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41 posts in Nutrition
Fuelling indoor rides: what to eat, drink and when
The physiology isn't different indoors — the conditions are, in four ways that change the numbers. A fuelling table by session length, and why the trainer is the best place to practise race nutrition.
Under-fuelling: the training mistake that takes you backwards
Not eating enough for the training you're doing is more common than the sport admits — and its first symptom is the one that makes riders train harder. The warning signs, and when to see a doctor.
Fuelling long rides: a simple carbs-per-hour guide that actually sticks
Bonking is a fuelling failure, not a fitness one. Here's a simple, no-nonsense carbs-per-hour plan for long rides — what to eat, when, and how much.
Carbs per hour: how to train your gut to take 90 g
Modern fuelling guidance asks for far more carbohydrate per hour than most riders can stomach — and the stomach is trainable. What the multiple-transportable-carbohydrate research actually shows, and a realistic protocol for getting there.
What to eat before a morning ride (and when there's no time)
What to eat before a 6 am ride, how long it really needs to settle, and what to do when you've got twenty minutes and no appetite. Including whether eating half an hour before genuinely causes a blood-sugar dip.
Do you need protein after every ride? What the evidence says
The thirty-minute anabolic window turned out to be far wider than anyone thought. What the research says about per-meal dose, daily totals and whether an endurance rider needs a shake after every easy spin.
Caffeine for cyclists: how much, how long before, and the catch
Caffeine is one of the few supplements with genuinely strong evidence behind it. The effective dose, when to take it, why habitual coffee drinkers still respond — and what it costs your sleep if you time it badly.
Beetroot juice, nitrates and cycling performance: does it work?
Dietary nitrate genuinely improves exercise economy in some people — and does close to nothing in well-trained athletes. What the research shows, the dose and timing that matter, and the mouthwash mistake that cancels the whole thing.
Creatine for cyclists: useful, or just extra weight?
Creatine is the most researched supplement in sport, but almost all of that research is about lifting and sprinting. What it does for a cyclist, what the water weight costs your watts per kilo, and who it actually suits.
Recovery drinks: do you need one, or is a meal enough?
Rapid refuelling matters enormously when you're riding again in six hours, and barely at all when you're not. How glycogen resynthesis actually works, and when a recovery drink beats a plate of food.
How to eat on a 5-hour ride without wrecking your stomach
Gut trouble ends more long rides than legs do. Why it happens — drink concentration, intensity, dehydration, what you ate the night before — and the practical changes that fix it for most riders.
Carb loading before a gran fondo: how to do it properly
The old depletion-week protocol is long dead. What a modern one- to two-day carb load looks like, how many grams per kilo you're actually aiming for, and why the scale goes up before a good ride.
Cycling and alcohol: what one beer actually costs you
Alcohol interferes with glycogen storage, muscle repair and — most reliably of all — sleep. An honest look at what the evidence supports, where the dose stops mattering much, and where it really doesn't.
Riding fasted: what it does, what it doesn't, and who should avoid it
Training low raises some of the enzymes that burn fat, but improved performance is a much harder thing to demonstrate. Where fasted riding fits, where it backfires, and who should not do it at all.
Electrolytes explained: sodium, cramp and what actually helps
Sweat sodium losses vary enormously between riders, and the popular explanation for cramp may be the wrong one entirely. What electrolytes do, what the cramp research says, and the risk of drinking too much.
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