Some cycling events are very well-known by all cyclists. Think of the Marmotte in France. But some events are simply at another level in terms of adventure. Nuno Pinto participated in the Mongolia Bike Challenge, which is a hard and epic MTB race through Mongolia. As he says, ‘the landscape is just life changing, the culture and the feeling of remoteness is breathtaking.’
A demanding race
What makes this race so hard? The average altitude of the race is around 2000 meters above sea level. ‘The first day many riders finished the stage completely exhausted.’ Nuno tells. And that is not all. Since it is a multi-day event, nutrition becomes even more important than during single-day events: ‘You just can’t fall under the hammer or you will feel it the next day.’
Using EatMyRide
Using EatMyRide Nuno made sure he always took sufficient calories and fluid. ‘Any Multi Stage race mandates a well planned nutrition plan. There is no margin for error, there is no time to recover, as you are constantly trying to compensate for calorie and fluid losses. That means you must have a plan, EatMyRide was my master plan. During the months previous to the MCB I used the app to learn when and what to consume.’
Training nutrition intake
He raises the important issue of training on nutrition intake. Without proper training of nutrition intake and without knowledge about your capabilities, nailing your nutrition becomes hard. How did he train his nutrition intake? ‘During my weekend rides I would create an intake plan and follow it on the Garmin. That gave me the confidence and the skills to master the nutrition plan. During the race, it was easy to follow the alarms on my Garmin Edge and consume the fluids/calories that showed on the screen. That forced me to consume the right amount at the right time of the necessary calories, even if I was not feeling hungry or thirsty.’
Detailed advice
EatMyRide helps you to plan your nutrition intake for each day. By planning the ride of the day in the app, you get both in-ride advice as well as for the total day. ‘For a stage race like the MBC, I used EatMyRide both to calculate my calorie consumption and recovery needs. Day after day, my consumption was different and the best part was that by uploading the day track, I could have a better estimation of calorie depletion and be prepare which feed zones to use and which ones to skip.’
On the race days Nuno would create his nutrition plan with the food he wanted to take with him and other things that he was expecting to get along at feed zones. ‘As long as I had an idea of the nutritional content, I could incorporate those on my plan.’
Nuno Pinto
