Originally Posted by
Daniel4
These days, it's so hot that on long rides, I find myself buying smoothies and other junk to refresh and cool off. I'm sure the calories of these things easily exceed 300 to 400 which happens to be the calories burned on a one hour bike ride (my app measured it). What happens to the sugar and empty calories for someone who's physically active? Does it still turn to visceral fat? Or is it all burned off and I'm all good? I somehow doubt that.
On a 1 hour bike ride, please, don't eat anything. It's only an hour. Surely we can all go without eating for one hour. Cool off with plain water, doesn't even need to be cold. Sweating on the bike is what cools you. Feel hot? Ride on.
To get a little more into the sugar/bike thing, yes, you can eat sugar etc. on the bike on long rides with absolutely no negatives. I just did a 10 hour bike ride and ate about 1500 calories of pure maltodextrin (a much faster carb than pure sugar) and whey protein, mixed 7 malto/1 protein. I burned about 4000 calories and lost ~ 1.5 lbs., a lot of that water from breaking down glycogen. A few days later, I was back at my pre-ride weight. That's what normal looks like. Try not to eat more than 1/2 your burn, figuring 40 calories/mile. Eat mostly carbs on the bike.