Originally Posted by
wolfchild
Train your body to burn fat for energy...Human body has very limited glycogen storage capabilities but enough fat storage to keep supplying energy for hours and hours.
Exactly.
Originally Posted by
Awesomeguy
I heard this before but , usually people have to do keto for this, it’s just not practical for me to do keto, for cultural Reasons and just based on what my family eats ,
See below. Keto dieting puts you into ketosis all day and is difficult. Ketosis during a ride is easy and exactly what we train for.
Originally Posted by
Nessism
Wow, this is so WRONG.
Bonking is when your glycogen reserves are GONE. The marathon runner guys call this "hitting the wall" and this is a good analogy because when this happens it's close to a hard stop because your body shuts down.
For me it takes about 2 hours of intense riding.
...Anyway, there is no amount of "training your body" that can get you through a hard bonk once your glycogen levels are depleted.
Right about what bonking; wrong about training.
The enzyme systems for generation and consumption of ketone bodies, and the synthesis of glucose from non-carbohydrate fuels including fats and proteins, are easily inducible by training. This is how trained athletes can train and compete long, long after complete consumption of liver and muscle glycogen stores. All that's required to spin up all that gene transcription is regularly riding past the point of complete glycogen consumption and not stopping for a while or stuffing your face with sugar. If you can't ride 50 miles without eating or bonking, you are not trained for that distance or have some sort of rare genetic defect.
This is not to say that consuming carbs on a long ride isn't helpful for performance. Keto- and gluconeogenesis are inefficient compared to burning carbs and a gel gives an immediate boost for this reason.