Paralympian Dennis Connors is among the top paracyclists in the world – chasing the opportunity to represent the USA at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris. After his recent victory at the Paralympic Cycling Open in Texas, he shared what a standard fueling protocol looks like for him and his events.
Dennis: The US Paralympic Cycling Open took place in Bryan, TX on April 6 and 7th. The event was the first Paracycling event of the year in the US and the kickoff to qualifying for the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris. The top 6 men and top 6 women on the overall ranking list would earn a place on the US Team roster to compete in the UCI Paracycling World Cups in Ostend Belgium and Manigo Italy in May.
Needless to say, it was an extremely important race as the World Cups are where riders earn points to qualify for the Paralympics. It was also the first time I would see my long winter training hours and nutrition come into play in a race environment.
Locking in my nutrition for this event was crucial as I absolutely needed a spot on that team.
Nutrition in my Paracycling races is a bit different than in typical long cycling races. Think of it more like racing a prologue TT, or for the road race side, a criterium. I typically follow the same routine at every race and it allows me to simply take the mental capacity of “figuring out” my nutrition out of the picture. So here is what I did for this race, which was in a warm and windy environment.
The Prep
For the days leading into the race I start to really increase my hydration with electrolytes. I typically drink 100oz of electrolyte mix per day between Skratch Hydration and Mortal Hydration. I don’t really sweat due to a condition called autonomic dysregulation from my TBIs and strokes. So I need quite a bit of electrolyte on board to get the little bit of sweat out that I can. For Texas, I used Mortal Hydration as my daily drinker. The night before it was a standard high-carb, high-protein meal.
The Time Trial
The day of the TT I fueled in the morning about 2.5 hours prior with oatmeal and two eggs to get a good balance of protein and carbs. I arrived to the venue 1.5 hours prior to my race start and immediately took my Maurten BiCarb which I have found works incredibly well for high output efforts like the time trial.
My time trial was 21km with long sections of 18-20mph head and head cross winds so I knew the outputs would be high. In the hour leading up to the race I typically have a banana or something small, in this case a Honey Stinger Waffle. I also sip on a bottle of Skratch High Carb mix in the final hour leading up to the race! I typically will go to the line with just ice water in my bottle and head out from there!
After the TT, I top up with a VeloForte Cappo recovery shake and a banana and then headed to find a meal.
The Road Race
For the road race, I tend to stick to the mostly the same schedule. Eat my meal 2.5 to 3hrs prior, then have a snack at some point, sip the Skratch High Carb bottle for the hour leading up to the race. I usually go into the road race fully topped up as our road races last about an hour.
I also can’t take my hands of the bars other than grabbing my bottles, so taking on-board fuel through gels or bars isn’t feasible. I do, however take a bottle of Skratch High Carb with me in the race and will try to drink most of it in the first 30-40 minutes. For the final 20-30 minutes, I ditch the bottles and go all in. For this race, in Texas, I was off the front in the first lap and went into TT mode for about 25km – so I was glad I had the bottle of Skratch!
After the race I had another VeloForte Cappo shake as I find the packets very nice to travel with and it satisfies the want for coffee after an early race!
With all that said, I won my category TT by more that 5.5 minutes and the road race by almost 6 minutes. I earned 3rd overall on the rankings list and a spot on the US Team to head to Europe in May! I look forward to out-fueling the international competitors with help from The Feed!
