• Chris had a great performance at the British Gravel Championships on the 19th September, coming in 11th in his category but 9th in the National Champs category. In only his 2nd gravel race and against tough competition he performed well to finish the 70km in a time of 2 hours 8 minutes
• Fuelling and hydrating during gravel racing is an interesting affair with many complications so different strategies are used. Chris mentioned that after seeing the course and knowing the speed of his competition he was aware solids weren’t going to be a viable option. Therefore, he decided to change his fuelling plan to get his carbs from a bottle containing a mix of PF 30 Energy Gels and water

Hydration

• Chris consumed around ~117mg/hr sodium which is on the lower side of what we would expect. He got this sodium from his bottle containing a PH 1000 but only drank half. He said he would have wanted to finish the bottle but again due to the course and terrain he didn’t drink as much of the PH 1000 as he was aiming to
• Whilst the relative concentration of Chris’ fluids was adequate (relative sodium concentration of 410mg/L) considering his sweat sodium concentration of 573mg/L, the volume of fluid replacement was unlikely to be
• We don’t have data on Chris’ sweat rate but given the intensity he was riding at we can confidently assume it would have been greater than ~0.3L/hr (~10oz/hr) which is the volume of fluid he was replacing. But, the challenges of drinking in an event such as this must be appreciated. It may be that in future gravel races, especially those of longer duration, Chris looks to use a different drinking system to meet his fluid needs (e.g. a hydropack)
• Although the conditions weren’t very hot, neither were they on the cold side so a fluid consumption this low would not be advised and can lead to dehydration. In agreement, Chris said he drank too little and therefore felt dehydrated at the end
• He believes that he couldn’t drink as much as he probably should have due to the course and links his dehydration to the fact he ‘felt sore’ and his ‘legs were ruined’ the next day

Fueling

Conclusions

• Overall, Chris had a great performance at the British Gravel Championships. Although it was only his 2nd gravel race and the level of competition was high he had a strong performance coming in 9th nationally and rating his race satisfaction as 9 out of 10
• He made appropriate adjustments to his plan to suit the complex, fast-paced course which worked well.
• He was able to consume high carb levels, even though eating was tricky, because he chose to consume PF 30 Gels from a bottle with some water.
• Due to the nature of the course, Chris was not able to drink as much as he would have liked meaning his sodium and fluid intake during the race was on the lower side. Next time, trying to finish his PH 1000 bottle would be a good aim and going forward he should consider whether a change in the way he gets his fluids is necessary to achieve a better fluid replacement to avoid dehydration and benefit performance