How interlinked are these two things for most of us? For me, food (fuel on a training day) makes the riding possible, on the flip side, the promise of food is sometimes the motivation I need for the ride. I certainly can’t do one without the other, but I’m not telling you which is which.

I know this is coming at things in reverse, but as we are at the start of most people’s race or outdoor riding season I thought I’d have a look at Recovery Nutrition. We maybe have an idea of pre-event and in-event fuelling, but recovery perhaps not so much.

I’ve not really stopped racing; my 2025-26 Cyclocross season ran straight into a January start for the 2026 MTB XC season and, race on race, year on year I’ve gradually changed or dialled in my nutrition. Well, that’s not entirely true. I’ve gained more knowledge on what I’m ‘Supposed’ to do for post ride recovery; whether I do it or not is all together a different story. Some days I’m well behaved and have a proper recovery or ‘meal’ drink, something like Torq’s recovery drink or Huel’s ‘Ready to Drink’ (you’ve all seen them in your supermarket). Other days I sadly have to report I mess it up entirely and either hit the event pizza/beer truck or I’m so hungry I’m looking for road-kill! As amateurs we can get away with this, we just feel rough in the morning, but the pros, or the more pro of us weekend warriors can’t. I supported the Saint Piran Continental team when they raced in Norway, and their recovery process was on a much higher level. Stage 1 was a short, uphill, individual TT but even though they’d only raced for less than 15 minutes the riders had bottles of recovery drink pushed into their hands within minutes of crossing the line. Electrolytes, protein, macro and micro nutrients, all the good stuff the modern, near NASA level sports person relies on. They did have 4 more stages to race so it was important to not only recover from today but to prep for tomorrow, but we have work on Monday morning so we should recover properly too.

There are a lot of magazine and online articles, scientific papers, coaching forums and friends in the pub that will give you a reasonable idea of what you’re supposed to take, and everybody has their favourite, but in short, within 15 minutes of ending your ride you need some sugars/carbs, protein (especially for the older riders it seems) and then a good mix of electrolytes (more so if it’s been a hot ride). If you get this from a properly formulated recovery smoothie then well done you, if it looks a lot more like a Latte and a slice of millionaire shortbread then maybe you’re not ticking all the boxes, but I bet you’re a lot happier. When you search for Recovery food on the British Cycling website it suggests things like ‘Pea and Ham soup’ or ‘Penne Pasta with chicken’ and that’s great, it’s practical, simple and you can get it from your local café or cook it at home; and it’s a lot more appealing than something at looks (and probably tastes) like food from a 70’s sci-fi series (insert you own cultural reference).

Food and Cycling - Recovery Nutrition