Do cyclists of all bodyweight and sizes need different amount of carbohydrates during a ride?

Today, we explore whether heavier cyclists need more carbohydrates (CHO) DURING a training session or race.

CHO requirements are based on a rider's physical demand, which can be broken down into duration x intensity.

The greater the duration or intensity, the greater CHO needed to sustain performance.

This is where confusion begins to arise:

Daily CHO intake is relative to a cyclists bodyweight, as this relates to their capacity to store CHO as glycogen. I.e. larger  riders have a greater storage capacity in the muscle. Therefore, DAILY recommendations are expressed in grams per kilogram of bodyweight (6g/kg BW, for example).

CHO intake DURING is not relative to a cyclists bodyweight, and therefore recommendations are expressed in absolute terms: 30g CHO/hour, 60g CHO/hour, and 90g CHO/hour etc.

Work by Jeukendrup (2010) found no significant association between the amount of CHO a rider uses on an hourly basis DURING and their body mass.

Reason being is that the gut appears to be a limiting factor as to how much CHO can be absorbed.

And therefore, heavy and lighter cyclists absorb CHO at the same hourly rate during exercise - CHO recommendations DURING are the same for a 60kg, 75kg and 90kg rider.

A further explanation as to why there’s no clear association is because the gut is highly ‘trainable’.

When a rider frequently consumes higher CHO during exercise, their gut adapts over time by increasing the number of CHO transporters in the intestinal wall: If a cyclist can absorb the consumed CHO quickly, they can use it quickly.

To conclude: Total daily CHO intakes are relative to bodyweight and how much you utilise across the entire day, but CHO intakes during are based on your ability to absorb them. So if you want to enhance performance by having the ability to use more of the CHO consumed, it’s recommended that you train the gut.

- Coach Chris