Over the last few weeks/months of podcasts, the crew has been talking about training their gut to take on 100, 120, or even 140g of carbohydrate (1:1 glucose:fructose) per hour. They’ve also said they prefer it all in drink form. How does this add up? Maurten and Beta Fuel us a 2:1 ratio, so you could get 120g of carbs in a 24oz bottle, but in the wrong ratio. Curious how folks are managing to hit these numbers without eating something else.
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Buy the carbs separately and mix it yourself. Easy and cheap.
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Fill it with jelly babies.
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Do we need that much - I used about 6 gels in the past to run a fast marathon…I would think with proper pre race carbo loading then you wouldn’t need that much and over long races fat burning should kick in - 100g+ seems a lot…mind you I’m only little!
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An average of 225 W is about 800 cal/hr. 275 W is 1000 cal/hr. If you’re doing a long event at 225 W, 100 g carb / hr is only replenishing half of what you’re burning. Even a road race for a bigger (or faster) person at a good pace is going to tear through calories.
For a shorter event, you may not bonk with less, but their thinking is that your performance is higher if you’re maintaining higher glycogen levels.
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Fair enough…my longest time trials are 50 miles which take 1:50 ish and I have a big bowl of porridge in the morning and 3 slices of toast and honey at lunch if it is a Saturday pm race or just the porridge if it is a Sunday am race - I carry 500mls of 6% solution energy drink in a bottle for the race having consumed 500mls of said drink before (usually Lucozade sport or H5). Oddly when I did my pb it was such a good day (a float we call it in the UK) and cool that I didn’t drink any of my energy drink as I was so focused on taking advantage of the conditions…maybe that cost me a few seconds. However I have never done a 100mile tt and those who I know who have say that nutrition becomes very important ……as it was when I did my only Ironman nearly 30 years ago…just can’t see how I could get that much in me as eating on the bike I find difficult once I’m working at any intensity level above about 70% FTP.
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Keep in mind some calories come from fat. I would look to replace half of what you are burning with carbs if you are doing a race/important event.
Their serving sizes are 80g carb into 16oz (500mL) of water.
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Right, which is 120 g per 24 oz.
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Ah, okay I see what he’s asking now.
I think the “new” 1:1 ratio isn’t necessarily agreed upon.
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I think that most science shows that even only some of the pointy end of pros need that much carbs.
I think that ‘need’ is the wrong word here. IF your body can handle it, and IF you see a performance increase at 90-100 g/hr vs 50-60 (could include higher power, lower RPE, better recovery, more stamina), then you should go with the higher amount.
If more carbs allows me to hit my goals, then I should use them, regardless of what those goals are.
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Maple syrup is 1:1 ratio! I mix maple syrup and water in my bottles, but nowhere near 100+ grams of it. It’d be too syrupy for me I think. Will have to experiment with how high a concentration I can tolerate.
Edit: actually I do put about 4-5oz in a bottle, so 80-100g of carbs. It’s palatable but I like having another bottle with water to wash it down sometimes. I could probably handle 7oz/hour if mixed with a liter of water, which would be 140g. Any less water (like all the syrup in a 24oz bottle) would be tough to swallow.
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For longer rides I usually go with around 120g carbs in an 800ml bottle.
50 grams of Honey
70 grams of table sugar
Squeezed lemon
Pinch of salt
Home made Gatorade 
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I’ve submitted a question to the podcast on how to get 100+ grams an hour but I haven’t heard an answer yet. The problem is maple syrup isn’t 1:1 glu:fru in fact it’s almost all sucrose. See link here.
https://www.azom.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=11414
Sucrose is actually a glucose and fructose bound together, but this isn’t what the ratio means, otherwise we could just add table sugar to water and be done with it. Another article from Asker Jeukendrup notes sucrose is absorbed via the glucose transporters, thus the 60gm/hr limit applies to sucrose and unfortunately maple syrup.
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Isn’t this mix like REALLY bad for your teeth?
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Honey is nearer to 50:50 ratio, but it still wouldn’t work out as cheaper than buying powdered carbs.
More than one bottle…?
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What I did was buy a big bag of maltodextrin and another bag of fructose then mix it up accordingly to get the ratio you want. Then add some flavouring to make it different, it’s a bit more work but you save money and you get to test out what works for you.
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550ml bottle, fill with wheat germ oil (purest oil that is safe for human consumption), equals 5107kcal.
I know the TR guys love to go on about “carbs” but cmon people, look at the numbers and decide for yourself.
Source: disgraced nutritionist for Bahrain Merida
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