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What to eat at an endurance gravel event — Dirty Reiver 2023

Suvi tackles the 200km gravel event with an expert fuel plan

Fueling for a multi-hour endurance gravel event is not an easy task. You need to ensure you have enough energy to complete the ride but because you’re off-road, you also face added elements contributing to the difficulty of eating and drinking while riding. 

In order to learn how to do it, I asked endurance nutrition brand Styrkr to help me develop a battle plan for one of the UK’s largest gravel events, the Dirty Reiver. The event takes place in Kielder Forest every year and offers three challenging route options: 60, 130 and 200km. 

Having done the 200km route last year, I signed up for the event again with the hopes of doing the same distance but completing it faster and feeling a little better throughout the ride. Last year, the lack of a proper nutrition plan was a real pitfall of mine, especially towards the end of the ride when I felt completely depleted and had to have frequent stops just to gather energy for the next hill. 

Without further reminiscing about my near-tear feelings from last year, let’s see how things went this time around. 

Step 1: Creating the fueling plan

2023 Styrkr video box

The first step of the process of becoming an expert in fueling myself was to create a fueling plan. I set up a call to get some expert help with this from Styrkr's Head of Sports Nutrition & Innovation, Leon Veal. Because as much as I can claim to be a semi-expert in eating lots, I think there’s always a lot more to learn about what I should be munching. 

“It is a multi-faceted thing, and not one size fits all,” Leon started with, and from there we got to the basics of on-the-bike nutrition. 

As a general rule, Leon recommends aiming for 30 to 90 grams of carbs per hour. You could go even higher but that is for intense efforts and you might struggle to make your gut absorb the amount of carbs (more on that later). 

Next, we talked about where to get the carbs from. Instead of figuring out how many carbs I could get from a banana or a handful of Haribos, products like Styrkr gels, drink mixes and bars help you easily figure out your carb intake. 

For example, each of the BAR50 rice bars gives you 50 grams of carbs, and the GEL30 Dual-Carb gels boost you with 30g of carbs. The carbohydrates in these products consist of two types - meaning that you get an optimal amount of maltodextrin and fructose. Mixing the two types of carbs in a special ratio allows you to have more - and that is what you want at an event. 

2023 Styrkr video drinking

Together with Leon, I created a plan for the ride I planned to complete in about 9 hours, and we then talked through the products I should be taking with me. To start off with, we used Styrkr’s online Fuel Tool which allows you to create a plan easily with a couple of clicks. 

The plan suggested I aim for about 60 grams of carbs per hour from the Styrkr products and support my energy intake with the normal food available at the Dirty Reiver feed stops. I was happy with that, so the only thing that remained was to get familiar with the products. 

Step 2: preparation and training the gut

2023 Styrkr video bar

As Leon highlighted, nutrition is very personal and what works for one doesn’t necessarily suit others. The Fuel Tool plan was a great ballpark to get started in thinking about which products I should be having and timing my intake of them right. 

In the weeks leading up to the Dirty Reiver, I was testing out the Styrkr BAR50 rice bars, GEL30 Dual-Carb gels and DRINK90 carb drink mixes on my training rides. This was recommended by Leon not only to figure out if I had any preferences in the flavours but also to make sure my tummy got used to the number of carbs I wanted to take in. Even on my shorter rides, I was using the quad-blend electrolyte products, the SLT 05 and SLT 07, to get familiar with how exactly to perfect my performance. 

I almost always ride with a cycling computer, and with the help of “eat” alerts every half an hour, I also tried my best to learn to eat and drink at regular intervals. 

2023 Styrkr video gel

On a long bike ride like the Reiver, it’s very easy to get bored of eating, especially if the products you have with you aren’t something you actually enjoy. The Styrkr gels and drink mix both have no real ‘flavour’ to them, which made them very easy to consume. From the rice bars, my initial favourite flavour was the Apple Cinnamon, but when I packed for the event, I wanted to have all the flavours with me because I ended up liking them all - and I quite like having different flavours on long rides. 

You can see in the video exactly what products I packed with me, and also my setup in terms of storing my nutrition. At events like the Dirty Reiver you do get support from the organisers, which was handy as I didn’t have to carry all of my nutrition with me for the whole 200km. But let’s get to the actual event… and the aftermath of it. 

Step 3: executing the plan and analysing the results

2023 Styrkr video feedstop

Well, let’s start by saying that this year, I didn’t bonk, nor did I have any stomach issues or felt hungry or weak throughout the 200km route. I relied on the GEL30’s for most of the ride, and saved the BAR50’s for the very few flat sections. Compared to last year, I think the biggest difference in my performance came from my bottles. I had plenty of electrolytes (a blend of the SLT 05 and 07) and ensured that I was always sipping carbs from my drink. 

The Reiver was by no means an easy day out on the bike. I knew the course to be brutal with lots of elevation, but the rainy and very dirty conditions made the ride a lot harder mentally than it was last year. However, I think the fueling plan helped me in this aspect as well: it was something to focus on when the ride itself seemed to drag on. The half hour-ly “eat” notifications kept me pushing on, and having a piece of the Chocolate Chip BAR50 felt like a treat when my legs were aching. 

My aim was to improve my time from last year and overall, to finish feeling stronger, and it’s exactly what I did. My time wasn’t the fastest on the course - it got me a third in my age category, though - but I felt heaps better at the finish line than I ever have before after a 200km ride. 

This year’s Dirty Reiver only confirmed that fueling on long rides is always a challenge, but even more so on gravel where things are rattly, everything is covered in dirt and you have a lot more obstacles to focus on than on the road. Fitness is one aspect of doing well, but after this year I really realised that the right fueling is perhaps even more important. Training the gut to get familiar with the products you’re about to have at an event is something that I have - as so many others do - ignored, and this year I noticed the difference it makes. 

The Styrkr products made it super easy for me to keep track of my carb intake, and with the well-thought-active ingredients and carb ratios, I have no doubt saying that I performed miles better than I would’ve on Haribos and crisps alone. 

If you wish to test out the Styrkr products yourself, head over to their website

Suvi joined F-At in 2022, first writing for off-road.cc. She's since joined the tech hub, and contributes to all of the sites covering tech news, features, reviews and women's cycling content. Lover of long-distance cycling, Suvi is easily convinced to join any rides and events that cover over 100km, and ideally, plenty of cake and coffee stops. 

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20 comments

Avatar
matthewn5 | 8 months ago
1 like

Avoid 'highly processed' food - food wrapped in plastic with a list of ingredients including things not found in a domestic kitchen - as it brings an absolute host of problems in its wake.

Check out what the scientists at Zoe say about the dangers:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-ultra-processed-foods-wreak-ha...

My big tip is salted nuts. Theyre small, they're tasty, and you'll get all the salts you need without having to use more ultra-processed tablets or powder additives in your water. Basically, normal food, not manufactured stuff.

 

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Ride On | 8 months ago
2 likes

This week I have been mostly eating... mud.

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NotNigel | 8 months ago
0 likes

I've tried veloforte bars and gels and whilst they taste nice i didn't feel any more nourished than from eating home baked stuff and sandwiches.  In fact I found it quite confusing when nearly every product seem to contain electrolytes, as to can you actually have too much? I did seem to get a slight discomfort in my kidney area on the rides I'd used the veloforte stuff on so I just stick to homemade cakes and brownies and an SIS tablet in a bottle of water.

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NotNigel replied to NotNigel | 8 months ago
1 like

...and the price of the stuff is ridiculous.

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Mungecrundle | 8 months ago
0 likes

Surely a nice big portion of Rocky Road ice cream and a pocket full of trail mix is all you need?

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Geoff Ingram | 8 months ago
0 likes

This article could be useful for anyone wanting general information about nutrition during long, hard rides, as long as they realise any one of the well known nutrition brands probably has equivalent products, although some may suit you more than others for ease of digestion. A few years ago now, I just wanted water bottles but hi5 had some promotion and sold them stuffed full with their gels, and I was amazed to see how effective they were compared to my home made sugary mixes. Later I tried their powders -good, but finally bought sacks of maltodextrina and fructosa to mix my own. Just as good. Gels are still worth it though. Definitely seem to give more energy than you would expect for their weight. And, despite my slowness and lack of power, much better (for me) than rice cake, oatmeal etc. Don't think it's faith or crazed beliefs, but I could be wrong.

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IanMSpencer replied to Geoff Ingram | 8 months ago
1 like

Some sugars are more readily absorbed.

The trouble with gels is that they can be great 5o dig you out of a trough, but have too many and you are quite likely to have indigestion. If you are charged up and eating consistently, you probably don't need the quick hit of a gel. If you've gone into a deficit, a fructose gel can wiggle through pretty quickly. When I've booked on a 100 miler, I might stop, take a gel, stand for 5 minutes and set off and that seems to be enough to get some fuel into leg muscles, but better not to have underfed in the first place.

So on a long ride, mix gels with other foods high in carbs, but I don't think gels are essential at all.

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Geoff Ingram replied to IanMSpencer | 8 months ago
0 likes

Good points. I certainly don't mean gels are all you should take! I never take more than 2 and often just 1 towards the end of a 5 hour long ride and have never had indigestion problems. Not essential, but convenient and effective for me.  I do try to fuel regularly, btw, but still mainly dissolved sugars.

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wtjs | 8 months ago
5 likes

Well, I think this type of advertorial is perfectly legitimate, and it is useful to many people, and it's fully declared. I doubt if it's aimed at the confirmed Luddites like me who just take some food and shove it down at intervals- the last time I did the Welsh 3000' Peaks, I took a large Christmas pudding I'd got cheap after Christmas a couple of years before. By the time I was grinding up the East Ridge of Crib Goch, I had a fair bit left but I couldn't face any more of it, and was wishing I'd brought some equally fatty pork pies. I didn't get the wobbles and finished reasonably well, but I'd have been better with a more sensible plan.

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bobinski replied to wtjs | 8 months ago
0 likes

Other products/means of fueling are available but...I really like the Styrkr products.Bars are tasty, the drink 90 easy on my stomach. The gels are just fine. Nothing is icky or sickly. I made my own drinks up last year with fructose and maltodextrin.  It was a bugger to take abroad smuggled in my bike bag. I am doing a raid pyrennees in 6 weeks time and the Styrkr options, amongst real food of course, will be my fuel of choice. 

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Ride On replied to wtjs | 8 months ago
0 likes

A lot of respect for your fuelling plan. Love old christmas pud.

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kinderje replied to wtjs | 8 months ago
0 likes

I know what you mean about the pork pies. I did a 120 mile overnight ride last year and my first stop was fuelled by two Greggs sausage rolls - manna from heaven!!!

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Flintshire Boy | 8 months ago
1 like

.

'This article includes paid promotion on behalf of Styrkr'.

.

'includes'??? More like 'is purely' a paid promotion etc.

.

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chuckd replied to Flintshire Boy | 8 months ago
2 likes

Which kinda compromises the "knowledge" they're tryng to convey. How can you tell the difference between the marketing and the truth? You could bring some knowledge to the article (as I have), but then why would you read it?

I don't trust it

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Cugel replied to chuckd | 8 months ago
1 like

chuckd wrote:

Which kinda compromises the "knowledge" they're tryng to convey. How can you tell the difference between the marketing and the truth? You could bring some knowledge to the article (as I have), but then why would you read it?

I don't trust it

"The truth" is now a Schrodinger-cat.

When you don't like it, any kind of demonstrable fact can be dismissed with a hate-label, with "woke" being the latest favourite. (There have been dozens of such handy auto-reject words in past times). However, when your mind has been parasitically infested with one or another mad conspiracy theories, religions, ideologies, cult-svengali notions or similar, there is then no truth (best-constructed facts made with evidence and the like) but only The Truth, which obliterates facts in favour of faiths and often crazed beliefs.

In advertising, faiths and crazed beliefs are the normal currency. Even apparent evidence-based facts often turn out to be sly constructs made by the same folk who provide the sort of stuff mentioned in "lies, damned lies and statistics".

Personally I try not to read any adverts, especially "advertorials" which, even whilst admitting their status, are carefully constructed to induce a buying-yen based on what we read as some sort of genuine and exciting experience but which is in fact a highly constructed story that's much more a fantasy than based in any kind of genuine disinterested evidence-based truth.

So it's old Christmas puds and home-made oaty things for me an' all.   1

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mark1a replied to Cugel | 8 months ago
2 likes

Yeah but we are just talking about a sponsored feature for a sports nutrition brand on a cycling website here, there's no conspiracy. 

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Cugel replied to mark1a | 8 months ago
1 like

mark1a wrote:

Yeah but we are just talking about a sponsored feature for a sports nutrition brand on a cycling website here, there's no conspiracy. 

It's an easy matter to construct a cogent argument that any and all adverts are conspiracies. Each individual advert is a conspiracy by the manufacturers, purveyors and PR agents (including weebistes like this one, at times) to persuade you to buy something you don't need by inducing you to want it nevertheless, with various suggestions of the gewgaws' importance, abilities, glamour and general desirability.

As a general construct, the whole notion of advertsing has become a conspiracy to get us humans to go rabid-consumer, despite the now very obvious deleterious effects on not just the individual consumers but everything else on the planet.

Sadly, there are cabals, syndicates, businesses, religiou organisations and, of course, political parties that are very much conspiracies to achieve various intended outcomes, often (but not aways) by means of lies and inducements that obscure their actual intents. (But a conspiracy doesn't have to be obscure to remain a conspiracy).

If you were Michel Foucault (or even Richard Dawkins) you might argue that culture itself is a conspiracy - of what each respectively called "power" or "memeplexes" - evolutionary thrusts by the metaphysical evolutionary entities "ideas" to use humans as their substrate in which to evolve, even if this does often result in the humans involved ending up as waste in the process.

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mark1a replied to Cugel | 8 months ago
3 likes

I think you need to get out on your bike a bit more. 😜

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Cugel replied to mark1a | 8 months ago
1 like

mark1a wrote:

I think you need to get out on your bike a bit more. 😜

Ha! Me and t'ladywife have returned from a hilly Welsh dash-about just now. It required no expensive sugary dollops of overpriced goo in a piece of litter, only a nice big slice of home made cake, when we got back. 

During the couple of hours we were out, 37,913 victims of adverts bought 46,891 pieces of stuff they didn't need, most of which are already following their advert-splattered excesive wrappings to the landfill. 

But dinnae fret. When I'm dictator it'll all be different, with every cyclists (including the 38 million new ones) required to learn "cake-making  for first rate nutrition".

Avatar
mike the bike replied to Cugel | 8 months ago
2 likes

 

...... Ha! Me and t'ladywife have returned from a hilly Welsh dash-about just now. It required no expensive sugary dollops of overpriced goo in a piece of litter, only a nice big slice of home made cake, when we got back. ....... [/quote]

 

Well said sir.  People laugh at my regular long distance feeding but I've ridden many a hundred-mile day and never bonked on a diet of jam sandwiches, bananas and homemade juice.  Too old to get suckered into change now.

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