What’s The Best Carb Source On The Bike?
So we’ve talked about what our favorite food is on the bike. But… Is there something to be said for the organic ingredients in Clif products (like organic brown rice syrup instead of corn syrup)?
I thought this would be a good question for Dr. Chris Eschbach, Director of The Human Performance Lab at Meredith College. Here’s the doc’s advice: My favorite is gels for sure. I like the “pure” carbohydrate source. Pure, meaning I know there are no fats, fiber, or protein (for the most part) to slow gastric emptying. The key to fueling on 
the bike is to get the fuel (carbohydrate) to the muscle and I do not want anything to slow that process down. As for the organic stuff, I would put it into the same category as the difference between pure glucose or maltodextrin. Generally, but not always, the organic stuff will have a little slower time in the processing much like maltodextrin. The best would be a combination of the simple (glucose) and more complex (maltodextrin) because that combo would provide both “fast acting” and slightly slower delivery of carbohydrates.
The biggest concern should be what seems to sit best with your digestive system. What ever works for you is best. Again, I will say that my suggestion for events or training sessions that are greater than 1.5 hours to use 240 Calories per hour in combination with between .75 to 1 liter of water. If individually, you can handle more, that is great… but the more calories you add the greater the chance of gastric upset.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader or email.
Comments
I don’t know about the best, but I take organic honey.
Btw, this post seems like a deja vu. Didn’t you write something like this before?
Gels without a good dispenser are a nightmare - I ordered a case last year and they get my hands so sticky trying to eat while riding. And since I don’t litter - of I am not careful my camera or whatever is in my pockets gets all sticky.
My Flemish friend swears by Belgium waffles and always brings one for me 
Power Bar gels are my favorite mostly because they are the easiest to open with one hand and my teeth during a race. They also seem to work pretty well.
Hi Guys– Thanks for commenting. I’m sorry if this was repetitive but I was looking at ingredients… maybe I should have been more specific.
Still…
Jeff– the brownies sound great.
Ron– Organic honey… one of my favorites on a sandwich with peanut butter. I did post something a while back just curious about what other riders like to eat. This post… I was looking into the ingredients. I was looking to Dr. Eschbach for info on the differences in “organic brown rice syrup” and plain” corn syrup.” Sorry for the confusion… I guess it’s a little too similar.
Will– First Jeff with the brownies and now waffles with Will… YUM. We always stick our leftover homemade waffles in our freezer. Maybe I’ll pull a couple pieces out for my next ride.
Chris– Thanks again for your info. I’m sorry if this post sounded repetitive. Like I mentioned above to Ron, I was curious about ingredients and would one be better than the other.
I used gels in the stage race last weekend. I usually struggle with eating on the bike - full stop. I even tried my fav nutella sandwich and couldn’t swallow it. So gels work better then bars for me when racing. I use Gu (Espresso Love).
Question: The 240 calories per hour you mention - is there a formula I can use to work out my caloric intake need as I assume I would need less as a women and being lighter?
Groover– I too like nutella… but I imagine that would kind of be hard to swallow on the bike. Good question on the calorie intake formula… I have forwarded that to Dr. Eschabach. I’ll send along an answer as soon as I get it.
Hi,
Sorry about the repetitive answer to the question.
Here is a great article that should sum it up for everyone: http://www.gssiweb.com/Article_Detail.aspx?articleid=757
As it relates to type of carbohydrate which Donald mentioned table 1 in that article will be very helpful.
Groover,
sadly there are not specific weight (or body comp) recommendations.
The amount of carbohydrate an individual athlete should ingest during exercise should be determined by trial and error, and a balance should be struck between increasing carbohydrate availability during exercise and minimizing gastrointestinal distress.
Because of this my recommendation would be to try 240 calories (60g of CHO) in practice and tweak it from there either reducing it if is not working or increasing the amount if you can handle it.
Here is a bit of info about the topic
Based on the scientific literature in this area, it must be concluded that the maximal rate at which a single source of ingested carbohydrate can be oxidized is about 60-70 g/h. Although the vast majority of studies was performed with men, the same conclusion seems to hold true for endurance-trained women, i.e., the highest rates of exogenous glucose oxidation and the greatest endogenous carbohydrate sparing were observed when carbohydrate was ingested at moderate rates (60 g/h) during exercise (Wallis et al., 2007). This knowledge implies that athletes who ingest a single type of carbohydrate should ingest about 60-70 g/h for optimal carbohydrate delivery. Ingesting more than this will not increase carbohydrate oxidation rates any further and is likely to be associated with gastrointestinal discomfort.
Subscribe to RSS
I like the gels, although I’ve found that a brownie works just as good in a pinch.