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We Tested Two Breakfasts - Which One Made Us Fly?

Global Cycling Network

209,925 views

We all know that what you eat is crucial for performance, but how much does your breakfast really matter? We put it to the test by comparing a high-protein, low-carb breakfast against a traditional high-carb meal before a maximum effort on the bike. The results and the difference in power were far bigger than we ever anticipated.

Chapters: ⏱️
00:00 - The Experiment: Carbs vs. Protein
00:59 - Day 1: The High-Protein Breakfast
02:02 - The Protein-Fuelled Effort
04:35 - Initial Reactions
05:31 - The Science of Fueling
09:29 - Day 2: The High-Carb Breakfast
10:50 - The Carb-Fuelled Effort
12:45 - What Makes The Perfect Cycling Breakfast?
16:37 - The Results Are In!

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What's your go-to pre-ride breakfast, and have you ever noticed a big difference in performance based on what you eat? Let us know in the comments! 👉

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20 Comments

@gcn Creator 10 months ago Pinned

What's your go-to pre-ride breakfast, and have you ever noticed a big difference in performance based on what you eat? Let us know in the comments!

@andrewmcalister3462 10 months ago

Conor wrote this episode just so that he could expense his breakfasts on GCN’s tab. 🍴😂

@ironrod1979 10 months ago

With all these second breakfasts Conor must be the tallest ever hobbit.

@bennymohr257 10 months ago

I don't think a 10 minute ride is telling a lot about the differences. At least an hour, better two hours.

@burkeculligan4756 8 months ago

I belive this is more a test of what you ate for dinner vs. what you ate for breakfast... your over night glycogen stores are more likely being tested compared to meals eaten 20-40 mins prior to the "test"

@tonyroma9305 10 months ago

That's all between your ears. That food hasn't even begun to be digested.

@LJBrookes-PDC 10 months ago (edited)

I honestly don't understand how you can test this over a short sub 10 minute ride, I'm not even warmed up after 10 minutes, no matter how fast I'm going.

@Ad-my9kg 10 months ago

A sub 11 minute effort. I was expecting a 30 to 60 minute effort, at least. Dr Shepherd talks about fuelling for rides in terms of hours, not minutes. I suggest you get him to discuss the impact of fuelling for a ten minute effort to make this of any use.

@axiomaddict 2 months ago (edited)

I’m 69, and working on getting my blood pressure down. In addition to food adjustments (not so much what, but when), both walking and biking, but especially biking in particular, brings my BP numbers way down for a few days, but for the last ride (9.9 slowish miles), I was wiped in an unexpected way that rolled over into the next day. Watching these vids about carbs, I now know why. I find these vids that explore how food directly affects rides and recovery very helpful. Thanks.

@atb1332 10 months ago

can you also do "light or no dinner but abundant breakfast" and "light or no breakfast but abundant dinner"? given my job and habits i often end up in one of those two scenarios and find the second to be way better, but would like to hear the take of the experts on this.

@StephenRussell-c8v 10 months ago

Have you noticed how many of Connor’s challenges and tests involve eating, Dan may train on the companies time but it seems Connor eats on the company dime. 😂😂😂

@andrewupson2987 8 months ago

I'd like to see a 2hr ride tested in a carb based state, and again in a fully keto adapted state.

@bengt_axle 10 months ago

Next up: Espresso vs. decaf.

@larrybarnes1241 2 weeks ago

I love the dynamic between these two guys.

@brotherfranciz 10 months ago

It's past midnight here in Melbourne, Australia and all this talk of food is making me hungry... I really shouldn't have watched this video before bed!

@jonathanrobinson2628 10 months ago

As a fellow 6ft 8" guy with a higher training load, I can confirm that normal food standards do not apply to us! I eat more than my wife and two daughters combined! 😂

@inz_uzi 10 months ago (edited)

"Breakfast is the most important meal of the day" is a marketing slogan by Kellogg, the "inventor" of corn flakes. He also thought that cereals can cure men from masturbation. 😂

@MrTeff999 10 months ago

A ten minute ride first thing in the morning — I don’t think it matters what you eat or whether or not you eat. Your experiment had too many variables to draw any conclusion.

@velocybirr 10 months ago

10:20, a second breakfast, as it were... Pippin and Merry would approve.

@StephenRussell-c8v 10 months ago

I think a much more interesting test would be to do an eight day test where an assessment of weight, muscle mass, vo2 max and peak power was made at the beginning of the session day 0 for two riders. Both would do a training week of one day on one off training, 1 hour effort AM three 5min max efforts separated by 15 mins mid day, two hour zone 2 early evening on days 1,3,5 and 7. Day 8 second assessment. Each rider has an alternate 80/20 carb protein, protein carb diet. But they are staggered so one rider is on proteins mainly on training days and the other on carbs. That gives a sequential assessment of the training performance and a development outcome at the end. Total calories proportionate to body mass.