# Is carbo loading a day ahead of time needed anymore?



## mazspeed (Oct 17, 2004)

Ok, I have a question about carbo loading. Back in the day, we would eat piles of pasta a day before an event. Now with the hammer gels and such, is this practice still worth doing when these gels and tablets work so well now? Now that I am in my 40's I struggle uphill. Getting a lot better this year, and on my garmin I notice a huge difference using these gels. Back in my day of BMX we would use Nutrument, and carbo load a day in advance.


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## Betarad (Oct 24, 2009)

I'm sure I'm bucking the trend, but a plate full of pasta the night before still works best for me. I try to stick to real food for all my nutrition needs....which gels are not.


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## mazspeed (Oct 17, 2004)

True, I totally get that as well. My wife and I are doing this Stanford sponsored low carb diet, and I know the gels are great and they do have carbs, but I am burning them off on the trails I'm sure.


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## mazspeed (Oct 17, 2004)

At least I hope


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## jesseruns (Mar 9, 2007)

My wife and I both swear by our night before a race beer. I do tend to go for the carb loading the day before but have wondered how long thoses carbs are good for the race the next day.... is carb loading the day before at lunchtime just going to end up as fat? It's still a mystery but I'll continue to have pizza, or pasta and definetly beer (just one) the night before


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## mazspeed (Oct 17, 2004)

Yeah, I know that works great, but my point was, should I bother with all those extra calories knowing that the gels and powders now are so good, that I don't have to eat that the night before. I agree it works, but is it needed. I'm trying to diet and get down in weight. I think carbo loading the night before will not help with this when I can just take some of the hammer gel before I ride.


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## asphalt_jesus (Aug 13, 2010)

How long is the event? 

3 hours or less, I say nothing special the night before. Definitely need to eat/drink on the bike racing for 3 hours and have a decent breakfast.

For 2 hour events, light breakfast and fluids during the event should do okay. Some people need a little something closer to 2 hours. I don't. 

There's no right or wrong answer, it's just what works for you.


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## stevehollx (Apr 6, 2010)

I've read that the time you should concern yourself is after your last workout before your race--you should be replenishing your glycogen stores during that 30-60 minute window after the last workaround. That's where you get the ROI for your next workout. A lot of places will say that carbo-loading the night before doesn't have impact, and you actually don't even need to eat breakfast (unless you can do it 3hr in advance).


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## mbikejunkie (May 31, 2012)

I still find foods such as pasta to be the best source of carbs. I'm bit of an old cynic when it comes to gels, tablets, etc. Then again I probably have more time than most to cook good meals!


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## mazspeed (Oct 17, 2004)

asphalt_jesus said:


> How long is the event?
> 
> 3 hours or less, I say nothing special the night before. Definitely need to eat/drink on the bike racing for 3 hours and have a decent breakfast.
> 
> ...


Its about 2 to 2 1/2 hours tops. Yeah you're right though.


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## Bill in Houston (Nov 26, 2011)

just eat well the two days before, and you should be fine on your glycogen stores. eating on the day of the race is something you need to experiment with yourself.


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## mark! (Jun 1, 2012)

Too many factors, high fiber carbs digest quickly, don't usually provide proper glycogen restoring. Pastas and lower fat carbs would be best. Before powerlifting meets after weigh in, it's either pasta or mexican for us, even though it was usually 12 hours before a meet, it worked.


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