As well as being a fantastic way to test your early season fitness, these sportives offer a great opportunity to test out your pacing and nutrition strategies for the big day, as well as more practice riding in a big group or ‘peloton’.
Many people will underestimate the importance of nutrition, but in an event this long, and especially in the mountains, it is vital to get it right. You may find it difficult to get in enough energy during the ride itself, especially on the climbs so make sure you eat well in the days before the sportive and aim to eat little and often during the ride.
It’s best to eat during the flatter sections and descents as when you’re climbing you will want all your blood going to the muscles rather than digesting your food, plus it can be difficult to take on food when you are breathing heavily. At the moment, you may not be used to eating and drinking at high speed when descending so it’s vitally important to get comfortable with this before the big day. Try making a conscious effort to practice taking your food and drink on during the faster sections of your training rides and on downhill sections, while staying in control of the bike.
Many sportives will have feed stations on the route but it is often best to stick to products you are familiar with rather than try something new on the day and risking digestion issues. It’s not pleasant. This year’s Etape will have nutritional products supplied by Isostar, a bonus for UK riders as the previous supplier, Overstims, was a French brand which is difficult to obtain in the UK, while Isostar is widely available. It’s a good idea to try the drinks at least in your training rides in the build -up to the Etape to ensure they get on well with your stomach, and of course be prepared to make alternative arrangements by bringing your own powders if they don’t. Solid food will also be available and usually ranges from energy bars and gels (again supplied by Isostar) to cake and bananas so there will be plenty of opportunity to fuel up.
We’ll cover specific nutrition strategies for this year’s Etape, and how you may want to plan your food and drink intake according to the course, in next month’s article.
