Endurance Cycling Everyone?

When you are hammering up a hill 2 hours into a training ride, what matters most: your training or your glycogen stores?Training matters. It builds muscle strength and endurance. But if there’s not enough glycogen to fuel your legs, you’ll bonk.

Eating for Endurance
Glycogen and fluid are vital. Cycling burns up 40 kcal per mile. That’s 4000 calories in a century. Your body can’t run on that kind of deficit. You need to build up your glycogen stores before you go, then take good hydration and supplies on the ride.

Start the Night Before
If you’ve got a long ride scheduled, start eating for it the night before. If your muscles are crammed full of glycogen at night, your stores will be fuller the next day. You’re going to need a full tank.
Hydrate the beforehand too. Make sure you drink eight full glasses of water on the day before a long ride.

Eat a Cyclist’s Breakfast
If there’s time in the morning, start eating about 3 hours before you plan to go. If not, eating an hour before makes the most sense. The food you cram into the last 30 minutes should be considered carefully. Some cyclists find that heavy foods upset their stomach on a ride. You’ll learn from trial-and-error what works best for you.
Before they ride, women need about 60 grams of carb and men about 80 grams. You can add in protein or fat, if that comes with your favorite breakfast, but what you’re really wanting to store the most is carb.
Cereal and fruit with regular milk cut with water or skim milk works well. A bagel and applesauce or peanut butter is another favorite.
In the hour before the ride, a final boost of a sports drink, recovery drink or gel and water will send you out the door prepared.

Keep Eating & Drinking "Drink so you wont get dehydrated! **courtesy of fotosearch.com"

The rule of thumb is to take a sip of water every 10 to 15 minutes on the ride. Don’t guzzle, just sip. About 4 ounces is all you need to keep up. Your thirst will only be activated once your body is starting to dehydrate, so don’t wait for that. If you get used to taking a sip every few minutes, the habit itself will remind you.
While you ride, your food replacement should be equal to about an energy bar per hour. Some cyclists cut a bar in four pieces and put it in a plastic sack, so they can take out portions throughout the hour. Others make sure to eat about 20 grams of carb every half-hour of the ride. Small peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches, fig newtons, fruit and nuts are good alternates to commercially prepared energy bars or gels.

"Cycling is good,Smoking is Bad, banana is the best!"**courtesy of fotosearch.com

Attend to Recovery
The magic window for replacing your glycogen stores after a ride is 30 minutes. If you can have a recovery drink during that time and eat a high-carb meal within two hours, you’ll be optimizing your muscle recovery and making it easier to sustain your stores the next day.