How many carbs per hour on a long ride

Short answer30 to 90 gcarbs per hour, increasing based on how long and how hard you ride

Moderate rides: 30 to 60 grams per hour. Longer and harder rides: 60 to 90 grams. Race days for well-trained riders: 90 grams or more. If the ride is under 1 hour, you may only need water.

The carb ranges above come from the 2026 paper “UCI Sports Nutrition Project: Position Statement on Nutrition for Cycling,” written by 54 researchers. This post shows how to use those carb ranges on your rides.

Why eat during your ride

Your body stores a limited amount of carbohydrate in your muscles and liver. On a long or hard ride, you burn through those stored carbs. Carbs you eat during the ride give your muscles another source of fuel, so you can hold your pace throughout the entire ride instead of fading.

What carbs on the bike do

You use up your stored fuel

On a long or hard ride, the carbs stored in your muscles and liver go down as the ride goes on.

Carbs during the ride add fuel

Carbs you take in on the bike give your muscles another source of fuel.

You are more likely to hold your target pace

With that added fuel, you can hold your pace throughout the entire ride instead of fading.

On an easy one-hour ride, the carbs stored in your muscles and liver are usually enough. On a three-hour ride with climbing, those stored carbs are probably not enough.

The numbers, by session

Carbs per hour, by ride

From UCI Sports Nutrition Project: Position Statement on Nutrition for Cycling (2026)

Rides under 1 houryou may only need water

Moderate ride, after the first hour30 to 60 g

30 to 60 g

Long or hard ride60 to 90 g

60 to 90 g

Race day, well-trained riders90 g or more

90 g or more

0306090120 g per hour

Smaller athletes may need less fuel overall, larger athletes may need more, and effort matters as much as time.

Smaller riders may need fewer carbs per hour than these ranges, and larger riders may need more. Effort matters as much as time: a two-hour tempo ride needs more carbs per hour than a two-hour easy ride.

Above 60 grams, the type of carb matters

Glucose or fructose on their own have an upper limit you can absorb per hour. Glucose and fructose use different absorption pathways, so a mix of the two lets you absorb more carbs per hour than either one alone.

Two absorption pathways into your body

Glucose and fructose are absorbed through different gates in the gut

GlucoseMaltodextrin, dextrose, and starches like rice and potatoes

Glucose gate (SGLT1)

Starts to fill up above about 60 g of carbs per hour.

FructoseFruit, agave syrup and crystalline fructose

Fructose gate (GLUT5)

A separate gate, so fructose adds to what glucose brings in. On its own, it is slower and harder on the gut.

Glucose and fructose togetherA mix uses both gates at the same time, so you can absorb more carbs per hour than with either one alone. This is why many gels and drink mixes combine both.

Simplified. The names in brackets are the transport proteins scientists use for each gate.

Which sources are glucose, fructose, or both

Check the ingredients list on any drink, gel or chew

Glucose or fructose only: one absorption pathway

Glucose or fructose on their own have an upper limit you can absorb per hour

Examples of glucose-only items are: maltodextrin-only drink mixes, dextrose tablets, rice cakes, white bread, white rice and potatoes. Examples of mostly fructose items are: agave syrup and crystalline fructose.

Glucose and fructose together: two pathways for absorption

With glucose and fructose mixed, you can absorb more carbs per hour

Examples of glucose plus fructose items are: table sugar, honey, maple syrup, orange juice, fruit and dried fruit, and gels or drink mixes labeled dual-source or with a 2:1 or 1:0.8 ratio.

Fructose on its own, like agave syrup, is absorbed slowly and is hard on the gut in large amounts, so use fructose as part of a glucose and fructose mix, not as your only carb source.

If you are aiming above 60 grams of carbs per hour, use drink mixes, gels or chews that combine glucose and fructose. Their labels list both glucose (or maltodextrin) and fructose. Check the label for grams of carbs per serving, because products vary a lot.

Do not forget fluid

The general aim is to finish a ride having lost less than 2% of your body weight to dehydration. You do not need a lab to find your own sweat rate.

Find your sweat rate

Weigh in before

Right before a ride, with minimal clothing.

Ride and track

Ride as usual and note how much you drink.

Weigh in after

Right after, before eating or drinking anything else.

Work out your fluid loss

Subtract your weight after from your weight before, add the weight of what you drank, and subtract anything you urinated. Aim to lose under 2% of your body weight.

For example, if you start at 170.6 lbs and finish at 167.2 lbs without drinking or urinating, you lost 3.4 lbs, or 2% of your body weight, mostly through sweat. That ride was right at the 2% limit.

Repeat this on a few rides in different weather and you will know roughly how much you sweat per hour. Aim to drink enough to stay under that 2% loss, without drinking so much that you finish heavier than you started.

Practice your race fueling before race day

The carb intake you can tolerate is trainable. If 90 grams per hour sounds like a lot, build up to 90 grams per hour step by step on long training rides. We wrote a separate post on how to train your gut for race fueling.

An example ramp

Carbs per hour on long rides

Start at a comfortable 50 g (or less) per hour, add about 12 g every two weeks, and reach the race range in about three months. Your own starting point and steps may differ.

How Augur handles this

Every planned training day in Augur shows a carbs-per-hour and fluid-per-hour target, set by that day's type of training: light, hard, long or race.

Augur's training card on a long day: fueling guideline 3,248 kcal, and during training 60 to 90 g carbs and 17 to 27 oz fluid per hour

In Augur, on every training day

30 to 60 gper hour on light days, after the first hour

60 to 90 gper hour on hard and long days

90 to 120 gper hour on race days

The full targets, with fluid:

Day	Carbs per hour	Fluid per hour
Light	30 to 60 g after the first hour (under 60 minutes, water may be enough)	400 to 600 mL (14 to 20 oz)
Hard	60 to 90 g	500 to 750 mL (17 to 25 oz)
Long	60 to 90 g	500 to 800 mL (17 to 27 oz)
Race	90 to 120 g	600 to 800 mL (20 to 27 oz)

Set your weekly training schedule in Augur, and each ride's carb and fluid targets show up before you clip in.