Communityinterview

THE UNTOLD STORY OF SUCCESS | ALAN MURCHISON

with Alan Murchison

36:15·9 June 2023

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ALAN MURCHISON

Alan Murchison is the chef who left Michelin-starred fine dining to feed Olympic cyclists, World Tour riders, and Formula 1 drivers. He spent over a decade running L'Ortolan in Berkshire to a Michelin star and four AA Rosettes, then walked away from the restaurant world to build Performance Chef — the food operation behind Specialized Factory Racing's Olympic medals, World Cup podiums, and the British Cycling consultancy that fuels riders from first-time finishers to gold medallists. He matters because he is the rare voice who can talk credibly about both the precision of fine-dining technique and the metabolic demands of racing a bike: the food still has to taste good, and it still has to land 90 grams of carbohydrate an hour without wrecking the gut. His Cycling Chef book series and his work with Canyon-SRAM have set the modern standard for what a serious amateur's kitchen actually looks like.

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

Most amateur "fuelling" advice is sold by people who understand neither cooking nor athletic nutrition. Murchison's edge is being a Michelin-starred chef who also coaches pros — that combination is rare.
Cyclists stay overweight despite training huge volumes because they massively underestimate calories at the table and overestimate calories burned on the bike. The bike isn't the problem.
A 400-calorie breakfast that you actually eat consistently beats a perfect macro-balanced breakfast you abandon after a fortnight. Sustainability outranks optimisation for amateurs.
The single biggest fuelling mistake is starting hard rides underfed and trying to "make it up" mid-ride. The body finishes the ride in a hole and you hold weight protectively.
Cutting weight for an A-event needs an 8-12 week ramp, not three weeks of crash dieting. Crash diets in race week cost more watts than the kilos save.

Alan Murchison breaks down why most amateur cyclists stay overweight despite training 6+ hours a week—and it's not what you think. Drawing from his experience as a Michelin-starred chef and sports nutritionist, he reveals the real gap between fueling for training and eating for results, and explains why the best athletes in the world share surprisingly nasty personality traits.

Key Takeaways

Most amateur cyclists under-fuel their training rides, then overeat afterwards to compensate. A 3-hour ride with only a bottle creates a 1800-2000 calorie deficit that gets made up throughout the day, negating any weight loss benefit.
You can't accurately compare energy burned on your bike across different devices or fitness levels—metrics vary by 15-20%. Instead of obsessing over numbers, learn to match your food intake to your specific training load (recovery vs. race pace vs. intervals).
Forget complicated recipes. A 400-calorie breakfast of 60g oats, 120g berries, and 20g maple syrup takes under a minute and delivers everything you need. The difference between that and 80g oats with chia, flax, full-fat milk, and banana is nearly double the calories.
External stresses (work emails, family conflict, broken sleep) matter as much as training stress. A pro cyclist has infrastructure that eliminates these; an amateur juggles breakfast prep, tire pressure, and family logistics on race day.
True excellence in any field—cooking, cycling, law—requires obsessive focus and personal investment. The best performers are rarely 'nice people' because they've made trade-offs (missed birthdays, family time) that feel justified only when you reach the top.
Plan your nutrition alongside your training week. If you know Tuesday is a chainring session and Sunday is a long ride, fuel accordingly. A tin of tuna, pre-cooked rice, and avocado hits protein, carbs, and fat without complexity.

Expert Quotes

"The problem is the Health and Fitness business is full of bullshitters. There's very few people that understand food and nutrition from an athlete's perspective and from a cooking perspective."

"The best cyclist I know quite honestly are quite nasty bastards. There's almost an edge to them—that laser-line focus."

"Retrospectively I don't have a relationship with any of my children that I'd like to because of that behavior. At the time yes, because the ends justified the means. But I probably wasn't that nice a person when I was doing it."

CLAIMS FROM THIS EPISODE

Each tagged with the strength of evidence behind it.

EXPERT
Most amateur cyclists significantly underestimate their daily calorie intake at the dinner table while overestimating the energy expenditure of their training rides.
Source: Alan Murchison
EXPERT
Adequate carbohydrate fuelling before and during a hard ride results in better post-ride appetite control than starting the ride underfed.
Source: Alan Murchison
PRO PRACTICE
Sustainable nutrition habits — adherence to meals you'll eat week after week — outperform precisely macro-counted plans for amateur body-composition goals.
Source: Alan Murchison, coaching practice
EXPERT
Aggressive race-week weight cutting reduces glycogen storage and power output enough to negate the aerodynamic gains of being lighter on race day.
Source: Alan Murchison

KEY QUOTES

“most the mistake a lot of athletes a lot of cyclists make is they under fuel training so you know they go out and they'll do three hours and they'll be very proud that they've had a bottle or a banana in the back pocket and then what happens is they have a calorie deficit it could be 1800 to 2 000 calories and then there's each ship for the rest of the day”
Alan Murchison — Professional chef and competitive cyclist

“I know I've got training Peaks every single I could go out and ride if I looked at the metrics on all of those they're all different they're all different there are there's maybe 15 20 difference in all of them”
Alan Murchison — Professional chef and competitive cyclist

“I certainly know this from experiencing people that I know that are writing pro athletes will be taking on you know 90 to 110 120 grams of carbs per hour they'll be on a low raised diet low residue diet essentially which is low fiber a lot of the time whilst the racing”
Alan Murchison — Professional chef and competitive cyclist

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT3 SECTIONS

What Amateurs Get Wrong About Nutrition

What do you think amateurs are doing wrong like probably like the problem is is that that the Health and Fitness business it's full of bullshitters you know what I mean and that is a problem with it there's very very few people that understand food and nutrition from an athlete's perspective and from a cooking perspective you can eat really well now that's eating that's a meme that's more than you'd eat in the main meal eating well would be the best cyclist I know quite honestly are quite nasty bastards you know I can think I can think of a couple of people I know that no just got that absolute I don't have a relationship with any of my children I'd like to that I probably wasn't that nicer person um because of because of that behavior was it everything he imagined was the sacrifice along the way worth it and at the time my absolute pleasure glad we managed to get together yeah it's nice to talk all things cycling all things food I'm actually trying to cut a little bit of weight at the moment because of a race coming up uh in three weeks and I've been on the pace for four years so it's a bad time to talk about food for me so I'm back I haven't really been racing much that like I've been racing the odd local creating Club League race and stuff but I got kind of officially hung up the wheels but I'm back this year really gravel's pulled me out of semi-retirements but I want I'm gonna do the Ross in a few weeks time so I was like you know what I need to cut a few kilograms for that so yeah yeah there's not much fun to be hard cutting kilograms no there's not and you need to be a bit careful with gravel because it's becoming the graveyard of World Tour you know you actually look at it about about all these these World Tour Riders I think oh you know I'll just grow a beard and drink beer and go and do gravel and then you look at the guys at the sharp end of gravel the actual professionals and I think there was a It Was a Race recent certainly I can't know which one it was and you've got Crystal Evans and you've got Keegan out the front and you've got people like uh you know ex-world tour Riders finishing half an hour behind them so I think there's well valverde's announced he's coming back Valverde won a race at the weekend he won a race and calm I think Carl Mason was third so you've got Carl Mason but already he's old enough to become Mason's dad do you know what I mean you've got the pair of them racing so no uh yeah you be careful throwing your heart in the gravel ring you could end up uh you could end up uh yeah hurting a lot humbled Valverde to be fair probably would have won lies if he hadn't been there at the weekend so it's not that much of a slight no no no he's he's a bit of a special one but I think you know the cutting weight staff you know getting onto the food it's it's hard and you know however anybody dresses up you've just got to start counting stuff you know it's about counting metrics which is is it's really really difficult you've just got to weigh a measure um because otherwise it's best guess have you like we've seen this change in Focus especially at the top levels of sports Cyclone but widely across the Athletics areas where we've seen this prioritizing of nutrition and sport in recent years has it surprised you how long this has taken to happen like I'm talking with the dedicated chefs we see now at yumbo visma et cetera yeah the penny dropped um fairly recently because you would have the you know the French chefs would always have bread and you know the Spanish and Italians would have been pasta and rice and it was very very traditional and if you said to an athlete even five years ago how many grams of carbon hydrate are you taking in per hour there'd be probably a harmful you'd be going back to froome's zero Antics a few years ago before you actually knew I won't say 80 90 grams of carbs per hour look like whereas now I certainly know this from experiencing people that I know that are writing pro athletes will be taking on you know 90 to 110 120 grams of carbs per hour they'll be on a low raised diet low residue diet essentially which is low fiber a lot of the time whilst the racing and they're seeing you know everybody now is doing everything professionally you know they're all sleeping they're all doing altitude they're all measuring the metrics and food is just a huge part of that so yeah it's it's taken a while because you know you and I know there's something cycling's a really weird sport because it's very traditional you know we still celebrate All The Monuments which are hundreds of years old but then we're all there on spaceship technology you know it's it's a really strange sport how it works and I think with food I think it's always been pasta and almost carb loading whereas now it's almost the other way that it's it's become Fuel and almost the enjoyment element of it is almost secondary you know they just they just got to take in carbs and it almost doesn't matter what it is but it's uh there's huge gains to be hard and and again there's not a race if you look at say what Vellum are doing they're looking at what's per kilo how many watts per kilo are they doing what are they climbing at and all of that's down to Weight Management weight management is down to your food intake so yeah it's it's taken a while but it's very much to the Forefront of a lot of teams now I would say so what do you think amateurs are doing wrong like if you look at the your typical Club spin like on a profile the typical writer because there's no typical right but if you look at a club spin a good few people a large percentage of that club spin will be overweight we'll be above their body mass index recommendation and even those average Club spin Riders they're typically exercise in six hours plus per week but if you took six hours plus per week in any other sport like someone who goes to the gym six hours plus per week their physique is normally a lot more dials but in cycling it's like there's a missing piece for them is that missing piece nutrition is it fueling on the bike or what's your thoughts on that's a really good question um I think most the mistake a lot of athletes a lot of cyclists make is they under fuel training so you know they go out and they'll do three hours and they'll be very proud that they've had a bottle or a banana in the back pocket and then what happens is they have a calorie deficit it could be 1800 to 2 000 calories and then there's each ship for the rest of the day so they might say well I'll run in three hours I can eat what they want it doesn't work like that it actually doesn't work because if you've got a surplus you've got a surplus and you're going to continue and the other thing with our sport you can buy performance you know what I mean if you go out on an old steel winter bike with mud guards on and then suddenly you go out and spend 10 to 15 grand on a super bike you're going to be going 2-3k an hour faster for shits and giggles it's completely easy to buy performance so I think and the other thing as well is if you cycle you come very efficient at it it's hard to lose weight like you really see somebody if you're a runner running six to eight hours a week they wouldn't be able to keep weight on if you cycle six to eight hours a week and you're still consuming four to five thousand calories a day you could be a bloater but you can then go and lose two kilos off your bike quite easily by spending money on it so it's a it's a funny one but I think if you don't look at the demands of the ride and again if you look at your typical club right you've got a group going out and they're all going to be riding at different levels so let's be honest you could I go out with me we could go out with 10 guys from a local from a local cycling plan you could be doing a level two right I could be level three and the guy next to us could be oxy at threshold as soon as he hits so it's really difficult with the club culture because nobody is actually training at the correct Zone ever they never are because you're either over or under and you know theoretically you know we should it would be a little bit like if you had two cars driving down the road if you'd say a few at 500 on our Ferrari 430 spider if they're both driving at 50 miles an hour they're both using different amounts of fuel and they're both using the engines differently so I think it's it's under fueling training and it's overeating afterwards I think it's probably the best way of putting it and you're better to see look and the way I again another way it's really good to explain it if you and I were to go out at this time at the time of year to ride you'll lay your cat out and you'll say right what is it it's 10 degrees right I'll need arm warmers might get away with legs I might have tall covers I will wear a Julie you actually get the kit ready for the ride required right you wouldn't go out in January in short sleeves and shorts any more than you go out in in Longs and a winter Jersey in June why don't you do the same thing with your food today is going to be an easy ride our one is this our two is this our three is this then I won't come in and be hoovering the fridge alternatively there's no point in going out and say well I have 90 grams of carbs per hour if it's a level two right and your nose but you know you're breathing your nose breathing there's no point so I think that's it there's no right or wrong answer with it but I think under fueling training is probably the biggest mistake that athletes make um so you touched on something really interesting there efficiency levels so if you take a rider in his first year and he goes out and does uh a 2 500 kilojoule ride but now you fast forward a decade later after maybe that reuter Circle true Pro cycling come back out to far side and he goes out and does a 2500 kilogram kilojoule ride is there is there a difference between those two are you you know is the government accurately representing the energy demands for 10 years completely not like if you look at the metrics so you and I have again all of us have probably got the metrics so I use it I use a whoop band I've got a wahoo uh I've got a Strava and I've also got what is it the art that what who goes to I can't remember what it is so I know I've got training Peaks every single I could go out and ride if I looked at the metrics on all of those they're all different they're all different there are there's maybe 15 20 difference in all of them so I would say what you've got to look at is it's it's best guess so I think being in and the problem is now is you and I can we know how many hours we've slept what are heart rate variability is the levels of stressed we've got all these metrics but I think that intuitiveness actually knowing yourself as an athlete is something that that's missing from people and because now technology has taken over um you know every single thing we do down in blood glucose sweat levels can be monitored and measured so I would say you are going to become more efficient um and you can train your body you know let's be honest you know if you're going to go out and ride let's see let's think that I between number 32k an hour 20 mile an hour as a newbie that's going to be fairly hard and you're going to be working much harder you're going to become less efficient than say somebody like Valverde who's been doing it for 25 years so and I think you have to take the metrics that you have and just taking a pinch of salt I know if I looked at the ways I've got of measuring metrics every single one of them give me a different number buy about 15 percent so you think if you replaced 100 of what you burnt if you're gonna end up in a calorie Surplus each day 100 and 100 you should remain the same that is that is that is the long and short of it so I I I can only take it personally I'm how old am I I'm 52 so I'm I'm probably on the older age of people that you would speak to on the sport I ride my bike 15 hours a week um I'm on my wheat sort of I think I'm on week 17 or 15 hours a week back to back and I know what works for me so I can't lose weight by cycling it's physically impossible how I do it is by counting calories and that's what happens for a 50 year old man because your metabolism slows down but everybody is an individual with it so I think that that is the problem with it is that you were all individuals and if you took 10 athletes that were all say 74 kilos one was 21 was 50.

Life Stress vs Training Stress

The metabolism's different the genetics are different their efficiency on the bike is different the training load's different and again if you let's look at things that affect fatigue and energy levels sleep external stresses you probably if you looked at it the least stressful thing I do is cycle because that's because I don't read my emails I don't speak to anybody on my phone a lot of any winding me up I don't have a dog sparking I don't have a vat man on the on the phone with me I I've got nothing it's so if I actually looked at training Peaks my TSS is only telling me what I've done in my bike bike's easy like today my relaxing is going to be going out for 90 minutes on a TT bike that's the least stressful thing I've got today I've got a Builders beside me I want to kill them I want to kill the builders I got the vat build that I need to pay I go away to work next week so I need to park riding my TT bike that's actually the least stressful thing I do and I think that's what people don't again let's paint a perfect picture of it you're on a training camp how many people come back from training camps heavier than they go away because they've got nothing else to worry about they're sleeping eight hours a week eighty hours a night they're riding a bike having a coffee stop right for dinner for lunch they're chatting about bike kit all day it's completely stress free whereas you're at home and you get up you've got broken sleep you're on the phone at work you're reading shitty emails the kids are kicking off all those external stresses affect your energy levels and I think that's the thing that people forget about it is that if you can do nothing is look at the external stresses and I know when we were um we were out in uh I was out in Mexico without it doing our record and it was fascinating and uh Hutch have you interviewed Hutch Dr hatch I've had Pat Alexander she's brilliant I love her she got a lot of time for her she's a very he's probably the most clever mom I know and we will look half man half man he's he's he's a really clever guy he knows a lot of about a lot of and he we were looking at the external stresses that Alex was having and I personally think and I think hatch I I I'm basing it on gut feel and hatch would base it on science now Alex would have broken uh component's record if he didn't have to organize the thing himself because we saw you know he was spammering he was doing social media he was trying to do the balance sheet you then look at Ellen Van Dyke set up and her infrastructure you look at Ghana's infrastructure and Alex from a stress perspective never stood a chance because he will have all that external stresses and going to the Village room and riding around at 55k an hour was a piece of piss in relation to davos's arrest period exactly and I think that's the main difference between you know pros and and actual armatures is that when you go to a race as an amateur you're doing your breakfast you're parking the car you're pumping up your tires you're looking at your gearing you're getting your cat you're worrying about the kids the wife the you know your partner whatever it is whereas quite often professional scientists just go in ride the bike so I think it's it it's a really tricky balance to do and and I think you've got to find out so I would say what I always suggest when we work so we work with clients across all boards so if you came to me and said hi I'm Anthony I work in I work in the city and I write an hour on my Turbo every night and two hours on a Saturday and three hours on a Sunday we would work and you want to qualify for the tour of Cambridge sportif God we work with people like that right they were up to people who win Olympic medals and I think the the difference is between this just the external stresses but also you need to start taking notes you need to look at how these things affect you because for some people you know the phone ringing or what stress you know like I get really wound up about all the time I know for a fact that when I'm away with work my sleep goes down by about 40 so kind of continue to follow that nutrition uh trade and exploring a little bit more of those Club Riders who are maybe carrying a little bit extra weight is there like I love that Pareto Principle the idea 80 20 like is there an easy way for them to optimize their nutrition across the week bearing in mind most listeners here will put them into that bucket of time crunch cyclists where they're looking to balance work training family and maybe some sort of social health so a lot of the time food becomes an afterthought so is there like strategies that can make eating well easy across the week yeah I think it's planning you know you know most of us would know what what riding they're going to do a week so if you think a textbook cyclist and it doesn't matter whether your your world tour I just want to be the best in your street you probably do two recovery rides two rides that replicate your event Pace or event effort and two rides that are maybe over and above that so recovery practicing race pace and then intervals of some description so if you can then plan your food alongside that you know we all kind of know that you might do a trainee on a Tuesday night you might do intervals on a Thursday you might do something on a Saturday and do a log ride on a Sunday that's a traditional week um and do the same thing with your food you know like food doesn't need to be complicated you know if you take virtual music for example so you're time poor 50 grams good votes 50 grams of Greek yogurt 100 milliliters of apple juice one grated Apple pinch of cinnamon handful of raisins that is a good mixture of quick release and slow release carbohydrate you throw it in the fridge maybe some chia seeds some pumpkin in there if you want a fancier pumpkin seeds that can be made up in less than a minute and that's got everything you need alternatively if you take say 60 grams of Oats as in porridge oats cook that in one and a half cups of water or milk have 120 grams of berries and 20 grams of maple syrup plus a 400 calorie breakfast you know what I mean it doesn't need to be overly complicated I know those for facts because it's a so I will have about 400 calorie breakfast pretty much six days out of seven and then the one day off a week that I might have pancakes or I might have you know poached eggs with avocado and smoked salmon and I think that's the difference is that you know you don't need to over complicate it with recipes for example you know you can have something as simple as and I'm not this isn't a a podcast to promote the book but if you look at the books I've done we've tried to make sure that everything can be bought from Tesco's and cooked in under 30 minutes so you could make up say a Moroccan tagine which could have some Moroccan spices which you can buy in Tesco's you could have a Tina chopped tomatoes a Tina chickpeas you could have them peppers and some form of protein you have that couscous of rice you've got a meat that's got protein it's got carbohydrate it's got fat and you've got your vegetables in there to give you all your nutrients it doesn't need to be too wonky per se you know and that's the thing with it but if you imagine your Monday is your rest day then by default maybe increase the amount of protein you're eating reduce the amount of carbohydrate if you know on a Tuesday evening you're going to go out and do the chaining and give your head kicked in half carbs for breakfast have carbs for lunch and have a protein and carbohydrate dinner but it does it you know you don't have time a tin of tuna a chopped up avocado and a packet of pre-cooked rice is protein carbs and fat do you know what I mean it does it doesn't need to be over complicated you know what I think the big separation I see is really early in that conversation you you spelled out one recipe and you're like that's a 400 calorie breakfast when I chatter World horror guys they know exactly like oh yeah that's a 500 calorie meal that's a 700 calorie meal they're very in tune of what the intake is when I look at some of my friends who are trying to be healthy you know quote unquote healthy and I'll tell them what did you have for breakfast and they're like oh you know I had some eggs I have an avocado I had smoked salmon and some grilled halloumi and you're like there's a big calorie that's probably like the problem is is the the Health and Fitness business is is is is full of bullshitters you know what I mean and not as a problem with it and and there's very very few people that understand food and nutrition from an athlete's perspective I'm from a cooking perspective so you can eat really well so that's a great example only really well toasted Artisan sourdough with seeds and in it crushed avocado with Sicilian olive oil to organic smoke common and Poached Eggs you know from chickens that have been fed Gold Dust man that's beautiful man that is probably a thousand calories maybe 1200 calories that's not eating well that's eating that's a mean that's more than you'd eat in a main meal eating well would be I've got intervals to do today man you could have a bagel with nut butter and jam that's perfect for intervals you could have risotto rice cooked in coconut milk with white sugar that's brilliant for intervals that isn't great that's that's eating a nutritional Wok trendy meal that would look good on Instagram it's perhaps not the best thing for your training and that is exactly it so if you think you know World Tour Riders you'll see they will know where the calories are they will know it's a bit like you know what five watts per kilo looks like do you know what it feels like do you know what six feels like they have that ability to do that and I think if you can do nothing else buy yourself a small set of kitchen skills and go 60 grams of oats or 60 grams of Oats do they know what that looks like and or the difference between 20 grams of maple syrup and 30 grams is that that's it it's but the difference between being in a calorie deficit equal or Surplus is that it's a bit like again you could make porridge up you could do 60 grams of volts 120 grams of berries and 20 grams of maple I know that's because that was my default breakfast for two months so I knew I could do that blindfold the difference between that being 80 grams of oats with Chia and flax seeds full fat milk you then have a banana on berries and you put 40 grams of maple is probably double the amount of calories don't tasting oil it's wild so the so if you were one of those people that can't keep weight on those I think they're called Annoying bastards I think that's what they're called you know what they're called those annoying people I can't keep way on or bless you I used to be one of them those gifts that we we occasionally don't you know so if you want you then get color really colorifically dense foods so good foods not butter you know avocado oily fish those aren't really colorifically dense full fat milk cheese all of those things are things you avoid like the plague if you want to actually have you know if you want to will have weight management and say unless you're one of those rare beasts so I think that's something that's really really important that you don't need 10 breakfast you don't need 10 lunches you you just need the ability to be able to match your training mode to your food load and that's something again is really important is if you're under fueling or over fueling or overeating using your avocado smoked salmon you know example of it that's good food that's good foods for possibly after a four or five hour ride where you need to get nutritionally dense color efficiently dense food in it's not something that's a breakfast uh you know it's just it's not and I think you know it's it's a model of if you looked if you well you've been about enough to if you actually went and looked at what people were eating in world tours or World Tour races stage races or even one day races quite often it's low in fiber because your body can store a lot of water and you can have a couple of kilos of undigested fiber and it's high in carbohydrate and I know we talked about this before a male World Tour Rider will take on at least 10 to 12 grams of carbohydrate per kilo of body weight per day on a stage race female athletes are taking on eight to ten grams of carbohydrate per kilo body weight per day now that's a number that will mean nothing to anybody unless you wear out and if you put in context a banana is 20 grams of carbs approximately do the math and that that's them doing a stage race that's the kind of numbers that they're used to taking you don't need that if you're doing an hour runs left or an hour's chaining you don't need to be feeling like a world to a rider and I think that's the thing you've got to be aware of it's it's just different shifting gear slightly I'm fascinated by and something I really try and explore on the podcast all the time it's the link between High performers so I've had a chance to talk to people who've worn you know the highest accolades in Academia artists with the highest accolades sporting people you've achieved the highest accolades in The Culinary worlds but I'm interested in that Journey like I'm Michael Barry you know former team score US Postal on the podcast recently and one of Michael's books is called the metier and this was a term I heard over and over when I was coming up in France and the kind of direct translation to English it's the hard work the sacrifice the discipline or the apprenticeship yeah wants a better word of making your way through cycling is that very much the same in The Culinary world that you're coming in and from kauai's humble beginnings and you're learning that trade as you go very much so and I you know I've been fortunate that I've worked in a couple of very different High performing environments and the the traits are almost identical you know if you look anybody that aspires to Excellence requires obsessive Tendencies like nobody becomes excellent and I mean truly excellent if you measure Excellence about Michelin stars or world or Olympic medals we're talking Excellence it requires application it requires obsessiveness but I I don't see a sacrifice because I think it's about investment it's about a personal investment and there's a very good coach here a guy called Jamie Turner who coached 2016 Olympic champion Gwen Jorgensen and he talks about investment you know it's not a sacrifice it's an investment you're making it in yourself because if you spend the time and I think it's all about how much investment are you willing to make and if you look at different levels of say cooking or cycling or or any sport that you want you know you could be a pub chef and you could probably work 35 hours a week and you could cook up you could cook stuff in the local pub that's cool that's you know and you can probably go home you can spend weekends with your family you can be there for every birthday every anniversary you can see friends and you can have a life that's the amount of investment you made in the trade-off when you're working Mission star restaurants I did ah Jesus what 16 20 years I was in Mission staff for over 25 years I think I was over 10 years I didn't take a weekend off you know I I never did birthdays or anniversaries I never went to the schools I never did any of that because that was that was not what I did and you know if somebody was having you know and you need that laser line focus and is it selfishness or is it dedication you know it's a bit like what's the difference between arrogance and confidence it's all about the delivery of it so the traits that you come across in high performers in my experience are very very similar and you know if you look at truly world class you know multiple Olympians most of them are not the most balanced and nice people to be around you know it's a bit like you know I could probably count on one hand I was with British cycling for about three years and we used to do look after the podium Squad athletes so basically people are going to win Worlds and Olympics that's where the funding was and that's where investment was I could probably count on one hand the amount of those athletes that would be in contact with you when you couldn't offer them anything yeah I mean when you weren't the here and there and you couldn't help them become better athletes so if you're not an event would they get in contact with you with a comment on a post on social media would they check in they wouldn't because it's not going to help them become a better athlete it's a bit like if I was running the restaurants and the phone went at eight o'clock on a Saturday night I wouldn't answer it because that's not going to help get that two duck to table seven you know what I mean so it's it's that absolute we used to throw you live in this world this parallel universe that nothing exists outside Excellence now I would say that in some respects cooking is much harder than sport because sport is all about winning you know if you say to a lot of athletes what they want to do I want to be world champion I want to be a Olympian Champion I want to be National Champion European whatever it may be it's a very very clearly defined goal whereas food's quite subjective and the best food in the world could be a bacon sandwich in bed you know I mean it could be a kebab at three o'clock in the morning down some dirty Halloween that can be amazing yeah I mean it could be a better fish on the beach somewhere I can it's all up quite often it's environmental or it could be a 20 course tasting menu in ducas and Monte Carlo it does it's very where Sports easier to compartmentalize and I think once you identify as a high performer what the success look like for you so for me it was having a Michelin star it was retaining a Michelin star and it was constantly you know we used to look our Mantra our our kind of rezondetra used to be we used to want to exceed our guests expectations leaving them wanting to return which is a bit of a wonky mouthful but it was we wanted to exceed expectations whereas you'll have athletes maybe like yourself what do you want to do I want to write for my national team that's success for you or for some people I know at BC man a silver medal or a bonds medal was the end of the world I remember being in Europeans or where were we Apple dorm it was a year out from the first Olympics it didn't happen in uh in Tokyo and I remember Ed clonty was going nuts because they'd come forth you know for most people fourth and Europeans would be brilliant and then you've got something like Jason Kenney who just didn't give a because it wasn't Olympics and success for him he didn't care whether he qualified for finance because for him it was all about the Olympics so it's the the traits and the behaviors of goal setting surrounding yourself with the right people to help you deliver your goal investment selfishness stroke dedication are very very very similar I would say with food is exactly the same as sport you know when you can no longer be excellent get out you know don't be one of these people that are you know a 40 year old professional they'd be like me I I got out the restaurant game because I no longer wanted to be the first person and every day I no longer would pull back something you know I could see that I no longer cared enough and it's almost been the behavior I I almost softened to compromise do you know what I mean and I think for me I didn't have that absolute like it it's wrong throughout the world we do it again I lost that laser line Focus I lost it you know it'd be like a pro sin I've got six hours to do it's pissing down my rain I'll tell you what I'll just do three on the terrible when you do that you you you are no longer being the best professional that you can be in my opinion in my opinion that that's and I think the treats are similar the people that I come across are normally coming with baggage as well they've normally got something and again you you've probably listened to enough podcasts and you're well read enough to if you ever look at a lot of high performers they quite often have some form of trauma or something in the background that's made them want to almost over achieve and you see that a lot but nice genuinely nice well-balanced people that are truly world class are rare to come across but so when I look at my journey with site learner I look at my journey in in a previous life before I started cycle and I went through law school and so I have loads of friends who've gone that part when I look at it I've I don't have any regrets about jumping off and not pursuing the top wrong of the ladder like at some point for me when I was across I was riding for a US team the sacrifices were just too much for me to make sense of them I was missing friends weddings I was missing my sister graduating from college I was missing my parents wedding anniversary and I was like this I don't want that the sacrifices are too great for me to step up to the next level and also there's a very uncertain outcome you can make all those sacrifices and you still don't step up yeah to the next level so as someone who made those sacrifices stepped up made more sacrifices stepped up when you got to the very top of the mountain in your chosen profession was it everything he imagined was the sacrifice along the way worth it at the time yes and I wouldn't have changed it retrospectively no you know retrospectively I don't have a relationship with any of my children that I'd like to um because of because of that behavior at the time yes because the ends Justified the means um but I probably wasn't that nicer person when I was doing it maybe you're too nice Anthony maybe that's a problem you know because again you're the first person let's be honest so let's be honest if you're going to do law school right nobody chooses law because it's easy you're obviously clever and you're well educated to do lot and I'm not blowing smoke up your ass here you know what I mean most lawyers are probably well educated and fairly well balanced and been well schooled the chances are you didn't leave school at 15.

Why Champions Have a Nasty Edge

If you went to law school you know what I mean you've been through the system so you've probably confirmed you've respected Authority you've applied yourself and you you've you've looked at boundaries because you don't become a lawyer by accident right it's not it's like I just fell into being a lawyer you know as a drug addict until I just certainly become a lawyer it doesn't work like that so I think maybe you were maybe a bit too nice and maybe just like that color Instinct but I I I know professional cyclists are too nice the best cyclist I know quite honestly are quite nasty bastards and I mean you're not in the nicest is it nasty or is it is it nasty or is it just blink you know one for me too many too many times so too many dimensions there's so many things they've got that laser line Focus they've got that laser line focus and you know you know I can think of a couple of people I know that that just got that absolute that that Focus that linear Focus so I think it's it's a really difficult one because you know if you think you've been a professional site you you know you've gone to law school that's not pissing about most people will never be a lawyer or a doctor or a professional cyclist or a mission but the difference between being excellent and truly world-class is quite often it's just that in that ability to just just go that extra mile and it could be nasty it could be I don't know what I don't know what it is but there's there's almost an edge to them it's about like like let's look well documented once you know an angry Cav an angry Wiggins you know you look at those guys I don't imagine they were very nice to be around when they were out there very very Peak you know I I there's the order normally like a nasty Jason Kenny that don't exist you know he's he's not but he's you know you're Jason Kenny's and Chris hoys of this world are probably outliers the other one as well I can think of immediately is uh young for dinner young for dinner was a very very nice man he's a great guy but he's got that he can put the blinkers up when he needs to when he races um but I think it's I it's it's a really difficult one because I thank you I know that at the time the decisions I made I believe were 100 correct retrospectively would I have changed anything no I wouldn't because I was acting on what I had at the time but I knew it I know there's collateral damage and if you look at a lot of high performers there's a trail of Devastation behind them personal Devastation quite often because you know the difference between training on that day or missing that because of an event is is quite significant and I think it's I personally think it's quite difficult to be the very best I'll also be a truly balanced human being um I I and maybe I don't have the skills to do that

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Why am I not losing weight cycling 6 hours a week?+

Alan Murchison explains that most amateur cyclists under-fuel during rides and then overcompensate with food for the rest of the day, creating a daily calorie surplus of 1,800 to 2,000 calories. Cycling is an efficiency-based sport, meaning your body adapts quickly and burns fewer calories than riders expect, making weight loss harder than it is with running.

How many carbs per hour should cyclists eat on the bike?+

Alan Murchison outlines how WorldTour teams have shifted toward consuming 90 to 120 grams of carbohydrate per hour during training and racing. Most amateur cyclists eat far less than this on the bike, which leads to under-fuelling during exercise and overeating afterwards.

What should cyclists eat on race day for low residue?+

A low-residue race-day approach means avoiding high-fibre foods that add gut bulk without providing quick energy. Alan Murchison recommends keeping pre-race meals simple and easily digestible, prioritising fast-acting carbohydrates to top up glycogen without causing gastrointestinal discomfort during effort.

Why do cyclists overeat after long rides?+

According to Alan Murchison, cyclists overeat after rides because they start the session already under-fuelled, often on something as small as a 400-calorie breakfast. The resulting hunger drives disproportionate post-ride eating that wipes out any calorie deficit the training session created.

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Key Takeaways

Most amateur cyclists under-fuel their training rides, then overeat afterwards to compensate. A 3-hour ride with only a bottle creates a 1800-2000 calorie deficit that gets made up throughout the day, negating any weight loss benefit.

You can't accurately compare energy burned on your bike across different devices or fitness levels—metrics vary by 15-20%. Instead of obsessing over numbers, learn to match your food intake to your specific training load (recovery vs. race pace vs. intervals).

Forget complicated recipes. A 400-calorie breakfast of 60g oats, 120g berries, and 20g maple syrup takes under a minute and delivers everything you need. The difference between that and 80g oats with chia, flax, full-fat milk, and banana is nearly double the calories.

External stresses (work emails, family conflict, broken sleep) matter as much as training stress. A pro cyclist has infrastructure that eliminates these; an amateur juggles breakfast prep, tire pressure, and family logistics on race day.

True excellence in any field—cooking, cycling, law—requires obsessive focus and personal investment. The best performers are rarely 'nice people' because they've made trade-offs (missed birthdays, family time) that feel justified only when you reach the top.

Plan your nutrition alongside your training week. If you know Tuesday is a chainring session and Sunday is a long ride, fuel accordingly. A tin of tuna, pre-cooked rice, and avocado hits protein, carbs, and fat without complexity.

Expert Quotes

"The problem is the Health and Fitness business is full of bullshitters. There's very few people that understand food and nutrition from an athlete's perspective and from a cooking perspective."

"The best cyclist I know quite honestly are quite nasty bastards. There's almost an edge to them—that laser-line focus."

"Retrospectively I don't have a relationship with any of my children that I'd like to because of that behavior. At the time yes, because the ends justified the means. But I probably wasn't that nice a person when I was doing it."

KEY QUOTES

“most the mistake a lot of athletes a lot of cyclists make is they under fuel training so you know they go out and they'll do three hours and they'll be very proud that they've had a bottle or a banana in the back pocket and then what happens is they have a calorie deficit it could be 1800 to 2 000 calories and then there's each ship for the rest of the day”
Alan Murchison — Professional chef and competitive cyclist

“I know I've got training Peaks every single I could go out and ride if I looked at the metrics on all of those they're all different they're all different there are there's maybe 15 20 difference in all of them”
Alan Murchison — Professional chef and competitive cyclist

“I certainly know this from experiencing people that I know that are writing pro athletes will be taking on you know 90 to 110 120 grams of carbs per hour they'll be on a low raised diet low residue diet essentially which is low fiber a lot of the time whilst the racing”
Alan Murchison — Professional chef and competitive cyclist

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Why am I not losing weight cycling 6 hours a week?+

How many carbs per hour should cyclists eat on the bike?+

What should cyclists eat on race day for low residue?+

Why do cyclists overeat after long rides?+

THE UNTOLD STORY OF SUCCESS | ALAN MURCHISON

Key Takeaways

Expert Quotes

CLAIMS FROM THIS EPISODE

KEY QUOTES

What Amateurs Get Wrong About Nutrition

Life Stress vs Training Stress

Why Champions Have a Nasty Edge

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

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THE UNTOLD STORY OF SUCCESS | ALAN MURCHISON

Key Takeaways

Expert Quotes

CLAIMS FROM THIS EPISODE

KEY QUOTES

What Amateurs Get Wrong About Nutrition

Life Stress vs Training Stress

Why Champions Have a Nasty Edge

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

NEVER MISS AN EPISODE

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Key Takeaways

Expert Quotes

CLAIMS FROM THIS EPISODE

KEY QUOTES

1.What Amateurs Get Wrong About Nutrition

2.Life Stress vs Training Stress

3.Why Champions Have a Nasty Edge

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THE UNTOLD STORY OF SUCCESS | ALAN MURCHISON

Key Takeaways

Expert Quotes

CLAIMS FROM THIS EPISODE

KEY QUOTES

1.What Amateurs Get Wrong About Nutrition

2.Life Stress vs Training Stress

3.Why Champions Have a Nasty Edge

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What Amateurs Get Wrong About Nutrition

Life Stress vs Training Stress

Why Champions Have a Nasty Edge

What Amateurs Get Wrong About Nutrition

Life Stress vs Training Stress

Why Champions Have a Nasty Edge