100 carbs an hour...really?

Much is written about nutrition and its relationship to sports performance. Reams of well researched data and case studies exist showing how professional sportsmen can and do significantly enhance their sporting prowess simply by changing their diets. All interesting stuff. But how much of this knowledge should the amateur sportsman or woman take to heart?

As a relatively new road cyclist discussing my intentions to take on my first long ride (80 miles) with more experienced riders I was surprised by the almost immediate interest in my ride rations. Energy gels, wraps, bars, basically anything carb based was recommended as a must. Being more concerned about how on earth I was going to deal with a puncture along the way, I will admit this aspect of my race preps was a bit of detail I had completely overlooked. That and the fact I had not cycled further than 30 miles before. The more I spoke to other cyclists the more i could feel my initial enthusiasm for the ride rapidly fading.

I am married to an ex-navy man with a history of taking part in some fairly stupid endurance events, so when I admitted my fears to him, after a conversation with a particularly competitive and dull cyclist who advised "You need to take on board 100 grams of carbs every hour you cycle or you won't make it" his response of "It's an endurance race you are taking part in not a sodding picnic" was not entirely unsurprising. His advice to put a mars bar in my pocket and get on with it seemed a little unsympathetic even by his standards. But thinking back to my first cycling adventures of the early 80s, when a half day ride involved a very heavy bike and no more than a bottle of water and my Dad's extra strong mints to sustain us, I began to reconsider my initial concerns.

 Now taking on board food and drink at regular intervals while cycling is obviously important but there is a risk at being a bit over scientific. A little knowledge goes a long way even when misinterpreted. Gone are the days when sources of reference were a copy of the Oxford Dictionary and several volumes of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Today, with the help of our friend google, we can and do absorb information at an astonishing rate but often without fully understanding the context.

It's little wonder then that we can be guilty of over reading and over thinking what are some fairly straightforward situations and scenarios - umm like riding a bike from A to B. Okay, I am generalising and I recognise if you are cycling at the speed of a small car you do need a bit of extra fuel in your tank, but there is an awful lot of unnecessary information passed between amateur cyclists.

 On the day, the ride was tough (I fell off twice) but I was proud to get in among the early finishers despite wearing a lot less lycra than most. Fitness, the right mindset and sheer bloody determination is what I needed for a long distance road cycle. Mind you the odd Mars Bar and square of Kendal mint cake in my back pocket also helped.