Originally Posted by
Tourist in MSN
A couple things you might want to review for energy sources are:
Good discussion of the role of carbs, proteins and fats at different wattage levels. If you are a Tour de France pro racer you are at high wattage, if you are a leisurely bike touring rider you are low wattage most of the time but higher wattage on the hills, rando rider you are probably somewhere in between. That said, I ride brevets at only a slightly higher wattage level than I use for long distance loaded bike touring, so I am not using a lot of carbs.
https://www.roadbikerider.com/energy...e-intensities/
These two are more oriented towards multi-week endurance activities, not a couple of days, so these are more oriented to make sure you get adequate long term caloric intake and nutrition. But there might be good ideas here too.
https://www.msrgear.com/blog/nutriti...food-for-fuel/
https://www.msrgear.com/blog/9019/
Thanks. I also liked this summarization by Dylan Jhonson who does great work of explaining complex matters with simple words, backed up by actual science researches:
Originally Posted by
Tourist in MSN
As noted in those references, proteins are good for muscle recovery, but not typically used as a significant energy source. I assume your mass gainer is heavy on protein and very light on fats. But, we all carry around a lot of fats on our bodies, so if you can train your body to burn fats you can get a lot of energy out of those fats too. A pound of body fat is roughly 3500 calories of energy waiting to be used. But fats are not a good energy source for high wattage activities. And it takes time to train your body to burn fats at a higher rate.
Gainer is usually 1/4 or 1/3 proteins, and the rest is carbo, plus a tiny bit of fats. They advertise it as "a regular food substitution", sort of, like when you don't have other opportunities to get a proper meal. My plan is only using gainer at times when I won't find a more healthy meal rich on carbs - because eating only different kinds of sweets gets rather old, in a long run.
Originally Posted by
Tourist in MSN
Electrolytes are something often missing from discussion on fueling for exertion. Last summer on one of my exercise rides, I bonked badly after about 50 miles, the last 20 some miles to get home were very slow and I had no energy. I had ridden that route many times, knew how much hydration and energy intake I needed, thus something was off. Eventually I decided that it was probably lack of electrolytes. Since then I have made sure I have some salty snack foods in my handlebar bag too.
I always carry isotonic powders and tablets, they weight nothing anyway, so at least this isn't big problem for me.
Originally Posted by
Tourist in MSN
I should say that I have not ridden longer than 200k, so I can't comment in personal experience that is applicable to you. And I have diabetes but do not take insulin, thus I have to limit my carb intake to lower glycemic index carbs, which impairs my ability to get fast energy foods. So, my personal experience is not that applicable but I hope that my input here was applicable.
It's always useful to look at a problem from different perspective, so no, you input is valuable as any other, thank you for sharing.