Hey, i actually have spent quite some time playing with this, being I am a Body Builder, Cyclist, street boarder, snow boarding, musician, i work 50 + hours a week, and am now a unicyclist, i have been able to adapt a routine that keeps up performance and helps you get strong.
Routine,
YOU MUST GET A GOOD NIGHT SLEEP! I get 8 hours every night! it is 100% curtail to have a rested body.
1 1/2 -2 hours prior to my exercise, be it gym, biking, what ever i take a protein shake. These are the other half of the energy. Your body gets drained of energy because you are not giving it enough to re supply your muscles and improve your oxygenation rate.
The shake -
1/2-3/4 cup of mil
2-3 frozen strawberry’s (or desired fruit)
1-2 scoops of vanilla protein powder.
Blend it in a food processor or magic bullet and you have a nice frothy strawberry milkshake.
This will digest in about 1 - 1 1/2 hours and allow you to ride as though you ate a perfectly balanced meal but your not full so you won’t cramp. It will last for about 5 hours before you’ll get hungry.
I personally cannot eat within 3 hours of exercising because i cramp up really badly, but taking this allows me to just blast through my workouts.
The other advantage is the post recovery, take another one of these shakes after your ride as well, the problem 99% of people run into with any exercise and the reason they seem to make no gains is that they do not give there body any nutrients to rebuild the muscle they just tore apart, and they do not retain the muscle/endurance gains.
This took me over a year to perfect but it really does work.
For woman, do the exact same thing! Your body operates under the exact same principal as a male except you lack the testosterone to build muscle so you will get a no calorie (your body identifies and digests 100% of the shake so there is nothing stored and no calories to burn) meal that will keep you on your game for hours.
The powder, i use Perfect Nutritions - Perfect whey, it is 100% new zealand whey, with 28 grams of protein per 35 gram scoop. It has 90 calories per scoop and it taste excellent (in comparison to other powders) and mixes flawlessly.
I spent 2 hours tonight on my uni learning, and 1 hour working out, heres a picture of what i have achieved
https://unicyclist.com//t/ambitious-learner/115611/1
heres a link to the powder.
http://www.perfectnutrition.ca/
for any questions give me a haller. (i am a partially sponsored body builder)