The Ultimate Guide To Fuelling A Cyclo Cross Race

Cross is coming!

This year's cyclocross season is almost upon us. With many riders entering their final prep before the race season starts. As a racer, now is an excellent time to consider your nutrition for race day to help give you the best chance of putting in the performances you are capable of.  

 Ultimately, CX is one of a few cycling disciplines whereby there are no allowances for nutrition intake whilst on the bike, meaning that your pre-race nutrition is the critical part to get right. It is also a discipline where due to the short nature of races, there is little requirement for feeding or drinking on the bike.

With a relatively short season and a congested racing schedule, it is not uncommon for riders to race twice within 24 hours. Therefore, alongside pre-race fuelling, nutrition strategies to facilitate rapid recovery can also play a key role in helping you bounce back to your full performance capacity when time is against you. 

The Day Before

With the critical role that glycogen (the name for carbohydrates when they’re stored in the muscle and liver) plays in fuelling high-intensity performance, you as a rider need to ensure you have sufficient glycogen on board ahead of the race itself to ensure you have enough energy to fuel the efforts required to be competitive. As little as 24 hours of a high carbohydrate intake combined with rest (to ensure the carbohydrate is stored as glycogen and not burned off as a fuel) will be sufficient to optimally fuel up.

Morning Of The Race

This is a key time for avoiding problems more than gaining a fuelling advantage. As a rider, you want to arrive at the start line well-fuelled and hydrated, with an empty stomach and bladder, to allow you to focus on the job at hand and have sufficient energy to get you through.

Opting for a high carbohydrate light meal that is easily digested and that you are well accustomed to (i.e. have used it successfully in training and racing before) in the 3-4 hours pre-race will be key here. Low fat, fibre, and protein will help prevent any gastrointestinal distress. Opting for foods high in fructose can help support liver glycogen recovery, a key fuel that is broken down overnight and plays a key role in preventing fatigue through its role in maintaining blood glucose (see here for previous blog on this https://www.fueltherideacademy.com/blog/how-honey-at-breakfast-can-give-cyclists-extra-watts).

Fluid-wise, ensuring you get to bed the night before hydrated and combining your pre-race meal with around 400-600ml of fluid should ensure you are optimally hydrated pre-race and have sufficient time to excrete any excess so you’re not bursting for a toilet break two laps in. With the short-term nature of cyclocross, there are next to no requirements or benefits to consuming sodium supplements. A gel on the start line or during the warm up may be beneficial, but the focus should be largely on fuelling the hours before.

Post Race 

Depending on the demands of the race and the racing schedule you have, rapid recovery may be a key factor to consider, from a nutrition perspective, this is around refuelling (with adequate carbohydrates), rehydrating (to offset fluid losses) and rebuilding (with adequate protein intake). Having a solid strategy here and getting on top of things early is a key aspect of maximising the available window.

Supplementation

Owing to the explosive and high-intensity nature of CX, with races often won or lost on short high-intensity bursts of power, a number of supplement strategies can help support performance. When diligently applied, add the cherry on top of the race-day nutrition strategies. Whilst there are only six dietary supplements that have good quality evidence of performance enhancement, almost all of these are relevant to CX racing and can potentially help an athlete unlock some additional performance (providing the basics, i.e. fuelling and hydration, are nailed down).

Whilst the use of multiple supplements can sometimes provide additive effects, more is not always better and there are often diminished returns when combining multiple strategies, so opting for one of two strategies is likely the best option than trying to implement all of them together. Selecting the best ones to apply based on the demands of the race maybe the best strategy to go for.

For any athlete competing, it’s vitally important to ensure any supplement strategy uses brands that have batch-tested for banned substances (see here…https://www.fueltherideacademy.com/blog/why-every-cyclist-needs-to-know-about-the-dangers-of-supplement-use)

Creatine Monohydrate – A potent fuel for explosive efforts, this supplement requires a short term loading phase and due to the low levels of creatine in the diet of vegetarians and vegan athletes may see more performance benefits. Whilst there is often some negative gains in body bass, with the shorter more explosive climbs in CX racing, any weight gain (if it persists) is unlikely to negatively impact performance.

Beta-Alanine – A supplement which if dosed correctly can improve muscle carnosine stores, a key component of the muscle buffering capacity against the resultant acidity that is associated with high intensity exercise . Whilst it can be effective, it requires a lengthy loading phase and does come with some negative side effects.

Sodium Bicarbonate – Another buffering supplement that only really requires a dose pre exerciser to be effective, it enhances our ability to perform efforts around 2-8minutes in duration which is likely relevant to certain courses. This one again has to be carefully managed due to the explosive impacts it can have on the digestive system.

Caffeine – A staple for many cyclists, one of the most researched and effective supplements out there and highly effective at enhancing performance.

If you want to learn more about how best to build a solid race-day strategy for yourself, within Fuel The Ride Academy, we cover all that you need to know and the practical examples of how to implement it, with modules devoted specifically to CX and coaches on hand to support you implement these strategies. If you’ve not already, do check out what we can offer above.

Coach Ben