Cooking for the TdF Riders.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/spo...
I knew these guys ate a lot, but did not realize that they were gluten free and dairy and soy free. The considerations for maximum performance is very interesting. I would be interested in seeing how he keeps the meals interesting in terms of seasoning.
Phaedrus
Jul 18, 2009 04:36PM
This might come as a surprise to people reading this site, but taste is completely secondary to the riders. The food has one function, replenish the calories the rider lost during the day, in the most efficient manner possible. During a 24 hour period for a tour rider he does essentially four things. ride- eat - massage- and sleep. That is what a pro road cyclist does.
For a more detailed idea of a tour riders daily diet here is some interesting reading
http://www.trainright.com/articles.as...
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Taste is absolutely critical, as the article says, the riders become so fatigued that the desire for food is diminished, which is why shoveling in tasty food is better than shoveling in crappy tasting food: you will eat more and replenish more calories. It is easier for them to do their jobs if they can eat the food without thinking about how dull the food is.
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"Taste is absolutely critical"
tasty food is better than bad food, but, dinner is not like some kind of 'chowdown' event. And the statement about fatigue and desire for food is just a little exagerated. Riders really have no problem eating. They do have a problem eating enough calories to replenish what they've burned up. It is interesting to note that the majority of the calories consumed are not at dinner or breakfast, but the ones consumed on the bike and during the time before and after a race.
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he said they're "generally" gluten free, but he mentioned couscous, and i'm sure the pasta they eat isn't always the GF stuff, nor, i imagine, are all the boxes of cereal they set out as breakfast options.
interesting stuff nonetheless. i read a similar article about the Tour food a few years ago - i wish i could remember where, i'm pretty sure there was some discussion about how to keep the flavors interesting and prevent the food from becoming monotonous.
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I've been around cycling for at least twenty years now. I used to be a licensed United States Cycling Federation race official, a race promoter, and the mother of an elite cyclist. He is now the managing director of the Ten Speed Drive road race team (all Cat 1s he is developing to turn pro). And I've been hosting elite teams and cooking for them prior to races for twenty plus years.
That said, these articles impress me as so much press to try to bedazzle the public. The critical factor for any racer at an elite level is to "carbo load" the night before a race so the body has time to store the carbs before the race. A good high carb breakfast is important too so the athlete doesn't start "pulling carbs" from his body before the race. Now... Gluten free???? I don't think so! I don't think I have ever known or heard of a cyclist with celiac disease, for example, which doesn't mean there aren't any. Just that if there are, they're even rarer in the cycling population than in the general population.
One of the referred articles says something to the effect that how good the food tastes doesn't matter much. That's absolutely untrue. If the food isn't great, who wants to eat it? It's no different for athletes than it is for the fat ladies you see in buffet lines. It has to taste good to want more.
Energy and hydration are the most critical things for a guy on a bike in a long race. And he absolutely has to eat on his bike. If you're watching the tour, you've seen guys eating energy bars and squeezing energy gels into their mouths. A few riders still like a piece of fresh fruit on the bike. Years ago, bananas were a favorite, then it was recognized that banana oils are excreted in sweat and attract mosquitos, so if a race is anywhere near a body of water, bananas aren't a fruit of choice.
What foods a rider (or the teams' director or nutritionist) will choose to go int the musette bags on a race day will sometimes depend on the course. More "complicated' foods like sports bars, sandwiches, fresh fruits are fine on a long endurance race across a relatively flat course. With the mountain stages coming up in the Alps, you'll likely see most riders "eating" sports gels, which are packed with nutrition and carbs and slide down the throat alsmost as easily as water. In a climb, they're out of the saddle much of the time and handling food is not all that easy. It can cost them time. In all types of racing, water is critical. And yes. Riders relieve themselves from their bikes. They pull to the side of the peloton and look for a stretch with little to no spectators in open country. As for solid foods, there's not much of that in time trials, individual or team. Which is not to say a gel isn't possible or even desirable.
Sports nutrition has come a long way in the last twenty years. Not all countries (or cycling teams) are "on the same page." For example (and I'm going back in time now intentionally) about twenty years ago, carbo-loading was a common thing here in the U.S., but not yet universal. My son's team was invited to a ProAm invitational stage race, The Tour of Chihuahua, obviously in Mexico. In that country, and at that race level, and absolutely unlike the way things are done in this country (more's the pity), the race promoters provide ALL race teams with accomodations and food all during the race, including rest days. But Mexico was very far behind on race diet. They still thought protien loading was critical, and meals were steaks. One race day, when they went in for breakfast, it was liver! My son HATES liver! And that's all that was served; platters and platters of liver. So John didn't eat. His teammates were upset, How could he race? He raced. And he won that stage. When a reporter asked him how he had won, he simply replied, "I was STARVING!" But he paid for it the next day. He and his teammates did compensate by buying bolillos and tortillas and gorging on those. Refined sugars are pretty useless when it comes to carbo loading, so all of the lovely pan dulces of Mexico were ignored.
In talking about rest days, the writers of these articles don't seem to understand cyclists all that well. It's absolutely true that there have been a lot of problems with drugs in cycling. I'm hoping and praying that problem is on its way out. Lance Armstrong was drug tested FORTY times this season, BEFORE the Tour began! And he is tested daily now. I think he's the only cyclist in the Tour under such scritiny. And he's coming through clean, which I think witll be a clear message -- especially to younger cyclists -- that you do NOT have to cheat to win!
But I mention doping because, bottom line is that every elite cyclist is an endorphin addict. It's a natural result of all of that heavy exercise. Cyclists train hard to raise their anaerobic threshold, which in turn allows them to race harder and longer before going into an anaerobic state during which their body takes in less oxygen than it burns. They get lactic acid burn in their legs you cannot believe. And their body dumps a whole bunch of endorphins into their system to help them endure the pain. Which now brings us back to rest days... They have to put in around eighty to a hundred miles, or two to four hours on their bikes to keep their system tuned. The Tour de France is the world's longest and most difficult stage race, and "rest" is simply not racing, but does not mean not riding. When my son was still racing twenty years ago, I used to absolutely hate it the few times he came down with the flu (or broke a bone) and could not ride his bike to train. Cyclists go through withdrawal from endorphins the same as street drug addicts. I could hardly wait for him to get back on his bike! And the "withdrawal symptoms" come on fairly fast. I would NOT like to be the team manager of a bunch of guys who spend a whole day off their bikes!
As for what the other teams are doing with or without a team chef, they're doing what they do in any race: carbo loading, having fun, getting angry at riders who don't play the game right, planning the next race and just doing what comes naturally to guys who make their living racing bicycles up and down the alps for three weeks in France every July.
Oh, and for the record, their caffeine intake is restricted by UCI's (Union Cycliste International, the world's governing body of professional bike racing) doping rules. When they take those urine samples, they're testing for caffeine levels along with everything else. They can have some caffeine. Just not the way they used to when some cyclists would pull out a water bottle loaded with espresso with a whole bunch of instant coffee dissolved in it and down that a mile or two before the finish line. Can't do that any more.
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Wow Caroline, thanks for the real life experience. The bit I had taken out is as below:
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The riders do not drink many dairy or soy products, Lim said, sticking to rice milk or almond milk instead. Their diets are generally gluten free.
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So generally gluten-free could mean a lot of things I guess.
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My guess is that it depends on who you talk to. At the elite team levels, riders equipment, uniforms, travel expenses, food, and a whole lot of other things, including salaries at the pro level, come from sponsorship. If a soy milk product is a sponsor, the riders drink soy milk! I don't recall seeing any rice milk, but if it's a team sponsor, you can bet the team will drink it! Well, unless a specific rider has an allergy problem. I've just never ever heard of a gluten free cycling diet. Complex carbs are to cyclists what gasoline is to a NASCAR driver. Without it, you won't go very fast.
Here are a couple of links to two of my son's team's racing food sponsors so you can look around and see what kind of "on the bike" foods are used. There are LOTS of manufacturers in addition to these, some more complex and sophisticated, some not. His team is a "green" team, so the vast majoritiy of their sponsors live under that umbrella.
http://www.clifbar.com/
Interestingly, Clif Bar also has a winery.
http://www.lunabar.com/
And another of their sponsors is for biodegradable sports bottles. Water bottles are commonly thrown to the side of the road when empty, where fans often retrieve them as race souvenirs. The first year Coke was a sponsor of the Tour de France, for instance, those water bottles were much sought after collector items! But it's nice to know that if the bottfles aren't all picked up, they are biodegradeable.
http://biogreenbottles.com/
And if anyone is curious, here's their team website:
http://tenspeeddrive.com/
Unfortunately, something went awry and their race schedule isn't up. Tonight theyre racing in a criterium in Vancouver that raises funds for the Washington State School for the Blind, and from there they will go on to the Cascade Cycling Classic 5 day stage race in Bend, Oregon, before the riders head for home.
With the global financial crunch, sponsorship for cyling teams at all levels is very touchy this year, as you might imagine, so it's been hard to keep all of their sponsorship links up on the web site. It isn't a cheap sport, but the great fun and wonder of it is that everyone can identify with it because we all rode bikes when we were little! It's a simple concept: Pedal fastest and you'll win. ....Maybe. '-)
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I have never done any road racing, but was involved with track for awhile. Mostly sprint and some pursuit.
I remember reading about the 6 day races from many years ago. I cannot imagine what they must have gone through and how they ever managed to keep their energy levels up.
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The nutritional challenge is the same, except no eating on the bike in track racing and I've NEVER seen a track bike with a water bottle cage! The biggest problem with track racing is that if you don't have a velodrome nearby, you ain't gonna have a place to race!
Some track riders do do a little road racing, but overall do best at criteriums as opposed to long distance road races. However, there is one rider in this year's TdF (I am abominable with names!) who is doing quite well, even in the mountains, who made his name in cycling as a track rider. He's a rare bird. Good luck to you in your pursuit of the sport, pun intended! '-) (For general information, "pursuit" and "team pursuit" are race formats in track racing.)
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You forgot to mention the most critical part of fueling for the TdF, or any century ride ... taking care of nature right on the saddle.
Who has time to dismount when the Peloton is whizzing by ...
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From my first post: "And yes. Riders relieve themselves from their bikes. They pull to the side of the peloton and look for a stretch with little to no spectators in open country. " But I would say "from the saddle" as opposed to "on the saddle." That's nasty! '-)
To my great amazement, one year they actually broadcast a rider relieving himself. All I remember is Phil Liggett's voice and a huge field of fully open giant sunflowers. No recollection of who the rider was any more other than a vague feeling it was someone I knew. A long time ago. I think it was one of the years they had a women's Tour.
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Years ago there was a photo that was published in some cycling magazine that showed the entire peleton taking a 'break' on the side of the road. In the distance were a field of sunflowers, and the comment under the photo was "now we know why the sunflowers grow so big" Now that that I think back, maybe it was Liggett and not a magazine. It was during that same time, mid 80's.
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The one I recall was a guy on his bike keeping up with the peloton. No one stopped. Of course, if it was a still photo and the peloton was blocking a view of his feet, who could tell?
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There is a women's tour, except they call is the Grand Boucle.
http://www.velo-feminin.com/
This year's was run in June.
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Oh God. That was many years ago. I am 70 now. The only biking I do now is to get groceries on my touring bike with saddle bags. I race to get home before the ice cream melts. :-)
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Hey, good for you! That counts. Depending on how far it is to the grocery store, you could even be setting world records!
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Most cycling teams aren't gluten, dairy, or soy free. They were talking about Garmin Slipstream, which is following a gluten-free diet because Christian Vande Velde decided that he felt and rode better when following an "anti-inflammatory" diet. The whole team is now following that plan. Most cycling teams still run on pasta and cereal.
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