I've somehow managed to drag myself out for my first two metric centuries on back-to-back weekends in the last week.

The first one was to wish a fond farewell to my old road bike -- a Salsa La Raza -- and the second one was to welcome my new road bike -- a Rocky Mountain Solo 70 ST (see below).

http://lh4.ggpht.com/NWOcyclist/SJ77XKPlScI/AAAAAAAAARc/_cj9W9SrFHc/IMG_1151.jpg?imgmax=576

Both rides went well, although I bonked pretty badly on the first one and had to suck back half a Red Bull at 80 km to get home. I could feel myself starting to cramp on the second one at about 80 km as well, but I finished off my water and soft pedaled/drafted the other two riders with me and everything was fine.

But my stomach and things "south" of it were really unhappy with me after both rides, and I'm not sure why. I usually stop around 80-90 km, so both of these rides were beyond both length and time that I'm used to. But before I head out again for another 4 hour ride, I'd like to know what I can do to keep from being tied to the bathroom for the rest of the day.

Suggestions?

Jason

A mere 100km? Bah. ;)

If you're bonking, you're not eating enough (or often enough). Generally speaking you want to consume 250 calories (mostly carbs) per hour that you're on the bike. Energy drinks are better than water, as they provide calories and electrolytes.

You may also want to figure out how much liquid you need per hour. 500-750ml is a good starting point. To get a little more precise: weigh yourself before the ride, keep track of fluid & food intake, weigh yourself after the ride, subtract what you consumed, figure out how much weight you lost, and convert that into fluid ounces of water.

If you had stomach upset, the most likely culprit is that what you did eat disagreed with you. Some people don't do well with some types of sugar, especially HFCS.

sounds like symptoms of dehydration to me. Drink more good clean water and an energy replacement drink could help, too.

And check your water bottles- are they fully cleaned out after each ride?- are you introducing bacteria into your system somehow?

I always leave the house with two large water bottles -- one with water and the other with Gatorade. For any ride longer than two hours I also bring a Clif Bar and 3-4 gels (either Gu or PowerBar). And yes, the bottles are clean, going through the dishwasher after each ride.

My wife thinks I'm going too hard for too long -- our average speed this past weekend was 29 km/h -- and I'm inclined to believe her. We did stop for water about a third of the way into the ride and I topped off everything, but I suspect I still wasn't drinking enough.

Jason

IME, the upset stomach comes from not eating enough, as does the bonk. Or, it could just be my body's just accepted that I'm not going to stop doing these ridiculously long rides...

SP

Hmm. Does size play a role? I'm 5'11" and 192 lbs. with an average resting heart rate in the low 50s. With my bibs on I don't look too pudgy, but I'm fairly well padded. :rolleyes:

Jason

The problem could be something other than what you might think. Obviously, since you carry the gels and one bottle of sport drink you are aware of the need for eating and hydration on the bike. Usually any distance more than 40-50 miles you have to eat something.

One big problem might be acid/alkaline balance. When you exercise it creates a lot of acid metabolytes in the body. These need to be flushed out with lots of water. Preferably with an alkaline PH. Most sports drinks and gels and energy bars are acidic to the body so even though they give you energy they effect overall body PH in a negative way. This is my guess part of the problem that many cyclists experience when eating on the bike.

Here are some possible suggestions. If you can afford a water ionizer/alkalinizer machine buy one and use it to drink and fill your bottles.

Instead of gatorade or powerade see if there are any of the higher quality sports drinks like Heed that have a PH higher than 7.5. I don't know if they do I haven't researched any yet.

Try some green powder, a little soy protein, and a few drops of Stevia as an alternate sports drink. This is a lot more healthy and less acidic than sports drink and is full of anti-oxididents which you need during exercise.

Instead of gels and cliff bars. Take some raw carrots and other raw vegetables that can keep for few hours in a small zip-lock baggy. Eat these instead of the other processed energy foods. Veggies are alkaline and will help balance your bodies acid production during exercise. Probably best if you take the high calorie kind of veggies like carrots and raw peas. YOu can just run frozen peas under warm water in a collander to unfreeze them. Also, try some almonds. And celery is the ideal food for getting your electrolytes back it's high in sodium and potassium.