Hello,
I'm new to cycling and recently I made little longer ride (at least for me). At about 30km mark I suddenly loss all my energy and had to fight to keep pace over 20km/h. First 30 km was easy with average pace of 25km/h. Is the only way to cycle more or should I eat and drink more before ride? I didn't have any water or food with me.
Any advice for prepping ride and during ride is welcome!
by rcplaner
31 Comments
eating a gel or consuming drink mix during the ride should help to prevent bonking on rides 90min+
Eating and drinking before the ride is great but if you ride longer than 60 mins you need to eat and drink on the ride
Your answer’s in the last sentence of that paragraph. You need to eat and drink as you go – 40k is a long way to go without it for a newbie.
My guess is you used up all your glycogen and that caused no energy. Try eating more carbs before a longer ride and also snack during the ride. Around 60g of carbs per hour minimum. Also water is a must, plain or with isotonic powders.
You carry zero water or food for 30k?? This isn’t a mystery. Your body stores enough glycogen for about 45 minutes of intense work. You need carbs to keep going after you burn those stores.
And no water?? You are living dangerously. Carry water for ALL rides and carry carbs for any rides over an hour. Period.
Bonking!
Glycogen depletion:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitting_the_wall?wprov=sfla1
> should I eat and drink more before ride? I didn’t have any water or food with me.
Bring water and a snack with you and drink and eat during the ride.
What happens to me is the more carbs I eat the more dependent on them I become, the quicker I run out of energy. When I’m strict on my carb in take my body better handles longer rides with less dependence on immediate food.
>I didn’t have any water or food with me
Come on, man. Think it through.
You have to eat and drink on the bike. You can generally get by without food for an hour but never leave without water. I have notifications on my cycling computer to eat and drink.
Did you do any sport before in your life?…
Sudden loss of energy sounds, to me, like running out of blood sugar. Cyclists often call it “boking” but there are different words for it. Marathon runners tend to call it “hitting the wall”.
In the short term, you can take a snack (or a sugary drink). In the long term, with more training, your body gets used to it, and you’ll be able to do more work for longer.
Happy riding!
(Personally I try to avoid the snacks and I try to do “empty the tank” training. As a result, I’m not a superfast athlete, but I can ride for a couple of hours until worrying about food)
Bonking. You need to drink water every 15min not when you’re thirsty. Eat/Fuel every 30-45mins probably something around 30-60g of carbs per hour. I don’t usually fuel on my 1-2hr rides but I recently did one for a race/social ride and I felt like superman.
Classic bonking. We’ve all made this mistake. The learning curve is real.
60-90 grams of carbohydrate per hour on the bike. Eat things that taste good, are easy to carry, and easy to get down. Fig bars, cookies, whatever you like. Gels are great, but require more than a little water, so plan accordingly.
Start your ride topped up, and then eat and drink on a schedule. Do not finish your ride empty. It will only make your recovery that much harder. Eat sooner than later after your ride, and aim for 3:1 (or thereabouts) carbs/protein. Your body will thank you.
People don’t talk about it enough but getting into endurance riding, especially gravel, is also an eating competition and requires some training. Consuming a lot of carbs is not easy but your muscles demand it to keep from bonking.
That said, casual chill rides, I just bring random snacks or some beers (or n/a drinks of choice with some carbs) for carbs.
If you ride over 40k you need at least 3 pints of ale and some scratchings before you can even consider riding back.
Gels give you about five minutes of go followed by an emergency road side shit, but a good beer that’s all day energy right there.
I generally go with a bottle of water per 20k pre pub, but I do run wet. Post pub I’m an invincible riding machine that needs no water and can race cars.
Fuel brother
Did you eat any carbs? That’s just about the right time for your glycogen stores to be depleted. Look up how to fuel for endurance exercises there’s like a million articles and videos that will teach you how to fuel much better than a short Reddit reply. 30-60g of carbs per hour is good to start. Drink mix combined with gels / bars, electrolytes are important as well
have fun riding😃
This appears to be improper fuelling. It makes a huge difference if you can consume approximately 60-90g of carbs per hour. Also, make sure to consume 750ml-1000ml of fluids per hour. Of course this will vary based on the weather conditions.
Eat
Go pick out your favorite candy
Food
Before you are hungry
Same for drinks
Any activity longer than an hour or hour and a half needs snacks or some sort of fuel. Easy enough to carry some decent stuff to eat on a bike.
Your body ran out of water and likely glucose.
Hydration and nutrition are critical.
My limit for a no water exercise is roughly an hour and ten minutes. With no supplemental carbs around 1h30m.
Riding more is going to make you faster and build endurance, but not if you aren’t fueled for success.
You bonked. We all learn the hard way on that one. Try starting your endurance rides that are 2 hours or under with 30-45g/hr of carbs, if it’s intensity work, 60 and work your way to 90. And hydrate well. It’s useful to have a bottle that’s just straight water instead of all your carbs being liquid.
Thanks for everyone!
I was supposed to only ride couple kilometer but it ended a lot more..
I need to get good saddlebag and also holder for water bottle.
I will try again with proper equip!
Bonk
You bonked. I eat around 90g per he for a standard ride above 1.5 hrs and then for harder session I try and aim for 120g per hr. Any standard shorter ride under 90 minutes I still aim for 60g per hr minimum.
“I didn’t have any water or food with me.”
Yeah that’s your problem, just like a car your body needs fuel to keep on going, no food=/=no energy!