Brock University Professor of Kinesiology Stephen Cheung has written a piece recently published in PEZ Cycling News about how to maintain nutrition and energy during multi-day cycling events.

Cheung writes:

With the 2017 Vuelta a España starting on Saturday for the pros and what now is the season for big summer rides for the rest of us, how does one fuel these big efforts, and how good are we at maintaining energy balance throughout multiple days of hard riding?

One-day classics are fabulous because of their “no tomorrow” nature, with every rider putting it all on the line for that one single day. Stage racing, however, is a pretty amazing physiological effort for cyclists because of the high demand on recovery in a very short period of time. This recovery takes many forms, from metabolic to neuromuscular to thermoregulatory to psychological.

A fundamental aspect of recovery is nutritional. Due to the intensity and the prolonged duration of effort during the race itself, coupled with the limited capacity to ingest and absorb nutrients due to reduced blood flow in the gastrointestinal system, it is almost impossible to match caloric intake to output during the race itself. So from the moment that they cross the line, riders have anywhere from 16 to 18 hours – including sleeping hours – to replace all of the calories that were burnt over the course of the race.

Continue reading the full article here.