Dr. Gemma Sampson shares insights from her recent adventure with Lucca Cycling Club in Italy. Delve into the essential role of a sports dietitian on cycling camps and discover how proper nutrition can transform long, grueling rides into successful and sustainable experiences. Whether it's crafting the perfect ride lunch or managing dietary preferences, Dr. Sampson emphasizes that nutrition is more than just fuel – it's a holistic approach to enhancing performance and mood.

Do you know how much carbohydrate to eat before, during and after competition for optimal performance? The Carbohydrates for Endurance Athletes in Competition Questionnaire (CEAC-Q) was designed to help guide where you could optimise your race and training nutrition strategy.

“I finally tried that cycling fuelling strategy you recommend…game changer!! I know you always say to fuel my rides, but I’ve been kind of ignoring you…”

Freaking out because your weight has increased when you are trying to lose weight cycling? Before you hit the panic button and use it as a reason to go on a crash diet, take a moment to pause and put that one number in context of the bigger picture. Our weight changes a lot on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis - way beyond changes in body composition.

When it comes to race weight, 62% of female elite cyclists are unhappy with their current race weight and believed they would race better if they were an average 1.6kg lighter.

Many cyclists want to lose weight to improve power-to-weight ratio. But, what do you do when you see a number on the scale that you don’t like?

Why do you think your nutrition needs to be really hard and complicated for it to work as a cyclist trying to lose weight and improve your power to weight ratio?

Are you a cyclist who wants to fuel effectively and make the most of your training and competition?

Join this FREE cycling nutrition webinar LIVE with Advanced Sports Dietitian Dr Gemma Sampson to discover the three most common fuelling mistakes cyclists make that limit their performance and training adaptations.

I almost didn’t get on the start line for this race. I almost let my mental chatter talk me out of doing this race and in the process learned another lesson in the art of developing a high performance mindset.

The UCI World Championships in Wollongong is going to be SUCH an interesting race, the course is nothing like any other UCI world Champs courses I've seen. It's technical, it's lumpy.. actually it is more than lumpy. There is one particular section on the crit course which is near vertical, I checked the Ramah Rampage strava segment and saw gradients exceeding 25%. Ouch!

Have you tried something new on race day and had it go terribly wrong?

This has been the theme of the day with today's 1:1 client calls - where people have decided in the heat of the moment to use a gel, bar or energy drink mid race that they’ve never tired before and it went horribly wrong.

How does a professional cyclist fuel the Vuelta? Professional cyclists adapt their carbohydrate intake both overall and in grams per hour to suit the demands of that stage (and what's on the cards tomorrow). Different days have different nutrition needs - whether that's in a training block or competition racing something epic like the Vuelta. Not every day is high carb or low carb.

Are you focusing on the right things when it comes to nutrition as a female athlete?

99% of the nutrition problems I see in female athletes can be solved by addressed the foundations of nutritional needs in the following order:

Are you caught in the trap thinking that just because you're out training all the time as a cyclist you can eat whatever you want? While it may be getting enough energy to keep your body going, are you really fuelling yourself optimally with the nutrition to achieve your greatest potential?

When I meet cyclists and other endurance athletes, it’s very common for them to tell me that they aren’t fuelling their rides because commercial bars, drinks, gels and other sports nutrition products are so expensive. What else can you eat on the bike? Dried fruit!

What should you eat on race day as a cyclist? You’ve done the training. All your kit is packed and ready to go. But have you thought about your race day nutrition? Leaving your race nutrition plan to the last minute is one of the most common mistakes I see athletes at all levels making.

As a cyclist have you found yourself feeling completely drained, a bit dizzy or emotional with jelly legs during a ride? Chances are you have bonked and need to find a cafe pronto to refuel! What is bonking and how can you beat the bonk?

More than just replacing the fluids we lose as sweat, drinking enough on the bike and being well hydrated on a ride can improve your cycling performance. Are you drinking enough on your rides?

The amount of fluid you need to drink during cycling to remain hydrated and optimise performance depends on multiple factors, including environment, exercise duration and intensity.

As a female athlete it's important to consider what we eat before and after training to protect our bone health, reduce risk of injury and time off training and competition. Here's two easy ways female athletes can improve bone health with diet.