1st

Matt Page's scorecard

Dyfi Winter Warm Up

Sunday 29th January, 2023

Within recommended ranges

Just outside recommended ranges

Significantly outside recommended ranges

88g

Carb per hour

0mg

Sodium per hour

208ml

Fluid per hour

0mg/L

Relative sodium concentration

100mg

Total caffeine

How Matt hit those numbers

How Matt's hydration and fueling went...

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

30g

carb 30 mins before

60-90g

carb 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

Position

1st

Overall Time

2:24:13

Event information

Sport

Cycling

Discipline

Mountain bike

Event

Dyfi Winter Warm Up

Location

Corris, Wales

Date

29th January, 2023

Website

Show me

Bike Distance

38.7km / 24.0mi

Total Distance

38.7km / 24.0mi

Total Elevation

1,748m / 5,735ft

Race conditions

Weather Conditions

Cold

Precipitation

No Rain

Min Temp

6°C / 43°F

Max Temp

8°C / 46°F

Avg Temp

7°C / 45°F

Humidity

90%

Athlete feedback

Race Satisfaction

9/10

Hydration rating

7/10

Felt quite thirsty towards the end, but I could only carry a 500ml bottle

Energy levels

8/10

Was feeling low towards the end, could have done with another gel

Toilet stops

GI comfort

8/10

Cramping

Twinges but not full-on cramps

Matt's full stats

	Carbohydrate (g)	Sodium (mg)	Fluid (ml)	Caffeine (mg)	Relative sodium concentration (mg/L)
Overall
Total intake	210	0	500	100	Relative sodium concentration (mg/L)	0
Per hour	88	0	208	42		0

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).

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