Carb loading before a big event

I'd put about 12 bananas and maybe a few dates in a blender and drink it down a little while before the event!

seriously.

The only problem with that is, If you haven't conditioned your stomach to that much intake at once, it may prove very difficult to consume that at once. If you are conditioned, the advantages of fruit carb loading are tremendous.

Another one of my favorite go to carb up meals:

3/4 cup rolled oats
two tablespoons natural peanut butter
1 tablespoon agave nectar
cinnamon
1/4 cup raw cacoa nibs

^--- eat that atleast 1 1/2 -2 hours before event.

Many bike events have rest stops every 10-15 miles where volunteers provide fruit, cookies, and other carb snacks like that. If you haven't checked on that, you should do so. You may not even need to take your own snacks. If not, it is difficult to say if you are taking too much stuff. During a 57 mile ride, I assure you every ounce counts, haha. I like clif bars a lot, they are portable and provide a good amount of nutrients. Fruit on the go (during a ride# can be inconvenient to carry, IMO. Honestly though, you aren't going to need as much food as you think. I used to ride 50 miles on one clif bar. I would eat it at the halfway #25 mile) mark, and honestly I probably didn't even need it. As long as you eat a good meal before, stay hydrated, and replace the 2000+ calories you'll burn...you should be ok with just a few small calorie dense snacks. good luck!

Wow, Jesse, that sounds delicious! I also have an event (like the OP, can't really call it a race as I will be plodding undignifiedly rather than racing) in the near future and am interested in learning how to fuel properly. I have been on a low carb diet for a month or so to shift the pounds, and I am looking to introduce carbs gradually for my longer distance training runs. Never tried agave nectar - can't wait!

I do Mountain bike endurance events (far too) regularly. Just did a 75 mile off road event this weekend.

MY advise, If the event you will burn extra 4000 cals , eat about 1/4 as carb load and eat the rest back in the ride.
Approximate the cals as 500 -600 an hour.

DONT TRY AND USE THE EVENT TO LOSE WEIGHT! you will Bonk! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitting_the_wall

I carb load over my normal intake for 2 days before. Generally pasta, rice and potato. I also up my sodium alot. The rest of my diet remains the same. I just give my self bigger portions of the carbs at each meal.

I see my weight increase about 4lbs but my fat% stays the same. (water and glycogen in the muscles)

Yes WATER!! drink LOTS AND LOTS of water.

On the day I will have porridge and banana for breakfast about an hour before and a flapjack as i walk to the start.
During the ride I need to eat back about 400-500 cals to avoid fatigue. This is 200 cals/hour carbohydrate drink (sis, torq ) and 200-300 cals solid food ( flapjacks, peanut bars). I use real sweets in emergencies jelly beans are good but kendel mintcake is my get out of jail card if cramp or fatigue hit hard. I make my own peanut flapjacks with peanut butter , oats, bananas and whey. I know you dont do peanut butter, but you WILL need some fats during the event to keep the carbs metabolising.
Be prepared to Up the calorie intake if its more hilly or harder than expected. Its good to wear a Heart rate monitor to check what you have burnt so you can eat it back.

As I hit the last few miles I keep the carbohyrate drink going as this is the start of recovery. When I stop i have a good mix of simple carbs and clean protein and stretch.

Good luck!

BTW my record is just shy of 8000 cals on a one day 100 mile off road event, Go it wrong by about 1000 cals and suffered bad with cramps.

I did a 12 hour hiking thing recently and thought I'd better eat a big meal the night before - big mistake - it made me feel really sick and just sat in my stomach all night and all the next day during the hike and it was really hard to eat anything all day. I couldn't stomach breakfast at all, had an ice lolly after about 3 hours and a sausage sandwich after 7 hours - I had loads of stuff with me but just couldn't eat. I ran out of energy 7 hours in and spent a couple of hours feeling like I was walking through treacle, and then the sausage sandwich kicked in and I felt ok again.

I obviously don't know much about carb loading, but I would suggest don't overdo it the day before and eat frequently during the event.

Will there be "fuel" stations along the ride?

If not I'd probably just eat as I would preparing for a half marathon and carry a couple of clif bars (and maybe a PB&J sandwich too) as well as a flask of gel (I make my own) to replenish my carbs.

Padding - if you haven't already done so get yourself a proper pair of cycling shorts with the nice thick chamois. Your sit bones will thank you.

Jesse I did like the sound of your porrige other than peanut butter (nothing could make me eat it) any other ideas what I could use instead? and 12 bananas :noway: I can barely manage one, lol. Other than that a few emegency goodies in the back pack and lots of water.

Hmm...Instead of peanut butter, you could always just put some ground nuts/seeds in there. Also, you could look into adding some oil flax,olive,coconut. These would provide a good amount of fat/calories, but I'm not sure about the taste. If you don't like PB, you probably wont like almond or sesame butter either, but it may be worth a try! Also, adding a little almond milk might help too.

Ha ha, I should stress that if anyone does try the "Date-orade" I mentioned above...Make sure you ONLY use ripe bananas! This means bananas that have started to brown and speckle. The starch content of the banana will be too high otherwise. Again, This is probably something that one would need to condition into for awhile, and not jump right into before a ride.