Simon: Conor is no stranger to taking on a challenge or two but for this video
we've given him a big one. Although having said that, he does seem quite up for it.
Anyway, we've asked Conor to take on the Tour De France eating challenge.
Can he eat what a pro cyclist eats during a day at the Tour De France?
Conor Dunne: Basically, I'm going to be sticking to the average diet of a Tour De France rider,
and we're basing this on a 70 kilogram rider who consume on average around 6,700 to 7,000 calories
per day at the Tour De France which is a whooping amount.
We're going to say a big thank you to Enervit and [unintelligible 00:00:44] nutritionist,
Steph Scherling for providing the food plan for me today.
I need you to see if I can actually stick to it because we're going to try and consume everything
that's on this list and I tell you what, it's a long list.
Time for breakfast. This morning, I'm going to be breakfasting like the Tour champion
that I am in my dreams. Anyway, but forget that. On the menu today, I have two pancakes
with maple syrup, a bowl of porridge with honey, two eggs and two slices of toast.
That's what's on the menu and it's going to be the largest sit-down meal of the day at 1350 calories.
It's going to set me up for the day, getting me ready for a big day's racing.
I'll tell you what I'm hungry about now, so without further ado,
time to crack into it. It's nice doing this in my home. Normally, it would be
fighting to get the food at the buffet. [music]
Conor: That's breakfast done. Very tasty. I actually enjoyed that.
It did remind me how much food you actually eat in the morning when you're at a race. Anyway,
quickly before I do head off to my race, I do need to get a bit of coffee into me.
I think my biggest fear when I was racing was getting caught short in the race and
needed to go to the toilet, and coffee did help things along in the mornings, so bottoms up.
Not literally. I am on the bus, or the tractor as you may have
noticed because I don't have a team bus to take me to the start. I used to, but since I've joined GCN
this is what I have, so making the most of it. On the bus, most Tour De France riders would have a
banana and that's what's in my menu plan today. A banana. 105 calories just to keep the sugar
levels topped up, keep the energy going to the muscles. I am waiting for brother-in-law Nigel
to take me to the start of my race today. He's not turned up yet, so I'm hoping I'm
not going to be late. Nigel, come on now. Right, I'm at the starting line of the Tour
De France stage, but I am thinking about the nutrition that I am going to be consuming today
because it is a whooping amount. It's 2,588 calories
that I've got to get in during today's race. We're presuming that the race is going to be
around four hours long. The menu for that would be two bottles of isotonic sports drink per hour,
and also two portions of nutrition per hour. That could be anything like
a rice cake, brioche, an energy bar, or a gel. I'm also going to have to consume two caffeine
gels in the finale just to make sure that I take the win. You know what I mean?
I've got so much food I've had to bring with me a musette to carry it all, just to
get it down. It's like a food bag. It's heavy. It is going to be the largest portion of food
during today. So much food. It's more than any of the sit-down meals, so better get cracking.
Time to get the food in. Two portions per hour, so what should I go for? I've got a
bar here in here I think. I think I fancy a bar. Let's see, what have I got in my box of treats.
I'm going to go for a bar. There we go. Get that into me. That's one portion.
What's next then? We have very real food I think. Another banana.
How do I open it? It's a bit moldy. Another portion. All right, what next?
Energy gel. [music]
Conor: Keep on eating. What next? More food. A bit of brioche. Hey how's it going?
Don't forget, take you rubbish home. Bananas, energy bars, rice cakes, gels all down the hatch.
Two portions every hour. Per hour, a rider should take in 60/90g of carbohydrates
by means of easy digestible food such as sports bars, gels and drinks.
Some riders also prefer regular foods such as gingerbread or bananas but
this is rather taken in the first part of the ride.
Tell you what, that was some race. Went on a solo breakaway.It was as if the competition
didn't even exist. I was absolutely flying. Won it obviously. Don't know what happened to the
rest of the racers but I did eat all my food. All finished, kept on top of the nutrition.
Now I think I've got to get to the team bus and have a recovery shake.
The benefit of a recovery shake is not just proteins and carbohydrates, it's also compensating
for the body waste that you've lost through sweat during the race especially on those hot days which
you do often get in the Tour De France. I have nipped back to my kitchen because
my boss unfortunately does not have the greatest cooking facilities like other world tour squads,
so I've come back to the kitchen to rattle up my post race snack.
I say snack, this is actually a solid solid meal. It's 765 calories worth,
and that is in order to allow nutrients to be continuously available to the body
so that the body can achieve optimal recovery as we'll continue to take on board food,
nutrients, extra energy and liquids until right up to the point when they go to bed.
It's all about refueling. Better rustle up this 750 calories snack.
It's quite hard doing this in one hand, I'm not going to lie, but this is a one man show.
This is basically a proper meal eaten straight after the race on the team bus, and to be honest,
this was always my favorite meal of the day. I love that time on the team bus. It's one thing
I do miss about racing, if I'm honest. You had radio play, a bit of relaxing
music going and you had a lovely meal to eat and munch on on the way to the hotel.
I think that's key because riders would have quite a big break from when the race finishes,
to when they get their evening meal, and if they don't get that food in them
before they massage, before they check in to their hotel room, before they have that long
drive sometimes to the race hotel, then they can quite easily get hungry and you really don't want
that to happen especially at a long way such as the Tour De France where you really want to keep
those nutrients entering your body you want to keep recovering and you want your muscles
to be ready for the next day's racing. To think I've just eaten 2,600 calories,
but when I was racing I remember just being hungry the whole time. Now I just feel stuffed already.
Post-race meal finished. I've arrived at my race hotel. I've had my post-race meal, and this is
the moment where I would get a nice massage. I've just been looking for my brother-in-law,
Nigel to give me a massage but he doesn't appear to be here. He did say he'd give me a massage. I'm
just going to have to do without basically. I'm just going to
have to imagine that I've got a massage. It's just the challengers I'm contending
with really, but what can you do? A bit of time to recover now before dinner later
which is another big meal. Get myself ready for another hot stage in the Tour De France.
Right. Dinner now, and guess what, more carbs, more protein keeping that food train
going for another big day in the mountains tomorrow. 1090 calories for dinner. Those
[unintelligible 00:09:14] must have a big stomach. Better get cracking in the old kitchen. On the
menu for dinner we have one bowl of tomato soup with vermicelli, 200 grams of white fish, a 125
grams, uncooked weight, of quinoa, 250 grams of vegetables, one piece of homemade apple pie.
First meal of dinner, bowl of soup. Tomato soup with some vermicelli, scrummy.
Moving onto the main course for dinner now and I've got some quinoa, so slow release
of carbohydrates and plenty of carbohydrates again. Also some white fish stocking up on the
proteins once more and I tell you an absolute loaf of veg. 250 grams of grilled vegetables.
Better get it into me. I've also got some apple pie for pudding.
That was a lot of vegetables. I love carbs, I love proteins.
Stuffed.
I'm stuffed now. That was a solid dinner. Enjoyed that though. Apple pie was really tasty actually,
but the eating does not stop there because I have another snack before I go to bed.
Time for my post-bed snack. No, not post-bed. I'd be in my dreams. Time for my pre-bed snack.
I tell you what, this isn't a snack either. This is absolutely massive. Look at this.
It's absolutely huge. 250 grams of strawberries.
I think I'd turn into a strawberry if I ate this one at Tour De France.
Anyway, I'm going to turn into strawberry now because it's all going to get into my stomach but
it's also got 250 grams of high protein yogurt, so getting more protein just
before bed to keep that muscle recovery going. If you can't find a high protein yogurt then
a good little tip is get some natural yogurt and just add some whey protein and mix it in.
30 grams should do it, and just a nice little protein top up before bed.
I guess I better get this into me then. Normally, I'd have quite a few snacks.
When I was racing, this would definitely be my naughty hour, and I'd like to sit in bed read a
book, watch Netflix, but seeing as I'm not racing anymore I've got GCN race pass up on the TV.
Now, I really am stuffed. Time to rest and some sleep because we got another big day
of riding and eating tomorrow. Thanks again to Steph Scherling and [unintelligible 00:12:04]
and especially Enervit for the race food. Got me round. Eating is just as much a part
of the Tour De France, that's the racing, really. You've got to keep on top of your own nutrition,
keep on shoveling it in, really. It's incredible to see
what riders actually put themselves through and how their stomach can take all that food.
I think to be honest, for myself, I'm going to have a rest day tomorrow. I
think I'm going to be on a juice detox diet or something, but for the pro riders at the Tour,
they'll do it all over again day in day out for three weeks straight. It's pretty impressive.
That is a Tour rider's diet in a day. Reckon you could eat all that for three weeks straight? Still
enjoy right at the end of it? Let me know in the comment section below. What do you reckon
to my Tour rider's diet? I did enjoy eating it although to be honest. [chuckles] Thanks for
watching everyone, see you soon. [00:12:58] [END OF AUDIO]