(Know how to milk a cactus? You’d best find out.) To add further complexity, it’s also not uncommon for some of these events to be completely self-supported and in very remote areas to boot. That said, it can be easy to get caught-up in the moment and find yourself putting things in the ol’ pie-hole you’d normally never dream of during other events-that is, of course, unless stopping for a snort of JD, a giant pickle and a handful of sour gummy worms are part and parcel for your normal on-the-bike nutrition routine. The sheer variety of foodstuffs found at these can be as unique as the colorful characters who put these events on. That ain’t no lie.Īs such, many of these events will offer aid stations throughout the route. Hell, I’ve even seen a whole roasted pig. In fact, it’s not uncommon to find oneself polishing a chamois for upwards of 10+ hours at some of these shindigs, meaning the challenge is not only a matter of how hard and long you can pedal a bicycle, but also how much (and how well) you can eat and drink to sustain adequate energy to keep the pedals turning over. This manifests not only in the variety of surfaces and terrain you’ll find, but often in (let’s be honest) ridiculous distances and resulting time in the saddle. One of the unique aspects about this whole gravel thing is the anything-goes attitude, and that applies not only to the riders, their equipment, and taste in tattoos, but to the events themselves, each of which has an equally unique personality. (Insert hearty, liquified-bile belch here for proper effect.) I’m here to talk about whiskey, donuts, and bacon. ![]() Additionally, musings from the likes of professional triathlete, coach, and EdD, Matt Hanson, lined-out in particular detail in his article “The fourth leg” make for some very astute reading about fueling.īut I’m not here to educate you on things like osmolality, sweat rate and kilojoule to calorie output and intake. For such insight, I’d suggest any of the articles by First Endurance’s resident PhD and knower of all things nutrition, Luke Bucci, found here. Now, there’s been plenty written by people way smarter than this guy about the more technical aspects of fueling for endurance training and racing. There’s the bike, the tires, the tire pressure, the gearing, the tactics, the fashion-wait, what? Uh, yeah, we’ll not go there.īut there’s also another aspect to gravel that truly can make or break your day regardless of how dialed your rig is or how on-point your fanny pack game.
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