Originally Posted by
Ames
Ride with a bunch of youngsters under 35 on my group rides from the LBS. Today was 55 miles at 100 degrees and an average speed of 20 for the first half till one of the kids blew up as his leads were at 23. Can not blame him because it was his first ride on a new Madone. Overall was 18 mph.
I am 64 and back on the bike after 20 plus years so am still getting fit. Need help on the new fuels IE: gel packs and so on and how often to eat them.
Our metric pack only averaged 17.5 today - 18 is pretty good!
As far as intake - it depends a lot on the ride. On the metric today we had a stop at mile 32, I took in a gel and a 120cal trail mix bar (total 220 cal), finished what was left of my large bottle of gatoraide and mixed up another for the remainder of the ride. This really isn't enough - 300 cal/hr for a long ride is a good rule of thumb. I usually won't bonk on a metric so I don't worry about it too much but when I ride a longer ride I try to follow the 300cal/hr rule - eating every hour. Other things to note - gels will give you a little kick right away but thier real value is about 30 minutes after you take them, so if you have a big climb coming up, consume your fuel 5 miles before.
55 miles, 100 degrees, returning cyclist age 64, 18mph average, wow - you got good fast!