75 mile ride in 31 days and just went Primal yesterday... page

[Catrin]

I had a 7-day Primal "experiment" and that went so well that I just started a 30-day experiment yesterday. The only area in which I am concerned is how to fuel my road cycling and mountain biking. I've a 75 mile ride planned in 31 days, and I've no idea how to fuel for the bike that doesn't include a LOT of carbs during and after the ride. "Pre-loading" never worked for me, fueling on the bike and recovery protein/carbs took care of it.

I don't want to go all the way for this 30 day trial and just toss it all out of the window for a day's bike ride. I need to start experimenting now with fuel options as I ramp my riding up toward the event so I won't have any problems as I don't believe in doing anything new on even. Obviously my body isn't a "fat-burning beastess" just yet, so would appreciate any suggestions. My group trainer at the gym has already suggested a book "Slow Burn" by a marathon runner, any other suggestions?

For the cyclists here, how did you transition over to using protien/fat for bike fuel rather than carbs - if you did. I know some have chosen not to go there.

[Catherine]

road rides, i usu don't do much over 50, and i only use nuun for that. no other snax.

for a 1.5hr cross country off road race, i might have a gu as well as nuun before but only water during race.

i eat pemmican on off road rides longer than 3 hrs.

my concern for you is that you're gonna be in carb flu for that ride. It took me a solid 4 wks to transition. maybe since you've already done a week, you won't bonk, but that would be my concern.

[Catrin]

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i eat pemmican on off road rides longer than 3 hrs.

my concern for you is that you're gonna be in carb flu for that ride. It took me a solid 4 wks to transition. maybe since you've already done a week, you won't bonk, but that would be my concern.

This is what my concern is. At one time I had major problems with hypoglycemia on the bike - back when I was still technically diabetic (2). All of that has been reversed, thankfully. I am slowish on the road so the 75 miles is going to take me some time...and they will have lots of carbs at each of the stops. I can also drop back to the 50 mile route the day of the event if I think it best.

Pemmican is a good idea, I think I will get some for my longer rides between now and then - and of course when I am mountain biking. Nothing wrong with having some carbs with me just in case...I tried sweet potato on a ride a week or so ago and found I can't tolerate the taste during extended exercise.

[Catherine]

yeah i wouldn't want to eat sweet potato either on a ride, tho i've read of it being done.

i think when i was first transitioning, i would eat a banana at the 1/2 way point. And that was only on a 50 mile road ride! Now i don't eat anything, just drink water and nuun. But now it's very very hot and humid and food just sounds gaggy anyway when i'm that hot and sweaty.

[Catrin]

yeah i wouldn't want to eat sweet potato either on a ride, tho i've read of it being done.

i think when i was first transitioning, i would eat a banana at the 1/2 way point. And that was only on a 50 mile road ride! Now i don't eat anything, just drink water and nuun. But now it's very very hot and humid and food just sounds gaggy anyway when i'm that hot and sweaty.

I love bananas and they are good for us, but they are also carb bombs and I am somewhat addicted to them...Until I can find and test a good source for pemmican and see what my body thinks of it I will allow bananas as long ride fuel.

I hear you about the heat, the reason I turned to Accelerade, Hammer Heed and Shot Blocks for long ride fuel is because my stomach wouldn't accept real food on the bike. We will see how this works out, but I want to make the switch in all areas of my life as I spend far too much time on the bike to allow much cheating there.

[Catherine]

i think you'll like nuun a lot better than accelerade or heed. or at least, i do. Many years ago, i used accelerade and i remember it being very thick and substantial. Or maybe that was their recovery drink. Anyway - i haven't used it in years.

Then i switched to hammer products but the combo of finding even their heed product too sweet and switching to nuun + their soy propaganda made me ditch hammer. Years ago i had some success with perpetuem, but it was always a dodgy bet. If it was just the least bit too hot, it would just turn my stomach inside out.

shot blocks are candy. I try not to eat them anymore.

anyway, i just can't say enough positive about nuun - it's not sticky sweet and their flavors are very good and subtle.

US Wellness meats is where i buy my pemmican. i'm not gung-ho enough to make it myself. For me, it's the best long ride fuel.

Good luck finding what works for you!

[Catrin]

I've tried Nuun and couldn't handle what taste there was...but that may have changed. I like Lemon-Lime Accelerade - but only for long rides as it has protein. Trying to move on to non-carb sources, and of course electrolytes come into play for long rides. I need to revisit the Nuun electrolyte profile to see what it looks like - I get pretty salty on longer rides.

I think I've already seen the US Wellness website, thanks for the information. I am just hoping I can encourage my stomach to accept real food (pemmican) for long rides - and it may be that once I wean my body off of carb dependence that it will take care of that problem as well.

[Catherine]

personally, i have to be truly hungry to eat pemmican, even tho really it doesn't have much of a taste to me. Kinda like how the fattiest pork cracklins just kind of have a cool fat feeling, more than a taste, but maybe that's just me.

Anyway, i really like how the pemmican doesn't hit my stomach like a bomb. I used to eat chocolate pb sandwiches on long rides, which could sometimes really feel like a sugar bomb, esp combined w/ energy drinks w/ too much sugar.

the pemmican really works for me, but like i said, i only use it for marathons (~50 miles off road, more or less, depending on technicality of the course) or for long "epic" offroad rides of 3+ hrs or more. I never do really long road rides, so i've never eaten anything more than gu's or bananas on road rides.

generally, since i've been eating 3 scrambled eggs + sausage before our weekend rides (road and offroad), i haven't really needed to eat anything on the bike.

there's a guy who posts here sometimes who's a cycling coach, i think he goes by "karma", maybe you could search his posts to get more info.

[Catrin]

Thanks Catherine, I will search for his messages. I am also thinking that plantains fried in coconut oil might be a good option as well. Even if I do need more carbs for my longer events, I am sure that I can use primal foods and not need to go for my former sugar/grain laden options.

I am also trying to work out the best percentage of carbs for this initial period as I am quite active - as I am sure many of us are. I ride and mountain bike and also have several intense group training sessions a week where we do lots of fun stuff that includes Lifting Heavy Stuff I am going to have to figure out from experience what will work best for me - these past few days I've averaged about 80 carbs a day but suspect that just isn't enough. I seem to get hungry earlier in the day each day - and my breakfast isn't that small. I suspect my body is nothing the change and is starting to demand the quick fix of carbs/sugar.

[Dirlot]

Eat fruit, sweet potatoes, rice, nuts etc if you want and enjoy the ride.

Cordain - Paleo Diet for Athletes