Nailing your Nutrition Plan - A Simple Trick to Fuel Properly

Why waste money on expensive products when you can just mix sugar into a water bottle?

The best part of being endurance Athlete... east so many... still maintain weight...

For me the first hour is covered by the pre-ride meal. So if I'm riding 1 to 1-1/2 hour I don't consume any on bike nutrition. For longer rides I follow the presenters plan but minus one hour, or 60grams.

Great piece of information. Thanks

Great information...
I will say this, the most important thing actually (for me at least)...
Have breakfast, 1-2hours later prepare ride, but going to the bathroom BEFORE leaving the house is sooooo important lol.

sounds complicated, I just eat a banana or a gel or a lara bar every 20 minutes after the first 45 minutes

Excellent tip! So simple and easy to remember. Thanks

I understand that this channel is aimed at bicycle racing, but I am a larger guy just getting into the hobby and looking to lose weight. Would I still want to fuel 60g carbs per hour, or less than that and hope that my body uses some fat instead? I have been going for 2-3 hour rides, but usually only take a 32oz gatorade and water, which is much less than you recommend in this video.

Pray tell you don't eat the same thing on a recovery ride and an ftp or vo2 max session? And what about endurance? All the types of rides have different calorie demands per hour. Also this nutritional advice: do you have and alternative advice to a Cyclist who tries to compete but it's overweight?

Very informative video! Straight to the point! Could you do more video on nutrition? How many carbs x day you eat? Do you think 7gr * kg of body weight can be enough for riding all days 2 hour? (im 70 kg 177 cm) Thank you from italy

Not to be hyperbolic, but this is advice I've been looking for for YEARS! I can do this, it's not complicated. Thank you SO much.

Thanks Jeff.

This is exactly what I need! A simple no BS explanation of what I need to eat on the bike. Thanks and keep up the killer videos 💪🏼

Thanks so much. I'm a type 1 diabetic (i.e. insulin dependent). I've struggled really hard with low blood glucose levels on rides and now I realize it's because I was seriously under fueling. With an insulin pump, you can reduce the amount of insulin you get, but that doesn't help with actually fueling your body to perform (if you're blood sugar runs high because you don't have enough insulin, your body breaks down any glycogen stores and then muscle which is inefficient and harms your speed over time; if your blood sugar runs low, your power will drop and to even maintain speed with a group, your heart rate will spike and burn even more energy dropping your blood sugars lower). Really appreciate this simple explanation and the examples. I used it for two rides this week and maintained perfect blood sugars, along with maintaining consistent speed and power rather than seeing drops due to decreasing blood sugar levels.

Nearly an 8 minute video and I hit like into a minute after intro. Ride on, NCC!

Nice off road section on that last climb according to google maps

That's a nice approach, I'll definitely try that. Thank you for the tips!

This is actually helpful! Simple, straight-forward and easy to implement. Thanks, Jeff.

Thank you brotha, never knew this. I always focused on sodium and calories

Another great video!
I was hoping you might do a video on some supplements that might help performance? Maybe on sodium bicarbonate? Pre-workout drinks ? Beet juice ? (See what happens)

I hit gels first then chews last. It's nice to have something to chew on after an hour or so. Helps get the saliva going and that actually cues your digestive system, which means faster absorption. And I follow up the chews with a glug of water to help it even more.
What do you think about pre-workout mixes, like ON Nutrition Amino Energy or Bare Fitness Flight?
I know that I also burn through electrolytes/salts fast; still start to cramp on hot days with hard work, so I take one bottle of pure water and another mixed heavy with electrolytes (Camelbak or Nuun usually). Sometimes I'll use the one with caffeine if I'm feeling froggy, or it's a particularly long event I'm getting into. That's a personal thing though, different for each athlete.

Great video! For me, I need to add sodium into the calculation, I'm a very salty sweater, always caked in white 2 hours in if it's above 75F and I'm pushing. I'll find myself getting horrible cramps in weird places if I don't stay ahead of it.

Are u a medic?

Stroopwafel!!
You should put on top of a hot coffee, is then warms up a little.

some products have lots of fiber that is counted as total carbs, so also look at fiber grams also....you can't get much energy from fiber

Bottle of water + bottle of water with e-gels added= no fumbling around with the sticky wrappers...good video

Nice. GU gels are great but a little too thick for my liking.
Did you go for professional bike fit or did you do it on your own? A video on that would be cool! Thanks :)

thank you, this is good information

Nice and informative video, totally loved it. The last thing that you said about being an endurance athlete is totally true, at least for me. I love to be allowed to eat more food and not gaining weight.

I hate these packaged foods
So much trash..
I wish we get an alternative for plastic packaging

You should put affiliate links for this Gu nutrition stuff! If I bought them I'd want to buy in a way that supports the channel.

Hey! Love your videos and I am guy who usually rides MTB, going to be purchasing my first road bike very soon. I am a Biochemistry major currently and id like to work with some teams dealing with nutrition, but we can all dream cant we... To be honest this isn't that hard and it really is this easy for the most riders. The amount of gains most amateur riders will get from nutrition may be easily off set by equipment or any number of factors. Its really important that you are eating correctly when off the bike as well or it will not matter the amount of carb loading you do.

60g of carbs * 4 (kcal) = 240kcal/h - that's the maximum number of energy we can provide for our body? (fats need more time? we don't count them here?)
so how can you ride for 3-4h and burn (according to garmin/other computer) 3000-4000kcal ? (without being completely depleted waaaay before)

Dude I saw your C2C video on nutrition and it literally changed my life. For the past 3 years (when I started cycling) I just used water, then I moved to water with electrolytes. I always though fueling was for longer rides, sometimes I'd take a cliff bar and that's it. I got heavy into indoor training and though ok it's only 1 hour, maybe 1.5 hours max that's not long enough for carbs and fueling and all of that. Every session I'd get off the bike and my legs would be blasted for the rest of the night, like I had just done heavy sets of squats or something.

Then I saw your C2C video that was like no that's not good, no matter how long the ride you need at least 60g of carbs per hour, even if it's a one hour workout. So I tried it out and the difference is insane. I can destroy my legs for 1.5 hours, get off the bike and after maybe 10 minutes I feel like I can go on another full length bike ride no problem. I'm just mad at myself for waiting 3 years to understand how important it is even on shorter rides.

I'm the same with the concentrated water formula. For me drinking the full 2 scoops concentrated supplement in one bottle actually makes me more thirsty, what works perfect for me is splitting the supplement into two bottles. So each bottle is 30g of carbs but you can still get hydrated and not feel thirsty.

A cliff bar is really good for the pre-ride setup. 250 calories, solid food, with 45g carbs.

Clearly just a promotional video..

So easy, yet som important!

That’s how much I bring on a 4 hour ride 😂

"amino acids, i don't know what that means"... why am I listening to you again?

Thanks Jeff, simple and helpful. Love your channel.

Incredible video, no wonder I bonked on a 2 hour climb with 2 bananas in my pockets, followed the video and had no problems at all!

Great video!

Great post thank you, cleared up a lot of misunderstanding, seems like I’ve not been using enough carbs

Do you stay on the bike for 4 hours straight? Or do you go off to eat?

Helps a lot, thank you! 😁

Kudos for the animation at the end!

super helpful and straightforward, thanks

Great breakdown. This rookie now knows a thing or three about fueling for a ride. Thanks, man!

Just remember that most products have a mix of various carbs (starches like rice in a Clif Bar, complex sugars like maltodextrin and simple sugars like fructose). The immediate boost only comes from simple sugars that can convert almost directly to glucose which is what your cells use to make ATP. And, depending on your intensity, your body can convert some fat to sugar if you are going easy, like low Zone 2.