Why the hell are eating gels and hammer bars before a crit. Cat 5 crits are usually quite short 30-40 mins. You shouldnt need special energy bars or gels before, during, or after. Those gels and bars are totally useless before a race. Just eat normal, tasty, food pre-race like that banana you ate and some water. Bring a bit on water on the bike for the race, or not, and hydrate with a normal meal after the race. Bars and gels should only be used if you are doing a long ride/race >1.5 hours and you are going to require some replenishment
Originally Posted by
fauxto nick
So I did the Isla Vista crit today in Santa Barbara, and after a great performance last week I felt like crap today. Legs were sore and weak from the start of the race for some reason. I ended up feeling better towards the middle but knew I didn't have the gas to hold onto the front of the pack so I did the next best thing, launched a rediculous attack and flew out front of the pack untill I blew up
. It was cool to experience what it was like to attack like that and get out front, hopefully put a little hurt on the peloton (for about 20 seconds lol). I was happy to see that the attack didn't cause me to fall of completely and I ended up brining up the back of the pack to get 38/40th.
I can't figure out why I felt so crappy, do you guys just get days like that, I had the normal time I give myself to recover (1 full day), and I got decent sleep. I was thinking maybe it was because it was an afternoon race (1:30 pm) and maybe the fact that it messed up my eating and my mind was more all over the place than it is in the morning caused the poor performance. I ended up eating a full breakfast and before snacked on a banana and a hammer bar before the race. Then I had a gel on the trainer and one right before the race.
Anything stick out to you guys?