Nutrition! Coffee Sponsorship – Riding NZ

62 days until I start

Fact: Based on my last seven big 100km+ rides, “little” ole me is burning, on average, 5000 calories per Ride. 

How do I know this?

Well, move in closer, me-friend; let me tell you some stuff.

I wear a Myzone heartrate monitor that connects to my Wahoo bike computer GPS, which in turn, at the end of the Ride, spits out the following to an App system called “STRAVA.”

• My ride activity deets
  • Route summary, elevation (net and unidirectional), speed (average, minimum, maximum), timing (total and moving time), and “yup” you guessed it, me heart rate.

The mighty STRAVA Alogrhims works out my Calories burned.

Now, it may not be 100% accurate, but it’s also not too wrong. And it is a great measurement tool to use.

Truth be known. My Heartrate monitor also connects to the MyZone App on my phone, breaking my heartrate into five zones.

Ironically, Strava does this as well.

If you want to know some more secrets. Zones are based on a percentage of your Maximum Heart rate (which is a calculation using your age)

What this means for me is that I know in real time what heart rate zone I am in. And that enables me to manage my riding to ensure I am more about endurance rather than being stupid and burning myself out.

I also know my average km speed per hour (or floating range) to maintain being able to ride for 6 – 10 hours.

So what does all this geeky stuff have to do with Nutrition? 

Calories  Bro, it's  5000 Calories / ride. 
That's the number I work from

I’m no nutritionist. And I like Cake. Plus Coffee. And Biscuits. Like Cookie Times are tops!

But I know some things and have spoken to some smart people who know more.

In all the riding I have been doing, I know what I need to drink and eat during the Ride to sustain my energy levels. 

• I need to eat before I ride
• During the Ride (every hour)
• and After the Ride

All up, based on smart advice. I need to put back in 1.5X what I burn up.

Let's talk about During the Ride.

I can’t carry a bunch of Bananas (which is roughly about 100 Calories per Banana), but I can carry Energy Gels (which are also 100 Cals each)

I’ve tried a few Gels like Pure Do, Gu Do, and others. And I have settled on GELS from Maurten.

https://www.maurten.com

I won’t give you the sales blurb, as you should go to their site to get that.

But I will tell you, Ben from Shoeclinic stocks them. Go and buy them from him. They are great (Ben is great as well)

Bens the one behind the Camera, taking this photo of me, in front of his store.

Plus, when it is cold outside, he lets me train in his store.

He also stocks Maurten Bars. I like the chocolate ones.

And like the Gels, I’ve tried many other types of Bars. 

I have the EMS power Bars (bites); they are good. 

My advice is don’t eat cheap and nasty. Cheap doesn’t mean much nutritional value.

For Electrolytes. I’ve tried many brands. Not all are agreeable.

LMNT was my go-to, but they are no longer sold in NZ.

Mauten also does Electrolytes (Ben stocks), but they take a while to dissolve; they are damn good. But my go-to for Electrolytes is GU Tablets. They are easy to use, and my legs don’t seize up. So it must be good, right?

Anyway. The GU tablets I get from Wensley Cycles. And as above, I recommend you check out Mauten at Bens Shoe Clinic in Invercargill.

Lets Talk Coffee

Groove Espresso is sponsoring me Coffee for my Ride. 

YEAH BABY!

See how Lloyd is still wondering why the “Fkk” I’m doing this ride…

I plan to use an Aeropress (for Coffee on the Run, well, Bike), and they will send me their Ground Coffee to predetermined pick-up locations all over NZ. I mean, this is going to be great for my homesickness—a taste of home. I’ve been a Groove Customer since they started (well, I think I was on day three of their trading), and ever since, every day they have been open.

They also have a Ben. 

Here he is riding my Bike.

And Lloyd

I’m not sure if we let him ride the bike, but he was allowed to pretend he did.

Did you know these Groovers roast their Coffee beans? As you (should) know, there are two Coffee Roasters in Invercargill. Mint Roastery (Dion) and Amplify Coffee Co (Llyod and Taea)

How cool is that!

Now, you may be wondering what drinking Coffee has to do with Nutrition. And I only can wonder back, how can you and I be friends!

Look out for my Amplify coffee plugs on TikTok, oh, I mean Instagram and Facebook. 

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