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Tour de France: How professional cycling teams eat and cook on the road

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Tour de France: How professional cycling teams eat and cook on the road

#121

Post by hinkley »

ricw wrote: post #113
hinkley wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't been a cyclist since about the time that the market of energy drinks first exploded. And at the time there were a number of articles that said that really all you need is Gatorade, that most of these new drinks were advertising more calories per liter, but Gatorade was already tested out on absorption rates and dialed in to the maximum calories per liter of water that the average human stomach can absorb. T…

that is outdated advice. for one, some people sweat more than others, the salt levels in the sweat is totally different too. this means that if you're really serious about sport or are doing endurance races (ie 2 hours+) you should really not just use gatorade, but something where the mix of salt/water is closer to whatever you're sweating. if i personally use gatorade for endurance exercise, i'll just cramp up after…

Yeah I wasn't talking about electrolytes, just calories per minute. The top level was about glucose monitoring not electrolyte monitoring.

It's funny that Precision uses almost exactly the same bottle as Nuun.

Re: Tour de France: How professional cycling teams eat and cook on the road

#122

Post by xcskier56 »

hinkley wrote: post #111
deff wrote: post #25

Regarding drugs, yes it´s most likely still happening, but nowhere near the levels it used to be. Riders are tested a lot and have to provide year-round whereabouts for random testing. They also have a frequently updated blood passport to detect sudden changes in values caused by PEDs. It can never be fully waterproof, but at least serious efforts are made.

At the Track and Field qualifiers for the 2024 Olympics they kept talking about how one of the runners was disqualified from Tokyo because she violated the whereabouts rules. They didn't say how. Is that like parole where they check in, or is it like house arrest where you have an ankle monitor?

It's a bit of both. If you're an athlete being tested at that level, you have to keep your country's antidoping agency informed of your whereabouts at all times. They will randomly send testers to wherever you are and you have a short time window, like 1-3 hours to show up. If you no-show 3 times (I think) it counts as a positive test and you're banned. I really don't know how someone could run in the trials with too many missed tests and not be allowed to race the olympics... I'm pretty sure the rules are the same.

Re: Tour de France: How professional cycling teams eat and cook on the road

#123

Post by xcskier56 »

hinkley wrote: post #115
kergonath wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They do systematic checks for the winner, whoever has suspicious performance jumps one day, as well as random racers. They do take it very seriously and what you are saying is a bit far from the truth. Some people will try, and some scandals will happen, sure. But it is not a widespread problem and is unlikely to become one. See here, for example: https://velo.outsideonline.com/road/road-racing/tour-de-fran...

I've lost track of how many bike changes I've seen and I've only watched the first 3 days of coverage so far. Plus if your lieutenant uses a motor in order to pull you up to the front, then your bike is clean.

Through axels have become a very convenient excuse for bike changes. Watching Cavendish have his wheels changed in one of the early stages this year was so slow. It took a guy with a drill like a minute plus to do front and rear wheels.

Re: Tour de France: How professional cycling teams eat and cook on the road

#124

Post by philshem »

> "The food I make is all transparent," says (chef) Blandy. "There are no rich sauces, it's all plain, simple cooking with a light amount of seasoning, light amount of oil, fresh herbs and citrus.

That’s some top-notch nominative determinism.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nominative_determinism

Re: Tour de France: How professional cycling teams eat and cook on the road

#125

Post by hinkley »

xcskier56 wrote: post #122
hinkley wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At the Track and Field qualifiers for the 2024 Olympics they kept talking about how one of the runners was disqualified from Tokyo because she violated the whereabouts rules. They didn't say how. Is that like parole where they check in, or is it like house arrest where you have an ankle monitor?

It's a bit of both. If you're an athlete being tested at that level, you have to keep your country's antidoping agency informed of your whereabouts at all times. They will randomly send testers to wherever you are and you have a short time window, like 1-3 hours to show up. If you no-show 3 times (I think) it counts as a positive test and you're banned. I really don't know how someone could run in the trials with too…

If you missed 2 before the trials and another after? I could see someone being on final notice before the trials and then fucking up again.

But they didn't actually say how and when she was DQed, just that she missed the Tokyo Olympics due to breaking the whereabouts clause. There are clearly favorites at the trials and if someone 'should' have gone I could see announcers making the speculative leap.

Re: Tour de France: How professional cycling teams eat and cook on the road

#126

Post by tpm »

Ekaros wrote: post #3
bell-cot wrote: post #2

> Not so long ago, the professional cycling world's approach to fuelling was remarkably basic. [...] > These days, it is an entirely different prospect, with vast sums spent on custom-built food trucks, personalised nutrition apps and meticulously planned meal regimes all in the name of performance enhancement. > For the nutritionists and chefs tasked with providing sustenance to power their team's riders over 2,170…

Sometimes I wonder should we go to basics in many sports. With things like banning any equipment including clothing and shoes... Or with cycling giving one standard mass manufactured piece. And then a pile of standard replacement parts and standard tools. All bought from cheapest supplier randomly distributed to participants.

All the cycling equipment in races has to be available in mass market and usually can be bought, if you've got the money. It's not cheap but also it's not a F1 car. It's more like.. why would you buy it when you are not a racer.

Re: Tour de France: How professional cycling teams eat and cook on the road

#127

Post by hinkley »

0_____0 wrote: post #116
ricw wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

that is outdated advice. for one, some people sweat more than others, the salt levels in the sweat is totally different too. this means that if you're really serious about sport or are doing endurance races (ie 2 hours+) you should really not just use gatorade, but something where the mix of salt/water is closer to whatever you're sweating. if i personally use gatorade for endurance exercise, i'll just cramp up after…

I basically just add salt to Gatorade and cut it with extra sugar and malto. It's a couple extra steps but I train regularly enough that I make a concentrate (100ml=200kcal) that I put in bottle and dilute as needed.

One of the runners I mined for training advice was using gatorade to take salt tabs. That was not the advice I took from him, though. I will probably avoid at least one injury from other things he said.

Re: Tour de France: How professional cycling teams eat and cook on the road

#128

Post by burningChrome »

hinkley wrote: post #108
frereubu wrote: post #34

The part about not eating too much fibre because it irritates the gut reminded me of an amusing anecdote in Dan Martin's autobiography, where he talked about coming (I think) third in The Tour and was sitting with Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas from Team Sky (now Ineos Grenadiers) after the finish in Paris. He was looking forward to a big burger and chips, and Froome and Thomas were discussing how they were really l…

Runners also warn about high fiber being bad. I keep being drawn back to our friend the Banana. I think pectin is easier on the stomach than insoluble fiber, but I have a lot of gaps in this part of my knowledge. The cheeseburger calls to us all. Some of us are just "better" at resisting the call.

>> The cheeseburger calls to us all.

One my trainers when I was in college told me that when you crave foods, its not your lack of willpower, its actually your body telling you it needs certain nutrients. He told me when you crave chocolate its because your body needs carbs, so if you get some carbs, your chocolate cravings will go away.

I'm guessing the idea you crave a cheeseburger is the same thing, his body was in need of complex carbs and protein?

This is purely anecdotal evidence of this, but in my experience as an endurance athlete (soccer, cycling, adventure racing) its seems to work. When I've craved chocolate, I just eat some toast or chips or drink some Mt. Dew (a lot of people have no idea how many carbs are in soda) and the desire for something chocolatey goes away.

As others have pointed out in the thread, everybody is different, but in my case, this idea seems to be accurate.

Re: Tour de France: How professional cycling teams eat and cook on the road

#129

Post by hinkley »

xcskier56 wrote: post #123
hinkley wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've lost track of how many bike changes I've seen and I've only watched the first 3 days of coverage so far. Plus if your lieutenant uses a motor in order to pull you up to the front, then your bike is clean.

Through axels have become a very convenient excuse for bike changes. Watching Cavendish have his wheels changed in one of the early stages this year was so slow. It took a guy with a drill like a minute plus to do front and rear wheels.

I just learned about through axles last fall. And narrow-wide chain rings (mountain biking). I used to keep up better with the tech changes.

I only caught the end of that wheel change when I realized the mechanic was holding a Milwaukee cordless and Bob(?) was talking about it.

Re: Tour de France: How professional cycling teams eat and cook on the road

#130

Post by burningChrome »

deff wrote: post #25

Regarding drugs, yes it´s most likely still happening, but nowhere near the levels it used to be. Riders are tested a lot and have to provide year-round whereabouts for random testing. They also have a frequently updated blood passport to detect sudden changes in values caused by PEDs. It can never be fully waterproof, but at least serious efforts are made.

>> Riders are tested a lot and have to provide year-round whereabouts for random testing.

If I remember correctly, these rules were changed after the Armstrong scandal where he would be scheduled for testing, he would say he was at his house in Texas. The testing folks would show up and he just wouldn't answer the door and wait until they left so they couldn't test him. It was one of the ways he was able to dope on a set schedule, all the while being able to maintain he was being tested more than any other athlete - when in reality, he was just avoiding being tested.

It seems like a lot has changed since his scandal and several others that followed and they've really clamped down on what you're saying, changes in blood values and getting suspended if you cannot be reached for testing.

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