First 200km -

Hi All, 

I post here because I can see very different things on the internet, and difficult to make an opinion or choose the right thing to do.. 

This spring I am planning to do my first 200km, it might not be seen as a huge deal for plenty of you but for me it is   Anyway I want to know how can I hydrate and feed properly. This is my main problem each time I go above 100km, I am dealing with headaches at the end of the day etc.. 

So any tips or recommendations for a training or nutrition compagny that would be helpful, do I need to use gels or not? (today I dont, as I hate it..), how much I need to drink? etc.. 

Any help much appreciated !!

Thanks a lot

https://www.trainerroad.com/blog/3-keys-to-training-fuel-while-riding/

Also this for hydration
https://www.precisionhydration.com/performance-advice/nutrition/how-does-precision-hydration-fit-in-with-your-nutrition-plan/

I found these useful
I have completed two vatternrundan
First year ate enough but didnt drink enough and hit a wall at 130km made it to the finish in around 14 hrs
2nd year made sure i had enough gels and took on more fluids and despite the conditions being worse than the year before i managed to knock about an hour off my time

Hey thanks a lot for your reply that is really helpful !!
Indeed I heard about electrolyte to take the day before to charge in salt which is always good option when you sweat a lot..
for nutrition, I don’t know what to think as sugar and gels .. it seems to be also quite « dangerous »..but most often I am not really ungry ..would it be better to prepare small mini sandwiches ? .

What about the wall you faced at 130km? How did you manage to get back at it ? Did you have to stop ?

Thx

It is wise to test your fueling strategy in training to see how gels and bars work and how your digestive system copes

Check out scratch labs book and the blog
https://www.skratchlabs.com/products/feed-zone-portables
Book is available on amazon allover i think

Haven't tried to make anything yet

At one of the stops there was a hot meal so i managed to eat and got a massage too which really helped plus the sun came up and it got a bit brighter, (a swedish road in the countryside at night is fairly draining )

Hey Fred, 

I hope you've made it!? Please share your experiences for others to learn from! The sources posted above are great (especially trainerroad!) but here's my piece of advice around nutrition/long rides. I've done 2 x 300+, 12 x 200+ and countless 150+ rides, also in race situations so I believe I'm sort of experienced by now (and I read/listen lots of podcasts around the topic and have a professional coach to spar with). Lately I'm also training for long gravel and Ironman events so nutrition has become increasingly important, also financially, since downing 8 x € 2,50 every weekend ride definitely adds up to our, already pretty expensive hobby  Finally, I've made all the mistakes you can think of, hahaha, drinking and eating to much/to little.

1. For your first, I would advice a cyclosportive/organised ride for your first 200+ event. Why? You'll find strategically placed food stops to replenish that ensure that even the 'slowest' riders are able to hydrate and feed properly. This also helps break the distance down in chunks of 2-3 hours of riding and is mentally less draining. Finally you don't have to stress about how many bars/gels or other nutrition you have to bring.

2. Hydration rule of thumb: one 500ml bidon water (with electrolytes) per hour, this can increase up to 2 x the amount (so 1L) on very hot/hard days so try to get a feeling for it how much (more) you need in different weather conditions. This rule is pretty simple to follow and becomes automatic after a while, do try to distribute the bottle over the hour: more small sips is better than gulping 1 bidon after exactly 60 minutes  PS, A headache is never good and is just like a hangover: dehydration. 

3. Nutrition, cycling is obsessed with weight, for a number of (sometimes wrong) reasons, but your body simply needs energy to produce watts so you have to replenish these during/after rides. The best weight loss is around your rides, a healthy lifestyle/food and sleep. A physically strong body uses an incredible amount of energy even in rest so that's where you'll lose weight, for your training/rides the advice and science is simple: fuel your rides! Rule of thumb here: 1 gram of carbs per kg of bodyweight per hour, so for an 80kg rider that means 80grams of carbs which means around 3 gels/bars per hour. 

4. Fuel beforehand: make sure you eat properly 2 - 3 hours before a long ride!

5. Recover! It is almost physically impossible to take in the same amount of energy that you use during rides so recovery (especially during the first hour after a ride) is critical. Tour the France riders (sprinters) have to force tons of food down after heavy stages up to the point of puking in order to be able to deliver the same performance the next day.

6. Personal tip I have awesome experience with so far (8 hour rides purely on fluids): combine hydration and nutrition. The 1gram carbs per hour is also limited (during intense rides your body cannot intake more) so this is definitely something you should aim for and train your body in (training the gut). How I do this currently is by making my own sports drink that contains 75grams of pure carbs + some electrolytes for hydration. I buy in bulk: pure maltodextrine and fructose and mix it 2:1, research have found this to be the best ratio for maximum intake. So I put 50gram of maltodextrine, 25gram of fructose in one 500ml bottle and since it's already in my system to drink 1 bottle per hour I also get the necessary nutrition.

Finally my personal preferences:
Bars: OTE, unbeatable, they're delicious and I find myself sneaking some in my work bag as well from time to time (also an Haute Route Partner so check Haute Route Nation for offers!)
Gels: Xendurance: not as sweet as all the other gels and therefore way better/easier to take more off and SIS: the caffeine ones are my go-to bombs I grab at the end of race days/at the start of short/hard races
Electrolytes, no specific preference but I've agreed with myself that I'm always taking them on rides longer than 2 hours. When you just do water which your body cannot replenish at the same rate as it loses, you'll frustrate yourself by having to pee while also feeling dehydrated. 

Another great source: https://www.trainerroad.com/blog/how-to-use-carbs-for-maximum-performance/