Michael Hutchinson was fast. He won multiple national titles as a rider, becoming one of the UK’s most prolific time trial racers. But when it came to nutrition, he was admittedly something of a laggard.

In his book, “Faster: The Obsession, Science and Luck Behind the World’s Fastest Cyclists,” Hutchinson says “cycling consists of only three raw ingredients: oxygen, food and bicycles. It is not hard to get riders interested in the first and last.”

Hutchinson admits to being “terrible in this whole area,” and never saw an eating fad he didn’t like during his career. In the course of researching the topic for the book, he says, he learned a lot about what he should have been doing.

Hutchinson learned about the relationship to cycling of the three sources of energy: carbohydrates, fats and protein, and he explains the role each plays while riding. As all cyclists know, it’s the carbs that get all the attention, but fat consumed in proper amounts while training can create a nearly inexhaustible tank of fuel. Protein, meanwhile, is not primarily a fuel source. Ignoring it, however, could mean a loss of lean muscle mass, he points out.

When a race is done, the sweet spot for absorbing nutrients lasts about 40 minutes, Hutchinson says. That’s when the body will absorb them much more effectively than at any other time during the day. Failing to take advantage of it gives everyone who does so a head start on the next day of a stage race.

Hutchinson describes in excruciating detail the consequences of ignoring fuel during a race. In his first 12-hour race he was hit by an “overwhelming weakness,” when the carbs ran out – the dreaded bonk that nearly all riders have experienced. 

“My vision clouded over. I felt dizzy and breathless,” Hutchinson said. He recalled a runner friend’s story about getting the knock during a marathon, a tale that Hutchinson said he “laughed and laughed” at. “In the midst of my 12-hour disaster it was only the thought of my cruel unfeeling laughter coming back with interest that prevented me from lying down in a ditch to pray for death.”

Riders interested in how fueling for training and racing has worked – and failed to work – in a pro racer’s career, will find the book readable and perhaps helpful to achieve at least marginal gains in the quest to go faster.

For more of Hutchinson’s work, see his articles at Cycling Weekly.