Thirsty (for knowledge) Thursday: TdF Bike Nutrition Dictated by a Sticker

I don't follow the techie blog of DC Rainmaker too closly, but he posted something simiple and interesting about Tour de France riders last week. He wrote about the "evolution" of stickers that cyclists might have on their handlebars: notes on elevation, sprint points, etc.

This year, he noted seeing something different: a nuttition sticker listing times and intake. Here's Caleb Ewan's from stage 1:

That shows notes on chews vs gels, whether they're caffinated or not, and even differences in water bottles (assuming that one of those colors of bottles might have some extra calories or electrolytes added?).

As DC scoped out some bikes next to their team busses, he saw this example for stage 2:

It's funny that his name is underlined as if it was
spelled wrong. Just a screenshot of a Word Doc?

He talked with a team’s nutritionist, Britt Lambrecht, as she was finishing getting bottles on bikes before the start of a stage. He wasn't curious about what the cyclists consumed, but instead how the stickers were made. (So nerdy... I love it!) Here's part of what she said from DC's post:

How are you creating the stickers? “Just Word”, yes, Microsoft Word. She manually creates each one for each rider each morning, depending on the rider and the stage length / needs / conditions. And this includes the pictures of the package, which she said the riders liked. Had it been anywhere else with more time, I’d probably been like “Ok, I’ve gotta still see your Word document! Also, which sticker paper and printer?"

Why don’t all riders have them? “It’s more for the riders that sometimes forget to eat”. She noted that for herself, it doesn’t matter whether or not the riders use the stickers – as long as they’re getting in the nutrition they need.

Is this the first team you’ve done the stickers for? “No, this is the first team I’m working in. But I saw at another team, [Team Intermarché] Wanty, they sometimes have it there”. I looked later at Team Intermarché again, but for this stage they weren’t using it. And she wasn’t sure if they were using it at the TdF this year, as she had seen it previously pre-TdF.

So for all the techie things your Garmin can do, there's still a place in the biggest bike race in the world for simple stickers placed on the cyclist's bikes to help remind them to eat. Whatever it takes so they don't "forget to eat" as Lambrecht noted.

For more "Thirsty Thursday" posts that highlight workouts, body science, and all kinds of interesting information, CLICK HERE. As always, back with some "Friday Funnies" tomorrow.