5 Common Fuelling Mistakes in Ultra-Cycling (and How to Avoid Them)

When it comes to ultra-cycling, fuelling is about more than eating enough to get you to the finish line. It’s about managing your energy, hydration and nutritional intake so that you can keep performing as the miles accumulate.

The further you ride, the more opportunities there are for fuelling mistakes. You might start fuelling too late, discover that your usual drink concentration no longer agrees with your stomach, or find yourself without the nutrition you need when the crew car can’t get alongside you.

Small fuelling mistakes can have surprisingly large consequences over time.

The good news is that many of these mistakes are avoidable. A little preparation, a workable strategy and the ability to adapt when circumstances change can make a significant difference to your race.

Here are five common fuelling mistakes I’ve seen endurance cyclists make, and what you can do to avoid them.

1. Waiting too long to start fuelling

Crossing the start line can be nerve-wracking. You have a long way to pedal, you know the challenges ahead, and your body is preparing for the effort.

Adrenaline and the excitement of the start can influence your heart rate, energy use and appetite. Meanwhile, your muscles are already drawing on stored energy to fuel the work you’re asking them to do.

This is where your early-race fuelling strategy matters.

Your body stores carbohydrate as glycogen in your muscles and liver. These stores are limited, and although they are an important source of energy during endurance exercise, they need to be managed alongside the carbohydrate you consume during the race.

You cannot rely on your breakfast to carry you through the opening hours, nor can you expect to replace every gram of glycogen you use while riding.

The aim is to start supplying carbohydrate early enough to support the effort and help manage your reliance on stored fuel.

Don’t wait until you feel hungry, tired or noticeably depleted before you begin eating and drinking. By that point, you may already be playing catch-up.

What to do instead

Start your fuelling strategy early, according to the demands of your race and the plan you’ve practised in training.

Small, regular amounts of carbohydrate can be easier to manage than leaving long gaps and trying to make up the difference later. Your starting point should be appropriate for the intensity and duration of the effort, your tolerance and your wider nutrition strategy.

Remember, the first part of a race is not a free ride from a nutritional perspective. Establish good habits early and give yourself a better chance of maintaining them when the race gets harder.

2. Getting the concentration of your drinks wrong

This is one that can catch riders out, particularly over longer distances.

You might have a drink that works perfectly well during the first few hours, only to find yourself experiencing bloating, nausea or a feeling that your stomach simply isn’t emptying as it should later in the race.

Digestion is affected by several factors, including exercise intensity, heat, hydration status, the composition of your nutrition and your individual tolerance. What feels comfortable at one point in a race may become difficult to tolerate as the conditions change.

Drink concentration is one factor worth examining.

Mixing your bottle more strongly than intended can increase the amount of carbohydrate you’re asking your gut to process in a given volume of fluid. Depending on the formulation, this may affect fluid delivery and gastrointestinal comfort. Combining concentrated drinks with additional gels or solids can also increase the overall load on your digestive system.

The answer isn’t necessarily to abandon your nutrition. It’s to recognise what’s happening and respond before a relatively minor problem becomes a much bigger one.

What to do instead

Start with a fuelling plan you’ve tested in training or one that your nutritionist has recommended for you. Hint: if this is your first ultra-cycling race, you might want to rethink your hourly carbohydrate amount. What works in a shorter Sportive type race, may not suit longer distances.

Pay attention to the total amount of carbohydrate you’re consuming, the fluid you’re taking in and how your stomach responds.

And here’s a piece of roadside wisdom from my own experience.

At the first sign of gastric distress, I advise switching to water until your symptoms abate. Give your system a chance to settle rather than continuing to add nutrition when your stomach is already telling you something isn’t right.

Once symptoms have settled, reassess and return to light fuelling gradually, adjusting your approach as necessary. If symptoms persist or worsen, don’t simply try to push through them.

The important lesson is to pay attention to the early signs. You want to resolve a problem while you still have options, not wait until nausea or bloating makes eating and drinking increasingly difficult.

3. Not carrying enough nutrition

In ultra-racing, having a crew can make life considerably easier. They can carry supplies, prepare food and drinks, and hand you what you need as the race progresses.

But there’s a catch.

Your crew car won’t always be able to get alongside you when you need it. Traffic, road conditions, course restrictions and the demands of supporting other aspects of the race can all affect when your crew can reach you.

If your next feed is delayed and you have nothing with you, your carefully prepared fuelling strategy suddenly becomes rather less useful.

Miss one feed and you may be able to recover. Miss several over a prolonged period and the shortfall can accumulate, leaving you struggling to maintain your effort later in the race.

What to do instead

Always carry a sensible reserve of nutrition that you can access independently of your crew. This is something an unsupported rider does through necessity.

That might mean an extra bar, a gel or another familiar option that you know works for you. The precise choice matters less than having something available when your planned feed doesn’t happen.

Your reserve should reflect the nature of the race, the time between crew access points and the possibility of delays. If you’re an unsupported rider, carry enough to get you between towns or re-fuel points. It isn’t about carrying your entire pantry in your pockets. It’s about giving yourself some flexibility.

Think of your pockets as a contingency plan, not simply a place to store the next thing you’re due to eat.

In ultra-cycling, the ability to keep fuelling when the plan goes off course is part of being prepared.

4. Not having a fuelling strategy and schedule

There’s a difference between knowing you need to eat during a race and having a strategy that helps you do it consistently.

A good fuelling plan considers the duration and intensity of the effort, the terrain, the expected conditions, your nutritional requirements and the foods and drinks you can tolerate.

It also recognises that your preferences may change as the hours pass.

Something sweet that seemed appealing at the start may become difficult to face several hours later. You may want something savoury, prefer a different texture or find that solid food is less appealing when the effort intensifies.

This is why variety matters. So does having a plan that can adapt.

What to do instead

Build your strategy around a few practical questions.

• What will you consume, and when? Establish a realistic carbohydrate and fluid intake plan that reflects your needs and has been tested in training. Consider how you’ll spread your intake across the race rather than leaving it to chance.
• What are your alternatives? Include a variety of familiar options, such as drinks, gels, bars and suitable savoury foods. Your alternatives should be things you’ve practised tolerating, not experimental choices made halfway through an important race.
• Have you allowed for delays? Work out how much nutrition you need for the anticipated duration, then build in a contingency for a slower race, unexpected stops or missed feeds.
• Where will you eat? Think about the course. A quieter section of road, a manageable gradient or a planned stop may provide a better opportunity to consume something that requires more time or attention. On technical or demanding terrain, safety and bike control come first.
• When do you need to prepare for the next effort? If a significant climb or harder section is approaching, consider your fuelling needs beforehand. Waiting until the effort has intensified can make it more difficult to eat comfortably and consistently.

A schedule gives you a starting point. Your experience during the race tells you when you need to adjust it.

The objective isn’t to follow a plan blindly. It’s to have a sound strategy that makes good decisions easier, particularly when you’re tired.

5. Not having an SOS plan

Even the best-prepared rider can get things wrong.

Perhaps you’ve underestimated the conditions, missed several feeds, struggled with your stomach or simply discovered that the race is taking longer than expected.

At some point, you may recognise that you’re no longer fuelling effectively and that your energy levels are beginning to suffer.

This is when an SOS plan becomes valuable.

The familiar term bonk is often used to describe a severe loss of energy associated with inadequate carbohydrate availability. But feeling terrible during an endurance race doesn’t always mean you’ve bonked. Dehydration, heat, gastrointestinal problems, accumulated fatigue and other issues can produce similar symptoms.

The important thing is to recognise that something has changed and respond appropriately.

What to do instead

Think through your options before race day, ideally with your crew.

What will you do if you miss a feed? What if you develop gastric distress? What if you cannot tolerate your planned nutrition, or the race is taking several hours longer than anticipated?

Agree how you’ll communicate the problem and what alternatives you can access quickly.

If you suspect you’re becoming under-fuelled, don’t assume that simply pushing harder will solve it. Adjust your effort where necessary, take stock of your fluid and carbohydrate intake, and use an alternative you’ve already practised. If gastric symptoms are present, address those rather than forcing more food into an unsettled stomach.

Your crew can be an enormous resource here. They may spot changes in your behaviour or performance that are harder for you to recognise when you’re exhausted. Make sure they understand the plan, the alternatives and when a problem needs more than a nutritional adjustment.

A contingency plan won’t prevent every problem. It does, however, give you a better chance of responding calmly and making sensible decisions when things don’t go to plan.

Preparation gives you options

Ultra-cycling places extraordinary demands on the body, and the longer the race, the more important it becomes to manage the details.

Start fuelling early. Pay attention to your hydration and how your gut responds. Carry enough nutrition to cope when the crew car can’t reach you. Have a strategy but leave room to adapt it. And know what you’re going to do when something goes wrong.

None of this guarantees a perfect race. There are too many variables for that.

But sound preparation gives you more options, and more options can make all the difference when you’re deep into a race and still have a long way to go.

In ultra-cycling, your ability to keep moving forward depends on more than the strength in your legs. It depends on the decisions you make along the way.

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Getting your fuelling right for ultra-cycling takes more than knowing what to eat. It means understanding your needs, finding what works for you and building a strategy that can adapt when the race doesn’t go to plan.

Through Nutrition with Jill, I help athletes make sense of their nutrition and develop practical, personalised strategies for fuelling, hydration and recovery.

If you’d like to make your nutrition work harder for you, let’s start a conversation