Matt Page's scorecard
Dyfi Winter Warm Up
Sunday 29th January, 2023
Within recommended ranges
Just outside recommended ranges
Significantly outside recommended ranges
- 88gCarb per hour
- 0mgSodium per hour
- 208mlFluid per hour
- 0mg/LRelative sodium concentration
- 100mgTotal caffeine
How Matt hit those numbers
Before race (>30mins)
1 x Bowl of Granola with Oat Milk
1 x Black Coffee
1 x Sausage Sandwich on White Bread
500ml x Plain Water
Pre-race (<30mins)
1 x PF 30 Caffeine Gel
Race - During
2 x PF 30 Gel
2 x PF 30 Chews
500ml x Energy Drink Mix (60g Carb)
- Matt approached this race off the back of a 200km audax the day before (which he won), so perhaps wasn’t as fresh as others on the startline
- Nonetheless, his fitness was such that he bounced back well, and won the Dyfi Winter Warm Up, a much shorter, near-maximal intensity Cross Country MTB event
- This race was an opportunity for Matt to push his body and, in particular, his fueling strategy to the upper limits as an experiment for future, higher-profile races in 2023
Hydration
- Races in January in the UK are renowned for being pretty cold and bleak, and the weekend of Matt’s races completely lived up to expectations with cold temperatures (~7℃ / 45℉) and a biting wind
- This meant he wasn’t expecting to sweat much at all, so he dialed his hydration strategy back completely. The night before, after a full day in the saddle at the audax, he chose to drink only plain water, and again on race morning he chose to drink ~500ml (16oz) of plain water
- We’d recommend in future that at least one of these drinks contain some electrolytes. This will help to help replace a proportion of the sodium he will have lost in his sweat during the previous day's riding, and also to preload his sodium levels before going again. A strong electrolyte drink like PH 1500 would also help to optimally pre-hydrate ahead of the race
- This was Matt’s first time riding his new mountain bike and he only attached one bottle cage to the frame, which meant that he was only able to drink 1 x 500ml (16oz) bottle of pre-mixed energy drink (60g carb)
- Matt felt increasingly thirsty towards the end of the race and wished he was able to drink more, rating his hydration strategy a 7 (out of 10). Matt should look to optimise his bike set up for future races so that he can carry more fluids
Fueling
Quick Carb Calculator Recommendation
30gcarb 30 mins before
60-90gcarb per hour during
- Matt prepared for this MTB race by refueling from his 200km audax with a large burger and chips, followed by a Thai green curry with white rice. Whilst this meal likely came with a large proportion of fats, the large serving of carbohydrates will have helped restock his muscle glycogen stores somewhat
- On the morning of the race, his preparation wasn’t entirely optimal as he found himself hungry again before the race started, so opted to grab a sausage sandwich from the on-site catering about two hours before the start
- This helped his perception of hunger, and with the PF 30 Caffeine Gel he took ~20 minutes before the start, will have primed his body well
- During the race, Matt’s plan was to take ~120g of carbohydrate per hour. Matt has been placing a big emphasis on increasing his ability to tolerate and absorb more carbs, and this was going to be the first test of such a large carb intake in a race scenario
- Unfortunately, he fell short of his target carb intake as he wasn’t 100% sure on the race distance and didn’t take enough fuel with him. So, he eventually consumed ~88g per hour through two PF 30 Chews, two PF 30 Gels and his bottle containing some energy drink mix (~60g carb)
- Subjectively, Matt didn’t experience any GI discomfort, and was a little disappointed not to have planned for the correct intake, mainly because the race was longer than he anticipated
- His energy levels were starting to dip towards the end, which could be due to his previous day’s excursions and his lower-than-planned carb intake too
Conclusions
- Matt’s experience, high volume of training and dialed fuel and hydration plan, allowed him to go from the ultra long duration road race on Saturday, to the shorter, high-intensity MTB race on Sunday, and take them both by storm
- He will look for another opportunity to test the upper limits of his gut’s tolerance of carbohydrates, with the hope of getting his strategy nailed at the prestigious Paris-Brest-Paris 1000 km audax later in 2023
- You can keep track of how Matt prepares for this epic event over on his YouTube channel
- It’s worth mentioning that Matt, not wanting to miss out on some weekly mileage, chose to “round up” his 200k Audax the day before, and rode an extra 50km!
Key info
Matt Page
Male
Result
Position1st
Overall Time2:24:13
Event information
SportCycling
DisciplineMountain bike
EventDyfi Winter Warm Up
LocationCorris, Wales
Date29th January, 2023
Bike Distance38.7km / 24.0mi
Total Distance38.7km / 24.0mi
Total Elevation1,748m / 5,735ft
Race conditions
Weather ConditionsCold
PrecipitationNo Rain
Min Temp6°C / 43°F
Max Temp8°C / 46°F
Avg Temp7°C / 45°F
Humidity90%
Athlete feedback
Race Satisfaction9/10
Hydration rating7/10Felt quite thirsty towards the end, but I could only carry a 500ml bottle
Energy levels8/10Was feeling low towards the end, could have done with another gel
Toilet stopsNo
GI comfort8/10
CrampingTwinges but not full-on cramps
Data Confidence
1
2
3
4
5
There is good confidence in the accuracy of the data reported. An athlete feels that the numbers closely reflect what they consumed despite a couple of estimations which may carry some degree of error. The majority of what was consumed is recorded to a high level of specificity (most volumes are known through the use of bottles brands quantities flavours). The numbers are very plausible and align with previous data recordings (if an athlete has collected data previously).