For your safety and enjoyment, it will be necessary that you are properly prepared with both water and snacks for your training rides. Starting each ride well hydrated and fuelled will also help to ensure your training success.
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- Two water bottles would be ideal but if your training route has places where you can stop and refill your bottles, then one bottle may be enough.
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- In weather that is over 80 degrees F, or when your rides start lasting longer than two hours, adding an electrolyte replacement to your water bottle would be a good idea. Gatorade or Powerade will work but better choices include Cytomax or E-Load (both can purchased at any local bike shops).
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- Carbohydrate-loaded snacks like fruit, fruit leather, granola bars or power bars will keep you fuelled during your training and keep you from running out of energy or “bonking”. Avoid snacks that are high in fat (like nuts or trail mix) as they can take too long to digest and won’t supply you with the right kind of energy. As well, protein shouldn’t fuel your workout but having a little in your snack can keep you going longer. The correct ratio would be around 4:1, carbohydrates:protein.
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To promote proper recovery from exercise and to maximize your training results, it is important that you also adequately refuel after each training session. Within 15-30 minutes after exercise, you need to consume approximately 200-300 calories of foods that contain approximately 2/3 carbohydrates and 1/3 protein. Excellent examples include yogurt or a peanut butter and banana sandwich or 2 cups of chocolate milk.