Are you looking for a cheap way to get some extra energy for those last climbs on your road ride? Next time you have a store stop, have a Coke and a smile. Over our last road ride last weekend, a friend of mine reminded me of a riding tip that actually produces real results and it all centers around having a Coke and a smile.

I actually first learned about this trick from some marathon runner friends of mine. During their extremely long runs, they would have their supporters hand them Coke during the run for extra energy. Now, they obviously couldn’t handle the carbonation at that point in time, so whoever was giving them the Coke during the run would shake it up to make the Coke flat before consumption.

Now…you can’t exactly pack a cold can of Coke in your jersey pocket and head out on your favorite long ride. However, most long rides include some sort of store stop where you can pick one up, drink it and go about your ride.

What Does A Can Of Coke Do For Your Riding?

While it may seem off the wall at first, Coke contains caffeine, sugars and calories that your body needs during hard, strenuous road rides. This extra jolt during a ride can make those remaining climbs easier on the body and legs as you grind up the hill.

While you ride, your body is burning a massive amount of fuel. Typically, the simple sugars and carbs that we love so much get burned off quickly with a nice result of increased energy. But…the reason we should not eat too many simple sugars is the same reason we can not rely on them to last the entire ride…they burn off quickly, so you need a more sustainable energy source inside your body.

But, this leaves the door open to refuel your body with some more of these simple and complex sugars in the middle of a ride and add a nice little pick me up with the additional caffeine. If you think your stomach is going to have a hard time with the carbonation, you can shake up the can (use caution when opening) like the marathon runners to get rid of some of the pressure.

Is it all in the caffeine?

In an article by Peak Performance, they outlined the benefits of using Coke as a sports drink:

So why is Coke so popular with athletes? The research shows that Coke’s carbonation is not especially troublesome during exercise (and most athletes de-fizz it anyway). Coke’s carbohydrate can keep muscles working as glycogen levels plummet, and if Coke is mixed half-and-half with Gatorade, for example, which some athletes do, the resulting mixture possesses a carbohydrate content of about 8.6-8.7 percent, which is within the optimal range of carbohydrate concentrations.

But, no doubt the real appeal of Coke is due to its caffeine (as mentioned, a 12-ounce slug of Coke has between 30 and 45 mg of caffeine, slightly less than the increasingly popular Mountain Dew). As regular readers of Peak Performance are aware, caffeine has been shown to be performance-enhancing in a variety of different studies, and it continues to vie with creatine for the position of the hottest legal ergogenic aid available to athletes. In the past three years, research has shown that caffeine can jazz up 1500-metre running performances, improve interval workouts, heighten 100-metre swimming times, bolster sprint-cycling ability, broaden the endurance of experienced cyclists and even rev up 10-K running performances.

Will this energy be long lasting over the course of 40 miles or so? No…probably not…but it might get you over that mid-ride plateau that can sometimes zap the life out of a road bikers legs making the ending stages harder to handle.

So next time you hit up a store stop…have a coke and a smile…

Coke image by Brother O’Mara