Cycling Nutrition and Hydration

You can have the best bike in the world and legs of steel: if you don't fuel your engine properly, you'll eventually stall out. Nutrition and hydration are among the most underrated levers in cycling, especially for beginners. Eating well before, during and after a ride can make the difference between a memorable day and a grueling trip home with empty legs and a spinning head. In this chapter, we demystify all of it with concrete advice, tailored to the distances you'll actually ride and to the hot, humid summers we get in Québec.

Before the ride: topping up the tank

Your body uses carbohydrates as its main fuel when you ride at moderate to high intensity. The goal before a ride, then, is to fill your glycogen stores (the form in which carbs are stored in your muscles and liver).

For a long or intense ride, eat a carb-rich meal about three to four hours before setting off: pasta, rice, bread, oatmeal, fruit. This window lets digestion happen and avoids stomach discomfort in the saddle. If you're heading out early in the morning and don't have time for a big meal, go for a lighter, easily digestible snack one to two hours before: a banana, bread with honey, a bowl of oatmeal, a smoothie.

Avoid very fatty, very high-fibre or very spicy foods right before riding: they slow digestion and can cause intestinal problems. Hydrate well in the hours beforehand too, so you set off well hydrated.

One important point for morning rides, very common in summer in Québec when you want to avoid the afternoon heat: even if you eat light, don't set off completely fasted on a significant distance. During the night, your liver has drawn on its reserves, so you're starting with a partially empty tank. A small carb snack on waking is enough to rebuild what you need for a good start.

• 3-4 h before: full carb-rich meal, moderate in fat and fibre
• 1-2 h before: light snack (banana, bread and honey, oatmeal)
• To avoid: fatty, very high-fibre or spicy foods right before exercise

During the ride: fuelling continuously

This is where many cyclists make mistakes. On a short ride (less than an hour), water is generally enough. But as soon as your ride goes beyond about 60 to 90 minutes, you need to start taking in carbs to maintain your energy and avoid the dreaded bonk (that brutal energy crash where the tank is suddenly empty).

The general recommendation is to take in about 30 to 60 grams of carbs per hour on prolonged efforts, and even more (up to 80-90 g/h) for very well-trained cyclists on very long events. These carbs can come from energy gels, bars, sugary drinks, dried fruit, bananas or even homemade options like dates or rice cakes.

The watchword: start eating early and regularly, before you're hungry. If you wait until you hit a wall to fuel up, it's already too late. Take a small bite every 20 to 30 minutes rather than a big intake all at once.

On the hydration side, aim to drink regularly in small sips rather than waiting for thirst. On efforts longer than an hour, especially in hot weather, add electrolytes (sodium, potassium) to your water, because you lose a lot of them through sweat. A well-formulated sports drink often kills two birds with one stone: carbs and electrolytes.

The choice between gels, bars and solid food depends mostly on you and the intensity. Gels are quick to digest and handy when you're riding hard, but over time they can turn your stomach and some stomachs tolerate them poorly. Solid foods (banana, bar, sandwich) are more filling and pleasant on moderate-paced rides, but require more digestion. The ideal is often to combine the two and, above all, to test what works for you in training rather than on the day of an event.

The reference table by distance

Here's a simple benchmark for adapting your nutrition strategy to the distance you plan to ride. These are general guidelines: adjust based on your intensity, your build and the weather.

After the ride: recovering to ride better next time

What you eat after your ride largely determines how fast you recover, especially if you're stringing workouts together. Two main goals: replenish your glycogen stores and supply protein to repair the muscle fibres you've worked.

The window in the first few hours after exercise is particularly favourable for refuelling. Aim for a combination of carbs (for glycogen) and protein (for muscle repair) within the hour or two that follows. A full meal does the job perfectly: rice and chicken, pasta and legumes, a sandwich, or even a big glass of chocolate milk, a surprisingly effective classic as a recovery snack.

Don't forget to rehydrate: you need to make up for the losses of the ride, and not just with water. Take in sodium through your meal or a recovery drink, especially if you've sweated a lot.

• Carbs: replenish glycogen (rice, pasta, bread, fruit)
• Protein: repair muscles (lean meat, eggs, legumes, dairy)
• Hydration: water + electrolytes to offset losses

Adapting your strategy to the distance

The previous table gives the broad strokes, but it's worth digging a little deeper, because needs change enormously depending on whether you're heading out for an hour or for a full day.

On a 25 km ride, your body has plenty to keep going on its own reserves. The mistake here would be to over-consume gels and sugary drinks you don't need. Water, a good breakfast beforehand, and you're set. In hot weather, just keep an eye on your hydration.

On 50 km, you enter the zone where fuelling starts to matter. You can still get by on little, but a banana or a bar at the halfway point, plus a drink containing electrolytes, will spare you the end-of-ride slump. It's also a good distance for starting to break in your nutrition routine.

On 100 km, nutrition becomes a genuine pillar of your success. You'll be riding for several hours, and your glycogen stores won't be enough. You need to fuel from the start, regularly, and plan your refuelling stops. This is where the dreaded bonk lurks for those who fuel too late. Our guide to completing your first 100 km details all the preparation.

On 200 km and beyond, we're talking extreme endurance. Nutritional management becomes almost as important as physical condition. You need to carb-load the day before, eat continuously during the effort, alternate sweet and salty (after a few hours, the body can't take any more sugar), and manage hydration well over the long haul. Ultra-distance cyclists plan their nutrition like a genuine race strategy.

Hydration in hot, humid weather: the challenge of Québec summers

Québec summers aren't tropical, but heatwaves with high humidity are very real, particularly in July. When the mercury climbs and the air is heavy, your sweat evaporates less effectively, your body overheats faster, and your losses of water and minerals soar.

In intense heat, increase your fluid intake and never wait until you're thirsty to drink. On long hot rides, plan for more than one bottle and map out your water refill points. Add electrolytes systematically: drinking large quantities of plain water without sodium can, in extreme cases, lead to an imbalance (hyponatremia). Sports drinks or electrolyte tablets solve the problem.

A few useful reflexes: head out early in the morning to avoid the peak heat, wear light-coloured, breathable clothing, and splash yourself with water to cool down. Watch for the signs of heatstroke (headache, dizziness, nausea, stopping sweating) and stop immediately in the shade if you feel them.

A good rule of thumb: to plan your water stops on a big summer ride, scout out service points along your route in advance with our route planner.

The mistakes to absolutely avoid

Certain nutrition mistakes come up constantly, especially for those building up distance. Knowing them is already half the battle in avoiding them.

The first is setting off fasted on a long distance. Fasted riding can have its place for short, low-intensity rides with a specific goal, but over 80, 100 km or more, it's a guaranteed bonk and a wasted day. Your glycogen stores aren't infinite.

The second is under-hydrating. Many cyclists drink too little, especially when it's cool out and they don't feel thirsty. Yet even mild dehydration degrades your performance and your alertness.

Other common pitfalls: waiting for the bonk to fuel up, testing a new product on the day of an event, neglecting recovery, or consuming only sweet foods on very long rides (the body also craves salt after several hours). Always test your strategy in training. To structure your progression toward long distances, lean on our guide to completing your first 100 km and our beginner program.

Managing your fuelling out on the road

Knowing the theory is one thing; applying it while riding is another. The logistics of fuelling deserve some attention, because that's where many good intentions fall apart.

The first reflex to develop is to eat and drink at regular, ideally scheduled, intervals. Many cyclists set a reminder every 20 or 30 minutes to take a sip and a bite, rather than relying on how they feel. This is especially useful on long rides where attention drops and it's easy to forget to fuel.

Also think about how accessible your food is. Gels and bars stuffed at the bottom of a hard-to-reach backpack often end up uneaten. Keep your snacks in your jersey's back pockets or in an easy-to-reach frame bag you can get at while riding. Partly unwrap your bars before setting off so you can eat them one-handed.

On very long rides, plan your refuelling stops at strategic points: a convenience store, a café, a water fountain. Our route planner helps you spot these points along your route. And always keep a backup reserve: one extra gel, an extra bottle, in case a planned stop isn't accessible.

Finally, vary the textures and flavours. Over several hours, sweetness aversion is real: plan for some salty options too (nuts, crackers, a sandwich) to break the monotony and meet your body's needs. The pleasure of eating also counts for morale.