Giro D' Italia
The Giro D’ Italia is one of the three big tours (multi-day stage races) for the professional international cycling community; along with the Tour De France and the Vuelta Espana. The Giro started on May 6th and wraps up on Sunday. It is amazing to me that anyone can finish these tours, let alone race several a year. My last serious bike ride involved a stop for lunch at the local brewery at the halfway mark (6 miles in!). These riders are essentially putting in century rides (and then some) every day for 3 weeks. So let’s break down the Giro for a moment:
- 21 stages (doh!), with 2 rest days (slackers!)
- 3,553 kilometers in length
- 169km average stage length (105 miles)
- 10 flat stages; 4 moderate mountain stages; 4 absolutely insane mountain stages, 3time trials
- 224km with 4000m of climbing are part of the today’s stage…also the toughest stage…oh, that invovles climbing 4 moutains and roughly 7 hours of time in the saddle
To finish a race like this you need to be super-fit, have a good team, and eat like a horse. Using this online calculator, a 26 year old male weighing 160lbs would burn about 4500 calories. Adding another 1700 or so to account for energy needed just to keep the body functioning normally and you’re looking at 6-7000 calories per day just to keep the tank full!
When you are on the bike for 6 or 7 hours a day, that means taking taking in a lot of calories while riding. The most interesting thing I’ve noticed about long-distance cyclists, is that their edge is as much about the nutrition as it is about the riding. When you go out to ride a hundred miles, if you aren’t steadily drinking fluids and eating every 30 minutes, you’re going to run into trouble. If I only had that type of disclipine during a typical work day! Work is totally an endurance event. I think the same rules apply. I’ve lately gotten quite good at keeping a big jug of water handy, but my energy levels would clearly be better if I ate more of the right stuff, more often. Even if I’m not riding a hundred miles every day, sometimes it really does feel like I am…so I might as well eat like I am; right?
BTW…if you want to follow the Giro, check out www.cyclingnews.com. They have great coverage.
