because of weight.
What I learned from it: It is possible to ride with junk food, but the body suffers long-term from it. High quality nutrition does not exhaust you that much and recovery will happen much faster.