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Given that cycling is an endurance sport, a cyclist must adopt a diet tailored to the demands of this sport, especially when planning to tackle long distances in training or during a race. After discussing when and what to eat for a long bike race, today we propose discovering what type of diet to adopt for cycling.
Why is it necessary to adopt a balanced diet?
It's important to understand that in the pursuit of athletic performance, nutrition is just as crucial as training to achieve one's goals, and one cannot function without the other.
When you're a cyclist or even an athlete in general, the first thing is to adopt a balanced diet on a daily basis. It's the foundation. After that, ensure that this balanced diet is suited to the cyclist's level of practice: the diet and meals will not be the same for an amateur cyclist, who participates in a few gran fondos throughout the year, as for a professional cyclist who needs to maintain a high level of performance year-round.
A balanced meal must provide the cyclist with everything the body needs: carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals, trace elements, water, etc., without needing to resort to dietary supplements. Meals should then be tailored to each individual based on their weight, training level (and thus their calorie expenditure level), etc. It's important to know that carbohydrates are the body's main source of energy, especially during physical exertion.
Indeed, a cyclist's diet will play both an immediate role (training performance, race performance, recovery after intense effort, etc.) and a preventive role (better nutrition and overall good lifestyle habits help prevent muscle injuries, ensure better sleep, etc.).
To achieve this, try to balance your plate with starches and vegetables, and accompany them with lean meat or fish, while limiting fats.
How to eat before the effort?
Before a competition, you need to start building up glycogen stores the day before by adopting a diet higher in carbohydrates than usual, without overdoing it as this stock is limited: beyond this limit, carbohydrates turn into fat (triglycerides).
When the bike race starts in the morning, the most important meal is the one the night before, which should help replenish glycogen stores and during which you slightly increase the quantities. For this meal, opt for pasta, rice, couscous, quinoa, etc., which you should pair with white meat or lean fish (for protein), cooked vegetables (for vitamins), a yogurt or cottage cheese (avoiding cow's milk), and preferably a cooked fruit or fruit compote. Avoid fats as well as raw vegetables and raw fruits to prevent slowing down digestion.
Ideally, the last meal before intense effort should be eaten at least three to four hours before the start. In reality, when the start is at seven in the morning, it’s more complicated. That’s why you need to adapt your breakfast based on the available digestion time: the minimum period being two hours. Opt for a light meal, based on complex carbohydrates with a lower glycemic index (whole grain bread, whole grain cereals) to avoid blood sugar spikes, with protein (white ham, turkey ham, omelet, etc.), a plant-based milk yogurt (for digestion), a fruit, a fruit compote or freshly squeezed juice, tea or coffee.
If you find it hard to have breakfast or it puts you off, you can also opt for a Gatosport or energy cake, which is an energy cake with optimized nutrient content that is easily digestible. Thus, it can be consumed up to 1.5 hours before the start.
On non-competition days, a pre-training breakfast should consist of:
- A lightly sweetened hot beverage (tea, coffee);
- Whole grain bread with some jam or whole grain cereals;
- A dairy product;
- A fruit or freshly squeezed juice;
- Some dried fruits.
It should be consumed at least 1.5 to 2 hours before training to avoid digestive issues and should avoid fatty foods (croissants, brioches, etc.) that are difficult to digest.
How to eat during the effort?
During the effort, you need to adopt a diet and hydration strategy that will help avoid depleting muscle and liver glycogen stores, stay hydrated, and stave off fatigue.
To start, drink at least one 500ml bidon per hour of racing to avoid dehydration. This volume should be adjusted based on weather conditions and the effort exerted. While it can be useful to keep a bidon exclusively filled with water to rinse your mouth or douse yourself during the effort, remember to fill your main bidon with an energy drink that you should sip at regular intervals. Thus, besides hydration, you benefit from a reserve of nutrient energy that slows the depletion of carbohydrate stores.
In terms of nutrition, once on the saddle, prioritse sports nutrition items like cereal bars or energy bars (low in fat), energy gels, and fruit pastes. For long-distance races, it can also be useful to consume a fruit compote as well as savory snacks (quiches, tarts) to avoid brain saturation from sweet foods and to vary the palate. These savory snacks can be easily stored in the jersey pocket, wrapped in small pieces in aluminum foil.
On non-competition days, a balanced meal should consist of:
- An appetizer (raw vegetables, salad);
- Meat, fish, or eggs cooked without fat (favoring lean meat and fish; red meat can be consumed once a week);
- Varied vegetables;
- Legumes or grains (pasta, rice, couscous, corn, etc.) or whole grain bread;
- A dairy product (preferably plain yogurt or cottage cheese);
- Fruit (raw, cooked, or in compote).
How to eat after the effort?
Finally, don't neglect post-effort nutrition, which helps improve recovery by replenishing glycogen stores in muscles and aiding in the repair of muscle fibres damaged by the effort. The sooner this begins after the finish, the better it will be absorbed by the body: it is considered that the metabolic window is about 15 minutes to 1 hour after the end of physical activity. During this time, the body speeds up glucose absorption.
Therefore, quickly consume proteins (recovery drink based on protein powder), carbohydrates (mainly in the form of fruits), and a sugary drink (soda, fruit juice, etc.). Also, remember to drink generously (preferably a sparkling water rich in bicarbonate) to rehydrate the body as fluid loss can be high depending on the effort exerted.
Now that you’re well-versed in the type of diet to adopt for cycling, how about discovering which foods to prefer before the start of a race? Do you also know which foods to prefer during the effort?
