Originally Posted by Iride01

Of course they aren't needed.

However for those that are cycling intermittently at very high power and then going to a resting power repeatedly during a ride, carbohydrate supplementation during the ride can make up some of the lost glycogen stores from the muscle tissue and even be used directly as glucose from the bloodstream during those moments when energy demands are into the anaerobic and normal energy production stands no chance of keeping up.

Sugar is not being portrayed as a miracle to improve ones cycling fitness or prowess. It just lets the muscles refuel partially to continue to perform well during those times of high exertion. But the strength has to already be there. Sugar doesn't give the muscles any more strength than they already had. Just fuel to use when needed.

Though in the past some or many believed in loading up on carbohydrates prior to a ride helped. Many now see that it doesn't really help to load up on carbohydrates. But there'll be a few here that still disagree. And since several of you like to always muddy every thread about cycling nutrition fuel with overall nutrition. Then we can't ever get to discussions of such, nor inform others that sugar isn't a magic substance that will make them faster for every circumstance or that is isn't needed for cycling at normal levels or that it doesn't help for just a few excursions during a ride into the upper zones.