Eat Your Way To Cycling Glory

For your body to perform at it’s best it needs to be correctly fuelled. Without fuel, you will quickly fade and your ride will become a matter of survival rather than an enjoyable experience.

Undoubtedly, you should eat well the evening before your big ride, pasta or something containing complex carbohydrates is always a good option. But you should also take a good selection of food out with you on your ride. Not only this but for those hard rides you really need to have a recovery plan to help your body heal itself so that it’s ready for the next battering.

That’s where the many cycling specific nutrition products come into play. I have tried an array of products, some good some not so good. It’s important that you find some which are suitable for you and your stomach. Many products contain things which won’t necessarily agree with your stomach. A lot contain large quantities of sugar which is obviously not ideal for your teeth as well as your stomach.

Here are some cycling nutrition products which I have found to be beneficial…

First of all it’s important to say that the brand I trust the most is S.I.S (Science In Sport), they have been around for a long time and take this stuff very seriously, they are strongly endorsed by the likes of Chris Boardman. If you ever watch track cycling (e.g. in the Olympics) you will see a lot of the cyclists drinking from an S.I.S. bottle.

The best product that SIS offer (in my opinion) is REGO which is a recovery drink. First off it is actually tasty which is quite a rarity in nutrition drinks. It has an awesome mix of protein and carbohydrate. Whenever I have a really hard ride it makes me feel instantly better. I really can’t vouch for it enough. The vanilla flavour is my favourite but the chocolate flavour isn’t bad either. It’s on offer right now, with a 10% saving on an already cheap price. If you buy one product, buy this. It has no fat and hardly any sugar.

S.I.S also do a energy bar for on the go called the GO-BAR. But I didn’t find it particularly tasty and its energy properties are quite mild. If you want something that really gives you a bang you should try these Viper Extreme Bars from MaxiMuscle. They contain guarana, caffeine and L-Tyrosine. Within about 20 minutes of eating one I always feel completely charged up and revitalised. These bad boys have got me up some serious hills. They are also reasonably tasty and light on the stomach. Use them with caution though – don’t eat them within 4 hours of bedtime as they may keep you awake. Personally I haven’t found that they keep me awake but they warn about it on there website :) Well worth a look.

If I don’t feel like eating a whole viper bar, I sometimes use these Shot Bloks from CLif, they are very light on the stomach and tasty. They are quite sugary but are very convenient to carry as they are very low weight and squidge into small spaces. The pack is designed to be easy to open and it is, which is always a major benefit. They are pretty cheap to. They contain caffeine and are pretty effective although not as powerful as the viper bars.

Last on my list is Nocte by S.I.S. Nocte is an awesome night time recovery drink. I’m gonna come right out and say it – I don’t find this particularly tasty, but it is bearable. You drink it 30 mins before bed time and it fills you up with sleep inducing proteins which not only help you get good quality sleep but also help your body get all the nutrition it needs to recover for the next day. I always use this before a big event, especially if I’m feeling a bit tired or weary. It is excellent stuff, just not that tasty :).

So that's all the products that I use on a regular basis. There are many more to choose from and obviously I haven’t tried them all but these ones are effective and easy on the stomach. Top Tip: a Snickers bar is not the healthiest option but will get you home when you need a bit of help and they are sooooo tasty :)

Happy cycling. If you have any better/different alternatives then please let me know.