title: Nutrition habits in 24-hour mountain bike racers.
abstract: We investigated seventy-four ultra-mountain bikers (MTBers) competing in the solo category in the first descriptive field study to detail nutrition habits and the most common food before during and after the 24 hour race using questionnaires. During the race, bananas (86.5%), energy bars (50.0%), apples (43.2%) and cheese (43.2%) were the most commonly consumed food, followed by bread (44.6%), rice (33.8%) and bananas (33.8%) after the race. Average fluid intake was 0.5 ± 0.2 l/h. The main beverage was isotonic sports drink (82.4%) during and pure water (66.2%) after the race. The most preferred four supplements in the four weeks before, the day before, during and after the race were vitamin C (35.1%), magnesium (44.6%), magnesium (43.2%) and branched-chain amino acids (24.3%), respectively. Total frequency of food intake (30.6 ± 10.5 times/24 hrs) was associated with fluid intake (r = 0.43, P = 0.04) and both were highest at the beginning of the race and lower during the night hours and the last race segment in a subgroup of twenty-three ultra-MTBers. Supplement intake frequency (6.8 ± 8.4 times/24 hrs) was highest during the night hours and lower at the beginning and end of the race. Elevated food and fluid intake among participants tracked across all race segments (P < 0.001). In conclusion, the nutrition strategy employed by ultra-MTBers was similar to those demonstrated in previous studies of ultra-cyclists with some exceptions among selected individuals.
authors: Centre of Sports Activities, Brno University of Technology, Brno, Czech Republic.
authors: Daniela
authors: D
authors: Chlíbková
authors: Institute of Primary Care, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.|Gesundheitszentrum St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland.|Facharzt FMH für Allgemeinmedizin, Gesundheitszentrum St. Gallen, Vadianstrasse 26, 9001 St. Gallen, Switzerland.
authors: Beat
authors: B
authors: Knechtle
authors: Institute of Primary Care, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors: Thomas
authors: T
authors: Rosemann
authors: Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors: Ivana
authors: I
authors: Tomášková
authors: Department of Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic.
authors: Vlastimil
authors: V
authors: Chadim
authors: Institute of Technology Tallaght, Dublin, Ireland.
authors: Marcus
authors: M
authors: Shortall
keywords: 24-hour race; Race nutrition; Ultra-cycling