The handcycle record for 12 hours is 160 miles for the Calvin's Challenge. I know I can break it if I could have the
record attempt in August on a flat course. “Calvin’s Challenge” is a well-known race for all types of leg powered (and
hand-powered) vehicles from standard bikes, tandems, recumbents, faired
recumbents, Human-Powered Vehicles (HPV) and even handcycles. Participants come from the far reaches. And the course is pretty flat (315' up and 315' down over 50 miles). It is but five weeks away. So, I am training for it now and I must be
ready for it in just weeks. (I have a lot of work!)
I decided to attempt to train without consuming any
carbohydrates – just water – in order to teach my muscle cells to use the fatty
acids for energy at a greater percentage as compared to glycogen. So Saturday’s 90 miler was my first long
attempt at this. I had finished two 60
milers the weekend before with just water.
No problem on those – but I also kept the speed down around 14.3 miles
per hour over rolling terrain and it was warm.
This Saturday’s attempt was on pretty flat terrain – 1000’ up
and 1000’ down – over 90 miles. But I
wanted to maintain at least 15.5 miles per hour. For the first four hours, I felt really
good. I was averaging right around 16.5
mph with much of the speed in the 17-19 mph range. A few long climbs (but not steep) pushed me
down to the 14 mph range on the climbs.
All told, though, I felt pretty good – until I hit the wall hard that is.
One contributing factor for my bonk may have been
temperature. The afternoon was to be in
the 50’s with sunshine. Instead, I was
caught in the mid-40’s with a fine mist in the air and under-dressed. (Matter of fact, after getting home, it took
a good two hours to get my body temperature back up).
After hitting the
wall – I went from averaging 16.5 mph to precipitously losing 0.1 miles per hour
in what seemed like every few minutes – I finally stopped to get a milk shake
in a small town with one stop light and the "Purple Monkey" eatery.
 |
| Purple Monkey -- I gotta try their pizza... maybe after Calvin's Challenge |
It helped tremendously, and I regained speed pretty quickly. Overall though, my average speed came down to
15.8 mph for basically 6 hours of cycling.
My recovery from hitting the wall was much longer (2 days) than if I had
not bonked. Much longer!
DIY Sports Drinks:
From this, I started doing some research into sports
drinks. Usually I just use Pepsi (less
fizz than Coke) since it has the caffeine, sodium, and carbohydrates. It actually works very well. But studies suggest that long-chained
carbohydrates (as compared to fructose or sucrose) absorb at a quicker rate and
can improve performance over simple sugars.
Additionally, the addition of protein to the drink may be valuable. The addition of
protein appears to aid fluid
retention. When a beverage
is too dilute, it tends to pass quickly through the bloodstream to the bladder
so it doesn't "water down" the blood and other body fluids.
But I just hate giving away money for what are relatively
inexpensive ingredients (Pepsi is pretty cheap) and I enjoy making my own
stuff. So, I ordered a 50 pound bag of maltodextrin
(60 bucks). I already have plenty of
whey protein (fantastic for me relative to recovery from hard rides) and salt
and water. Caffeine is sold in tablet
form and I can decide on how much to use.
I can also add cocoa or a fruit extract for taste.
Salt should give me plenty of sodium and potassium. Anything other ingredient that the sports
drinks may advertise as great enhancements appear to have no real science
behind them. Water, maltodextrin, protein,
and salt… One may vary the carbohydrate
by adding some fructose, dextrose, or sucrose (I have to study that more).
Here is a link for a recipe.
The 50lb bag of maltodextrin:
Orange Extract (I usually like orange):
I expect to change the recipe over time as I determine what
works for me. One of the more important
aspects of digestibility is the concentration (or lack of it) of
carbohydrates. When the concentration of
carbohydrates goes above 6%-8%, for many people, more severe gastrointestinal
discomfort appear and absorption of the carbohydrates is actually reduced. So
if you make your own sports drink, you might read the literature beforehand.
Here is one study:
This study is interesting relative to adding protein to
the carbohydrate-based drink:
But a counter to this:
This study may remove some hesitation in using protein as
part of the mix:
But then again, maybe protein itself does not cause an improvement
as compared to carbohydrate only drink:
I drink a LOT of chocolate milk… And this study shows what I
have personally found:
Why one might add protein, but not subtract carbohydrates in
order to do so:
And a handcyling study:
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