You probably know Cody Bare from behind the camera. At Cruel Jewel — 56 miles, 16,000 feet of climbing, one of the hardest 50-milers in the country — he won in 12:02. This is how he fueled it.
Cruel Jewel is one of the hardest 50-milers in the country.
56 miles through the Chattahoochee National Forest. Roughly 16,000 feet of climbing. Technical trails, steep grades, heat, humidity, and long stretches between crew access.
Just finishing is an accomplishment. Winning takes some serious heart.
Cody Bare won it in 12:02. Congrats from the entire Feed team, Cody — what a performance.
If you know Cody, it's probably as the filmmaker behind David Roche's YouTube channel — the guy filming Leadville, Javelina, and Road to Western States. This time, he was the one racing. And his fueling plan was one of the more aggressive setups we've seen for a mountain ultra. We wanted to share with you — as this is another testament to how consistency and high-carb fueling is changing performances.
The Fueling Strategy
The night before the race, Cody started with Nomio — 2.5 kilograms of performance-enhancing broccoli sprouts in a format your body can actually use to help buffer lactic acid. That burn you feel when you're climbing? It burns less.
2–3 hours before the start, Cody took Maurten's Bicarb, which helps you get the most out of high-intensity efforts. He then started hydrating with The Feed Lab Hydration (Wild Berry) plus half a SiS Beta Fuel gel 15 minutes before the start.
Once the race started, Cody kept up his fueling with relentless consistency — a mix of SiS Beta Fuel, Precision, and Amacx for gels, and Skratch Hydration in his bottles at the aid stations.
Here's the key: for the first five hours, Cody took a gel every 20 minutes, adding up to 135–140g of carbs/hour across the South Georgia mountains. After hour five, he backed off slightly to a gel every 30 minutes, hitting about 100g of carbs/hour.
The Move That Won the Race
Cody's race plan centered around one section between mile 27 and mile 33. At mile 27, he swapped his heavier pack for a lighter belt setup after learning that first place was only 30 seconds ahead. Then he attacked the next climb and secured the lead for the rest of the race.
The Biggest Lesson: Heat Changes Everything
The hardest part wasn't the climbing. It was the humidity.
Cody trains in dry, high-altitude Boulder — basically the opposite of a humid Georgia summer day. Race conditions completely changed his hydration and sodium needs on the fly. By the finish, he'd taken 8 Precision salt pills, 2 pickle juice shots, and refilled his ice bandana constantly — and he still felt like he needed more sodium.
Cody's Advice for First-Time 50 Milers
Train your gut, especially with fluids — hot races dramatically change how much you drink. If you get nauseous, slow down instead of stopping the fuel; the calories you miss will catch up to you later in the race. And train specifically for heat and humidity, because fitness alone doesn't automatically transfer.
