# 3 Nutrition Strategies for 200 km rides I like ultra-distance cycling and I can not lie. The rush of completing long distances is amazing. But completing and feeling good comes down to three things, nutrition, attitude, and fitness. I've thousands of miles in the saddle. I've completed a 4,600 mile cross country ride, a 750 mile ultra-endurance race, and competed in the 24-Hour World Time Trial Championship. I've spent years developing my nutrition strategy. I have found these three strategies work best, training your gut, carb type, and timing. Sharing these tips, will hopefully save you time, money, and digestive discomfort. Let's dig in. > [!Note] Interested in fitness and attitude? Check my other articles out. [[Publish Content/Cycling Tips/3 Training Strategies to Build Endurance for Ultra-Distance Cycling|Here]] and [[Publish Content/Cycling Tips/4 Mental Techniques for Overcoming Challenges in Ultra Distance Cycling|here]]. ## Training Your Gut Do this before anything else. Your stomach needs training just like your muscles. If you go out on the bike thinking you can consume carbs like a pro, it won't end well. Early in every season I start gut training at a **baseline of 60 grams of carbohydrates per hour**. This gives my stomach and body time to adapt to the distance, time, and food. As I progress in saddle time and distance, I dial in my carbs. **Adding 10 grams** every **fifteen hours of training** has been effective for increasing gut load to my threshold, 90 grams. > [!Danger] **In my experience, anything over 90 grams was ineffective** > Case study -- I spent 3 months training my gut to be able to handle 90g of carbs per hour for the 24-Hour Time Trial. I was nailing my carbs, feeling amazing while training, and finishing strong. During the time trial I was mostly successful, until I wasn't. Riding through the night, with low temps and complete darkness was my downfall. The two areas that I didn't train for, overnight riding and cold temps. My gut just didn't want to cooperate with my output demands. **Take away and action items:** - Start training your gut now. - Start small, you don't want to have a digestive emergency on the bike! - Shoot for carb targets that make sense for you. - Ultra-endurance distances often maintain high zone 1 and low zone 2 power, which is optimal fat burning territory. - Experiment with grams per hour - If you increase gram load, but don't notice a performance difference, that's likely threshold for now. ## Carbohydrate Vehicle There is lots of scientific data on carbohydrates, so I won't go into that. I'll focus on the three vehicles or types that are easy to consume, less risky on the bike, and easiest to track. ### Gummies This type is any gummy type carb, think Haribo, Precision Fuel, SiS, or Skratch. Gummies are easy to pack, often easy to eat, and usually taste good. They also offer substance in your stomach, and force you to chew, which is strangely satisfying after hours of gels and drinks. #### Pluses - High density of carbs for their size. - Tend to be mostly sucrose (sugar). - Accessible at gas stations or convenience stores. - Light weight, usually _not_ too sticky, and easy to store. #### Minuses - Flavor fatigue can happen. - Chewing during exertion is hard. - Can cause sensitivity to teeth. ## Consumption Timing As with most things, timing is everything. Of the three tips this may be the easiest one to dial in. You will know what your hourly goal is, and this can be broken down into intervals. Finding the optimal intervals shouldn't take long. Lastly, be mindful of your consumption timing, intervals that have worked for me are: - Every 20 minutes for liquid carbs (carbs in your bottle) - Every 40 minutes for gels (30g or 40g gel packets) - Every four hours one bar (Clif, Pro Bar, or Snickers doesn't matter)