Are you eating gels or bars along the way

Hrmmm

As far as refueling goes, it's all about replenishing the bodys Glycogen stores. When you finish a long ride your glycogen stores are exhausted and you are very likely to have low blood glucose. Your body responds to the glycogen debt by going into overdrive to replace the missing glycogen. Excess glucose in the bloodstream is converted to glycogen and stored in the muscles and the liver. Under normal circumstances insulin is used in this conversion process. However, after an extended period of exercise when the muscle glycogen stores are exhausted an abbreviated and accelerated glycogen-storage process kicks into gear that converts glucose into glycogen and stores it in the muscles without the need for insulin. This period of intense glycogen production and storage lasts for 30 to 60 minutes - normally referred to as the "Glycogen Window" - to get your muscles refuelled for another days riding, this is where you need to be getting the good stuff down you! Problem is, it's really the first 30 minutes that are critical, food you eat in the second half hour could well still be lying in your stomach when the window shuts!

If you are going to fully replenish your glycogen stores for the next day’s ride, you must ingest enough carbs during those first 30 minutes to flood your system with glucose. If you don’t, it doesn’t matter what you eat for the rest of the day; you will be building on a weak foundation and you won’t have the glycogen reserves you need to ride with strength day after day. This cannot be stressed enough; you have to reload your system with carbs during the first 30 minutes after you get off the bike.

How many carbs do you need to eat during the critical 30 minutes? Current thinking holds that you should aim to ingest one half gram of carbohydrate for each pound of lean body weight during the 30 minutes after you get off the bike. There is also some evidence that combining these carbs with protein may facilitate the glycogen production and storage process. The recommended ratio of carbs to proteins is 4 to 1.

So - in my case - I weigh around 278lb, but according to caliper readings once a month, I'm carrying 25% body fat - so call it 210lb for ease of maths (278*0.75=208.5lb). This means to properly refuel I should be looking at 105g of carbs and 26g of protein... I don't do anything NEAR that, which is probably why after 3-4 days riding, my average speeds have tailed off badly, and I'm completely cream-crackered!!



(most of this is shamelessly nicked from a bunch of stuff given to me by the nutritionist at the hospital when I told them I wanted to ride the bike SERIOUSLY as part of my weight loss regime)

Do you eat breakfast before you go out?

The one bit I didn't address in my last lengthy message was the rest part. I pretty much walk in the house,grab a pre-made recovery shake from the 'fridge, remove my cycling kit, get a shower, and go lie on my bed - legs elevated above my head/heart - it's certainly not unusual for me to have a good 30 minute "nap" at this point... I've earned it, I've worked for it, and by god I'm gonna enjoy it!