Tour Down Under
Team UniSA-Australia Supporters Club
Team UniSA-Australia Supporters Club
It's the breakfast of cycling champions but when you look at them - young, lean, compact - you'd hardly believe they could tuck away all that food.
Team UniSA's young riders need to set aside a fair amount of time for breakfast because we are talking about a several course experience.
On race days it is nothing to polish off two very large bowls of cereal, followed by some yoghurt, tinned spaghetti, scrambled or poached eggs (several) on toast and probably also some bacon topped off with several cups of good coffee.
And when in Rome - well they do as Roman cyclists do - it's a breakfast of pasta al'olio (spaghetti tossed in olive oil) - as well as the coffee and probably the eggs and bacon too.
But it doesn't stop there - during the race they munch on bananas, carbohydrate bars, glucose gel and lolly snakes all washed down with water and sports drinks.
But it is at the end of the day that the serious eating begins. Immediately after the race the riders dive for some ham and cheese rolls and protein bars and I say some because they have more than one - more than two even. In the evening they dine on two or three serves of pasta or rice based dishes usually with fish or chicken, although a nice protein-packed steak is not out of the question and nor is a healthy glass or two of red wine.
UniSA lecturer in sports nutrition, Kathryn Jackson says it may sound like a joke, but between riding and sleeping, cyclists spend a lot of their free time eating.
"It is nothing for a cyclist to expend a minimum of 21,000 kJ a day (more than 5000 calories), double what an average reasonably active man would use in a day," she says.
"So for cyclists, eating is serious business. It is about replenishing the body's energy needs with the right sorts of foods. Their energy expenditure is so high they have to spend a lot of time refuelling. Their evening meals are a carbohydrate restock and include some protein top ups to help with muscle repair. Breakfast is a refueller in preparation for a day's riding so that there are some carbs in store for the day ahead and during the race it is vital that they keep fluids up and have the capacity to top up carbs and sugar.
"If they run out of carbs during a race they experience what they call in the cycling world 'bonking' - no its not what you think - its a sudden and dramatic drop in blood sugar levels leaving the cyclist weak and unable to be competitive - the same as 'hitting the wall" in long distance running.
"As to the red wine with dinner - well if legend is correct the first marathon of 42 km in ancient Greece was run on red wine diluted with water - it is possible that the antioxidants in the red wine help to impede muscle damage, but the water is a must otherwise the alcohol is a dehydrator which is limiting for performance.
"Cycling is predominantly a European sport and as such it has a culture that includes good eating and a touch of wine is a part of that. At the end of a long day on the course a drop of red is probably a good relaxant as well."
