Originally Posted by
ZHVelo
I have already successfully tested it over a three hour ride where the middle hour was sweet spot. I did 90-120-90 without issue and felt much better after the ride than I usually do when I eat (too) little. I also tested 90/hour over a 4 hour ride (which was above 50%). I am not a racer, much less a pro, and I haven't even tested digestion all that much (yet). I absolutely do not see why you need to make blanket statement when digestion is so individual and trainable and people should test it for themselves. Also, I never said everyone should do it or that it is easy, my why not was aimed at your absolute statement. It is almost as if you completely ignored the "Of course you may not tolerate that, but that is a separate issue." part of my reply to you.
I find the longer the ride, the harder it is to keep slamming down the carbs at that kind of pace. My event rides are typically around 5-9 hours and it really gets hard to force down the carbs after the first few hours. Moving from solids to gels and liquid helps, but I usually struggle to average more than 60g / hour over say 6 hours. But I don't bonk at that level, so it's enough for me. I'm not at all surprised MVDP is taking in double what I would given his power output! As you say it is trainable to some extent and I know the Trainer Road guys are quite big on increasing carb intake for endurance. I've certainly tried it and take in what I can tolerate on events.
The other big factor is intensity. The harder you are riding, the harder it is to consume carbs. For example riding at a leisurely pace I could eat pretty much anything I wanted. But ramp the pace up to tempo for several hours and it gets much harder to fuel. I don't think in reality many ordinary guys could replicate MVDPs fuel intake while riding at the same relative intensity. But you can certainly copy the principle.