Originally Posted by
Iride01
I totally agree with that part. Though I drink mine. I put all my carbs in my bottles. No wrappers to fall out of my pockets to pollute the scenery. I seldom eat on rides of any length other than the organized rides where each stop does its own food theme it just seems impolite to ignore their offerings.
Well I have noticed that the Keto diet has toned down a lot of it's more stringent requirements and actually looks more sensible. However most of the keto spouting people I've run into seem to think any carbs any time and any amount are bad. But that's from people I knew 15 years ago. Supposedly the first carb a person consumes ruins everything for a while.
I don't think there is anything special about keto diets that is going to make a person perform better over any other person. That is going to come from simply riding a lot.
If a person is interested in improving their riding performance, out of all the diets, keto will still be on the bottom of my list. However, if a person is okay with using carbs while they are riding, then I really don't care what diet one does while off the bike. My friends of 15 years ago would think you not doing keto if you intentionally consumed extra carbs over and above what you can't avoid.
When I followed a LCHF diet, I would not start eating until about an hour into the ride. I monitored my ketosis with a meter and eating on a long ride never threw me off. Eating too many carbs when you are not exercising will knock you out of ketosis and it can take 2-3 days to get back.
There are benefits to burning fat on long rides. First, you are totally bonk-proof. I don't consider a ride long until it gets close to 200 miles. Studies have shown that there is a limit to how many calories a person can absorb in 24 hours. Even Tour Riders have to work hard to keep glycogen stores topped up AND the ride huge miles in the early part of the season and therefore, they are highly fat adapted. Most of us do not ride enough to have that benefit nor is it important because rides are short and it is rare for most riders to do back to back to back long hard days. There are many approaches to enhance fat burning, keto is just one. The common argument against LCHF diets is a reduction in FTP. I am not so sure about that but it plays well