Nutrition / Hydration for Brevet / Long rides

[R. Venkatachalam]

This thread will concentrate only on the kind of Nutrition and
Hydration riders should ideally have on long rides. Its only apt that
we start something like this NOW, with the Brevet fever catching up!
(~60 riders completed 200K, highest brevet completion in INDIA!)

Vasu was mentioning about a rider, out of salts, almost bonking in the
middle of the Bellary road during the launch ride. Its scary to think
what could have happened if there was a speeding truck behind him at
that moment!

Each human body is different, the nutrition will vary from person to
person, and I am yet to come across a single successful formula, one
size fits all solution. However, there are broad frameworks available
on net, which one needs to be aware of, and understand the body a lot
more during such long rides.

So, this thread should grow into a knowledge base, of riders' personal
experience and pointers to some good materials on net (can be a
extract from BZ thread, cptips, performance, ultracycling, bikeradar
or whatever) rather than a +1 thread. Some of the gems/experiences
from this thread will get into the WEBSITE with credit to either the
rider who has put down the personal experience or with the extract and
URL mentioned with "contributed by:" tag. (Thats the best incentive we
can do right?) :)

So folks, please start writing your personal secret formulas (like
Gonad!) with ingredients, how to make, how it helps etc.

Regards, Venkat

[Akshay Prabhu Gaonkar]

Thanks for starting this thread Venkat.

Speaking about hydration, I personally carry two bottles, one pure
water and other water+ORS(electrol/gatorade etc). Most important thing
to do is to remember sipping this stuff as many riders forget the same
while riding in a momentum.

Dont know much about GOnads or similar stuff as I have quite a lot of
fats to burn :)

[Chidambaran Subramanian]

I make some juice, with kokum syrup/ginger+lime/pineapple (one of the 3), sugar and a spoonful of salt in a liter of water. I need  about 2.5  liters for a 200km ride. I used up about 2 for last weeks ride. For a longer ride , I would take a few more breaks and maybe carry more.  If it is very sunny and hot, this concoction tends to ferment in the afternoon, so carrying too much does not help. Just take a few more breaks in the searing sun. In fact, once the sun is out, I slow down a lot.

Electral/Tang ,etc (anything with salt and sugar in the right proportion) is good and convenient, but I take the trouble because I like the taste.

Has worked for me for most rides.

Chiddu

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[Sudhir P]

yes.... very important thread

For those of you who don't know what bonking is,
"In endurance sports, particularly cycling and running, hitting the wall or the bonk describes a condition caused by the depletion of glycogen stores in the liver and muscles, which manifests itself by precipitous fatigue and loss of energy. Milder instances can be remedied by brief rest and the ingestion of food or drinks containing carbohydrates. The condition can usually be avoided by ensuring that glycogen levels are high when the exercise begins, maintaining glycogen levels during exercise by eating or drinking carbohydrate-rich substances, or by reducing exercise intensity." (courtesy wikipedia)

If u read on in the wiki article, u'll know that bonks can get real severe, where u cant even stand..... So, make sure u fuel well, before and during the ride

Salts are also very important... Else u'll cramp.... My favourite so far is electral+tang.... And even if u do recover from cramps and can ride back, your recovery from the ride will be much slower (you'll have sore muscles for a few more days)

And how much one needs to take varies from person to person, and on the intensity of riding... So its best if u have played around with the options before the big ride

-sud

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[Craig]

I aim to drink 1/2 litre of water/gatorade (sachets) per hour on the
longer rides (> 5 hours).
I usually have two bottles on the bike and also carry my hydration
pack (up to another 2 litres). A mix of honey/lime/salt and water also
works for me..

As for nutrition, I've been experimenting with nut/dried fruit mixes
for a while now and now combine almonds, dates, raisins and walnuts as
a base and then
add dried coconut, dried citrus fruits or choc chips to add a bit of
variation to the flavour. I used to carry the nut mix in one of my
water
bottles but now I blend up the above mix and shape into bite size
balls (GO-nads.....not to be confused with gonads!), which are handy
little snacks on the long rides.

Cheers,
Craig

On Dec 9, 8:35 am, Chidambaran Subramanian <chi...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I make some juice, with kokum syrup/ginger+lime/pineapple (one of the 3),
> sugar and a spoonful of salt in a liter of water. I need  about 2.5  liters
> for a 200km ride. I used up about 2 for last weeks ride. For a longer ride ,
> I would take a few more breaks and maybe carry more.  If it is very sunny
> and hot, this concoction tends to ferment in the afternoon, so carrying too
> much does not help. Just take a few more breaks in the searing sun. In fact,
> once the sun is out, I slow down a lot.
>
> Electral/Tang ,etc (anything with salt and sugar in the right proportion) is
> good and convenient, but I take the trouble because I like the taste.
>
> Has worked for me for most rides.
>
> Chiddu
>
> On Thu, Dec 9, 2010 at 7:58 AM, Akshay Prabhu Gaonkar <
>

[htedum]

Will be nice to hear everyone's nutrition strategies. What works for me:

** Heavy carbo dinner the night before (pizza, biriyani, etc) along with lots of water. Wake up early, have a loaded breakfast (not overeat) of toast, jam, coffee at least an hour before you plan to start.

** The breakfast will kick in right when I'm warmed up (around 1 hour in) and can keep me running comfortably for 60 to 90 more minutes of reasonably hard riding. Before I start feeling hungry/tired again, I have a snack (packed bread-jam sandwich or a couple of bananas). Ideally, one snack  every 60-90 minutes should do the trick.

** I keep a pepsi/coke mixed with water in the second bottle for salt (or electral+water sometimes). One sip of water every 5-15 minutes depending on heat and sweat rate. One gulp of pepsi/water mix every 15-30 minutes. It's become such a habit that even at my desk, I reach for water every twenty minutes, something I never used to do before. :)

** I find that caffeine helps me maintain comfortable energy levels. Too much, though, and I start *feeling* dehydrated (even though I may not actually be). Hence the pepsi.

** Some people like honey instead of jam, but I find that honey's energy is faster and gets over more quickly. Jam lasts longer (I like sugarfree strawberry jam).

** It would be a nice idea to have some chocolate, candy, glucose etc as emergency bonk supplies. Happened to me at the Madikeri climb. I was really tired, and Mohan gave me a couple of butterscotch sweets. Helped a *lot*. The theory is not to use sweets as regular nutrition though, too much sugar and insulin will kick in and blood sugar levels will drop. Complex carbs will release in a more controlled and sustained way.

** Once in a while, there's nothing like a proper lunch. That eats up a lot of time and kills your momentum, though.

** In my experience (and I'm not really as experienced as a lot of athletes here), paying attention to my nutrition has made a *huge* difference in my riding performance and experience. Sometimes when I don't manage eat right, I end up having a miserable ride.

@Craig: Thanks for the GO-nad recipe! Sounds good.

[Barani Dharan]

Thanks for starting this tread Venkat. I am sharing my experience of the rides "without breaks".

 

The maximum i have done so far "without" breaks is 2kms swimming, 85 kms biking (bellary road with strong head winds) and 5 kms running. All back to back. It took me 6 hours to do them and i did not bonk and still had energy to do another 10 kms of running.

 

One hour before the swim i have half litre milk with 2 bananas. During the bike i have one litre of fluids ( half litre water and half litre energy drinks) every hour. I also have one energy bar (horlicks, ritechoice) every hour (apprx 25 kms). I also carry a mixture of dates, almonds & cashews. They worked very well for me and occupy little space. During the run i ensure i have one litre of concentrated energy drinks every hour. I sweat a lot during running than cycling and hence more salt loss.

 

I have seen many people having 5 Star, Dairy milk etc during such rides. Do they actually help ? While they ensure there is a sudden boost in energy i guess sustained release of energy is more appropriate. My two cents.

 

Folks, while sharing your nutrition please share the ride distance, with breaks or without breaks or any other info that may be useful to others.

 

Barani

 

 

 

 

 

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[htedum]

Barani: TFS. I guess we're all talking about long rides (> 5 hours, like Craig said). The longest I've done is 200 km at a stretch, also 150 km at least twice (more intensive pace than the 200) with the same strategy.

[Barani Dharan]

Agreed. Was just sharing my experince.

 

The longest i have done at a stretch is 130 kms and used the same strategy. Water, enerzal, dry fruits & nutribar.

 

Folks who recently completed BCB, please share your nutrition experiences. Has any one tried rock salt ?

 

Barani

 

On Thu, Dec 9, 2010 at 10:28 AM, htedum <abhijit....@gmail.com> wrote:

Barani: TFS. I guess we're all talking about long rides (> 5 hours, like Craig said). The longest I've done is 200 km at a stretch, also 150 km at least twice (more intensive pace than the 200) with the same strategy.

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[Sudhir P]

My ultraBCB ride (300km) was a no-big-break ride (took ~10 breaks of ~2min each)
Fuel:
3 hrs before ride: 6 small bananas, curd rice
1 hr before ride: 2 idlis, 2 robusta bananas
during ride: 4-6 litres of gatorade (lost count actually), 3 robusta bananas, 5 ritebite bars, 5 milkybars(the small 5 rupee ones), 1 boiled potato, 1 litre maaza

The ride was intense, but i had no big trouble (except i couldnt chase down craig! Must've been his go-nads)

-sud

On Thu, Dec 9, 2010 at 10:28 AM, htedum <abhijit....@gmail.com> wrote:

Barani: TFS. I guess we're all talking about long rides (> 5 hours, like Craig said). The longest I've done is 200 km at a stretch, also 150 km at least twice (more intensive pace than the 200) with the same strategy.

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[Apurv Manjrekar]

HI,

Rajesh Nair had shared this link on BZ a long time back. I found it extremely useful and it has helped me a lot.

http://www.nestlenutrition.com/NR/rdonlyres/26A5AFC8-058D-44DB-BCAF-C8D7EFEB52CE/0/GuideenduranceGB.pdf

Thanks and Regards,
Apurv Manjrekar

[Nalla P Konar]

Thanks Venkat for starting this thread. Thanks Vasu for observing and taking care of riders during the Mock ride.

Nutrition also depends a lot of the terrain and weather conditions.
Few of CW team did a recee one week before the mock ride. It was hot day and really energy zapping at noon especially. But the mock ride day was better in terms of weather conditions.

During 200km mock ride, i would have drank
- 5+ litres of Enerzal, Gatorade water.
- 2 Tender (aka Thunder) coconut (Yogesh hasnt replied to this thread, else he would have surely mentioned the benefits of this)

I sweat a lot and hence drink lots of fluids to replenish & rehydrate.
Bananas are great as well. Luckily in bangalore there is no shortage of shops selling bananas and tender coconut.
My office nutritionist had mentioned that bananas are good but are laxative in nature and hence might lead to nature call after a while !! I didnt experience so though yet :)

Chiddu, yet to taste your magic portion (Kokum mix).

Have tasted Craig's Go-nads during Gunjur offroad BBCh race reccee early this year. Wow :)

Rgds,
Nalla.
Member of Cleated Warriors - Bangalore Bicycle racing team
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[R. Venkatachalam]

Have done about 22 century rides this year, of which 11 were > 200 K.
(including BCB: 296K approx). Total mileage this year >8K (as quoted
in DNA!!!! :)) So, i will put down some of my observations here.

I have experimented with each one of my ride. Each person will have
that one 'thing' that will work for them. To find that is difficult,
it will take time.

- Get your body to eat into fat cells for energy, you will last longer
on the road

- How does your body 'know' to burn fat? Surrogate: Use HR belt, be at
60-75% percent of Lactate Threshold Heart Rate (Sud - Pls explain how
to find LTHR in non-scientific words, till today our team hasn't
understood it). I think my body usually burns fat between 135-150 bpm.
So, my long rides which are at 25-27 kph moving average are in these
zones, i hardly belt on long rides (even otherwise, i am not the fast
kind, not a TT guy)

- If you can crack the fat part, and ur body knows to use it, then you
can 'pass through the wall'. Without getting technical, (which anyways
i dont know), how I did it was to subject the body at 135-150 bpm
rides regularly, without eating carbs during ride, but having enough
salts and water during the ride to take care of cramping. Do not try
this if you are riding alone. This is not a tried and tested method,
so if you really want to try it, do it when you do a 5 hr group ride
and folks are constantly with you.

- I have experimented with Electral, Enerzal, Isotonik, Gatorade...
and lately, Buttermilk with lots of table salts. Not sure on the exact
compositions, but the same stuff works differently depending on the
weather in which i ride and the intensity.

- What is the best surrogate to know if you have enough salts? *** !
When I take a leak once in two hours, i watch two things - Colour and
Wind direction (LOL!). The moment it turns to pale yellow, there is a
issue with salt and hydration. Ever experienced internal bleeding
because of bad hydration? There may be drops of blood at the end of a
ride if you dont hydrate well, go see a Doc immediately, it can get
scary! (Or you might just recover the next day and ride all days!
Consulting a Doc is the best according to me)

- Eating part - Have atleast 300 Kcals of stuff every hour. Approx,
body tends to burn 600 Kcal every hour of cycling (depending on ur
weight, terrain etc etc). Its important to keep feeding the body. I
love Bananas, dates, Roti without oil with dry aaloo sabji rolled - my
Indian equivalent of Frankie!. Offlate, all our team rides are
becoming heavy IVC rides, which I dont complain at all. Food is
important! IDLIS are the best bet, safe if you have it even on the
roadside i think, since it is steamed. Never had stomach trouble when
i have had idlis.

- Its not right, IMO, to have chocolates for cramping! Sugar gives you
instant energy, keeps ur HR down (i enjoy popping in a ravalgon cady
once in a while). But is not a substitute for salts. In running, you
can stop and stretch, in cycling, if you have a butt cramp, how will
you stretch? I mean, it is difficult on the road, or i am not aware of
any stretch exercises for butt pull. (Any pointers, will help!)

- To retierate, please find the zone and nutrition/hydration that will
work well. I will not vouch for one stuff that has worked perfect for
me, but i love experimenting and keep confusing my body a little bit.
Be extremely sensitive to the first sign of nibble on your body, if
you are cleated, uncleat every hour and do some ankle rotation slowly
while on the ride.

More fundas later. (Little free at work today, rather be biking!) :)

Venkat

On Dec 9, 10:30 am, Sudhir P <sudhirpalli...@gmail.com> wrote:
> My ultraBCB ride (300km) was a no-big-break ride (took ~10 breaks of ~2min
> each)
> Fuel:
> 3 hrs before ride: 6 small bananas, curd rice
> 1 hr before ride: 2 idlis, 2 robusta bananas
> during ride: 4-6 litres of gatorade (lost count actually), 3 robusta
> bananas, 5 ritebite bars, 5 milkybars(the small 5 rupee ones), 1 boiled
> potato, 1 litre maaza
>
> The ride was intense, but i had no big trouble (except i couldnt chase down
> craig! Must've been his go-nads)
>
> -sud
>

> On Thu, Dec 9, 2010 at 10:28 AM, htedum <abhijit.shylan...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Barani: TFS. I guess we're all talking about long rides (> 5 hours, like
> > Craig said). The longest I've done is 200 km at a stretch, also 150 km at
> > least twice (more intensive pace than the 200) with the same strategy.
>
> > --
> > biking conversations on the world famous "Bangalore Bikers Club" :)
>
> > are you a part of the bicycle racing scene?

> > Visitwww.bangalorebicyclechampionships.comfor more details

[deepakvrao]

Nice post. Amazing amount of long rides you have put in.

You are right, high glycemic index foods like choclates are not great
at all.

Would love to share a few pics of stretching on the bike, but dunno
how to add pics.

On Dec 9, 11:33 am, "R. Venkatachalam" <r.venkatacha...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> > > Visitwww.bangalorebicyclechampionships.comformore details

[htedum]

> Would love to share a few pics of stretching on the bike, but dunno
> how to add pics.

Doc:Methinks rReply in Gmail/Outlook (rather than the Groups page) and
add attachment.

Otherwise, upload to http://fumpr.com and post the links here.

[Chidambaran Subramanian]

I'd love to know other ways of knowing what to do without the HR belt. I just go by instinct , practice and memory.

One thing I'd like to add though, when I feel off the boil in the middle of a ride, I find rest much more helpful than food. (Food is helpful, I am making a comparison). Of course I make sure I am constantly hydrated on long rides.

Chiddu

[Yogesh N. Rao]

I have done the following to measure fluid loss:

1. Weigh myself before I start the ride
2. Go for the ride and keep track of how many 1 ltr water bottles I buy
3. Come back home and weigh myself.

The difference between my weight after ride and before ride plus the number of liters of water I have consumed is the number of liters of h2o I have lost. 1 ltr of water weighs roughly 1 lb (~0.5kg).

I do not know how to measure the loss of vital salts from the system.

[Ashwatha Matthur]

Yogesh,

one liter of water = 1000 ml = 1 kg (not 1 lb).

[Mayank Rungta]

My ride profile is not even close to the many elite riders here! :)) The toughest ride I have done is the Taklangla climb (TaklangLa is the world's second highest motorable pass at an altitude of 17,469 ft/5,235m. ).  It was during the ride from Manali to Leh about 420 kms with varying degree of difficulty. This was a fun ride spread across 9 days. 

I like to consume a lot of water and during this ride there was no dearth of pristine 'mineral' water from the glaciers! (where the minerals came from was always questionable! ;)). I used Chikki Power (CP) for fuel.

Some comments -

Craig> - A mix of honey/lime/salt and water also works for me...

What quantities? Is it by taste? I did like to try something like this.

> Tasted Go-nads

Boy did I get ideas!!! Thanks for clearing this up! :)

> One gulp of pepsi/water mix every 15-30 minutes.

In one of the yoga sessions we were told that it is better to take larger quantity of water in one go than sipping as you lose a lot of stuff in the pee in case of the latter. Any comments? Personally, I like to drink a liter before I start and feels good and cool and there after I have water stops again larger portions rather than very frequent smaller portions. Pee color was a good test and recommended highly!:) Should be clear or very light lemony.

htedum> I find that caffeine helps me maintain comfortable energy levels. Too much, though, and I start *feeling* dehydrated (even though I may not actually be). Hence the pepsi.

Pepsi has caffeine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine) which has its own issues - dehydration being one but that is not proven says wiki. I usually avoid any such stuff. BTW this is present in most cocoa based chocolates as well so...

Few questions -

1. Does coconut water suffice in terms of fluids or it important to add salts and such? I did like to avoid supplements like electral - just some aversion... 

2. Is milk (flavored or otherwise) before, during or after rides recommeneded? I love cold badam milk but not sure it helps. Sure cools me down! :)

3. 

[Yogesh N. Rao]

There's a famous saying, "a pint is a pound, in the world around". Hence, my data was not from science. I just googled and found that 1 pint = 0.473 liters.

So you are right, 2 pints of h2o to a kilogram.

[Namit Varma]

Can we get Samim to mail in? No one has more experience on endurance rides than him. In fact, it would be good if he could talk to all those folks who plan to do the 400/600/1000 and go over how one should prepare, including training and nutrition.

[Chidambaran Subramanian]

Coconut water is the ideal rehydrator. You don't need to add anything to it

Chiddu

[manish Rajput]

Great topic to start Venkat..

 

 

I am not a pro as you guys are nr have not belted so many miles as you all have done.

But would like share my funda of what I do to keep myself up for long rides...

 

I make sure I have good dinner (lots of rice with less masala and stuff...) followed with a good night sleep (6-7hrs minimum...)

 

In the morning have on glass of milk (in the beer mug, without sugars....)  and may be 1 ltr of water

 

*not sure if this plays any role, but what I do is apply little of body oil on my face and legs helps protect against cold *

 

During the ride, I make sure have 2 bottles (1glucose mixed and the other plain water). I have seen after a while you die to have plain water over glucose water…. I have gone through it…

At that stage the body simply refuses to take glucose anymore….

 

 

Question:

Are proper sipper bottles better over the disposal ones?

 

For the Brevet Launch ride 200K:

I had 3 ltrs of plain water + 1 ltr of glucose and 250 ml of electoral. (No wonder why mu butt was sore after 100k and every time I had to adjust)

Also had about 10 5-stars (5 rupee ones) + 5 Mars 

Had good lunch at Kamat, which actually gave me the energy to complete the ride on time.

Completed the ride by 0545pm.

 

Question:

Does every rider have a sore butt during the ride, or was this because I had less/no salts at all in my drinks? Can someone please throw some light on why, when and how does sore but come in play and the ways to avoid it if possible?

 

EOD I had sore butt, which I have noticed I many of my long rides…

 

@ Dipankar can we see you share some secrets, as we see you doing crazy distances always, what keep you going? (Apart from you wicked mind!!!)

 

 Regards,

Manish Rajput

~never say die~

 

 

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[Manish Rajput]

[htedum]

Mayank:

> In one of the yoga sessions we were told that it is better to take larger
> quantity of water in one go than sipping as you lose a lot of stuff in the
> pee in case of the latter

Dunno if it's scientific, but if I drink a lot at one go, I feel
bloated, and it is difficult to judge how hydrated (or not) I am.

> Pepsi has caffeine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine) which has its own
> issues - dehydration being one but that is not proven says wiki.

Caffeine is not proven to increase short term energy, but it *is*
supposed to have benefits in endurance events.

From the same page you linked to -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine#Effects_when_taken_in_moderation

----------quote------------
With these effects, caffeine is an ergogenic, increasing a person's
capability for mental or physical labor. A study conducted in 1979
showed a 7% increase in distance cycled over a period of two hours in
subjects that consumed caffeine compared to control subjects.[81]
Other studies attained much more dramatic results; one particular
study of trained runners showed a 44% increase in "race-pace"
endurance, as well as a 51% increase in cycling endurance, after a
dosage of 9 milligrams of caffeine per kilogram of body weight.[82]
Additional studies have reported similar effects. Another study found
5.5 milligrams of caffeine per kilogram of body mass resulted in
subjects cycling 29% longer during high-intensity circuits.[83]
----------unquote------------

To each his own though, there are people who don't need any caffeine
to kick some serious backside. :)

[htedum]

> ----------quote------------
> With these effects, caffeine is an ergogenic, increasing a person's
> capability for mental or physical labor. A study conducted in 1979
> showed a 7% increase in distance cycled over a period of two hours in
> subjects that consumed caffeine compared to control subjects.[81]
> Other studies attained much more dramatic results; one particular
> study of trained runners showed a 44% increase in "race-pace"
> endurance, as well as a 51% increase in cycling endurance, after a
> dosage of 9 milligrams of caffeine per kilogram of body weight.[82]
> Additional studies have reported similar effects. Another study found
> 5.5 milligrams of caffeine per kilogram of body mass resulted in
> subjects cycling 29% longer during high-intensity circuits.[83]
> ----------unquote------------

Having said that, please be moderate in your caffeine intake! You
*can* overdose on caffeine, even from just having too many coffees.

[Mayank Rungta]

> Dunno if it's scientific, but if I drink a lot at one go, I feel
> bloated, and it is difficult to judge how hydrated (or not) I am.
>
>

It was said the tendency to take leaks was higher with frequent intake
of short gulps which means higher loss of stuff. If you take a lot of
water you will go lesser times. But yes I am not sure what to believe
either ways.

> ----------quote------------
> With these effects, caffeine is an ergogenic, increasing a person's
> capability for mental or physical labor. A study conducted in 1979
> showed a 7% increase in distance cycled over a period of two hours in
> subjects that consumed caffeine compared to control subjects.[81]
> Other studies attained much more dramatic results; one particular
> study of trained runners showed a 44% increase in "race-pace"
> endurance, as well as a 51% increase in cycling endurance, after a
> dosage of 9 milligrams of caffeine per kilogram of body weight.[82]
> Additional studies have reported similar effects. Another study found
> 5.5 milligrams of caffeine per kilogram of body mass resulted in
> subjects cycling 29% longer during high-intensity circuits.[83]
> ----------unquote------------
>

Most useful effects of caffeine are short lived and what I am worried
about is the unwanted effects - u get addicted to the stuff so much so
that you feel uneasy if you don't get it! :)

> To each his own though, there are people who don't need any caffeine
> to kick some serious backside. :)
>

Precisely, I did like to follow their suit! :)

[Sudhir P]

Drinking often in small quantities is what i've heard being recommended.... and it has worked for me

@manish: Getting a harder saddle (or perhaps a nice brooks one) might do the trick..... But, i've gotten used to every single saddle i've ridden so far.... I guess, its about getting ur butt used to it!

-sud

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[Chidambaran Subramanian]

Drinking often in common quantities. Else you might get dehydrated before you realize, or you can drink more than you need, resulting in the need to pee more llikely to happen

[Vasu]

Folks,

I second venkat on a few counts.

The body typically burns about 600 cals for an hour of riding. One should ingest at least 300 cals/hr of riding where total ride time is over 6 hours. Of this some portion should be solids and some liquid. 1/2 rite bite bar every half hour and a few nuts and almonds is good enough. Take a break and have some solids every 3 - 4 hours. 

Liquids: one or two sips of water every 15 - 20 mins. One drink I like is 2 tbl spoons of sugar and 1/2 tea spoon of salt in 1lt of water. Does the job perfectly well. On a longer ride maybe a pack of electral but this is not really mandatory. The idea here is one should have sugars and salt and common salt is just good enough. The need for sugars arises because one needs glycogen and some carbs to burn fat. The long term fuel is fat but to burn it carbs should be present. Loading a lot of carbs a day before the ride doesn't really work if the body hasnt learnt how to burn fat.

The importance of stretching major muscle groups after the ride can never be stressed enough. A quick google search will show several sites where one can find info on stretching. here is one such site.. - http://www.suite101.com/content/stretching-exercises-for-cyclists-a71815

Ridesafe,

Vasu.

[Rohan Kini]

Fantastic thread.

Will be picking up stuff from this onto the page on randonneuring - http://notebook.bumsonthesaddle.com/randonneuring (umm .. its empty and its a wiki. Which means YOU can add stuff too)

One more thing that I normally concentrate on is what happens after an endurance event

Normally - cool down a bit after a longish ride. Dont just pop off the bike and run to McDonalds. 

Listen to the body and stretch. Relax in the stretched pose and feel the body stretching. Stop if it hurts. Listen to your body

Go for a recovery ride the next day

and Ice Baths. These are awesome. 

An Ice bath can do wonders to your body and keep the soreness away ! A nice warm shower/bath might be tempting. But an ice cold shower/bath is fantastic

I normally ice my knees after longish rides too. 

http://velorunner.blogspot.com/2010/08/my-first-ice-bath.html

http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/fitness/article/health-the-truth-about-ice-baths-28017

[Mayank Rungta]

> An Ice bath can do wonders to your body and keep the soreness away ! A
> nice warm shower/bath might be tempting. But an ice cold shower/bath
> is fantastic
> I normally ice my knees after longish rides too.
>
> http://velorunner.blogspot.com/2010/08/my-first-ice-bath.html
> http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/fitness/article/health-the-truth-about-ice-baths-28017
>

Thanks for sharing this. I always was inclined towards cold baths and in
the Himalayas the icy water had a nice rejuvenation effect! :)) Since it
gets difficult to take a cold bath if you are not used to it I do it all
the year round irrespective of the weather. It has helped greatly on
many many occasions! I used to think a hot water bath might be better
after strenuous trek or a ride. Even after kalari I am often tempted to
take a hot water bath but I am glad I have avoided. I can share this bit
during the workshops as well. Adding to the slides.