Picture this.
You’re on a long ride with your friends that involves multiple climbs and descents. You’ve been having so much fun you’ve barely eaten any food.
On the last climb, your legs start to feel like bricks. You go to drop another gear, but you’re already in the granny. It becomes tough to think, and you don’t know if you’ll be able to make it back to the top.
You’re bonking. Your body has run out of energy.
If you’ve been in this position before, you know how awful it is. But thankfully, you can easily prevent it by eating enough throughout your ride
So today, we’re going to cover what to eat mountain biking to make sure you have plenty of energy on those long rides.
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What to Eat Mountain Biking
You need to eat carbohydrates when you’re on the bike.
Our road cycling brethren (or step-brethren, depending on your views) do this well. It’s common to see them crushing gels, bars, cookies, pastries, and carb drink mixes throughout their rides.
But somehow, we mountain bikers still think a half-eaten granola bar, a light beer, or just straight-up water is enough to fuel our all-day adventures in the mountains.
New to mountain biking? To make sure you have a great time on the trails, learn what to wear on a ride here.
But Why Do We Need Carbohydrates?
Carbohydrates are the main fuel source for our aerobic system, which powers our lungs and muscles.
When we eat carbohydrates, our body converts them to glucose. Our cells use glucose from carbohydrates to produce ATP. Our aerobic system then uses that ATP to move our legs.
But how do we put this into action and make sure we are getting enough carbs during our ride?
How to Eat During Your Mountain Bike Ride
Pre-Ride:
If you’re going on a long ride, an hour plus, eat a carbohydrate-rich meal 3 – 4 hours before your ride. Something like a rice bowl, a potato dish, or pasta. If you want to ride after work, eat a carbohydrate-rich lunch.
If you’re going on a ride first thing in the morning, try to eat some quick sugars such as a banana or apple pre-ride.
During Your Ride:
To keep your energy stores topped up, eat 50 – 90 grams of carbohydrates every hour if you’re going on a ride that is longer than one hour. The type of food you should eat depends on the kind of ride you’re going on.
If the ride is intense and includes many hard efforts like racing or a training ride, eat quick-acting carbohydrates. You want to eat simple sugars because hard efforts make it challenging for the body to digest food because you are switching on the fight or flight response in your nervous system.
For these rides, try energy gels and carbohydrate drink mixes.
For a normal long trail ride, eat any carbohydrate. Carb powders and gels still work, but since the intensity is lower you can eat more whole food sources. I love oat bars, date bars, fruit, stroop waffles, etc.
After Your Ride
30-40 minutes after a ride, your body is primed for carbohydrate intake. So eat a bit more. It will help you recover.
I recommend that you focus on getting a quality meal within two hours of finishing your ride. A meal with a nice mix of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins will help recovery nicely.
If you have a libation post-ride, consume some food before or with it to mitigate its effects on your system.
How to Make it Easy
I know you might be reading this and think to yourself, “This seems like a lot of work. I don’t want to have to think about eating and bringing enough snacks on my ride.”
I get it. I thought the same thing.
But then I realized that it’s quite easy in practice and the returns from bringing some extra food on the ride are well worth the effort.
So here’s what I recommend.
Next time you go to the store, stock up on snacks, carb-rich bars, fruits, or powders.
Then leave a bunch in your riding bag or your car. Then as you head out on rides, it’s easy to grab a snack and throw it in your pocket quickly. Also, you’ll have food waiting for you in the car when you finish.
If you give this a try, shoot me an email and let me know how it works for you. I would love to hear what you eat mountain biking
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