I’m doing my first long ride on Saturday, and I want to have ALL the energy and finish strong. My hubby isn’t on keto, and I have been since December.
My question is, do I need gels and carbs for this ride. I tried his gel once on my peloton 25 mile ride and it gave me a headache. I’m soooo confused!
Gretchen
First rule of eating while exercising: don’t do anything on your race/big ride that you haven’t practised and made work in training. If you think you are fat adapted, I would say go for it without anything except your bodyfat. Tell your husband your version of his gel is your bodyfat, and it comes in a much handier package for consuming on the bike! 
Cheers
Alec
Bring some baggies of nuts and jerky or individual packs of nut butter. If you need it, you’ll have some extra fuel source handy without diving into the carbs.
I’d be interested to know what you end up doing on the day, 51 miles is a good distance and you’re going to burn something. What’s the Keto equivalent to loading up on pasta the previous day because that’s what one of my friend used to do and he was a professional long distance racer. They’re real pigs those guys but they are lean and mean.
Don’t eat too big, though - I remember a recent post where someone did a big feed of keto food the day before a run and felt terrible the whole way. I think the jerky and nuts are a good way to go. But don’t get down on yourself if you bonk - just come back to the forums, look at the bicycling section and ask the guys who are doing century races how they went about building up to them. And kick ass next time!
I’d suggest having salty chicken broth an hour before your start. I’m assuming you will have plenty of electrolyte to drink (I use PowerAde Zero). Heat sensitivity and dehydration are your biggest risks.
Lastly, given that you haven’t been fat-adapted that long, and this sounds like a longer distance than normal for you, I would bring some backup carbs in case you feel a bonk coming on. No need to be hero. Fig Newtons are pretty good. I bonked twice while adapting - it happens and is not a long term set-back.
If you’re fat-adapted you are unlikely to bonk, according to Stephen Phinney. That was his experience cycling and the experience of fat-adapted cyclists he and Jeff Volek studied. Tim Noakes talks about a couple of guys who won 100-mile endurance races in ketosis. One guy used the gels his first year, and then ran carb-free the second year—and won! As Dr. Phinney points out, the quantity of glucose that the body holds is about a teasponful, whereas even the skinniest athlete has grams and grams of fat to burn. Dr. Attia says that a sugar burning athlete is like the driver of a diesel-fuel tanker who runs out of gas—if he were burning diesel instead, he’d never run out.
HI @PaulL – I mostly agree with you and have carefully read Phinney and Volek’s book on performance including their studies with cyclists. However, the point I’d like to stress after having bonked twice after I thought I was fat-adapted is that fat adaptation takes longer than just getting past “keto-flu”. You can definitely bonk after being in ketosis for 3 months straight as I did.
In my case, I believe the process took 6 months. Half way through, I was able to complete 4 hour bike rides in a fasted state, so I assumed I was adapted. But when I pushed it in hills, headwinds, or heat, I still bonked. Today, my cardio fitness is the same, but I no longer bonk in these situations. So my advice to people who are relatively new to Keto and pushing distance or intensity is to have backup carbs. Like a spare tube, you may not need it, but it’s great to have if you do.
It rained and was under 50 degrees. I have raynauds, so no way I could do the ride. VERY disappointing! I’m thinking of concocting my very own long ride so I am confident on doing one in the future.
Ah no problem, that’s cold. Well please keep us informed how it goes when you do manage to complete a long keto ride. Just interested to see how that compares to your hubby and his carbs.
I have never bonked on a ride since being in this state and did before and know what it felt like !!
If this is the first 50 mile for you @Gretchen_Johnson then just do not go into the ‘red’ make sure at all times you are able to speak normally to others and never out of breath, keep to those rules and should be fine. If you are slower than others, who cares ?? you are only trying to achieve a target for yourself !
ps. have you tried fasted rides and how did that feel ?
Hi @Gretchen_Johnson – sorry the ride fell through – @ianrobo brings up an interesting point: you can bang out fasted rides any time – it might be worth doing some short ones before attempting longer ones. And for a 50 miler, you can plan a route with a strategically placed restaurant stop.
I think I heard Vinnie Tortorich claim that he just brought a small bottle of some kind of oil with him to fuel his endurance efforts. I want to say he said olive oil, but maybe I’m just thinking that because he’s Italian 
. I think my choice would probably be coconut oil.