Fuelling for a ride that surpasses the 100 mile mark can be very tricky, never mind 260 miles… We caught up with former GCN presenter and #FuelledByNFUSE Chris Opie and asked how he fuelled his 262 mile (422.6km) ride on one of the hottest days of the year!
Breakfast - 4:30am:
Breakfast is vital for those big days out. This is where your body generates its fuel for the first chunk of the day. A poor breakfast = poor performance and poor performance is not how we want to start the day.
For breakfast Chris had 5 slices of whole grain toast and 3 eggs. To add to this he then had 2 tbs of peanut butter and Nutella with a glass of Surge Energy Powder. *You can purchase Surge Energy Powder for just £10 with our latest offer. This is a perfect breakfast to start the day with as Chris is consuming a high carb and high protein packed meal.
Other examples of high carb and high protein packed meals are:
- Porridge with milk, fruit, yogurt and nuts.
- Egg and beans on wholemeal toast.
- Peanut butter on wholemeal toast.
Start of ride - 5:30am:
On the bike was 2 bottles of Surge Energy Powder filled with carbohydrates and electrolytes to keep Chris hydrated and topped up with energy regularly throughout the first part of the ride. As well as this Chris had two Surge Energy Bars ready to eat before the first stop of the day.
Stop one - 4½ hours in:
260 miles without stopping can be very dangerous. It is important to know that a ride this big will require regular stops to re-fuel and hydrate.
On stop one Chris picked up 2 waffles and 4 bottles of fluid which was a mix between Coca-Cola, water and the last of his Surge Energy Powder from the start of the day and a his last Surge Energy Bar. This is perfect stop for re-hydrating and topping up the body with slow releasing carbohydrates (slow releasing energy) from the Surge Energy Bar as well as sugar (quick releasing energy) from the Coca-Cola. Chris filled his bottles with the water and stacked his pockets with his snacks ready for the next leg.
Other examples of great snacks for stop 1 are:
- Bananas
- Honey on white bread
- Jam on white bread
- Dates
Stop two (Lunch) - 7 hours in:
Lunch, like breakfast it is essential you get right. This will help with getting the body ready for the second half of the day.
Chris had a sandwich box, bottle of Coca-Cola, two more litres of water for his bottles and picked up 2 Belgium buns to keep his pockets full. This is another high carbohydrate meal which will really help Chris with the next block of the ride. Chris again is keeping hydrated with more fluids as well as topping up his sugar levels. This will allow Chris to stack up again with quick releasing and slow releasing energy throughout the ride.
Other examples of high carbohydrate foods and snacks for lunch are:
- Surge Energy Bars
- Pasta meals
- Potato salads
- Rice meals
Stop three - 9 hours in:
By this point Chris is over half way. With dinner only a couple of hours prior to stop three Chris decided to use this stop to re-hydrate and keep his sugar levels up. It is important to remember that meals take 2-3 hours to digest and Chris had lunch 2 hours before this stop so he wouldn’t of needed to eat much more in terms of fuel especially when snacking on two Belgium buns throughout this leg of the ride. However, small snacks and sugary drinks will help boost Chris’ energy levels to help him crack on with the next leg of the ride.
Chris snacked on some grapes, Magnum ice cream, can of bitter lemon and again two litres of water.
Other examples of snacks are:
- Winegums
- Raisons
- Cola-Cola
- Skittles
Stop four - 11 hours in:
Stop four was Chris’ last stop of the ride. Again it is important to eat and drink despite it being so close to the end of the ride as there is nothing worse than running out of fuel so close to home! Chris chose to pick up 2 snicker bars, a packet of fig rolls, bottle of coke and 2 more litres of water. This is ideal for topping up on protein, carbohydrates and again keeping the sugar levels high. This will help Chris on the last few hours of the ride and prevent Chris from bonking. Chris filled his bottles with the water and stashed his snacks in his pocket ready for the last leg.
Other examples of snacks are:
- Energy Bars
- Skittles
- Oat bars
Chris completed the ride in a total time of 13 hours and 50 minutes and finished at 10:30 pm.
Chris as soon as he got home had some Performance Protein with 300ml of water as well as a large plate of lasagne. This is a perfect end to the day as the protein will begin helping Chris recover whilst the lasagne will be helping him fe-fuel.