Grains offer a great staple to any diet. Most of you can probably agree with this knowing they provide steady release of complex carbohydrate, high in fibre and B vitamins.

Finding the perfect pre-ride meal is something of trial and error with some people not being able to manage high fibre, lactose or large amounts of fructose before sessions (this especially being apparent in Triathlon or as duration of exercise increases)

• If you have 2-4 hours before heading out grains are a carb dense option that isn’t too high in volume so you shouldn’t feel bloated– and provide a nice steady release of energy.
• If it’s a big, big day or “the” day you should have probably carb loaded for 1 day prior and have your muscles saturated with stored carbohydrate, so on the day you only need to top up your depleted liver glycogen stores.
• Grains in can be combined with other ingredients– like Maple syrup and bananas to increase the amount of carbohydrates and to further aid in the above mentioned liver glycogen replenishment – something that’s needed to help maintain blood glucose levels after an overnight fast I.e sleep.
• On a Sportive? Grains like bread, oats are available pretty much anywhere in the world (same for bananas and maple syrup), making it ideal to have in practice and on the day, helping you to keep to your usual routine and safe knowing you’re going to feel great because of it.
• Aiming for about 100-120g of carbohydrate before your ride or event should ensure you’re topped up, and will aid in performance.

RECIPE: Overnight oats

• 100g porridge oats
• 250 ml milk of your choice
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• zest of one large orange
• 50g dried cranberries

MIX together the oats with the milk

ADD the rest of the ingredients except the cranberries STIR

NOW add cranberries

LEAVE to soak

DONE

The word protein is thrown about a lot in sport, fat loss and most nutritional topics to be honest, there Is a wide array of foods that can fulfil your daily quota of protein. BUT sometimes it’s nice to get a snapshot of why we need it and an easy recipe that will enable you increase your daily intake!

How much do we need?

If looking at daily amounts as active individuals we should be having anything between 1.6-2.2g/kg/bodyweight per day. The more active you are the higher I would go on that scale and likewise if you’re on the journey of fat loss.

This is because protein aids in the recovery of muscle and cells within our body and in the preservation of lean muscle mass when in a calorie deficit (which is needed in fat loss)

How often do we need it?

We should be aiming to have protein every 3-4 hours. This is because we have something called a net protein balance. Eating protein makes it positive, not having any for a while makes it negative and will impair our recovery.

How much per serving?

We should aim for at least 0.3g/kg/bodyweight per serving to sufficiently stimulate muscle protein synthesis (the driving force behind making a positive protein balance, leading to that recovery process).

It should be noted the older you are the harder this can be to stimulate and it has been seen amounts of 40g protein per sitting is a lot more beneficial to those over 50 years of age.

Smoky Turkey Mince Chilli

Ingredients (serves 4);

• 500g 2% Turkey Mince
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tins chopped tomatoes
• 1 tin Kidney beans in water
• 1 Onion
• 1tbsp Olive oil & tomato puree
• 2tbsp Worchester Sauce
• 1tsp chilli & smoked paprika and dried basil
• Salt & Pepper

HEAT oil

CRUSH garlic and chuck in oil

CHOP onion and add to oil and garlic

HEAT till golden

ADD turkey mince heat till mostly cooked through

ADD remaining ingredients

BRING to a simmer and leave to reduce ~20mins

DONE

SERVE with rice – use cauliflower rice if you need a low carb option

When asked about the essentials needed in the diet, fruit is definitely one to come up frequently alongside a few others but it’s mostly thought of as just getting 1 of your 5 a day or that pre-workout snack, but it can be so much more!

Looking at what fructose can do in direct relation to performance can be simple but often over-looked.

Liver Glycogen:

The name for stored carbohydrate in the liver. This store of energy has a direct relationship with being able to maintain blood glucose levels during exercise, and if its low you’re going to quickly find it hard to maintain your exercise output.

You may not have known but when you carbohydrate load, saturating your muscle with loads of carbohydrate the day before a or THE big ride, you wake up with a liver empty of glycogen as that fuel is used to maintain blood sugar levels while asleep.

What role does fruit play in this?

Well fruit is first and foremost broken down in the liver with a large proportion of that energy being stored there.

What does this mean for me?

Knowing that, you can make that pre-ride/race breakfast improve your performance even more than before. Combining a steady, slow releasing carbohydrate like porridge or brown bead with fruit like banana and honey can help increase

How else can fruit help?

You may have seen quite a lot of energy drinks or gels being a 2;1 ratio of Glucose:Fructose. Fructose being the sugar found in fruit (never would have guessed that) uses a different means of entering through the intestine wall than glucose.

This means that you can increase the amount of carbohydrate you take per hour, and help reduce the potential risk of stomach discomfort!

How much should I have?

For breakfast – Looking solely at performance and not accounting for goals like body composition then having 100-150g of carbohydrate made of a mixture of fruit and low/medium glycaemic index foods 2-4 hours before the ride should be perfect!

If you’re already out riding – Having fruit in your pocket, honey in your water or some fruit juice are all sources of fructose and can be had in amounts of up to 30g an hour while on the bike. Great ideas of ways to save money on gels and still help your performance.

Energy bars can be a minefield with so many of them being bought, bitten and binned. Our choices can be down to taste or possibly brand allegiance. But if we ignore flavour and look specifically at the ingredients, are some bars better than others and do some owe themselves more to a specific time period?

*do check the package for details to check ingredients

5***** rating based on the bars aid in performance specifically and ingredients:

OTE – Apple & Cinnamon Vegan Anytime bar – This provides a decent hit of carbohydrate at 35.7g a bar it does also come with a big hit of fat at 11.4g per bar. If you consider the recommendation of fat for an endurance exercising individual is between 0.6-0.8g/kg/bw (70kg = 56g) 1 bar an hour on a 3- hour ride will eat up most of your daily fat intake. A decent option for a long day out on the bike that isn’t performance related. ***

Veloforte – Di Bosco – High carbohydrate and calorie amount per bar though most of carbohydrate is fruit based making it very high in fructose. This is a slower digesting carbohydrate compared to glucose and over consumption in an hour, or hour on hour may see some potential stomach issues. It is also higher in fat though the nuts may be great of texture it won’t improve performance. Ideal to break up the monotony of all the other bars and bring some zest. ***

Named Sport – Total Energy Fruit Bar – A decent no nonsense bar. Low fat, no protein and 25g of fast absorbing carbohydrate makes a decent choice. It does however have a lot of additives to achieve the makeup and texture of this bar, and while none are bad for you, it does bring question to quality and sourcing of ingredients, when you compare it to some of these bars. ***

Mule Bar – This bar is ideal for those bigger training rides where you’re hitting Z2 for most of it. Low fat and protein so it won’t slow digestion too much while providing 27g of carbs per bar. It provides these carbohydrates in a mix of glucose and fructose making the most of multi-transportable carbohydrates. *****

SiS – Go Bar – Similar to the Mule and Stealth bar the SiS one is bringing a simplistic bar with 26g of carbohydrate to the table, once again a mixture of glucose and fructose are the makeup utilising both those carbohydrate transporters. I don’t think it does the job as well as the 2 aforementioned bars as they achieve it with less fat and protein in the bar but similar ingredients. When riding and looking at fuelling, incidental amounts of fat and protein aren’t needed and only increase calorie cost and potential digestion time. ****

High 5 – energy bar – This product varies greatly depending on the flavour you choose– Carbohydrate amount ranging from 25g to 39g and Fat from 2.3g to 13g making some far from ideal. The peanut and caramel options have higher fat content; the yogurt covered bar a potential no-no with diary being a know contributor to potential gastro issues and the berry, with 60% fruit could possibly provide too much fructose if consumed more than once an hour. I wouldn’t race with these but I would use this mid-range bar for training rides and something to break up other choices. ***

Cliff – Nut butter filled – Possibly one to break up the monotony of food on a ride but I wouldn’t say this is the most performance-based bar – 11g of fat and 7g of protein and 23g carbs mean this “energy bar” provides more energy from fat -a macronutrient that we can’t utilise while riding and only slows the breakdown and absorption of the carbohydrate. It provides the same fat as the OTE but with less carbohydrate making it not optimal in performance and other bars doing a better job. **

Stealth – Juice Bar – A strong bar with no fat or protein to compromise digestion – just pure carbohydrate (27g). This makes it a great choice for fast absorbing energy that is made up of multi-transportable carbohydrates mean you can get more in per hour and not worry about your stomach too much. Doesn’t have a huge list of ingredients or other randomly added vitamins and minerals. *****

Torq Bar – Organic Mango – Purely carbohydrate based, provides 33g of carbohydrate and uses multi-transportable carbohydrates making this is an ideal performance choice. I do however question the need for all the added vitamins as there is no real need, and may be an issue when combined with a healthy diet, daily multi-vit and then several of these bars on a ride regularly. It doesn’t state the amount of D-Ribose either, which needs to be loaded to see the desired effect they mention. Still a decent choice bar just be aware of what else you’re taking. ****

Aptonia Fruit Bar Red Berries – 75% of this bar is fruit which initially may not be a bad thing but this means that of its 26g of carbohydrate – 19.5g is coming from fructose. This could be a problem as our maximal fructose digestion limit is 30g an hour. So, if we’re consuming more than 2 bars an hour, after a few hours you may find yourself getting some stomach issues. Additionally, 69% of that bar is made from dates and everyone knows that too many dates help you hit the loo so you may ride quicker than planned at some point. Not a bad choice to mix with other items. **/***

Trek Cocoa Coconut Protein Flapjack – Quite a big hit of calories this bar brings to the table, but with the most calories coming from fat (12.7g) and then carbohydrate (20.3g) leaves a little to be desired in the performance department. That being said if you’re touring and just need to get some calories in, this isn’t a terrible choice. ***

Meridian Peanut & Banana – This probably isn’t the best choice bar to have on the bike for similar reasons to the Trek bar, with more calories coming from non-carbohydrate sources in particular fat (9.1g) compared to the carbohydrate (15g) you will find that this isn’t an optimal choice for improving performance or recovery and doesn’t have the same calorie hit you may need on a bit day – more a hunger curber. **

Mars – I wouldn’t say this is the most ideal option as you may expect, but from a macro nutrient point of view its very similar to the OTE and Cliff bar with 8.5g fat, 35g carbs all of which are fast releasing and only 2.2g protein. Is this better than those? No! Vegetable and palm fats added in and the high sugar content means its not ideal on the teeth whereas the OTE in particular are all whole food sources and will contribute more towards a wholesome diet. But the occasional bar on a 4-hour ride isn’t going to kill you.

Bread and Jam – A personal favourite – this is a cheap and inexpensive option providing ~40g carbs per half sandwich (20g jam, 1 slice bread folded). Low in fat, protein and fibre with the sugar providing glucose and fructose to the combo makes it easy and fast digesting. A loaf and pot of jam setting you back about £3 mean it’s the same price as most of 1 of these bars. Not ideal on the teeth but most of the bars here whether from fruit or glucose will be similar to that extent. Definitely worth considering, just look at your soigneur folding skills though or that could be messy!

Banana – Never a bad choice but is cumbersome in the pocket per medium banana you’re looking at about 28g of carbs and fructose, maxing out your fructose intake for that hour. Best used on a 2-3 hour ride where you don’t need to pack loads of food and have the space for 2 gunslinging; rear pocket, banana guns.

Soreen – mini lunchbox loaves provide 18g of carbohydrate; are low in fat, in-expensive, variety of flavours, individually wrapped and small for pocket storage. Though it may not be as high carb as the Stealth, Go, Mule and similar it definitely has more bang for its buck than the Trek, Meridian and Cliff bars both in money and carbs.

It’s often underappreciated how much protein we actually need to facilitate recovery and promote adaption to exercise stimulus. And that is what protein does it is the main nutritional driver of recovery and adaption that we need to get stronger, faster and recover quicker.

Protein is mentioned a lot and we all know it needed but when was the last time you actually tracked and looked at how much you’re taking on board?

When you see how much you’re taking it is now time to compare that to what you should be getting.

How much do we need?

Active individuals we should be having anything between 1.2g-2.2g/kg/bodyweight per day. With more research coming out showing that higher protein consumptions are favourable to body composition. It’s also shown during periods of hard or intense training periods higher protein intakes aid in recovery.

And for most of you out there wanting to drop some body fat – protein is going to be the main reason you’re not also dropping power on the bike and staying strong!

I recommend 1.8-2.4g/kg/bodyweight per day.

How often do we need it?

We should be aiming to have protein every 3-4 hours. This is because we have something called a net protein balance. Eating protein makes it positive and not eating any for a while makes it negative and will impair our recovery and potentially lead to muscle wastage. What this means is no point in having all your protein in one sitting for your evening meal, make sure you’re getting it at every meal, breakfast, lunch, dinner add in a snack and a post workout and you’re pretty much there.

How much per serving?

We should aim for at least 0.3-0.4g/kg/bodyweight per serving to sufficiently stimulate muscle protein synthesis (the driving force behind making a positive protein balance, leading to that recovery process).

It should be noted the older you are the harder this can be to stimulate and it has been seen amounts of 40g protein per sitting is a lot more beneficial to those over 50 years of age.

Here’s an easy batch cook high protein recipe to help

RECIPE: Parma Ham wrapped Chicken

Ingredients for 1 breast

• 1 Chicken Breast
• 2 slices Parma Ham
• 2 Sundried tomatoes
• 20g Feta
• Fresh Basil
• Salt & Pepper

SLICE Chicken breast down the side and open

STUFF with chopped sundried tomatoes, crumbled feta and basil

SEASON with salt and pepper

LAY 2 slices of parma ham next to each other

LAY stuffed breast top down

WRAP Parma ham over

PLACE on a baking tray

BAKE at 180C fan assisted for 25mins or till done

Blackcurrants, in particular the variety found in New Zealand, have been gaining some traction in recent months for its performance enhancing effects. What effects are these?

They seem to be two-fold; the blackcurrants are a vasodilator which cause the blood vessels to expand and improve blood flow to the areas that need it most. Secondly, they seem to have a high level of anti-oxidants which help reduce oxidative stress from exercise thus, reduce the levels of inflammation in the muscle, aiding recovery and allowing you to train harder again sooner!

How do we get these effects though?

Taking the correct amount of blackcurrant extract supplementation of 300mg a day for 7 days saw an improvement in performance in a repeated 4km Time trial with 10mins rest in-between. The total improvement was only 1% though and other similar trials about 2% improvement.

Not ground breaking but any of you looking for an edge maybe in summer 10s series or crits it may be worth a gander. Ultimately though foundations are made in a good diet, solid body composition and dedicated training.

What’s the take home?

There are a lot of options out there that currently result in similar improvements but it’s not known if you added them together you would gain combined benefits of all of them. Opting for the well proven beetroot or tart cherry juice for performance and recovery respectively would be better or just ensuring you’re getting the carbohydrate you need to do your ride or adequate protein to recover.

How can I get it in my diet?

As mentioned before the only real way to get that amount is through supplementation but here is a beautiful high protein and fresh snack.

RECIPE:

Ingredients;

• 200g fresh or frozen Blackcurrants
• 2tbsp Maple Syrup ~30g
• 1tbsp lemon juice
• 200g Low fat Greek Yogurt

HEAT berries, maple syrup and lemon juice in a pan till bubbling

POUR yogurt into a bowl

POUR hot or cool compote over yogurt

DONE

Supplements is an area discussed a lot and everyone is always looking for the next best thing to give them the edge whether that’s on the big sportives’ you’re planning next year or smashing it up the hills with your friends.

But what supplements are actually worth taking?

Well we have performance enhancing ones and then health/recovery ones and we’re going to cover the main ones.

Performance

Creatine – A topic of hot debate within cycling but one of the most proven performance supplements available. The easiest way to decide if you need/want to use this is to think about your training! Are you currently doing off-season gym work, peak power training, track cycling or maybe you’re a crit sprinter? All these would benefit from creatine and improve your 10 second power output, recovery between efforts and sessions. But if you’re doing lots of climbing the potential of added water retention may outweigh the benefits. 5g a day to get the effects.

Beta-Alanine – Shown to improve your performance in the 1-4min effort range perfect for hill climb season and those punchier efforts you might be putting out. Takes a while to load the system (4-6) weeks but once in will be there for 10 weeks or so. Can make you feel a bit tingly after taking though. 3-6g a day best divided into 1.5-3g servings with a meal to avoid those tingles

Caffeine – Massively proven to improve endurance performance and reduce perceived effort and pain. But your average cup of joe probably isn’t enough. An amount of at least 3mg/kg/bw is needed to improve performance and takes ~60mins to peak in the blood. 1 espresso shot = ~75mg so you may be needing a bit more than usual. Be aware of any conditions you may have or steadily increase your intake. If you go from no caffeine to 3mg you may know about it.

Health

Omega-3 – An essential fatty acid we can only get from outside sources and is needed for everyday health! Proven to reduce inflammation and potentially aid in recovery. Getting a supplement to help with your daily needs at around 500mg of EPA and DHA a day or having some oily fish like Salmon with pesto crust is ideal for your daily intake.

Vitamin D3 – shown to help with bone density and formation. But also aids in immunity over the winter period or if you get minimal sunlight exposure. A recommendation of 1000iU a day or 25ug has been suggested if your blood test results come back lower than <75 nmol/L

There is the main thought process that brown or complex carbohydrates are good and white is bad. But ultimately, it’s all about context, and isn’t as black and white as that. Both white and brown or simple and complex carbohydrates have their place in the diet. What is more important is the timing in which we have them and the foods we have them in conjunction with.

Glycaemic index (GI)

GI is measured on a scale of 1-100 where 100 is glucose and fastest releasing – with complex typically being lower.

• 1-50 Low
• 51- 70 Medium
• 71-100 High

Low to Moderate:

Low to moderate Gi carbohydrate is ideal to have most of the time in particular that 2-4-hour period before training – this is for the steady rise in blood sugar – as well as tending to be higher in fibre and micronutrients. This means you will feel fuller for longer and potentially solve any energy fluxes you might have been getting through the day.

It’s not the most ideal food to have on the bike though, for the above reasons and when looking at performance, the higher Gi, simpler carbohydrates are much more effective

High:

The whiter, more simple carbohydrates increase blood sugar a lot quicker, tend to be low in fibre and depending on the source micronutrients.

Where this type of carbohydrate excels is in the period directly before, during and after a workout or ride. This is due to the speed of the release making the energy viable for use straight away, aiding in immediate performance or recovery.

Knowing more about these allows you to know when you can have some of those sweeter foods and when you should cut back on them in relation to energy levels and best utilisation.

RECIPE: Mediterranean flaked sea bream pasta

Ideal to have 2-4 hours before a session providing 80g of steady releasing carbohydrate and 20-30g protein.

Ingredients per 1 person;

• 1 fillet sea bream
• 100g Spaghetti
• 1tbsp Olive oil
• 1 clove garlic
• Small handful cherry tomatoes
• 1tbsp of olives
• Salt & Pepper
• Fresh Basil to garnish

BOIL your spaghetti with some salt till just before it’s done (al dente)

FRY minced garlic in your pan with olive oil first then adding fillet, salt and pepper

ADD halved cherry tomatoes and olives after 3 or so minutes

DRAIN cooked pasta

ADD pasta to frying pan and stir in once fillet is crispy

SERVE with a garnish of basil, and remaining oil from the pan.

Hydration testing is something you can do throughout the year at different points as the weather changes. It’s a great way to stay on top of how much you should be drinking to avoid dehydration and hyponatraemia.

It’s recommended that we avoid water loss exceeding 2% of our bodyweight. So, if you weigh 70kg that would be the loss of 1.4kg of water.

Here’s the test:

1. Take a standard session you might do a 1-hour turbo is ideal. Weigh yourself before (naked).
2. Drink a controlled amount of water over the turbo – let’s say 1 sports bottle (500ml). Ensure you drink all of this over the session, oh and that you’ve dressed yourself again haha.
3. After the hour session before consuming anything else, undress, wipe yourself down with a towel and weigh yourself again.

This number at the end will let us know your average sweat rate per 1Hr in those conditions. It’s important to remember this number relates to the intensity of that session and the ambient temperature. You will always sweat more indoors as there is no wind cooling.

With that loss add the 0.5kg from the bottle you drank. This now tells you your sweat loss per hour. So, if you lost 0.5kg you’ve lost in total 1kg over 1 hour.

You can use an outdoor ride to test this too BUT ensure it’s still only an hour if you go for longer then you will start eating food or gels, you will also be expending large amounts of glycogen that will also affect the results.

What sources of food or sports supplements would be the most ideal to be eating on the bike to keep you energised and give you fuel for optimal performance?

Our choices include real food like; fruit, jam sandwiches, flapjack etc. energy bars, gels and carbohydrate drinks. Ultimately though these are divided into the three sections of;

• Solid
• Semi-Solid
• Liquid

Some great research has been done showing that if all three variations contain the same amount of carbohydrate, protein and fat in them then the speed at which they’re digested is the same though the feeling of fullness is always most with solids despite the speed being the same.

Liquid options can vary in concentration with low concentrations of around 3-4g carbohydrate per 100ml promoting better fluid uptake or is more hydrating. A strong solution that is 6-8g per 100ml would be iso-tonic which has a similar concentration to blood will focus more on providing carbohydrate then hydrating and then the last being hypertonic 8g> per 100ml and will be purely focused on carbohydrate provision but will have a slower absorption rate and will cost you water from your body to move it across. Gels can be found in this area to and normally advertise what they are or you can work it out.

Solids come in many forms, bars tend to be higher in fat, and may have protein so consider the slower digestion and that if you have quite a few it will eat into your total daily amounts you should have. Personally If you’re not training for anything in particular then fuel your rides with food you will enjoy and make sure you get the most of the ride.

Ultimately consider what you’re doing; riding with friends, training for an event, racing etc. How you fuel on these should determine your choices as practicing for your race you should use what will be on your race, but if you’re just out on a jolly then the world is your oyster!