Exactly What to Eat and Drink After a Ride
Here’s how to recover from your last ride—and feel great on your next one.
Despite all the attention that nutrition and hydration while you are riding rightfully receive, research has shown that what you eat and drink after your ride is just as important in supporting your energy levels, your fitness, and how strong you feel on the bike.
In fact, leveling up your post-ride nutrition and hydration strategy may be one of the most effective ways you can improve your cycling performance long term.
“We get stronger when we recover.”
“It’s so important to remember that we don’t get stronger when we’re training and working out, we get stronger when we recover. It’s so easy for people to think, ‘All I have to accomplish today is my workout and then I’m good to go,’” Uriell Carlson, RDN, registered dietitian nutritionist and owner of Inner Wild Nutrition tells Bicycling. “But actually, it’s barely worth doing your workout a lot of times—especially if it’s a hard workout and/or a long workout—if you’re also not setting aside time to be very intentional about your recovery.”
Having the right combination of nutrients in your post-ride meals and snacks gives your body the benefit of stimulating muscle repair, which is crucial in order for the body to build and maintain lean muscle mass. And maintaining muscle is important not just for cycling performance but overall health, especially as we age, considering we begin to lose between 3 and 5 percent of muscle mass with each passing decade after 30.
“It’s up to us to give our body the nutrition that it needs to get stronger, and it’s so easy for people to just be like, ‘I’m good to go, I’m gonna go shower, I’m gonna get on with my day and I’ll eat when I feel hungry,’ and that’s one of the worst things you can do,” Carlson says.
In short, post-ride nutrition is crucial. So let’s dive into the info you need to nourish your body and feed your recovery so you feel better after a ride and perform better on the next one.
How to Time Your Postride Nutrition for Optimal Recovery
The time right after any kind of exercise is a golden window of opportunity to give your body what it needs in order to gain maximum benefits from your workout. For cyclists, this means increased strength and endurance, along with less muscle soreness and fatigue. It turns out that what makes the difference isn’t just what we eat, but also when we eat after exercise.
“It’s really important to get in something as soon as possible after you have finished the effort because that kicks off your recovery and allows your body to replenish the glycogen stores that you’ve likely just depleted [during your ride] and start to rebuild and adapt and get stronger,” Carlson explains.
Ideally, you’ll get a mix of protein and carbs in your post-ride snack, but something is better than nothing. “What I always say is get in whatever you can in the first half an hour to 45 minutes. If it’s like ‘all I feel like eating is a bag of chips’ or ‘all I feel like having is like a Coke or a milkshake or an ice cream cone,’ have that. Whatever you can get in is awesome,” Carlson says.
It’s common not to have much of an appetite after a hard effort, which can make food intake feel unnecessary. However, Carlson says it’s important to note that your body’s nutritional needs might not align with your hunger signals after exercise.
“When you’re exercising, especially for long periods of time at really high intensity, the sympathetic nervous system kicks into gear and our appetite is suppressed,” she says. That appetite suppression can last after the workout as well.
What Exactly to Eat After a Ride for Better Recovery
According to Carlson, carbohydrates should take priority over protein after a ride, contrary to the nutrition recommendations following a strength training session (though that doesn’t mean you should skip protein altogether!). “For endurance athletes, so for cyclists, it’s carbohydrates first and protein second,” she says. “The ideal ratio is four parts carbohydrates and one part protein.”
This should break down to about 1 gram of carbohydrate per kilogram of bodyweight. “So, if you are 70kgs, you’d want between 70 and 75 grams of carbs after a ride,” says Namrita Brooke, PhD, RDN, sports endurance coach, registered dietitian, adjunct professor, and Bicycling advisory board member.
If you’re aiming for the 4:1 carb-to-protein ratio, that would also mean getting about 17 to 19 grams of protein along with those 70 to 75 grams of carbs.
Also, go for more complex carbs than what you’d eat before a ride, which is typically fast-absorbing carb options. “Adjust your post-training meal according to the work done during your training: Keep eating carbs, but change the source to slower-absorption sources, maintain protein, and don’t forget about fruits and vegetables that will help you to recover,” Anna Carceller, Ph.D., M.D., team nutritionist for EF Pro Cycling tells Bicycling.
Examples of postride recovery foods recommended by Brooke and Carceller that meet these recommended carbohydrate and protein needs include:
- 1 cup vanilla Greek yogurt with berries and granola
- 1 bowl of oats with 1 peach, ricotta cheese, ½ tablespoon of lime juice, and chopped fresh mint
- ½ cup of rice or pasta with sliced chicken breast the size of the palm of your hand and 1 piece of fruit
- 1 small bread roll with a 2-egg omelette and fresh cheese
- Smoothie with 20 grams of whey or plant-based protein, milk of choice, frozen banana, and frozen mango
One of the most important things is to make sure you enjoy what you eat, Carceller says.
“On special days, or just to mix things up, we include other sweet options like flapjacks, sweet potato cakes, or homemade muffins [in the postworkout meals of pro athletes],” she says.“The key points are to focus on carbs, have a bit of protein, and don’t forget to put colour in your recovery—raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, mango, pineapple!”
How to Hydrate After a Ride
Just like hunger signals may be a little funky after a ride, we may also not feel particularly thirsty. But this is another case in which you should take something in anyway to help your body repair itself for the next ride, as dehydration can leave you feeling sluggish.
“For active individuals, optimal hydration is critical before, during, and after exercise. Restoring hydration after physical activity improves recovery and reduces symptoms of dehydration, such as headache or fatigue,” Samuel Sarmiento, MD, MPH, MBA tells Bicycling.
“While you can get very technical by calculating a person’s sweat rate to determine the exact deficit, most people can gauge their hydration level using certain cues. These include the level of thirst, urine colour, frequency of urination, and bodyweight,” Sarmiento adds.
Also, just like your food intake, you also want to time your fluid intake for optimal recovery. “After a strenuous effort, the goal should be to replace up to 150 percent of the estimated fluid loss within four hours,” Sarmiento says.
A simple DIY method for estimating your fluid loss is stripping down and weighing yourself right before your ride and then again immediately afterward, taking note of any difference in weight and subtracting the amount of fluid you took in during the ride.
For example, if your weight was 81kgs before your ride and 80.5kgs after your ride, you’ve lost 500ml of fluid. To replenish 150 percent of this estimated fluid loss, you need to consume 750ml of fluid (150 percent of 32 ounces). Be sure to subtract the amount of fluid you consumed during your ride to make this estimate as accurate as possible.
Why You Need Electrolytes After a Ride
“My general rule is that anytime you’re sweating, you should be drinking electrolytes, not [plain] water,” Carlson says. She advises that your electrolyte mix should ideally contain sodium, along with potassium, calcium, and magnesium.
“While water rehydrates, it doesn’t replace these vital minerals that are used for many essential functions in the body,” Sarmiento says.
The loss of electrolytes through sweating can lead not just to overall dehydration but also symptoms like muscle cramps, fatigue, and even more serious conditions like hyponatremia, where the body’s sodium levels become dangerously low, according to Sarmiento.
It’s important to note that not all electrolyte mixes are created equal, so pay attention to ingredient lists. “Natural ingredients are always better than synthetic ones,” Sarmiento says.
On the flip side, Sarmiento suggests staying away from electrolyte mixes that contain maltodextrin, a food additive that can cause a spike in blood sugar. Also, “beware of drinks containing caffeine or other stimulants like guarana, as they will have an impact on heart rate,” he says.