kvangundy

Anyone have any tips for staving off the "stupids" that come right after a longer bike race?

I race every weekend, normally 2-3 events per weekend. If not that; I am lucky enough to get to take longer rides during the day.

However, as a work from home'er/college student; I need to be able to function after my bike races/ longer rides mentally. After I get off my bike, I'm dumb for the next few hours.

Any one else expierence this effect?

Any know how to fix it?

wens

Take a nap. That was more time effective for me than anything else. If you absolutely can't, caffeine, but I think you end up a net loser on time there.

brianappleby

The same glycogen that you need to ride your bike is used for thinking. You can't separate the 2, so you really should plan on being zonked after a hard ride.

cmh

This. Sugary drinks during the ride/race and a recovery drink afterwards seems to help me at least somewhat.

EventServices

Winner.
Don't stop eating in the last 30 minutes of your ride just because you can make it home on what you've already eaten. Eat for what follows.

mollusk

+1

If you go too far into a real "bonk" when riding you are doing more damage than good.

And also eat when you get home.

I have some vegan team mates so I turned them on to eating cashews for recovery (lots of protein, fats, and electrolytes (salt!)). Chocolate milk is also great, but not vegan. Old school stuff.

Enthalpic

Good info above.

Eat, then eat more... carbs and high quality protein will make a big difference. The sugar is brain-fuel and the protein, besides providing energy and helping with recovery, can help prevent some of the "central fatigue" via competing with 5-HT for transport across the blood brain barrier.

If you want "brain dope" use caffeine and low-dose creatine. Yes I said creatine, even with way less than bodybuilder dosages there is significant evidence that it can increase cognitive function in the elderly and those subjected to sleep deprivation or physical stress.

Creatre

I understand completely what you are talking about.

Usually, for any intense or super long rides I will make sure to have an intake of 400 calories an hour or so, with a significant number of carbs (bout half liquid, half food). Post ride, I make sure to have a recovery drink and eat significantly after the shower. My plan is to chill out, relax, and watch tv with the legs up and compression socks for the next hour. Keep the water coming into the body. Usually after about 2 hours after my ride my mental state is back to normal and I can have a normal afternoon/evening. Though, I try to plan around my rides such as those, just in case I had a bad nutrition day or the ride was much harder than I expected. Bodies aren't designed for what we cyclists do to them sometimes, and we just have to work around it!

Nick Bain

fat is good for your head.

cmh

Wow - that seems like a lot of calories to take in on a hard ride. I think I'd puke it up. I take in more like 150-200 calories/hour but maybe I'm doing it wrong. Are most of you eating 400 cals/hour on the bike?

mike868y

coffee.

Forza

Nah...200 is about usual for me.

For shorter training rides (2-3 hours) I try to keep the ratio of 70/30. 70% of the calories come from the bottles (I do EFS in mine), and 30% solids (usually a Honey Stinger Bar)

Longer rides of 3+ hours, I try to go 55/45, with the 55 from bottles / 45 the percentage of food based calories.

I think part of the key for me is making sure that that I have more energy than just simple sugars, I find that I need both simple and complex, to come out of a hard ride feeling chipper.

Creakyknees

+1 for a little pillow time if you can work it... even a 20 minute power nap really helps reset the body and mindset from the zonked out fatigue state. You'll still be tired, but less so than if you'd been awake the whole time.

arexjay

a nap after exercise kickstarts HGH
stretch and open up your bodily channels, especially after being in one position for a long time
food and coffee

brianappleby

I am. Especially if I'm riding the next day as well.

Keep in mind that 150W is about 500 kCal/hr, so you're burning much more than you're taking in if you're doing any amount of effort.

Creatre

Yeah anytime I ride longer than 2hr's I'm taking in probably closer to 350 calories an hour. About half is liquid from gatorade and half is food per hour. You may not need all of it during the ride, but it certainly helps so you don't have to play catch up after the ride. I usually still have a 1k+ kj difference between my intake and burned on 4hr+ rides, so technically could prob use some more.

brianappleby

the issue with eating more is that your body is incapable of digesting more than 400(ish) kCal per hour. If you eat more than that, it just sits around waiting to get digested, and that's not good for riding. You just have to eat what you can while riding, and expect to make up for the rest when you're done.

bostongarden

Another consideration: do some "thinking" while on the bike. I come up with some good plans/ideas while riding.

carpediemracing 

After a hard ride yesterday (was less than 90 minutes, got on the bike at 1 PM) I was totally cooked. After zombie-ing through one or two chores I ended up passing out on the couch, then woke up long enough to eat some dinner then go upstairs to go to bed.

I think it's just plain tiring to do hard rides.

kvangundy

Why I've decided to just buy more bike stuff, ride bikes less.