Whether you are professional cyclist pushing some serious wattage to win a race or a bike newbie who’s just excited to explore the countryside, a sound nutrition plan will be a huge determining factor in how your body responds to the century challenge.

Fueling up for peak cycling performance involves three major steps: 1) Tapered training and carbohydrate loading for two weeks before the ride; 2) Eating the right meal the morning of the ride; and 3) Consuming foods and fluids during the ride itself. Here’s a nutritional countdown to help prepare you for your first, or just your next,100-mile ride:

Two weeks and counting…

Many athletes actually dread the taper leading up to a big event, such as a century ride – but from a nutritional standpoint, if you complete your peak training volume two weeks out from race day, your muscle glycogen (carbohydrate) stores are about 30 percent lower than capacity. That’s not an ideal place to be for peak performance. A two-week taper is best before a century ride, as this allows your muscles to nutritionally reload in time.

In the first week of your taper, training volume should be reduced by 40 percent, with the cutback reflected across all your normal weekly rides. On race week, not only will your training volume be reduced by another 40 percent but the carbohydrates in your diet should increase approximately 25 percent – now representing about 80 percent of your total caloric intake. However, while a carbohydrate increase is necessary, this is not an invite to blindly pile on the pasta till your pants explode. Calorie intake needs to match output; so if you find yourself gaining more than 2 percent of your pre-load weight, you are consuming too much. Most athletes require around 15 calories per pound of body mass to support basic metabolic needs and tapered daily activities.

One day and counting…

While you may be eager to explore the pre-race scene, it is important that you maintain a ‘taper focus’. Keep your physical activity and time on foot to a minimum on the day before a century. Make sure to stay hydrated, sipping on fluids until your urine maintains a pale yellow appearance. Continue your carbohydrate focus, but keep your diet low-residue – meaning fiber content should be reduced a bit in favor of easier-to-digest options (e.g., choose a banana instead of an apple; white pasta over whole-wheat pasta). In addition, skip fat and protein at your evening meal as these nutrients take longer to clear the gut and can cause nausea on race morning (especially if the meal is eaten after 6 p.m.) Make sure to stick with familiar foods, saving the more exotic local cuisine for post-ride.

Ride morning…

This combined training taper and coordinated increase in carbohydrate intake is proven to prime your muscles for peak cycling performance. In addition, a carbohydrate-focused meal on the morning of will help restock your depleted liver glycogen stores, ultimately giving you that mental boost you need during the initial stages of the century.

Our livers have the capacity to store approximately 100 grams (400 calories) of carbohydrates, making it the target for consumption in the final two hours leading up to the race start. Much like your carbo-loading regimen, keep dietary fiber intake under 10 grams in these pre-race hours. Instead, use up to 25 grams of protein (egg, yogurt, soy milk) to help stabilize your energy levels. Small amounts of fat (up to 20 grams), like a couple of tablespoons of peanut butter, can provide additional satiation value. Finally, aim at drinking one liter of fluid; or enough that your urine runs pale yellow in the hours leading up to event start. For those vulnerable to cramping or premature muscle fatigue, consuming up to one gram of salt as part of your pre-ride fueling, whether it’s found naturally in your food or added like in a sports drink, has been shown to help mute the onset by a good 20 percent during endurance events.

Meals on wheels

All that nutritional work during your training taper, carbo-loading regimen and pre-ride meal is still not enough to carry you through a century ride. Meals on wheels are essential for protection against the mid-ride mental ‘bonk’ and muscle-wrenching ‘wall’. Because bike-pedaling and food-digesting both require oxygen nourishment, it is impossible to replace 100 percent of your cycling output – which falls at 500-1000 calories per hour for most endurance cyclists. While a 30-40 percent replacement rate is optimal for most, the goal is to test that limit in the hopes of muting the fatigue caused by depleted glycogen stores.

Note that with increases in wattage, effort, and/or heart rate, there will naturally be increases in calorie output; however your ability to absorb nutrients will decrease, making the onset of muscle fatigue more probable. Therefore, cyclists who are racing a century should focus primarily on easier-to-absorb liquid carbohydrates (sports drinks, gels with water), utilizing multiple carbohydrate sources (maltodextrin with 1-2 simple sugars) to help improve their rate of nutrient uptake and accommodate their higher-calorie outputs. All cyclists should avoid piling on the calories at SAG stations, as this will only divert blood/oxygen/water to the belly, increasing the likelihood of cramping and/or nausea. Ultimately, experimentation with different products during training is key to help create a plan that will work best for you on event day.

Want help creating your personalized ultimate cycling nutrition plan? Kimberly Mueller, MS, RD, founder and owner of Fuel Factor Nutrition, is a Registered Dietitian and competitive athlete who provides custom meal planning, nutrition coaching, and race-nutrition guidance to athletes worldwide. More information on Fuel Factor services can be found at www.Fuel-Factor.com. Kim can be reached at kim@Fuel-Factor.com.

What is the ultimate meal on wheels?

The ideal meal on wheels will provide the following nutrients every
hour of riding:

-150-400 calories
-30-100 grams of carbohydrates
-Up to six grams of protein
-No more than eight grams of fat
-1/2-1 liter of fluid
-200-1000 milligrams of sodium

*Note that this represents an average and may not fit your needs. A Registered Dietitian can help create a plan designed to meet your unique health and nutritional needs during training and racing.