• Holly Seear is a performance cycling coach and one of ten women who Precision Fuel & Hydration have been working with as part of the Voxwomen Performance Project
• Gritfest, a two-day gravel race in the Cambrian mountains of Wales, was Holly’s ‘fun’ race of the year. Knowing she would be recovering from the Bohemian Border Bash a couple of weeks before (a multi-day, 1300 km self-supported, bikepacking adventure), her intentions were to enjoy Gritfest and see what she could achieve in the process
• The 139 km ride consisted of 3200 m elevation with five timed stages interspersed with ‘easy’ riding. Though Holly reported, “they weren’t actually that easy as much of the linking stages were uphill!”
• In rainy, mild conditions, Holly finished 6th place in her age group and executed a sensible fuel and hydration strategy despite the unusual race format
• This case study outlines the strategy she followed on day 1 of the event; 80km of riding across four and a half hours including three timed stages, which Holly completed in 16:35, 47:06 and 17:49, respectively

Hydration

• Holly preloaded before the race with 500ml/16oz of PH 1500 which helped ensure she was starting the day well hydrated
• Holly rode with one 650ml/22oz bottle which she started filled with PF 30 Drink Mix, and she drank over the first half of the ride. At the second feed station, Holly refilled her bottle and added one PH 1500 (Drink Mix)
• In hindsight, Holly said she wishes she had finished the first bottle before the first feed station and refilled it at that point, giving her three bottles of fluid in total, versus the two she had. She commented that two bottles “wasn’t enough” and that she was “thirsty at the end”
• In total, by drinking just two bottles, Holly drank ~1.3L/44oz, the equivalent to ~289ml/10oz per hour. This is a low fluid consumption which, other than feeling some thirst towards the end of the day, Holly managed to “get away with” because of the cooler conditions (average ~14℃/57°F) that won’t have elicited a high sweat rate, on top of the fact that she started well hydrated
• Aware that she should have drunk more, Holly rated the appropriateness of her hydration strategy a 6 (out of 10)

Fueling

Conclusions

• The unusual format of Gritfest - racing only segments of the course and taking it easier in between - presents a different challenge when it comes to fueling and hydrating
• Holly, an experienced cyclist, did a great job of navigating the circumstances she faced and, whilst it’s feasible that she did tread the line with her fluid consumption, she did a brilliant job of fueling at key points in the event, maximising the benefit of her intake