How 3 Professional Chefs Fuel For a 300-Mile Bike Ride

In the world of professional chefs, there exists an overlap between chefs and cycling. This overlap is perhaps no more prominent than with events like Chef’s Cycle. The event takes place over three days, where chefs ride 100-miles per day. There are around 200 participants — most of them chefs — that cycle all day and eat plentifully at night. The event raises money for No Kid Hungry, a nonprofit working to provide kids with healthy food.

So what do top chefs eat and use to tackle three Grand Fondos in a row? We spoke with Neal Fraser, chef at Redbird, Chris Cosentino, chef at Cockscomb, and Michael Kramer, chef at Jianna, to hear what they bring on the bike with them, and what their gear of choice is.

The Food

All three chefs we spoke with packed their own food. None of them wanted to deal with any GI issues during the three-day event, and the safest way to do that is to eat what you know works.

“I created my own energy bar line with a max of seven ingredients. They’re all-natural, organic, gluten-free and easily digestible. There are four flavors and will launch soon. The base of everything is dates, which prevent GI issues, so they’re calming for the stomach,” Cosentino says.

“My word of mouth is 250 calories an hour, and I try to spread them out across the whole hour. I became a chef because I like the taste of food, but eating Gu is like telling me I have to eat oatmeal for the rest of my life. However, I do eat gels and bars — Shot Bloks from CLIF. Then I make one water bottle with Skratch Labs,” Fraser says.

Kramer goes the other direction. “I usually do Gus. I like salted caramel, espresso and the berry flavor,” he says. “I like Lara Bars too — the blueberry and cookies and cream. I always bring my own stuff because it’s what I’m comfortable with and I can easily digest. I also eat those applesauce packets, the Motts ones. They’re just 60 calories and super easy to digest.”

The Gear

All three chefs are big cyclists — they all used to race, and some still do. Kramer started road racing in 1988, Fraser has been riding since he was 15 and Cosentino raced professionally as an ultra-endurance racer doing 24-hour solos on a single speed.