Nutrition on the road - What, How and Why?

I made it for quite a long time. Good stuff. Bit of a faf.

For a 12 hr TT, what are the best gels for a size to carb ratio? Would prefer to eat only one per hour and then some chews, bars and savoury stuff.

I like the Torq ones but they are 64g of carbs per 100g . ZipVit looks like the highest at 85g per 100g.

I use Torq because I think they taste the best. They're 30g CHO per gel.

ZipVit are 51g so factor that into what else you're eating to get a total hourly CHO value.

ZipVit
Water, Maltodextrin, Sucrose, Glucose Syrup, Citric Acid, Natural Flavour, Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Chloride.
Nutrient Per 100g Per serving
Energy value (kJ) 1423 854
Energy value (kcal) 340 204
Carbohydrates (g) 85 51
Carbohydrates of which sugars (g) 44.6 26.8
Salt (g) 0.1 0.1

Torq

Ingredients: Maltodextrin (Glucose Polymers 43%), Water, Fructose (21%), Citric Acid, Electrolytes (Sodium Chloride, Potassium Chloride, Calcium Lactate, Magnesium Carbonate), Natural Flavour (0.2%), Preservative (Potassium Sorbate).

per 45g serving per 100g
Energy (kJ) 476 1065
Energy (Kcal) 114 255
Carbohydrates (g) 28.8 63.9
of which sugars (g) 9.6 21.3
Sodium (mg) 50 111
Chloride (mg) 85.5 190
Potassium (mg) 11.5 25.7
Calcium (mg) 4.5 10.1
Magnesium (mg) 1 2.3

https://www.triradar.com/gear/best-energy-gels-for-triathletes/

Thanks, I think I will prob stick with Torq as I used them in a 100 and know I can stomach them. They are also smaller so I can carry more.

Out of interest, what else do you eat in a 12/24?

They also have electrolytes and mixed carb source and if you've used them before I'd say it was a no brainer, unless you're prepared to go and train with a bunch of zipvit.

Torq gels
Torq bars
Torq energy drink
Pepsi
Ibuprofen
Paracetamol
Rennies

I used Zipvit for that reason, did a couple of years of 100s on the before I did the 12 so knew I got on. Think I mostly gave up on gels at 6-8 hours, there's only so much you can take. I was retching as I was riding along heh.

Can really recommend Clif Shot Bloks, pleasant to eat and not overwhelmingly sweet. Real food is a bit of a faff to eat, especially when moving but it's good to have some sandwiches/sausage rolls to hand if you fancy a change. Cold rice pudding with jam is the classic option.

Think I mostly gave up on gels at 6-8 hours

htfu (hit the food up)

Does anyone have any good sources (books/websites etc) on nutrition? It's an area that intersts me but I know very little about so I'd like to learn more but I'm aware there's a lot of fake news out there when it comes to nutrition.

There's tonnes, literally tonnes of stuff out there. What specifically are you looking for?

Here's a couple of sources of 'actual science' as opposed to bro noise:
https://ais.gov.au/nutrition/resources
https://www.gssiweb.org/en

Lots of the 'big guns' in terms of research are on twitter and most of them post regular links to new research but if you want basics there's already quite a few books on fueling for various sports. AIS used to do factsheets, Asker Jukendropp and Louise Burke have very good books available.

Actually, just saw this which seems to point to a lot of stuff I was suggesting: https://www.hmrrc.com/members/pacesetter/2019/november/sports-nutrition-resources-books-blogs-websites-and-podcasts

There's tonnes, literally tonnes of stuff out there

And a lot of it is someone trying to sell you their new book or fad diet... 'Actual science' is what I'm looking for so thanks for the links, I will have a read.

If you know what a fad diet book is then it's easy to ignore. If you don't know what a fad diet is then you wouldn't have mentioned it.

Follow the scientists.

Follow the scientists

Sage advice!

If only I made money out of all my advice like the nutrition hawkers out there.

150% bigger muscles within 7 days and none of your money back, guaranteed!

bit of a thread dredge but Tom Couzens (Montezuma's Race Team) has written a PDF book of home made energy bars he's selling for £5 to help fund next season. Seems like a decent cause and it's a decent book -

'Natural Energy ≈ £5
I have decided to create my own recipe book of 50 different flavoured energy bars perfect for taking on a bike ride or taking to work. If you would like a copy please message me or email me couzenst@gmail.com and I will email over a PDF copy of the book.'

https://twitter.com/Tom_couzens/status/1331330091608109061

Caffeine gel hit 2.

They're the best kind, but very tricky to stuff up the leg of your knicks...

I expect you go there so often that the local bank has seen the need to put warning notices on their windows not to lean bikes against them? :) #donotlean