To become a pro racer, you should start eating like a professional racer. Bradley Wiggins, winner of the Tour De France recommends the best cycling diet including healthy food, proper hydration and getting plenty of rest. Whether you are training on the road or training using a bike trainer, you should ensure that you eat properly and drink properly throughout the day. To stay fit for the race, you should stay fit throughout the year.

Best cycling diet to follow

Racers eat a big breakfast

Tour De France racers burn at least 3000 to 4000 calories on regular average days and they burn more than 5000 calories on the racing day. So, they eat a huge breakfast that fills them up with energy. The most important thing about eating heavy food is that it must be taken several hours before the race. This provides the body plenty of time to digest the food.

Racers drink a lot of water and sports drinks

Hydration is very important for racers as your body will lose a lot of fluids when you cycle. Often, beginners training on a bike rider forget the importance of hydration and they end up losing a lot of energy. You should drink 13-16 ounces of fluid every hour when you race or train. Commercial sports drinks are the choice of racers during the race as these drinks provide adequate hydration and energy.

Racers take plenty of rest

When you train for a race, it is easy to get carried away by the need to train. However, your body needs lot of rest as muscles are rebuilt during recovery. Irrespective of the number of hours you have logged on a bike trainer, you should go to bed early every day. You should eat the best cycling diet during recovery stage so that your body has enough energy to perform repair actively.

Diet is an important part of fitness for any cyclist. Even if you decide to train exclusively indoors using a bicycle trainer, you should know the right way to eat so that you develop strength and stamina to race on the road. While calorie counting is essential to stay fit, the source of these calories is all the more important. With the advancement in the field of nutrition, many old school facts have turned out be mere diet myths.

Diet myths | Pasta dinner on the eve of bike race

For many years, cyclists have been advised to have a huge pasta dinner in the evening before the bike race. Allen Lim says that there is nothing remotely nutritious about a pasta dinner. His PhD has helped him devise a nutritional plan including rice cakes with eggs, prosciutto, olive oil and liquid amino acids. He advises his athletes to avoid processed wheat from their diet while training on indoor bike trainer. In the previous editions of Joe Friel’s book, you can find his ardent support for carbohydrates. Now, he has changed his suggestion and asks trainers on rollers to eat fruits, vegetables and lean meat.

Diet myths | All calories are equal

Calories from carbohydrate, protein and fat are not equal even though their numbers are the same. You should include each of these micronutrients in every meal. Before starting your training, you should eat a carbohydrate-rich diet that is low in protein and fat. When it comes to carbs, choose fruits and vegetables instead of pasta, bagels or potatoes. All fats don’t make you fat. You should include healthy fats in your diet to stay fit.

Diet myths | Reduce the amount of processed food

Many cyclists who log several hours of training on their stationary bike stand think that they are eating healthy food with their energy bars, pasta, cereals and energy drinks. You should avoid processed food as much as possible and fill your cart with fresh produce that directly comes from plants and animals. This will help you to eat a healthy meal every time.

Expert road bike racing cyclists say that with a strict diet and training program, you can easily become an elite cyclist, making your mark in the upcoming races. You have to ride for a few hours on the roads, tackling new challenges and hazards. It is important to train your body and stomach to function at its fullest during the races. You have to be fit to show your full potential during the race and that is why you should train regularly on an indoor bike trainer. This way, you can ensure that you will always get the workout you need irrespective of the weather conditions outside.

Practice your stomach too

In order to become an elite cyclist, you should start learning how other elites behave. Most of the cyclists eat and drink while they ride. You need the energy to complete the race and your body needs fuel from food. In the middle of the rides, replenishing your body with much needed nutrition will help your body to keep on going. You should eat processed bread instead of whole grains and vegetables to supply energy and reduce bowel activity on a stationary bike stand.

Before Racing

Experts suggest that you take a four day break from strenuous exercises before the road bike racing event. You should also include about 600g of carbohydrates during your stretching days. Four hours before your race, include 300g of carbohydrates in your diet. Just prior to hitting the bike for your race, eat a carbohydrate rich snack or drink.

While racing, replenish your body with 60g of carbohydrates during every hour of the road bike racing event. As you will lose muscle and liver glycogen during racing, you should eat 100g of carbohydrates per hour for four hours after racing. For the next two days after the race, include at least 600g of carbohydrates in your diet. This will help you with recovery after which you can start training again on bicycle trainer.

Calorie counting is not the best diet plan for bike roller users

When it comes to diet and nutrition, everyone will keep talking about calorie counting. You will hear people commenting on how calories can be bad for your body. Staying fit is not just about counting calorie intake and expenditure. The source of calories is more important than the amount of calories you take. Essentially, the calories you get from soybeans are not same as the calories you get from a banana cream pie even though they have the same calorie count. Understanding this will help you to devise a proper nutrition plan to build strength while training on an indoor bike trainer.

Calorie counting by Cynthia Sass

Carbohydrates, protein and fat are the three essential components that supply calories to your body. Cynthia Sass, Co Author of Flat Belly Diet says that the roles each of these macronutrients play are very different in keeping your body at optimal performance. You need to balance your intake of carbs, protein and fat while keeping calorie intake in check. Missing out on fat and fueling up only on carbs won’t give you the optimal body for cycling.

Calorie counting is not a good idea for training in bike rollers

To get lean and stay fit during your course on bike rollers, you need to include each macronutrient in every meal. You have to include 50 to 55% of carbohydrates, 25 to 30% of fats and 15 to 20% of protein in your meal. The source of these nutrients is important to keep your body fit. You should get carbohydrates from vegetables, fruits and whole grains. Healthy fats such as avocado, olive oil, omega 3 oils should be included in your meal. Lean meats offer best protein that is easily digestible, but you can also include fish, eggs, poultry, beans and lentils to get adequate protein.

While training on a bicycle trainer, you should eat snacks and meals higher in carbohydrates and lower in fat and protein just before and after training. The rest of your meals should be a properly balanced meal.

Preparing your body for the race fueling properly and training on bike rollers is important. However, your actual performance depends on how your body is nourished on the racing day. You need to ensure that you have a healthy nutrition plan that supplies fuel to your body for the 48 hours before the race. This will ensure that your body’s glycogen reserves are full. You should also take plenty of rest and do some stretching two days before the race.

On the day of the cycling race, eat a meal rich in carbohydrates, low in fat and protein and at least three to four hours before the race. As race time approaches, you should focus on hydration, intake of carbohydrates, beet juice and caffeine.

Drink plenty of fluids before the race and it’s recommended to ride with a distended belly filled with fluid. In the last 90 minutes before the race, you should eat snacks that quickly supply energy without stressing your stomach too much. You should choose easy to digest high carb foods and sports drinks. This pre-event snack will increase delivery of essential carbohydrates to your muscles during the race.

If you want to be a strong performer, you should ingest caffeine an hour before the race. The recommended dosage is 3-6mg per kilogram of body weight.

It’s recommended that athletes drink espresso because it provides a caffeine boost without taking up more volume in your stomach. Avid endurance sports enthusiasts swear by beet juice as this super tonic enhances oxygen efficiency. You should include at least 500 ml of beet juice leading up to the event while training on stationary bike stand and if your GI tract allows, you, you can drink 500 ml just before the race.