Keeping well fed for cycling is a huge topic, covering your energy needs on the bike, pre-ride and post-ride nutrition, detailed science on how cyclists metabolise foods while riding and more.
Cycling nutrition for pro riders has advanced enormously over the last few years. WorldTour pro teams now employ nutritionists, as well as their own cooks, to ensure riders are optimally fuelled for races.
That may be overkill for most of us, but there’s a lot we can learn from the latest sports nutrition science, which we can employ to optimise our own on- and off-bike feeding.
In this guide, we explain the basics and point you to our extensive advice on cycling nutrition to help you get it right.
Cycling nutrition basics
Cycling can burn a lot of calories and it’s important to replenish them to provide readily available energy while riding and restock the body’s energy stores afterwards.
You also need to eat the right foods: a mix of carbohydrates for energy and protein to aid muscle regeneration and recovery, along with enough fats to keep your body performing at its best.
Cycling and calorie intake
Depending how far and how fast they’re riding, cyclists have high energy needs. Estimates vary and are based on how much you weigh and how fast you ride, but most fall within the 500 to 800 calories per hour range.
Cycling is an endurance sport, so often rides last several hours, which means cyclists’ energy needs can mount up. An estimate for pros riding grand tours is they will burn between 4,000 and 8,000 calories during each stage of a race.
There's more detail in our article on how many calories you burn cycling.
It has been found that the glycogen stores in your muscles and liver will fuel cycling for around 90 minutes. Your body will mobilise fat stores after this, but these are not considered to be available readily enough to fuel intensive exercise.
Hence the risk of ‘bonking’ – running out of energy during a ride – and the need to consume extra food while riding.
What should cyclists eat?
While carbohydrates and simpler sugars in particular are the prime source of energy while riding, off the bike it’s important to have a more balanced nutritional input.
Carbs, protein and fats are called macronutrients, because you need a lot of them in the right balance to fuel the body.
“If you can optimise how much you’re eating of certain macronutrients before, during and after training, you’ll enhance your recovery,” says Will Girling, nutritionist at EF Pro Cycling.
Carbs
Off-bike, you need to keep your carbohydrate stores stocked up so you’re ready to ride. Complex carbohydrates are important to provide a slower release of carbs into the bloodstream and avoid blood glucose spikes. That means consuming whole grains and starchy foods, such as pasta and potatoes.
When you’re riding, your need for carbohydrates is more immediate, so products containing simple sugars can help to ensure your energy levels are kept topped up.
You can read our explainer on the best carbs for cycling for more detail on what to consume and when.
Protein
Dietary protein is important to replenish and repair muscles, and promote muscle growth. Cyclists and other endurance athletes may need to consume as much as twice the recommended intake and some amino acids (which are the building blocks of proteins) can only be obtained from the diet because humans can’t synthesise them.
As well as post-exercise recovery, additional protein intake can also help cyclists to avoid blood glucose spikes, lose weight and improve body composition.
Again, we’ve got a more detailed explainer on protein for cycling, with detailed advice and guidance on how much protein you need and good sources, be they animal, vegetarian or vegan.
Fat
Don’t ignore dietary fat intake. It is needed as a source for some essential fatty acids, which the body can’t make, and assists with absorption of some vitamins.
As reported by Harvard Health, Vasanti Malik at Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health states: "Fat helps give your body energy, protects your organs, supports cell growth, keeps cholesterol and blood pressure under control, and helps your body absorb vital nutrients."
Malik and others differentiate between unsaturated fats such as those in oily fish, plant oils and seeds, which are generally beneficial, and saturated fats. These are found in many animal products, high-fat dairy and many ultra-processed foods, and can raise low-density cholesterol levels and increase the risk of heart disease and strokes.
What to eat before and during a bike ride
Before a bike ride
It’s important to fuel properly before a longer bike ride that lasts for more than 1.5 to 2 hours, although there are benefits to shorter fasted rides at lower intensity, which help your body to adapt to use fats more efficiently as an energy source.
It’s generally advised that you consume a carbohydrate-rich meal between 1 and 4 hours before riding.
During a bike ride
The three staples of fuelling during a ride are solid foods, gels and energy drinks.
Energy bars
Energy bars and other solid foods are a main pillar of on-bike nutrition. We’ve sampled a fair few to bring you our pick of the best energy bars for cycling.
They’re similar to a generic cereal bar, but with ingredients that cater better for the energy needs of endurance athletes. Typically, they have long shelf lives and come wrapped, so they’re easy to store and carry with you.
Energy bars are a good option for when you’re not working so hard and have the capacity to chew, swallow and wash them down. Many cyclists prefer solid food to energy drinks and gels while riding.
Energy gels
Energy gels pack carbs into a concentrated form, making them easy to carry for a quick energy top-up. Many add electrolytes and there are often caffeinated options in brands’ ranges.
They’re easy to use when riding hard, making them a pros’ favourite for critical points in races.
We’ve slurped our way through a variety of energy gels to bring you our pick of the best energy gels for cycling.
Energy chews are designed to offer a similar energy hit, just in solid form. You can ration out a pack of chews more slowly than a gel, which pretty much has to be consumed in one slurp.
Energy drinks
Energy drinks primarily provide carbohydrates, with different amounts and compositions between products. Some contain electrolytes too and there are energy drink mixes that also contain protein.
If you’re looking for the best energy drinks for your needs, we’ve reviewed a range for composition and taste.
Pros will often carry one bottle with an energy drink and another with water, so that they can optimise the mix – or pour the water over their head.
DIY cycling nutrition
The cost of sports nutrition products can soon mount up if you’re relying on them for all your on-bike cycling nutrition. You can fulfil many of your energy needs with made-at-home alternatives though.
Check out our guide on to how to make your own energy drinks for some nutritionist-recommended mixes.
We also have three recipes to make your own energy bars, with ingredients including dark chocolate, peanut butter and coffee to tempt your tastebuds.
Rice cakes are another option that are easy to make yourself. They’re a favourite in the pro peloton to provide a bit of variety and you can add chocolate powder, as in our recipe, or other ingredients.
Fuelling sportives
Getting your fuelling right is vital for sportive events, which can have a duration of a couple of hours or more.
Pro cyclists have very precise feed plans for races, with points at which they should consume a gel or take a bottle mapped out before the event. It’s vital for them to make sure they’re fuelled up for the critical points in the race and for the finale.
For an amateur, it’s less critical, but still important to make sure they’re not going to bonk. Sportives will normally have feed stations spread out along the route – the longer the event, the more feed stations are usually provided.
Don’t rely on feed stations though, because you may need to feed before you reach the next one. If feed stations provide food or sports nutrition brands that you don’t usually use, these may not suit you. On rare occasions, feed stations may run out of food or drinks, or you may find a massive queue.
It’s sensible to carry your own products, such as gels and energy bars, either homemade or from brands you’re familiar with, just in case, and to start with two water bottles filled with your preferred on-ride hydration.
Fuelling unsupported long-distance rides
If you’re going on an unsupported longer ride, you’ll definitely need to carry enough food to get you through, or know where to stock up along the way.
It’s hard to carry enough for a long ride – three gels an hour for four hours means 12 gels, for example, which is a lot of bulk and weight to stuff into a jersey pocket, not to mention the expense. So aim to supplement your fuelling with a stop at a store or cafe to purchase extra and replenish your water bottles.
On longer rides, Precision Hydration’s Andy Blow recommends mostly fuelling with solid foods and using drinks to stay hydrated, rather than as a source of energy.
If it’s hot, it’s useful to carry a couple of electrolyte tablets to replenish lost salts. They’re relatively compact and easy to carry, although they won’t provide any energy to fuel your journey.
If you have difficulty remembering to eat and drink regularly while riding, many of the best cycling computers will enable you to set reminders at predetermined intervals. There are more sophisticated tools too, such as EatMyRide, which maps out exactly what you should eat when, dependent on your planned route, and alerts you as you ride via a Garmin widget.
Fuelling short rides
Fuelling short rides is simpler. It’s generally considered that you don’t need to eat anything or use an energy drink or gel on rides of under 90 minutes.
You’ll still need to drink though, even if only water. Again, electrolytes may be beneficial if the weather is hot.
It’s a good idea to take a gel or bar with you, just in case you start to run out of energy. This can also help get your post-ride refuelling started before you finish riding.
A shorter fasted ride may also train your body to use its fuel supplies better, but it’s a training technique that should be used sparingly.
Are cycling nutrition products bad for you?
Slurping sugary drinks, often with citric acid or citrus flavours added, can be bad for your teeth, although we reckoned ours were fine after three months of testing energy drinks.
Dentists often counsel against sports drinks and some report that athletes are among their patients with the worst dentition. A break from energy drinks may be wise on shorter rides, if you don’t need the carbs.
Caffeine is also an add-in to many cycling energy products. Evidence of whether it improves performance is contradictory, although it might impair your sleep quality – which has been shown to impact recovery and cycling performance, as well as affecting weight.
Also bear in mind that many sports nutrition products are made from a mix of chemically processed ingredients, and include stabilisers and preservatives, so they can be classified as ultra-processed foods.
Hydration during a bike ride
It’s not only nutrition that's essential to get right on a ride, you also need to ensure you stay hydrated.
“It’s important we don't lose more than two per cent of our body mass otherwise performance will be impaired. Someone who is four per cent dehydrated won’t be reaching their VO2 max – they might only be at 75 per cent of it,” says Dr Nidia Rodriguez-Sanchez, a lecturer in physiology and nutrition at the University of Stirling.
We have a detailed explainer on how to stay hydrated on your bike, and why it’s important to maintain performance levels, with recommendations on how much you should be drinking.
Cycling nutrition recovery: what to eat after a bike ride
Post-ride nutrition is important to help your body to start to recover from exercise and begin the process of glycogen store replenishment and muscle regeneration. It’s generally considered that a 3:1 mix of carbohydrates to protein is optimal for recovery, with 20g of protein.
Received wisdom is that this needs to be consumed within 20 minutes of finishing a ride, which is why you’ll often see pros slurping a shaker full of recovery drink at the finishing line. There’s more recent evidence that this time window is less critical than previously thought, though.
As with on-bike feeding, there are plenty of commercial recovery drink options available. They’re usually based on whey protein from milk, because this is easy to digest. There are vegan and vegetarian alternatives though, often using soya or pea protein.
Alongside their protein and carbs, the best cycling recovery drinks typically include other ingredients. Torq Recovery Powder, for example, contains L-glutamine, an amino acid that drops in level on prolonged exercise and D-ribose, which is required for energy production in cells. Other brands’ formulations include additional amino acids and vitamins.
Protein recovery bars are also sold, while a post-ride meal without too much fat content (fat slows down absorption from the gut) and a good balance of protein and carbs is an alternative if you have time.
Chocolate milk has been found to be as effective as a recovery drink for post-ride recovery.
Generic chocolate milk products are significantly cheaper than branded recovery products, but contain a similar mix of carbs and protein and, unlike recovery powder, don’t need any mixing. Many are shelf-stable too, so they’re ready to use when needed.
Our guide to the best cycling recovery drinks also contains a recipe to make your own.
An example cycling nutrition plan
How much you eat and when you eat it is going to depend on your schedule, preferences and how much training you’re doing.
British Cycling’s suggested daily nutrition plan when you're training, proposed by its head of nutrition Nigel Mitchell, consists of:
- Breakfast: porridge oats/eggs
- Mid-morning snack: fruit/yogurt
- Lunch: wholemeal bread sandwich/jacket potato/leftover pasta from the night before
- Mid-afternoon snack: a piece of fruit/pack of unsalted nuts
- Evening meal: a piece of chicken/ fish/other lean meat with rice/pasta/vegetables
- Pre-bedtime: a milky drink before bed
You can get more detailed if you want, tracking portion sizes and estimating calorie intake and macronutrient balance, as the pros do, but for most amateurs ensuring a balanced diet with adequate carbohydrate and protein intake is likely to be enough.
Cycling nutrition supplements
Finally, there are supplements, which may help to improve your nutrition. They range from products such as whey protein, which helps recovery, through to vitamins and multivitamins.
Less commonplace supplements include fish oil, nitrates, beta alanine and creatine, all of which have been shown in studies to help improve athletic performance, although not all have a longer-term effect that would be useful in endurance sports such as cycling.
