Preparation - who needs it ?

[Fiona N]

Just a quick muse on these threads and advice about carb-loading and preparation before sportives and whatnot.

Yesterday I rode a fairly snappy 160km from Kendal down to Hewitts in Leyland and back - under 3 hours each way - for a bike service. So I did have a 2 hour break in the middle when I nibbled a Mule Bar (very tasty, I have to say) while I chatted to Paul and the guys.

No big deal you might say but consider I had minimal lunch (punnet of strawberries and a slice of date and walnut loaf) and no dinner the day before as the Council meeting went on until after 10pm but I munched a couple of bananas with a cup of Horlicks when I got home at about 10.30pm. Breakfast was an orange and a bowl of porridge as there was no time to sit around digesting anything more substantial. At Garstang at about 50km I stopped at the great little cafe there for a coffee and baked egg custard tart (they make just THE BEST - not too sweet). Then on the return I stopped at a pub on the way into Preston to get more water and had a coffee with another Mule bar but stopped in Garstang again for tea and custard tart. Got home just in time for 2 more bananas, glass of soya milk and a quick bath and some stretching before heading out (by bike) to another committee meeting.

I'm sure Jimbo will be able to calculate my exact calorific expenditure (for 162 km, average speed out 27.6, back 29.1 kph (slight tail wind), total ascent 810m) and intake but the key thing is because I knew I could do this easily, fuelling became completely secondary. While I wouldn't advocate this lack of preparation if you're doing a big sportive or other event, it's useful training to see how little you can get away with if needs be. Half the time (or probably more) mental strength and confidence is what gets you round - all riders of longer Audaxes know this - so don't let gels and energy drinks become a psychological prop instead of a physiological quick fix.

Here endeth the lesson

 

[jimboalee]

Just a quick muse on these threads and advice about carb-loading and preparation before sportives and whatnot.

Yesterday I rode a fairly snappy 160km from Kendal down to Hewitts in Leyland and back - under 3 hours each way - for a bike service. So I did have a 2 hour break in the middle when I nibbled a Mule Bar (very tasty, I have to say) while I chatted to Paul and the guys.

No big deal you might say but consider I had minimal lunch (punnet of strawberries and a slice of date and walnut loaf) and no dinner the day before as the Council meeting went on until after 10pm but I munched a couple of bananas with a cup of Horlicks when I got home at about 10.30pm. Breakfast was an orange and a bowl of porridge as there was no time to sit around digesting anything more substantial. At Garstang at about 50km I stopped at the great little cafe there for a coffee and baked egg custard tart (they make just THE BEST - not too sweet). Then on the return I stopped at a pub on the way into Preston to get more water and had a coffee with another Mule bar but stopped in Garstang again for tea and custard tart. Got home just in time for 2 more bananas, glass of soya milk and a quick bath and some stretching before heading out (by bike) to another committee meeting.

I'm sure Jimbo will be able to calculate my exact calorific expenditure (for 162 km, average speed out 27.6, back 29.1 kph (slight tail wind), total ascent 810m) and intake but the key thing is because I knew I could do this easily, fuelling became completely secondary. While I wouldn't advocate this lack of preparation if you're doing a big sportive or other event, it's useful training to see how little you can get away with if needs be. Half the time (or probably more) mental strength and confidence is what gets you round - all riders of longer Audaxes know this - so don't let gels and energy drinks become a psychological prop instead of a physiological quick fix.

Here endeth the lesson

I'd put my mind to that task half way through the third paragraph, but reading the long list of the food you ate, I abandoned the idea because the answer would probably been "Too much".


How large was the punnet? 250g . That's 100 kCals, cus Strawbs are mostly water.
The slice of malt loaf would have been about 200.
Orange 40. Porridge 160.
Egg custard tart? 250... and you ate TWO.

Mule bar? I had to look that one up. 261?? What does it say on the wrapper?
You had two of these.

Totting it up, you ate more than I would for a Std 100 club ride.

 

[lukesdad]

Pre-Planning-Prevents-Piss-Poor-Performance. Or in other words preparation. Engrave it in your memory banks.

 

[Fiona N]

I'd put my mind to that task half way through the third paragraph, but reading the long list of the food you ate, I abandoned the idea because the answer would probably been "Too much".


How large was the punnet? 250g . That's 100 kCals, cus Strawbs are mostly water.
The slice of malt loaf would have been about 200.

Ah, but they were the day before's intake so can't count (my BMR's about 1500 so I do need to eat even if I don't cycle )

And the ride was solo so no drafting from club mates to reduce the energy expenditure...

I reckon I had a deficit of about 3000kcal over the two days - so I'll weigh myself in a couple of days when I'm sure any water deficiency is made up to see if I've lost ~0.5kg

 

[Christopher]

hi Fiona
What's this cafe in Garstang that you speak so highly of? Around there I only know the Priory and that is in Scorton...

ta!
Christopher

 

[jimboalee]

Ah, but they were the day before's intake so can't count (my BMR's about 1500 so I do need to eat even if I don't cycle )

And the ride was solo so no drafting from club mates to reduce the energy expenditure...

I reckon I had a deficit of about 3000kcal over the two days - so I'll weigh myself in a couple of days when I'm sure any water deficiency is made up to see if I've lost ~0.5kg

I'm counting the strawbs and malt loaf because they will have still been somewhere in your intestines while you were riding, in the process of being digested.

 

[Greenbank]

Fitness plays a big part also in being able to just 'go', but I know what you mean.

What you lack in physical preparedness you must make up for with mental strength.

I did a 400km Audax last month having only cycled 800km in total in the whole of 2010.

 

[Threelionsbrian]

Totting it up, you ate more than I would for a Std 100 club ride.

I would probably take 2 bananas, 1 or 2 550 cal flapjack bars, 4 x litres 6% fluid maybe a baguette with ham & salad.

I am usually glad when i have ate my cargo!

 

[Threelionsbrian]

Forgot the gels just in case!

 

[jimboalee]

Fiona was going to a bike shop where she, from the tone of here text, enjoyed herself.

Her brain was flowing with Seratonin and her blood was flowing with Adrenaline.
She probably could have ridden the trip on 'sod all' food in this condition.


She WAS prepared. She was mentally prepared.

 

[Fiona N]

hi Fiona
What's this cafe in Garstang that you speak so highly of? Around there I only know the Priory and that is in Scorton...

ta!
Christopher

Ah this is tricky as I get lost in the maze that is Garstang every time I visit

Basically it's in a yard (Garstang has another 'dialect' name for these back alleys which broaden out into courtyards behind the buildings on the main street, but I can't remember what it is) with a secondhand clothes shop and a bookshop. Coming from the north end of town, down the one-way main shopping street, it's down an alley on the right side of the road about 100m short of the Y-junction at the big pub (possibly the Bull's Head). I spot it by the sign for the bookshop usually. It's really quite tiny with a couple of tables outside but it's very convenient as you can keep your eye on your bike(s) and it's quieter than the main street.

 

[Fiona N]

What you lack in physical preparedness you must make up for with mental strength.

I did a 400km Audax last month having only cycled 800km in total in the whole of 2010.

This is my approach to the 400km Audax I'm signed up for at the beginning of August. There is a limit though and I suspect the hills of the Scottish Borders (it's the Galashiels 400) are going to test it

 

[yello]

I muse these sorts of things often. Invariably after I've just read an article in a cycling mag about hydration or nutrition etc.

I've come to the conclusion that those articles are not aimed at me. Well, "aimed" perhaps but not of use to me. I don't ride hard or fast. I'll do a 100km on no special preparation and just water and a banana or flap jack. I don't think I need gels, energy bars or sports drinks. I have used them in the past but I reckon they're wasted on me. I don't 'carbo-load'. Again, I used to but not any more. I think 'porridge for breakfast' is my only pre-ride fuelling tactic these days... and that's hardly scientific!

I don't dismiss the science, not at all. I remain aware of it and I guess I do whittle it down and tailor it to my needs. But I do question it's application as presented for everyone.

Btw, I presume BMR is 'base metabolic rate'. How does one work out what it is?

 

[Greenbank]

This is my approach to the 400km Audax I'm signed up for at the beginning of August. There is a limit though and I suspect the hills of the Scottish Borders (it's the Galashiels 400) are going to test it

The 400 I did was hardly flat:-

Shrewsbury - Bala - Cwm Penmachno - Betws-y-Coed - Llanberis - Waunfawr - Penrhyndeudraeth - Barmouth - Dolgellau - Machynlleth - Aberystwyth - Newtown - Shrewsbury

 

[Arch]

I think 'porridge for breakfast' is my only pre-ride fuelling tactic these days... and that's hardly scientific!

Yeah, that's about it for me.

I did my 100 on breakfast (I think it was cereal), a pot of tea and a sausage sandwich for early lunch, a cheese sandwich and a couple of digestive biscuits mid afternoon, and a few raisins. One bottle of water, and a half pint of shandy.

I was wrecked when I finished, but it was mostly contact point pain (bum, wrists, shoulders) rather than muscle fatigue, which really only kicked in at 80-90 miles.