Hurford Molly - Fuel Your Ride: Complete Performance Nutrition for Cyclists

ALSO BY MOLLY HURFORD:

Saddle, Sore: A Women-Only Guide to You and Your Bike

Mud, Snow, and Cyclocross: How Cross Took Over US Cycling

Mention of specific companies, organizations, or authorities in this book does not imply endorsement by the author or publisher, nor does mention of specific companies, organizations, or authorities imply that they endorse this book, its author, or the publisher.

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2016 by Rodale Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any other information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher.

Page Numbers refer to print version.

Photos by Ethan Gladingpages xix, 13, 54, 58, 63, 64, 92, 107, 117, 135, 136 & 157

Photos by Molly Hurfordpages x, 3, 22, 41, 100, 102, 104, 108, 115, & 122

Illustration by Molly Hurfordpage 49

Book design by Christina Gaugler

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file with the publisher.

ISBN 9781623366193 paperback
ISBN 9781623366209 ebook

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To the rad people in my life who put up with the insanity of living with a writer, especially those who submitted to being interviewed for this book.

CONTENTS

I NTRODUCTION

Chicken wings dripping with blue cheese dressing. A massive pile of fries. A thick milkshakevanilla and peanut butterto wash it all down. The beauty of it was, I was eating healthy. At least, in my head I was. After all, I was a vegan cyclist, so didnt that automatically make me superior to the omnivore cyclists out there?

Of course, I was a vegan eating fake chicken wings and a fake milkshake at a vegan fast-food joint in New York, which was rumored to have fought the citys ban on trans fats, because its what made most of the food taste so good. Well, that and a lot of chemical processing, sugar, and nonanimal-product-based fat. But stillId read plenty of books on how eating vegan was the only way to truly be healthy, and since I wasnt eating any animal products, I assumed that I was in tip-top shape.

Fifteen pounds and elevated blood pressure later, I finally made the connection. It wasnt that I wasnt training hard enoughmy racing was going great, and I was putting in massive hours on the bike every week. It was that, despite the trappings of a vegan diet, I was eating like crap. And my training could get a whole lot better if I just looked at my diet with a critical eye.

Our brains can rationalize a great deal, for instance, that huge cookie after a 90-minute easy ride, those two bagels midcentury ride, that energy gel while spinning 20 minutes to work. For me, it wasnt the vegan diet that was bad, per se. It was that I had started to find loopholes to avoid healthy eating while still sticking to a diet that I had heard was so good for me.

I was training 20 hours a week at the time, and it was easy to convince myself that an entire pizza (topped with french fries, not cheeseits vegan that way) was a reasonable dinner. When I was riding, though, I was a food rock star. I had my hydration down to a science; I was skilled at drinking on the bike; and I was adept at eating gels on an hourly basis almost instinctively. But what I didnt realize at the time was that my nutrition off the bike was impacting my performance on the bike.

You cant start nutrition when you start pedaling. Its already too late. As nearly every dietitian and pro racer I interviewed told me, over and over and in several different ways, nutrition before the ridehours, days, weeks, and months before the ridematters more than what you eat during the ride.

My vegan diet had turned into a high-carb, high-sugar, high-crap diet. It was enough to keep me moving, but not enough to keep me particularly healthy, or happy. Its not that vegans cant be great athletesjust ask retired pro cyclocrosser Mo Bruno Roybut when you live by the rules of the diet with no regard to whats healthy or smart, you get into trouble fast. And thats where I was.

Problems start to happen when you focus more on the diet than what your body is telling you and common sense. Thats where this book comes in. While eating sensiblymore vegetables, fewer soft drinks, and a good mix of protein, fat, and carbohydratesseems obvious for most of us, its harder to execute in practice, especially if were putting in big hours on the bike and were just plain hungry.

Its difficult to determine the absolute best nutrition for a cyclist. There are plenty of fad diets, plenty of weight-loss diets, and plenty of hype out there. Research shows one thing, your buddy says another, your dietitian disagrees, and yet another study conflicts with the first one! So, what is a good diet for a cyclist? How do you get lean while staying strong, and how do you prepare for a long ride, or a hard effort, without sabotaging your weight-loss goals?

Pro cyclists are admittedly crazy about weird diets, and retired pro road racer Ted King is no exception: Over his years as a pro, including being one of the few Americans to race in the Tour de France, hes tried a multitude of trendy diets. Ask any of the pros whove managed to make a true living out of racing, and you will see that a balanced, whole-foods-based approach is something that they all have in common. Ive done the Paleo diet, Ive done the gluten-free diet, Ive done living like a monk, King admits. Ive done all of these things. Ive been racing professionally for a decade. You learn one heck of a lot over your own experience, and then through watching other peoples experiences.

King has developed his own new nutritional philosophy, and its one thats really in line with what we will talk about in this book. I think there is something to be said about ride to eat, eat to ride, he explains. You know, theres enough head cases in the sport already, as there are in any professional sport, and so its very easy to get tripped up in so many philosophies. You can eat Paleo, you can eat gluten-free, you can eat super-traditional cycling stylepasta everything, bread everything. You can subscribe to this or that or whatever nutritional guideline.

The diets name isnt the point; rather, its what goes into your body. Paleo is only good until youve pounded beef jerky and you have heartburn, and gluten-free is only healthy before you start chowing down on that tray of gluten-free brownies. You spew through so many calories on the bike and you have to refill them, but maybe the philosophy should be eat to ride, ride to eat... with a wholesome and healthy outlook, King says, expounding on his original philosophy. So you cant be eating doughnuts all day, but its a privilege to be able to eat as much food as we really have to.

Most diet books are written by one expert, and while they often make a few great points, they often suffer from a professional or personal bias. This book, on the other hand, looks to several nutritionistsboth researchers and practitionersas well as the actual pro cyclists that we as riders strive to emulate. It considers the best research availablenot just the newest info but also the most well documented from the pastand puts together a clear approach to healthy eating for the active, busy cyclist, both on and off the bike.