Cape Town Cycle Tour Fueling Strategies with Associate Professor Mike Posthumus
Image credit: Eyewitness News
“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail”, Benjamin Franklin’s quote applies to so many of our choices – including your nutritional strategy.
It is easy arriving at a race with your pockets stuffed with bars and gels but without a plan these bars and gels are a forgotten weight in your pocket, until it is too late. A proper nutrition plan will be the difference between you crawling across the finish line or crossing it with some fuel left in the tank.
Carefully planning your nutrition, as shown in the infographics below, will help you know how much to pack and when to use what you have. This will avoid either carrying too much or too little. The plan will also be a good reminder of what and how much to eat at each landmark. For example, you should not forget that you need your first Cadence gel as you pass UCT in preparation for Edinburgh Drive, or that you need to eat your first bar once the pace settles down a little as you pass your favorite coffee shop in Kalk Bay. If you are not confident in remembering your plan, you can stick a copy of it to your top tube or handlebar.
The plans below include a strategy for a 3 hour Cape Town Cycle Tour race, as well as a strategy for a sub 4 hour goal. The plan for the 3 hour race includes 260g of carbohydrate. Strategically, this plan does not require you to stop to fill up a bottle. Be warned that this is for the experienced riders whose goal is a sub 3 hour race. The amount of gels and bars are increased to ensure that you cover your carbohydrate needs during the race. This plan will deliver 90g of carbohydrates per hour – the optimal dose for your best performance. This amount will only be absorbed when your products include a 2:1 ratio of maltodextrin to fructose. All Cadence Nutrition products are formulated in this way to ensure that you are able to absorb this amount of carbohydrate.
The 4 hours plan is created to deliver 300g of carbohydrate. This will yield a more conservative 75g of carbohydrate per hour. This amount, delivered in the Cadence Nutrition formulae of 2:1 maltodextrin to fructose will be easily absorbed and tolerate well by your digestive system. When racing for 4 hours it will be recommended to stop and refill bottles. Packing extra CarboFuel in a ziplock bag should do the trick for this scenario. CarboFuel will hydrate you, as well as provide the required energy and electrolytes you require. Due to the increased fluid carbohydrates, the total number of gels are reduced in the 4 hour plan.
We hope that you have found this nutritional planning advice for the Cape Tour Cycle Tour beneficial to your overall race day strategy. Good luck for a safe and fast race day. Lastly, before trying any nutritional plan – ensure that you have tried it in training. This is important for any nutritional product or approach.
