Cycling nutrition: understanding Friel’s five stages and putting the numbers in context

The chapter treats nutrition as part of training: fuel availability before the session, fueling during it and recovery afterwards. The merit of this structure is that it reminds us that nutritional needs change with the task and with the time until the next demand.

At the same time, Friel presents food preferences and explanations from 2009 that should not be automatically converted into current consensus. Understanding what he proposes requires keeping that difference in mind.

The five stages of the model

The stages are not five mandatory meals. They represent functions. When two sessions are close together, some of them overlap. A routine needs to reflect the actual sequence of work.

What do the edition’s numbers mean?

Friel cites 200–400 kcal, mostly from carbohydrate, about two hours before a session. For intake during longer efforts, he presents a wide range of 120–500 kcal per hour, tied to the athlete’s context and the task.

If those calories came exclusively from carbohydrate, they would correspond to roughly 30–125 g/h, using 4 kcal per gram. The conversion is explanatory: it neither turns the whole historical range into a current recommendation nor determines the reader’s needs.

The width of the range shows why stating only calories can hide relevant questions. How much comes from carbohydrate? In what volume of drink? Can the athlete tolerate and access what was planned?

Later context: planning by duration and execution

As general references, the AIS gives 30–60 g/h for exercise lasting 1 to 2.5 hours and up to 90 g/h beyond roughly 2.5–3 hours, with carbohydrate blends for high intakes. It also stresses practicing the strategy in training. These are general guidelines, not mandatory targets for every session. AIS — Sports drinks.

This reference helps put the edition in context, without attempting to summarize the entire current scientific discussion on high doses.

Recovering early does not mean losing everything after thirty minutes

Friel emphasizes the first thirty minutes and proposes combinations of carbohydrate and protein. The useful idea is to keep poor organization from prolonging a deficit after a demanding session, especially when another demand is coming soon.

The idea of a rigid window should not be turned into a cut-off after which recovery stops happening. The interval until the next workout and total food intake also matter. In chapter 18, this distinction comes back in the discussion of recovery as a process.

Weight, food quality and the limits of the approach

The book favors certain foods and uses arguments about acidity and alkalinity. These explanations belong to the author’s view; they are not adopted here as evidence that a food dangerously acidifies the blood or causes muscle loss.

It is also necessary to keep the pursuit of a lower body mass from compromising preparation. The 2023 IOC consensus associates problematic low energy availability with impaired health and performance in women and men. REDs consensus.

Editorial example: a useful calculation does not settle the whole strategy

An individual plan calls for 60 g/h. A drink provides 30 g and a gel another 30 g. The sum is correct, but the plan still needs to answer when to consume them, how to carry them, what volume of fluid is appropriate and whether the combination has been tolerated.

If the drink’s concentration changes to fit more carbohydrate, the amount of fluid should not be adjusted automatically just to make the energy calculation work. They are related but different needs.

The practical lesson is to match fueling to the task and to the training sequence. The chapter offers a framework for thinking; its numbers and choices need to be interpreted in light of when they were written, the evidence and individual suitability.

Reference: FRIEL, Joe. The Cyclist’s Training Bible. 4th ed. VeloPress, 2009. Ch. 16, “Fuel”. Physical pages in the PDF: 355–386. Summarized in our own words from the 4th English edition. Protocols and tables not reproduced. Examples labeled as editorial are Enduran-se’s own; they are not additional cases reported by the author.

Everyone at their own pace. Together along the way.