I was on a night ride last night for the first time in years and loved it. However I got about 3/4 through and felt a bit “waffy” luckily I had half a banana to get me back to the van… my legs were fine but my head / vision / concentration had wandered somewhat… I was wondering what the cause was.. I drank quite a few times round the ride and had eaten an omelette for breakfast and a chicken wrap for lunch so don’t suppose I was on low energy?

The ride was 10 miles of the North Face at Grizedale and embarassingly with the stops ect it took about 1h20 so it’s not as if we were trucking on too hard either.. yet it felt quite spinny for a none pedally guy!

Anyway since I’m more into gravity assisted riding I haven’t felt that way for years but now I’m wanting to get fit I expect I’ll feel it much more… so what am I doing wrong? I can’t believe what I didn’t eat in the day had already set me up for the short ride fine?

Not enough food – I need to eat after work before a night ride otherwise I have no ‘go’

an omelette for breakfast and a chicken wrap for lunch

But what did you have for your tea? That’s not a lot of calories there.

I had an omelette once I got in, didn’t really get a chance to eat before going out and didn’t think I’d need it. Normally I do a sunday ride which probably involves half the amount of climbing but on the bike for the same amount of time and I can do that with no or little breakfast so surprised this was so different.

Maybe I should just take some nuts to snack on next time and see how I go?

Not much energy in nuts unless you are fat-adapted / in ketosis.

I’ve been on a low carb diet for about 2 months but not done much riding in terms of xc in that time so that could be part of the issue.. im going to continue on the route as i feel much better in day to day life so just need to get properly fat adapted for the benefit on rides

luckily I had half a banana to get me back to the van…

How does one have a random half a banana kicked about?? 😕

Haha – luckily my sugary carb loading buddy had a full one in his bag which he was kind enough to share!

I find that ingesting three Weetabix before heading out in the evening is essential to maintain any decent energy levels. I definitely don’t have the time to eat properly before going out and Weetabix is the one thing I’ve found that I can eat fast and gives some decent lasting energy. And I’ve always got sweets in the bag… and a couple of emergency gels.

When I run out of energy I run out. Trying to ride half techy narrow trails through tight trees when you’re finding it hard to focus your eyes and can only actually think about jam is very difficult and to be avoided. I’ve been physically pushed back to the car on more than one occasion 😉

difficult to say from the info.
how long after lunch was the ride, what had you done in between times.
you were heading for a crash, so as you suggest, used up the easily available energy
im all for a protein shake before a ride, stops me feeling hungry provides some limited easily digested calories

(*dons flameproof suit* protein should be used for recovery and actually a properly balanced diet contains more than enough protein so im just producing expensive wee – wotevs!)

I take snacks on rides that are short, as I like eating

It’s fairly rare that I bonk, but having a little something when you stop is one of the great joys of going for a ride

Caramel/stroop waffles, marzipan, fudge, flapjack, soreen, chocolate etc

Mmmmmm

I cant really do the Add-ins to my Diet, Protein shakes, Carb shakes or energy gels drinks etc, So i have to eat right, I try and do the Staple Porridge but Jeezus wept……… over the years there’s Only so much porridge you can eat.

Shreddies cereal is a fave of mine before a ride and seems to give me plenty of Oomph and is easily digestible.
I have to eat them quick as i cant eat soggy cereal thats why i struggle with Porridge and if i ate weetabix all soggy then i’d probably be sick. When i get that empty feeling I’ve had to learn to STOP, get off the bike hobble round in cleats and have something to eat, I’m currently enjoying Bergen Seeded bread with Peanut Butter & Jam on it, Crusts cut off of course.
In the past i’ve sauntered on and then all of a sudden i find myself looking for somewhere to get my Fat Napper down, At which point i just want to sit down go to sleep and Never look at another bike ever again. I once did 2 Laps of Dalby, As if 1 wasnt bad enough i thought it would be a good idea for a 2nd. Fuelled on Mcdonalds Pancakes and Maple Syrup off i went and nipped one lap off in record time, 2/3rds of the way round the 2nd lap i went scew and couldnt even remember driving home or getting home. So i’m concious of it now.

Job for haribo tbh! You’ll usually get a bit of muscle weakness/shakiness as well with low blood sugar, but often it’ll go to the head first, or be most noticable there first- most delicate bit of machinery so it goes wrong quick when it’s not got enough fuel.

Cue balanced diet speech – well almost.

Every ride I have is like that as my pancreas is pretty much past it’s sell by and there’s no warranty. Luckily the NHS give me free drugs to squeeze a bit more insulin out of my uncooperative pancreas.

Downside is riding a bike is a bit of a game of guess how many carbs are needed today.

Low carb just didn’t work for me, had to do it for a bit as one of the drugs stopped working. Felt like death, didn’t improve energy levels on the bike and ended up losing muscle.

I am a bit suspicious the whole low carb, high fat diets are a bit of a book selling fad. It’s fairly popular on some of the diabetes forums but seems most successful with the more sedentary people. Too many carbs is a problem, doesn’t mean they’re all bad though.

Best advice for me is what my GP advised, a healthy diet with just enough carbohydrate to keep you going through the day, reduce the processed carbs and increase slower digesting ones. When exercising use gels\bars as much as needed to keep blood sugar up.

Still have an open mind on low carb, it didn’t work for me but I can accept others may have more success. I’ve yet to see substantial evidence that anything other than “just enough carb” is better.

but often it’ll go to the head first

getting aggressive and irrational are common symptoms of hypoglycaemia. I once through my pimped Litespeed down a ravine into a bush and started walking out of the woods, as at the time that seemed the sensible thing to do.

I carry an emergency gel in my camelback and in my commuting rucksack – commute is 16 miles and occasionally I’ve worked late and not eaten enough through the day, and had jelly legs a few miles into it on the way home.

Low carb diet + XC riding, head goes, carbs added and that got you back to the van.

Hmmm

Not enough carbs in your life?

Its pretty much what Allan said above, And what most of us actually know.

A healthy balanced diet and Exercise.

crashtestmonkey – Member

getting aggressive and irrational are common symptoms of hypoglycaemia.

(t1 diabetic) When I was younger, my brother realised I was hypo, and tried to get me to do something about it. So first, I tried to shut him in the freezer, and then I tried to eat my blood testing meter because that would in some way prove I wasn’t hypo. Good practice for teenage drinking tbh. I’m not drunk, get off me!

My housemate is in ketosis quite a lot and does quite a lot of exercise and is fat adapted… I’d ideally like to get to his state as he is extremely fit and has no hassle putting the power down or going fuzzy headed… I guess I maybe just need a little less exertion whilst becoming fat adapted?

I wasn’t at “bonking” stage I don’t think as my legs felt good – just my mind was wandering and I did need that banana… so maybe I should just graze a little more like the advice above whilst getting back into exercise alongside a low carb diet?

I guess I maybe just need a little less exertion whilst becoming fat adapted?

Yeh, just do that. Go at your own pace. Any hill (there’s a few climbs on the NF) is going to push your heart rate up since you’ve not been doing lots of riding recently and your body will not be used to burning fat for fuel in these situations. Hence, depleted glycogen and low blood sugar. Probably.

This could be me next week once I get round to buying some full fat cream and watching those youtube videos 😉

Stick at it.

We could go on relaxed walks down the beach to ease ourselves into exercising on no carbs.

In early summer mornings I do fasted rides. I go through the no-carbs, seeking energy etc and I don’t get the OPs symptoms at all. TBH if I drink a pint of semi-skimmed milk I can ride lots.

OP are you rushing around at the moment/stressed out? Have you had your blood pressure checked?

Haha Dave just buy a mtb again and you can see the woozyness first hand 😉

Hora – I’m not rushing much.. probably fairly stressed though from work / relationship stuff and waiting on a mortgage to come through.

I haven’t had my blood pressure checked – is that a doctor job or can I check it myself?

I’d just pop in to the GPs.

I found that my heart rate is super low (43bpm) and my bloodpressure under/normal. A few espresso’s in a day and both ramps right up. Weird.

if I drink a pint of semi-skimmed milk I can ride lots.

I think most of the calorie content in milk is sugars as I recall – even full fat milk is only 4% fat. I’ll check with my wife – she works for one of the big dairies – and I seem to remember her suggesting semi-skimmed as an alternative to protein shakes (there is a little more protein in the shakes but not that much).

Just checked on Wiki – milk has around 5% sugars by weight. So a pint is 20-25g of sugar (lactose, but still sugar)

Having posted on this thread, I then proceed to bonk on my commute home. First time I’ve ever had that

kettlebells session at lunchtime, normal amount of eating. But left work late so maybe had a biggish gap between food and riding. Felt like I ate loads in the day though

Struggled to get up the only real hill, barely faster than walkers, legs weren’t tired from riding, just felt like I couldn’t turn the pedals. Had to stop part way up the hill and buy a Snickers Duo from Sainsburys. Fixed me right up, was fine after that! Jumped on the bike and span right up the hill!