The truth about cycling nutrition that most of the internet still hasn't caught up with. The advice most amateurs are still following — 30-60 grams of carbs per hour, skip breakfast to lose weight, count calories to get lean — is five years out of date. The World Tour moved on. The published research moved on. Most of the cycling internet hasn't.
I've sat down with the nutritionists behind Red Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe, Visma–Lease a Bike, and Ineos Grenadiers. I've talked to Hannah Grant, who fed the Jumbo-Visma squad that dominated the 2023 Tour. And the message from every single one of them is the same: most amateurs are underfuelled, not overfuelled. The performance you're leaving on the table isn't in a lighter bike or a better interval session — it's in the 40 grams of carbohydrate per hour you're not eating on the bike.
What We Cover
This pillar covers everything that goes in your mouth and affects what comes out of your legs. In-ride nutrition — how much carbohydrate per hour, which sources, and how to train your gut to handle 90g+ without feeling sick. Daily fuelling — eating to support the training, not restricting to hit a number on the scale. Recovery nutrition — the 0-4 hour window that separates adaptation from wasted effort.
We cover race weight and body composition — how to get leaner without losing power, and why crash dieting before an event is the single most destructive thing a serious amateur can do. We cover protein timing, hydration, caffeine, creatine, and the supplements that have actual evidence behind them.
The Roadman Position
Three principles hold across everything we publish on nutrition:
Fuel for the work required. The days of a fixed daily calorie target are finished. Easy days need less. Hard days and long days need dramatically more. Energy availability — calories in minus exercise calories, divided by lean body mass — should sit at or above 30 kcal/kg/day. Drop below that and you start losing hormonal function, bone density, and the capacity to adapt to training. Most under-fuelled cyclists sit between 20 and 28 and wonder why they feel flat by week eight.
In-ride carbohydrate intake has roughly doubled. The current evidence supports 60-90g per hour on rides over 90 minutes, and 90-120g per hour in races and ultra events using a glucose-fructose mix. The reason most amateurs feel sick at those numbers is because they've never trained the absorption pathway. Start at 60, hold it for four weeks, add 10 every two weeks. By race day, you'll absorb what you need.
Race weight is a season-long project, not a six-week diet. The riders who crash-diet into events blow up halfway through key sessions, lose muscle, and often end up heavier three months later. The smart approach is a small deficit in base phase, maintenance in build, and full fuelling through race season. Body composition follows training quality — not the other way round.
Where to Go From Here
If you're underfuelling on the bike — and statistically, you probably are — start with In-Ride Nutrition for Cyclists. It's the single highest-return change most riders can make.
If you want to get leaner without wrecking your training, read Nutrition Periodisation: Base, Build, and Race. The structure matters more than the macros.
If you want this applied to you — fuelling plans built around your training week, body composition targets that protect performance, and accountability from coaches who know the evidence — the Not Done Yet community is where the articles become a programme.