How to Fuel Your Next Ride
Posted: February 8th, 2010 | Author: Emily Brown | Filed under: nutrition | Tags: breakfast, Calories, Cycling Camp San Diego, dinner, endurance, exercise, fuel, Glycogen, lunch, nutrition, on-the-ride, protein, recovery, Robert Panzera, sodium, Training, USA Cycling, VO2 Max | No Comments »by: Robert Panzera 
Learning to carry and consume food while training may improve performance (and mood). The off-season is a good time to learn how much to consume and how often you need to consume proper calories to ensure you are maximizing your training potential.
Glycogen Depletion On-The-Go
Your body needs muscle glycogen to function properly through the entire exercise period. This graph depicts how various fuels are used to attain 100 percent of your energy when exercising:
As you can see muscle glycogen (yellow) starts off providing nearly 50 percent of your fuel at time zero and is almost depleted after four hours. It is important to note that the exercise bout depicted is 70 percent of VO2 Max, which many of us would consider a “recovery” pace. Note that you can substitute the energy loss from depleted glycogen with carbohydrate ingestion (red).
Cyclists can fend off a “bonk” (i.e., a severe depletion in available energy stores, which adversely affects performances) by simply cruising and eating. This may be more difficult at high intensities, or when out for more than four hours of endurance. In these instances, you have to “train yourself to eat” before exercise, during exercise and after exercise.
The following are tips to ensure you are consuming the proper calories at the proper times. Adhering to these tips require commitment, foresight, and a willingness to experiment and learn.