Friends For Life Bike Rally - A Benefit for the Toronto People With AIDS Foundation

• The amount of carbohydrates a person can store is roughly between 250-450 grams depending on your size (muscle mass). So females, consider your self closer to the 250-350g end of things and guys; closer to the 350-450g end.
• It only takes about an hour to two to exhaust these stores depending on your pace so, if you intend on taking longer than this to finish your ride then, you need some fuel to go (assuming you have properly fuelled up the previous days).
• Eat a well balanced dinner and eat breakfast at least 1 hour before the ride as it takes about this long for your stomach to empty. So not fun having food in your belly when you are trying to ride!
• The faster your pace the more carbohydrates you will need as the body shifts from less fat burning to increased carbohydrate utilization when you begin working at a higher percentage of your heart rate. Simply put, the faster you ride, the more carbs you will burn.
• Protein and fat are important but not during your training rides. A bit of fat found in energy bars or various trail mixes is ok, as it actually slows the release of carbs into your blood. Keep in mind the rides are short and you can take in a combination of protein, carbs and fat when you have finished the ride to help with depleted stores and repair. So, focus on carbs sources of fuel to get you through the ride itself.
• Examples are bananas, raisins, other various dried fruit, energy bars, drinks and gels. Now is the time to experiment, try a few sources as some of these choices will cause gastric upset. I recommend anything organic if you are going with bars or gels as a lot of the artificial ingredients in supplements cause gas and bloating.

For those of you that have individual questions regarding your nutrition please come to the nutrition seminar I will be putting on April 14th. Also stay tuned for nutrition tips of the week and hopefully a link to some nutrition talk where I can answer your individual questions.

Dr. Michelle Crispe is a Chiropractor, Personal Trainer and Wellness Coach.