Nutrition

My weight in January 2006: 175lbs

My weight in June 2006: 155lbs

I think the diet is working, but I won't be sure until my body is so calorie starved that it begins to cannibalize the tissue in my spine causing me to shrink in height. When I hit that point I'll officially be ready to race.

The most recent struggle I'm facing is getting the calories necessary to keep going. I've started a new training/eating regime now. I'm giving up the chocolate Lucky Charms for Raisin Brain and I'm going to carry a banana with me during my morning rides. Afterwards I'm going to down my favorite Slim Fast shake on the way to work in place of my Pop-Tart. Just looking at my eating habits for the last couple of months I'm amazed that I continue to survive.

Back in Kansas I could get away with drinking little and eating less because of the temperatures and distances that I raced. However, here in the South where we are so close to the damned sun I cannot do that anymore. This weekend we start our road race at 1:30PM on Saturday, where the forecasted temperature is 96. That's insane, it isn't even summer yet.

So the question I pose to the more knowledgeable members of the cycling community is how the heck to hydrate and put calories into your body efficiently. I've seen a million different gimmicks and supplements and crap ad naseum, but what actually works? What is going to get me to the last 20 miles of a race in a position where my body can react when called upon and not run the risk of cramping or bonking out?