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What is the secret to obtain the best of yourself during a bike ride? The right power. From morning breakfast to evening meal.
The ideal breakfast
The morning one is the most important meal of the day for a cyclist. It provides the fuel needed to get to the stage and supports the athlete during prolonged exercise. Breakfast must be made at least three hours before departure to make sure it gets digested before the start. It must consist of nutritious and easy to digest foods. On the table of the rider there should always be the mixed muesli cereal grains. And then omelette accompanied by wholemeal bread or a plate of pasta, but wholemeal too and seasoned only with extra virgin olive oil.
The vegetal milk is to be preferred to the animal one, to avoid reactions due to lactose intolerance. Green light for rice or oats milk to soften a good muesli prepared using mixed cereals and quinoa, high in protein, with pumpkin seeds and sunflower, which provide essential amino acids and fats of excellent quality, with blueberries and other berries, rich in natural antioxidants and vitamins, and finally with a banana, which provides potassium. Adding to muesli spices like cinnamon or ginger enhances the antioxidant charge of breakfast, countering the production of free radicals. To enrich your meal with vitamins and other valuable minerals centrifuges (or extracts) of fresh fruits and vegetables are perfect, they are indispensable even during the rest of the day along with water, to stay hydrated. The recommended fruit is the same as muesli (berries and banana), supplemented by apple, lemon, carrot, ginger, pineapple.
During the race
Once in the saddle, cyclists must remember to drink at least a liter of centrifuged/water every hour and to eat something. Small wholemeal sandwiches coated with fresh and light cheese or with ham are fine. Close to the stage (about 50 kilometers before) it is crucial to consume the bars and gels that contain sugars with fast assimilation and rapid availability. Their intake is not recommended at the beginning of the race because it could create problems of glycogen excess.
After the race
Once reached the goal cyclists have to rehydrate well and eat snacks.
To recover and be fit for the next day, it is essential the role of the dinner, which must be balanced and providing the basis of energy required for the performance of the day after. The menu of the cyclist thus provides much vegetables both raw and cooked, fish or meat, a portion of rice. And a piece of cake, but only if homemade and using wholemeal flour.
Image credit: http://nsnutrition.co.uk