Originally Posted by
hubcyclist
Yes there are general recommendations of 60-90g/carb per hour. Do I agree with that universally? No, especially since newer/casual cyclists attach themselves to that dogma when many burn <400 calories in an hour. I've said myself above that I've done 100 mile rides on 1100 calories, which I'm not sure on the grams/hr, but it was on the lower end. Depending on fitness, someone may burn more or fewer carbs at Z2.
This ^ is one of the reasons I posted the info. Not necessarily for newer cyclists, but for anyone who wishes to better understand what's behind those generic recommendations so they can make informed decisions about their needs for their specific riding and goals.
Originally Posted by
hubcyclist
So the advice to kind of feel it out for yourself is sound, absent any type of lab testing where you can get some specific data on your own carb utilization at various intensities. Everyone is different, which is why feeling your way through is ultimately what needs to be done.
Feeling things out for yourself is fine and appropriate when you already know what works and you just need to tweak things a little. Ignoring credible data, research and science in favor of "feeling things out for yourself" as a primary methodology for efficiently working towards goals is simply ignorant.
As one example of the results of "feeling your way through", we had a former president in the USA who operated in that manner and things didn't work out too well. 400,000+ dead and counting. Just sayin'.