The Intense Diet of Professional Cyclists

“Two feet moves the body, but two wheels move the soul”

Intro:

When we think of professional athletes It’s a basic assumption that these are individuals who vigilantly keep track of everything and anything they consume. I’ve known that professional athletes have more cheat days due to their intense training cycle (depending on the sport), but I was colored surprised when I discovered that professional cyclists have cheat days almost every day of the week.

Cyclists that compete in the Tour De France and the Giro d’Italia consume about 8,000 calories on a daily basis. Endurance athletes like these cyclists burn 7,000-8,000 calories a day, this isn’t just on race day but also a normal day of training. According to Gabriel Martins, a nutritionist for Israel Tech cycling team, states his athletes eat four times their body weight in grams of carbohydrates in breakfast alone! The average professional cyclist weighs anywhere from 135-150 pounds, that’s a mind-blowing 520-560 grams. That’s the equivalent of going to Olive Garden and getting 5-7 plates of pasta.

Before Race:

Carbohydrates provide the riders with majority of the energy for the races such as the Tour de France and the Giro. Both of the races involve steep climbs that turn your quads and hamstrings into jello. The flat portions of the races include sprints that riders rely on glycogen stores in their muscles. After a carb loaded breakfast the riders will be stuffing themselves again 30 minutes before the race with a buffet of espressos, energy bars, bananas, and rice cakes.

During Race:

Once the riders set sail they’ll occasionally pull out energy bars, energy gels, electrolyte drinks and mini Coke cans…yes a can of soda. The coke cans did surprise me, It’s hard for me to imagine an athlete drinking a soda in the middle of a race, but it makes a lot of sense in a sport that requires rapid use of energy. Apart from the sugars, the caffeine provides a great boost of alertness and reduces fatigue during the intense rides. Soda isn’t ideal for hydration nor is it healthy, but if you’re in need of energy that doesn’t involve a syringe needle, a can of Santa’s favorite sponsor is a good prescription. The riders rely heavily on energy products in order to keep their legs moving; gels and bars take no effort for your body to digest and they fit comfortably in your pockets.

After Race:

When the riders cross the finish line they’re met with the team who hand them bottles of water, soda, and bags of candy to provide them with simple sugars to restore glycogen levels. When you exercise at such high intensity the body is burning more glucose than fat for energy. Sugar is a key nutrient in a cyclists protocol but too much isn’t good for your health. You wont encounter these athletes hoarding down bags of skittles or gummy bears on a rest day, but It’s a vital ingredient for a riders success to maintain the physical demands. A professional cyclist spends as much as 7-8 hours a day on the bike, and that’s just a training day. Sugars that come from candy and soda (glucose) are preferred than sugars that come from fruit (fructose) because fructose is metabolized in the liver making it harder to digest.

Proteins & Fats:

Although carbohydrates are a cyclists best friend; healthy fats that come from nuts, seeds, avocados, and olive oil help in keeping a riders body to power through the treacherous demands. Healthy fats are important for maintaining cardiovascular health and serves as a great secondary fuel source.

Stephanie Sheirlynck, a nutritionist for Lidl-Trek cycling team reports that depending on the stage they have the next day, the meal for dinner reflects the demands. “Vegetables, salads, and proteins make only a small portion…but the script is flipped the evening before an ‘easy’ sprint stage”. On a mountain stage the athletes aim to consume small volumes of food that are filled with energy. However before a sprint stage, “we look to proteins, big salads, and soups to make riders feel full without overloading on calories” says Sheirlynck.

Proteins are the key nutrient for muscles to rebuild themselves, nutritionists advice their athletes to be consuming 2 - 2.5 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. If you have a cyclist that weighs 140 pounds that’s 130-160 grams of protein per day. Proteins are the building blocks of recovery, your body is like a house and proteins are the bricks that make the walls of your house strong. Without enough protein the walls of your house will be flimsy and wont provide your muscles with the recovery they need for the next day of the race. The timing of your protein intake for such endurance events is not as important as it is for carbohydrates. Because proteins take more energy for your body to digest than carbs do, it’s advised to eat sufficient amounts of protein hours before and after racing.

BALANCE:

Mark Cavendish, British professional cyclist and record holder of most Tour De France stage wins says that, “I believe athletes who say they’re absolutely, biblically strict about their diet are either lying or sick in the head…you’ve got to have some fun. You’re not really living if you’re weighing every bit of rice on your plate. Especially when I’m not competing, I’ll relax with the odd bar of chocolate or glass of wine. I also like a dessert now and then, though I tend to go for a plate of fruit.”

Everything in life requires moderation, as important as it is to be disciplined we must exercise moderation. I must admit I often struggle with this at times; I find myself not taking rest days often or having a hard time taking things ‘easy’ because of my own trauma and fear of going back to the person I saw when I was hospitalized. Moderation serves as one of the eight pillars of Greek wisdom and is labeled as a key virtue. The Greeks believed in living a balanced life by avoiding extremes on all aspects, they believed it was the path to a prosperous and virtuous life. In the wise words of Epictetus, “If one oversteps the boundaries of moderation, the greatest pleasures cease to please”.

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