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How Many Carbs Do I Need Then?

So you’ve got a long ride lined up tomorrow but you haven’t for the life of you got a clue how many carbs you need.

Here’s a handy table:

1-2 hour ride up to 30 grams per hour

More than 2 hours 60 grams per hour

Water – a bottle (about 500 ml) per hour, more in very hot/humid conditions – a bit like the last few months then yeah right!!

All very well but what does that mean?

High 5 gel has 26g carbs per 60ml sachet (they recommends 3 sachets per hour)

Lucozade lite has only 10g carbs per 500ml bottle – Why have the lite versions?!! Defeats the object!!

Go Electrolyte powder gives 37g of carbs per serving (2 scoops)

A banana is 20 to 30 grams depending on size 000er missus

By the way, there are electrolytes to consider but that’s the next blog…..

There you go, simples.

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17/09/12 Cycle Racing , Cycle Training , Sportives

Iron Man

Now, first of all, please for one minute don’t start thinking we’re triathlon fans. We promise you will never ever see us even dare to offer advice on how to swim through seaweed, wetsuit reviews or “how to stick/paint your race number to your arm” tutorials.

The reason the title is such is because we were watching a family member of the team compete (and complete) his first Ironman distance Triathlon yesterday.

For the hardcore cyclist who has never looked up what that means it is a 2.4 mile swim in the Thames, a 112 mile cycle and to top it off the small matter of running a marathon. This isn’t over a week by the way it’s only bloody non-stop.

He did it in 12 hours 3 minutes and the bike ride was at an average speed of 19 mph! This guy is an ex-smoker, has just had a baby (well his wife had the baby), in his late forties and had an acl operation on his knee a couple of years back. Oh and he won’t mind us telling you that he was a few too many pounds the wrong side of Pavarotti when he started cycling too!

They started in the dark and they were handing out head torches to some of the finishers – that’s a long day!

How did he do it?

He made a decision, made a plan, committed himself and his passion and guts got him round.

Be Inspired

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01/09/12 Sportives , What Is A Sportive?

What Is A Sportive?

Why Are There Sportives?

So you’ve driven to the countryside, parked your car, ridden 80 miles, got lost, run out of drinks half way round, haven’t seen a single cyclist for the last 2 hours, got back to your car starving but the local shop is closed and what’s more nobody saw you do such an awesome ride and when you get back into the office on Monday you can’t prove to them you did it either!

If only you had a photo or a certificate?! Or a medal or you could at least look up your name online and feel that sense of pride to see that you finished ahead of 212 people?!

Depending on your point of view you’re in luck as some bright spark has worked out that you need help with all of the above and a huge industry was born. Enter the sportive market. Others may argue that charging you 25 quid to ride your bike on a public highway that isn’t even closed is a joke!

So What Is A Sportive?

Well if you don’t know already you’re no doubt guessing that it’s something to with paying a bloke to ride your bike. Yes!

A Sportive is a timed ride. Not a race. Organisers around the world will be very happy with us pointing this out. Best say it again then; Sportives are not races. They are held on the open road (although closed road sportives such as the Etape Cymru in Wales are becoming more frequent which is fab news). Some of the key features of a Sportive are:

The route is signposted and marshalled
Food and drink often provided en route and/or at the finish
You get an official ride time, often by way of an electronic chip. Many events will categorise your ride time as a gold, silver or bronze time and each year you can return with the aim of improving on your time.
There are hundreds, possibly thousands, of riders on the road with you.
The routes are planned for you, often chosen for their challenging climbs, beautiful scenary and lack of traffic
The ride starts and finishes in the same please and there will be somewhere to park your car (unless you’re mad/fit enough to ride there, complete the sportive and ride home!)
Many Sportives offer a choice of 2 or 3 different distances and routes to appeal to beginners, intemediates and advanced cyclists.

Until a few years ago, most people rode for a club and the Sunday morning “Club Run” was the club ride of the week where a club rode 50 to 70 miles as a group (or groups), often with a cafe stop. Sportives seem to have taken over a bit but we think that both have a place in the world of cycling. In fact you can join a club for an entire year for the price of 1 Sportive!! Many riders are club members who enjoy Sportives too. Take a look at www.britishcycling.org.uk/ for more info on joining a club.

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