Tips to Make Your Belly Happy on Every Ride
Experiencing abdominal pain during a bike ride is, sadly, a regular occurrence for many cyclists—but it doesn’t have to be. Gas, bloating, cramps, diarrhea and other uncomfortable symptoms are usually caused by a few simple things; barring disease, there are some simple ways to make rides less painful for yourself (and potentally for those riding behind you).
Stomach issues are common in cyclists because hard riding is an uncommon experience for their bodies. Bloating—that swollen feeling in your abdomen—is most likely being caused by gas, sports medicine expert Dr. Michael Ross says, which is produced as your colon bacteria metabolizes sugar for energy. “When you exercise, your intestines don’t get as much blood flow,” because available blood goes to your heart and muscles, he says, which ultimately means your digestive system doesn’t move food as quickly. “Things stay in your colon longer, and that may lead to more gas.” That gas builds up in your abdomen, leading to the pain and other symptoms.
Here’s what Ross has learned about preventing and treating digestive symptoms over 16 years of working with professional cyclists.
Shift your position
"Some people get heartburn or acid reflux, or a gnawing abdominal pain, and that’s a sign things aren’t moving right,” Ross explains. If you find that your stomach hurts more when you’re spending most of your time in the drops on your road bike, versus the slightly more upright position on your mountain bike, it might be time to get a bike fit to adjust your position so it’s less aggressive. A slightly more comfort-focused position could alleviate that pressure on your abdomen.
Avoid overeating
Ross says one of the main issues he sees in cyclists is a tendency to eat too much food. “Cyclists think they need 4,000 calories,” Ross says. “I’ve been to talks and on panels where I hear how much athletes eat and I think, ‘Wow, you can only use a fraction of that!’”
Worse, "a lot of the food people eat is just too concentrated, so it leaves your stomach quickly,” he adds. “That’s why people belch while riding, and why people get gassy and bloated. It just can’t get absorbed, it’s too thick." To avoid this, make sure that your calorie intake matches your ride, sticking to under 400 calories per hour. "A lot of these bike foods look super delicious, but there are so many calories in them,” Ross says. "And most people don’t need to eat white rice with eggs and bacon on a ride!” He also adds that when your intensity increases, you may want to cut back even more on the more complex foods, since they're going to be even harder to absorb properly in the gut, which leads to an upset stomach.
RELATED: How to Deal with Muscle Cramps on a Ride
Hydrate enough when you eat
Eating the right amount is great, but it could still cause discomfort if you don’t hydrateas you eat—dilution of carbohydrates is what makes it possible for the stomach to absorb them, and what keeps your stomach from getting upset. "If you want things to go through your stomach well, they have to be about five percent carbohydrate, and five grams of carbohydrate per 100 milliliters of fluid,” Ross says. "A standard water bottle is about 600 milliliters, so it can have about 30 grams of carbohydrate. A gel is usually about 30 grams too, so it needs to be consumed with a full bottle of water.”
Keep things standard
If you’re prone to upset stomach on the bike, it’s not a great idea to surprise your stomach. Find something that works for you and stick with it. Ross says he opts for Vitamin Water over cycling-specific drink mixes simply because he can get it at almost any store or gas station when he’s on the road or on a ride. However, he still dilutes it with water to get the right carb-to-water ratio.
Get it right
Unfortunately, once you start bloating on the bike, there’s not much you can do: "Go back in time and do it right!” Ross says. If you don’t have a time machine handy, Ross suggests drinking plain water—or electrolyte-enhanced water without added carbs—to dilute your stomach contents. But, he cautions, that’s not a fast fix. To alleviate some of the pain, you can decrease your ride intensity, and try to stop and go to the bathroom (even if it doesn’t feel like you have to go). Anecdotally, some riders find that just stopping for a minute and getting off the bike and stretching out for a couple of minutes, or even laying down on the ground, can help get things moving right again.
Talk to your doctor
Ross suggests getting medical advice if the pain doesn’t go away after you get off the bike and rest for a bit. If you continuously have stomach pain, especially while eating; or if you have blood in your stool, your stomach distress might be a symptom of something more serious.
Don’t treat with over-the-counter medication
Taking over-the-counter meds like Tylenol seems like a good quick fix, but it might make your problems worse, and hurt your kidneys as well. "I don’t recommend anti-inflammatories, as they can actually upset the stomach,” Ross says.
If all else fails, ride in the back of the group
Sometimes, you just have to accept that you’re having a gassy ride—but that doesn’t mean you need to head home. It might, however, mean you should head to the back of the paceline and stay there. "Let everyone else ride in front of you!” Ross laughs. Anyone who’s ever been caught behind someone who clearly ate poorly the night before knows what we mean.
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