Training Plans and Programs
- Obliteride Training Resources – There is lots of great training information available at the Obliteride site, including training plans for each Obliteride route.
- Cascade Bicycle Club – CBC offers a number of free group rides for all rider levels. They also offer the Cascade Training Series, which is a more intensive training plan designed around preparing for the STP and RSVP rides, but is open to anyone willing to pony up a few bucks!
- MapMyRide Century Training Plans – Suggested 10-12 week training plans for a 100 mile route.
Ride Nutrition
If you’ve ever bonked (aka hypoglycemia, or “hitting the wall”), you know you don’t want to do it again. Making sure your body has the right fuel and hydration during a ride is key to avoiding a ride ending by phoning a friend to come pick you up.
Fuel
- What you eat before you set off is critical to a successful and enjoyable ride!
- You’ll likely need to experiment with what your body needs for different rides. Generally speaking, for rides under two hours you won’t need to worry about changing your food intake beforehand, but for longer or more strenuous rides you’ll need to fuel up more ahead of time.
- “Carbing up” is a thing! Here’s a good article from BikeRadar that talks about the different kinds of carbohydrates and some intake recommendations specifically for cycling.
- During a ride, have some snacks in your pocket to top up the tank. There are lots of sports-specific options out there, including gels and bars, so you should be able to find options that fit in your jersey pockets and don’t offend your palate.
- As you start training, it’s better to pack a little more food than you think you will need, just in case. Then you can dial in your ride snacks as you learn what your body will need for a ride.
- Author’s Note: For a ride under 50 miles, I generally throw a single Clif bar in my pocket and a tube of Clif Shot Bloks (see hydration for details) in my pocket, and that is sufficient. For rides up to ~100 miles, I step up to two or three Clif bars and Shot Bloks, and I generally end the ride with food to spare.
Hydration
- As a general rule, drink one 16oz bottle of water each hour of your ride.
Try to drink water throughout the ride even if you’re not thirsty at the moment. Once you feel thirsty, you’re already dehydrated and will have a hard time digging out of that hole while you’re active.
Consider supplements to add electrolytes, carbohydrates, and even caffeine to your water. When the temperature rises, extra electrolytes help keep your neurons firing and reduce cramping. There are lots of options available from companies like Skratch Labs, Hammer Nutrition, Clif Bar, and Nuun.
Author’s Note: I make a point of adding an electrolyte supplement to every bottle of water to stave off cramping. Nuun tablets come in tubes that stow easily a saddle bag or jersey pocket, and come in a variety of flavors (some with caffeine!) to avoid burning out on a specific type.
Bringing it Together
- Only through experimentation will you find the right combination of fuel and hydration for you.
- Except for overeating beforehand, it’s better to err on the side of having too much food on you during a ride while you learn what your body needs.
- Author’s Note: It took me a few years of intensive/endurance riding to get my ride nutrition sorted out. A typical weekend training ride of ~75 miles starts with a three egg cheese omelet and a couple cups of coffee an hour before I ride, then I carry two Clif bars, two tubes of Margarita Flavor Shot Bloks (they have 3x the sodium of standard Shot Bloks), and a tube of Nuun. My nemesis is dehydration and leg cramps, but if I’m diligent about eating three squares of Shot Bloks and drinking at least one bottle of water each hour, I’m generally in pretty good shape for cramping, then I’ll snarf a Clif bar when I start to feel hungry. The warmer it gets, I’ll ratchet up the water intake as needed.