{"id":553679,"date":"2026-03-20T22:12:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T22:12:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/553679\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T22:12:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T22:12:17","slug":"four-fueling-rules-for-senior-cyclists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/553679\/","title":{"rendered":"Four Fueling Rules for Senior Cyclists"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Estimated3 min read<\/p>\n

Registered dietitian, Basecamp master cycling coach, and elite endurance athlete Namrita Brooke also has a PhD in applied exercise physiology. That gives her a valuable perspective when it comes to the important role nutrition plays in fueling and ride and helping cyclists reach their goals. She credits much of her own success over the years to an ever-evolving approach to nutrition. In her decades of competitive cycling that includes cyclocross and 24-hour racing, she has seen dozens of nutrition trends come and go, and like many of her peers, she\u2019s gone through the \u201ceating is cheating\u201d era that prized restrictive diets aimed at severe weight loss. Now, as she approaches 50 years old, she\u2019s embraced a healthier and more effective nutrition strategy and has helped hundreds of riders do the same. Along the way, she\u2019s developed four rules that she believes older cyclists should keep in mind to thrive on and off the bike.<\/p>\n

Eat When You Ride <\/p>\n

From the \u201ceating is cheating\u201d mantra of the 1990s and early 2000s to the fasted training and intermittent fasting crazes of the last decade, Brooke says we haven\u2019t done ourselves any favors by continuing to skimp on fueling our rides. She says many of her nutrition clients come to her assuming that they need to train without eating first in order to be fast, or believe they need to skip fueling during a race to optimize performance. \u201cIt used to be a badge of honor to do some sort of long ride with no carbs,\u201d says Brooke. \u201cBut now, we’re at the age where people are eating so many calories. They’re taking in 100 grams of carbs an hour.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eating before, during, and after training is especially important as riders get older. \u201cThey can\u2019t get away with not fueling their rides,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

How can you fix it? You may not be taking in 100 grams of carbs per hour like the pros are these days, but taking in 50 grams (about 200 calories) per hour on the bike can dramatically increase your performance, she says.<\/p>\n

Eat Simple Carbs at the Right Time<\/p>\n

Getting older requires us to \u201cbutton up\u201d our nutrition. \u201cYou have to be really optimized: You can\u2019t get away with the same diet you could when you were 20,\u201d Brooke says. And that means being smart about your carbohydrate intake.<\/p>\n

Carbs aren\u2019t bad for you, she explains. But the type and timing matters. If you’re going to eat sugary simple carbs, like cookies, pastries, sports drinks, white bread, or white rice, do it around the time of your workout so they actually work for you. The rest of the time, focus on carbs that are higher in fiber, like fruits, starches, and vegetables, she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can still eat plenty of carbs, you just time them better,\u201d she says. For many older riders, this simple nutrient timing shift may even improve your body composition\u2014without actually changing your total intake, Brooke adds.<\/p>\n

\"CyclistCourtesy Fluid Sports Nutrition, Kaori Peters<\/p>\n

Cycling coach Namrita Brooke has a PhD in applied exercise physiology and is a registered dietician. Many senior cyclists still underfuel, she says.<\/p>\n

Eat Enough Protein<\/p>\n

\u201cFocus on fueling your training, and beyond that, protein and fiber should be a priority at all of your meals,\u201d Brooke says. \u201cYou can still train as much as you used to and hit numbers that are close to your old numbers if you\u2019re doing all the right things.\u201d<\/p>\n

As you get older, eating enough protein is still important, but Brooke adds that you have to be a little more selective with your sources. She suggests looking for lean cuts of meat and other protein sources that don\u2019t contain fat, like nonfat Greek yogurt. \u201cSometimes you have to add a protein supplement to get at least 1.8 to two grams of carb or protein per kilogram of your body weight per day,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n

Keep an eye on your bloodwork<\/p>\n

For older cyclists with big goals or who want to prioritize their health, Brooke recommends twice yearly bloodwork. Most primary care doctors will order a standard blood panel looking at things like cholesterol, key micronutrients like vitamin D and iron, and hormones. Keeping track of how your bloodwork changes over time can help you catch issues early, and potentially supplement in a smarter, more targeted way that will keep you healthy and pedaling strong.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"3 min read Registered dietitian, Basecamp master cycling coach, and elite endurance athlete Namrita Brooke also has a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":553680,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,85,195133],"class_list":["post-553679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-supes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=553679"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553679\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/553680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=553679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=553679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=553679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}