Well ok, it’s not a song.  It’s my first ever article for Cyclosport – “What is a sportive?“.  My first article, out there in the big wide web world.  Kinda exciting, and scarey too, because I put a lot of work into it, and having it out there for public consumption and criticism feels a bit like putting a target on my chest and saying shoot me.  Remember this?

So, I’m hoping you like it, and don’t shoot me down…*fingers crossed*.

Back to the wonderful world of IBS and cycling.  Clearly I did not get my strategy for Sunday right, because if I had, I wouldn’t have bonked like that.  Looking back on it, I think I probably got it wrong on several levels.  First off, I probably didn’t start eating for the event early enough.  Paying attention the day before is probably not sufficient…

pre-event fuelling
I managed to eat an IBS friendly, and fairly successful, meal on the Saturday night.  I have discovered debbie & andrew’s Harrogate sausages, stocked by Tescos, which are gluten, wheat, and dairy free.  More importantly they actually taste really nice!  These were served up with sweet potato/potato mash, as recommended by @skipinder, and carrots.  On Sunday morning, I had a bowl of Tesco’s Free From Pure Oat Muesli, with a sliced banana, added linseeds, and Lactofree semi-skimmed milk.  With black coffee, of course :).

during the event
Thanks to Skipinder (again!), I’ve discovered Nakd bars, which are just fruit and nuts.  They’re gluten, wheat, and dairy free AND not glued together with apple juice, honey, or any of the other things I’m supposed to avoid.  I got a mixed box of 18 for £14.99 from Natural Balance Foods , but you can get them from supermarkets.  They’re possibly cheaper there, but you can’t guarantee the range, or that they stock the gluten free ones.  I ate these during the ride.  However actually I only ate 1 and half bars, which since they’re contain only around half the calories of the bars I used to eat, and ate more of, probably goes a long way to explaining why I bonked.  No lunch, 1.5 bars, 1.5 bananas, and half a packet of lucozade jelly beans towards the end…hm.

I’m drinking Nuun these days, for many reasons.  There’s a great range of flavours, some of which, like the lemon tea, contain caffeine for that extra boost.  They’re not too sweet.  The tablets are easy to carry around for when you need to top up your bottles.  Although Nuun tablets are gluten free, they’re not strictly FODMAP safe as they have sorbitol in, but they don’t contain any carbs, and drinking it doesn’t seem to disagree with me.  All good…but there’s not much in there on the calorie/fuel front.  I only got through a bottle and half of that too, which may not sound much, but it was cold, and that’s not unusual for me.  Though maybe it should be.

after the event
Chips.  Not ideal no doubt, but I think I’d earnt them, and I had to eat something to ride home!  At least they’re high carb, right?  I then went home and ate gluten free snack things with the family, before what was due to be a safe and pleasant dinner.  Yet again I completely forgot that gluten free does not mean safe, and forgot to check the packets for ingredients.  Man, I so should have!  So the carefully prepared roast chicken, potatoes, and carrots, made thinking of me, was a little wasted on me, though I ate it anyway.  At least white wine is safe…*grin*

lessons learnt
Clearly I need to eat more.  I need to start getting the food in a good few days beforehand.  I need to eat considerably more during the event, at regular even intervals.  Because there’s less in the Nakd bars, and they’re smaller, I need to eat more of them, and also keep my eyes out for other suitable bars, possibly with more in.  I’m going to see if I can make my own flapjacks for taking with me too – anyone know any good recipes?  On a positive note, I always used to end up with horrible indigestion by the end of a long ride and I didn’t have any of that.  Also, having not eaten anything that irritated me, the paracetamol I was taking only had to deal with my knee, which it did adequately, and I didn’t have to resort to ibuprofen.

last night’s dinner.  
A very simple risotto made with arborio rice, home made chicken stock (made from the roast chicken carcass, safe veg, bouquet garni, bay leaves), frankfurters, green and red peppers.

Colourful, but a little bland.  As usual though, risotto is much nicer cold.  Which is why I’ll be having it for dinner in a minute too :).