Your Pre-Ride Breakfast Isn’t Doing What You Think

Most cyclists assume a big breakfast topped with carbs will top up the tank after an overnight fast. This new paper puts real numbers on that belief, using 7-Tesla spectroscopy and MRI on well-trained cyclists.

Here’s the punchline: a 3 g/kg high-carb breakfast didn’t increase total liver or muscle glycogen over the next three hours. Muscle glycogen didn’t move because these riders woke up already full. Liver glycogen concentration rose about 10%, but liver volume shrank at the same time, so total stored glycogen stayed flat. In practice, the body used the carbs to avoid the normal morning decline rather than to add new storage.

What this means for your riding

• Breakfast protects; it doesn’t load. You’re stopping a drop, not filling a bigger tank.
• Muscle glycogen is made the day before. A good pre-race dinner and the training leading in matter far more than the morning meal.
• Liver glycogen matters for steady pacing. Breakfast still stabilises blood glucose and supports the brain, which helps pacing and decision-making.
• Don’t rely on the pre-ride meal for performance. Think of breakfast as fuel availability, not storage.

In short, if you want to show up with real reserves, do the loading earlier. Breakfast is there to maintain, not to boost.

Reference: https://journals.physiology.or...

On my mindStacking Consistency Wins

This week I kept coming back to balance. Not the neat, equal kind we like to imagine, but the real version where life pushes hard and you still find a way to train. Some riders do this well. They get the work done through noise, stress, and curveballs. It isn’t sustainable forever, but when their average consistency stays high, the odds tilt in their favour. Progress becomes almost unavoidable.

What separates them isn’t talent. It’s clarity. They know why they ride. And when the “why” is strong, they can push through the days when motivation feels thin. The truth is, you will question why you’re even on the bike. Everyone does. If your answer isn’t solid, you might still show up, but the work won’t carry the same intent.

Find that reason. Protect it. Everything else becomes simpler.

Damian