Nutritional Revolution Podcast

Charlotte Backus Turner on Pregnancy, Ultra Bikepacking & Fueling for Performance

• Season 6 • Episode 190

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In episode #190 we spoke with Charlotte Backus Turner, a former professional cyclist turned endurance cyclist and coach, exploring her multifaceted experience balancing high-level biking, pregnancy, and personal growth. Discover how she navigates the physical and mental hurdles of ultra bikepacking, pregnancy, and recovery—all rooted in science, lived experience, and resilience.

KEY TOPICS

  • Charlotte's transition from road racing to ultra bikepacking and her recent races like Doom
  • The impact of pregnancy on endurance training, fueling strategies, and nutritional needs
  • Managing health challenges like pneumonia, lung capacity, and recovery after injury
  • Dietary considerations for pregnant athletes, including cravings, supplements, and gut health
  • Practical tips for ultra fueling, hydration strategies, and carrying essentials on long rides
  • Insights into postpartum mindset and balancing athletic goals with family life

Please note that this podcast is created strictly for educational purposes and should never be used for medical diagnosis or treatment.

ABOUT CHARLOTTE BACKUS TURNER:

Charlotte Backus Turner is a 28-year-old former professional UCI road cyclist, accredited cycling coach, nutritionist, ultra-endurance bikepacker, and psychology-driven Scholar based in Park City, Utah. With a background in road, gravel, Mtb, Zwift racing, and self-supported ultra-distance events, Charlotte blends science, lived experience, and human emotion to help athletes build strength, confidence, and resilience from the inside out.

She is also the co-founder of Uinta Bikepacking alongside her husband, Matthew Turner — a northern Utah ultra-bikepacking event created to inspire more riders, especially women, to explore hard things with confidence. Outside of coaching and endurance sport, Charlotte also works in property management, bringing the same attention to detail, care, and commitment to people that she carries into her athletic and coaching life.

Charlotte and Matthew live in Park City and are expecting their first child, a baby boy, in July 2026. Through her coaching, writing, adventures, and growing family life, Charlotte continues to share a grounded perspective on endurance, nutrition, mindset, resilience, and the deeper lessons we learn on and off the bike.

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TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Introduction to Charlotte Turner, pro cyclist and ultra endurance bikepacker

02:25 - Charlotte’s background and journey into ultra bike packing

04:21 - Pregnancy updates, upcoming races, and life changes

05:36 - Transition from racing to pregnancy and mental challenges

06:27 - Exploring self-supported ultra events and race strategies

09:21 - Managing refueling and hydration on ultra distances

10:28 - Completing Doom 100-mile race while pregnant and lessons learned

11:04 - Adjustments in fueling and hydration during pregnancy

12:10 - Early pregnancy challenges and managing physical symptoms

13:08 - Facing food cravings and micronutrient needs during pregnancy

14:36 - Physical changes like blood volume increase and lung capacity

15:37 - Reflecting on racing before and during pregnancy

16:24 - Overcoming injury, pneumonia, and lung capacity recovery

19:37 - Transition from road to ultra bike packing and lifestyle shifts

23:17 - Nutrition practices for ultra bike packing and managing dietary restrictions

25:07 - The importance of mindset and nature connection in ultra endurance

26:11 - Fueling strategies, food options, and managing GI issues during long rides

27:13 - Favorite race snacks and planning for ultra events

29:56 - Hydration tactics, bottle placement, and water sources during races

33:19 - Monitoring fluid intake, fueling, and the body's response during ultra races

36:55 - Managing gluten sensitivities and gluten-free foods while racing

41:22 - How pregnancy altered her fueling needs and blood sugar regulation

44:12 - Balancing energy output and carbohydrate intake in ultra endurance

45:31 - Preferred protein sources during pregnancy for endurance athletes

47:29 - Supplements, vitamins, and minerals for pregnancy and athletic performance

49:56 - Upcoming races, training plans, and balancing family life

57:13 - Charlotte’s international bikepacking adventures and future goals

57:43 - Connecting with Charlotte: social media and website links

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Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the Nutritional Revolution Podcast. This is Kyla Channell your host. And today we have for you guys Charlotte Backus Turner. And she's a 28-year-old former professional UCI road cyclist, accredited cycling coach, nutritionist, and ultra endurance bikepacker, and psychology-driven scholar based in Park City, Utah. With a background in road, gravel, mountain bike, zwift racing, and self-supported ultra distance events. Charlotte blends science, lived experience, and human emotion to help athletes build strength. confidence and resilience from the inside out. She's also the co-founder of UNITA Bikepacking alongside her husband, Matthew Turner, a northern Utah ultra bikepacking event created to inspire more riders, especially women, to explore hard things with confidence. Outside of coaching and endurance sports, Charlotte also works in property management, bringing the same attention to detail, care, and commitment to people that she carries into her athletic and coaching life. Charlotte and Matthew live in Park City and are expecting their first child, baby boy, in July 2026. Through her coaching, writing, adventures, and growing family life, Charlotte continues to share a grounded perspective on endurance, nutrition, mindset, resilience, and the deeper lessons we learn on and off the bike. So such a fun episode. We tied together her pregnancy, racing, riding, ultra bike packing, navigating all of that. Um, super fun one. You guys enjoy the episode. Welcome back to the Nutritional Revolution Podcast. You guys, we have Charlotte Turner for you and we're gonna be talking about all things cycling and pregnancy today. This is gonna be fun. I'm excited. Thank you for joining us, Charlotte. Yeah, thank you for having me. She's zooming in from the nursery right now. So can is the nursery all is it ready or do you still have stuff to do? What do you think? No. Yeah. one month out just about, so y yeah, we'll get there. Yeah. bit at a time. I always just like have to remind myself like cave men and women had babies. They had caves. So yeah, I feel like exactly, exactly. okay, well before we get to learn much more about you, I'm gonna have you I'm we're gonna jump straight into your two truths and a lie. I'm gonna have you break those down for me. Okay. okay, so the first one is I was raised on a farm when I was young. Um and that farm consisted of twenty-six to thirty horses. So it's a horse farm. ah and then I was on a chef show on YouTube once back then. And then I've biked in eight different countries so far. Whoa. Okay. Cool. these are all fun. goodness. These are and these are good because it's always good when the guest is ones like I can't I can't research all of these where you were raised or I wonder these are all very good. And like I feel like any of these could be little tri twists or tricks, maybe biked in like seven countries instead of eight. a chef show on YouTube. I feel like that could have totally happened based off of like just what I researched thus far. I'm gonna go with the eight different countries is a lie, but don't tell me the answer. Maybe there's like a spin on that. and and we will see. We will find out at the end of the episode for our listeners. but before we jump in today, why don't you give us, Charlotte, a little bit of uh background about you, what's been going on this year, what's what's coming down the pipeline for you? Yeah, baby. Baby's coming down the pipeline. hopefully soon. Uh but yeah, I've been pregnant this year. Um, it's been kind of a chill year. I have done a couple races. Um, I'm pretty much not doing much anymore, just focusing on work and getting stuff done. We also bought house this past year in November, so we are currently renovating it ourselves as well. So we've been busy. Um, so training, like I've been consistent with training, which has been great. It's been a really hard journey just going from going full gas racing to kind of a full stop, but I've already scheduled some stuff in for this year to race, including a 25-hour race in November. And so I'm due in July. And so it'll give me four months to recover. And of course, everything's kind of like TVD. Mm-hmm. I'm not putting pressure on myself this year to be amazing, get first, win, and all that. Um, but it's just nice to have a goal to look forward to and train to. And I've been really lucky this pregnancy to be able to still train and at least train for the most part, but um and kind of continue to keep that fitness um and my sanity. Yes. Yes, totally. Um, so for our listeners to the sport you're primarily involved in, 'cause we have a lot of endurance athletes, runners, gravel, mountain, you name it. Um, tell us a little bit about your sport, how you got into it. tell us about that, what you've been racing in. Yeah. So I do self-supported ultra bike packing. Um, of course, like we'll go through everything else I did beforehand because I didn't just do that. Um, I'm recently new into that world. And it's pretty much comes down to you're self supported. So you don't have any team or crew. There's controversy of like filmers and stuff too. Um, but you're by yourself. Of course, there's like a mass start, but you're not really supposed to draft or team up with other people unless you're a duo team. And you have to pack everything that you need to live with. And it's usually multi-day events. So it could be 400 to 600 miles. Heck, it could be 200 miles, but mountain biking. Um, and I mainly do off-road, so I don't tend to like to be on the roads anymore. Um, so I stick to gravel and mountain biking. And So with that self-support it's a lot longer and slower miles, lots more climbing, and you have to, yeah, you don't you can't plan anything. So you can't be like a week before, oh, I'm gonna go stay at this hotel and plan that and get my reservation. You have to kind of go on the fly, which makes it challenging in a way. And you really have to learn how to study maps and know where water spots are, where refuel points are. So it's it's quite different from what I've been used to. in the past of just racing short and getting everything handed to you. Right. Yes. Um, so the the self supported but mass start events, is that like as an example, like the unbound like three fifty, is that technically self supported? I know they have to like yeah. Just about it's I feel like it's those things are kind of changing a little bit. Even like the Treka, um, it's I think those are still sometimes considered considered gravel races. It's hard because like we all know there's a spirit of gravel and it's changing and morphing just because of the competitive level. And I I don't mind if it does, but there's also this outside ultra community that's I would say like doom. which is in Arkansas, is more of considered of true ultra race because it's over four hundred miles and it's you're just like people actually have packs and stuff. You have, you know, tail fins, you have frame bags, and you're actually like there to be like, okay, we're gonna stealth camp or we're going to try to push through the night the first night, but like sleep a little bit the second night. So I think with the unbound, you know, the large unbound is somewhat it's becoming kind of like a two day thing where people just ride through. Um, which is still I mean, I'm not saying it's not an ultra 'cause obviously that's I would say that two hundred is an ultra because that's long enough. Yes. True, true. so with the these self supported, like are you able to stop at gas stations or are you trying to leave with everything you need nutritionally on you? Yeah, you can stop at gas stations, depending on the route. So, like Doom, for an example, there were really not many gas stations. There's a cafe. but North South, which is in Colorado, that had like grocery stores, and I was stoked about that because there's a lot more opportunity for grocery stores, and I'm also celiac and dairy free. So I've gotten used to packing a lot of my own stuff. Which is challenging because it's also like if you're packing extra batteries, extra lights, extra clothes for all the different weather, because usually ultra races have all the different weathers, it adds up. The weight really adds up. And then you add food and food is very heavy. so it can add up and so it's it becomes really heavy, but then I just think, you know, like I'm just gonna eat away at it and it'll just get lighter and lighter. But yeah, you can stop at gas stations, you can even go off route. to get to a refuel point, but you have to go back to the same spot on the route. Mm, okay. That makes sense. And so, before we hit record, you said you had j are you've done Doom already this year, right? You said was it Doom? Yeah. And how far along were you when you did that and how did that feel? I did the hundred miles and it was in a very different part of Arkansas this year. So it was more mountain biking. I did still have the same bike, my drop bar mountain bike. it's a hard tale with drop bars. I really love it. and it was a long day. It took me 18 hours. But again, it wasn't really like I didn't have the mindset of like, let's race, let's get a result. It was like, let's just do this. And I wanted to be an inspiration to other women that Mm-hmm. You know, you can you can still do things because there are tons of opinions out there of what you should do when you're pregnant. And people just love to have opinions when you are pregnant about you. And so I wanted to kind of be there to be like, you know, you can you can do things and make it safe and still do what you love to do, even if you're pregnant. and I did it with my husband, he just joined me. We kind of just rode together and yeah, it was a long day. Hmm, that's great though. That's good to have your your partner there to support you. with the like going from like racing and then becoming pregnant. we've I mean we've worked with a handful of like pregnant cyclists as well. And there's very much I think like a mental struggle sometimes that can go on of like trying to like hard charge and follow the schedule and do this routine. But then first trimester, like one of our athletes, she was just She's like, I feel nauseous all the time. Like I wanna follow my schedule, but I just am not like up for it. Did you struggle with anything like that in the beginning stages of pregnancy? Yeah, the first trimester actually it could have been really good for me, but I actually got the flu twice back to back. So I was sick most of it. So which, you know, I could have been sick with other symptoms too. So the good thing is I feel like it was so it was timed so perfectly and we didn't really have intentions of timing it. I got my IUD out and we were like, Okay, it's gonna take a while and we'll just give it the time it needs. I got pregnant right away. which I was blessed to be pregnant right away. Yeah. Mm-hmm. the off season. So I had had a really big season prior. So I was kind of just like buying to chill. and then being sick also just focused on getting not sick. second, I mean, I was tired. The first trimester, you are tired. You're just trying to adjust to things. But I had a lot of life things happening like buying our house and renovating that kind of covered it all up and just made it all feel tiring. Yeah, yes. On layers of stuff. Did you have any or still have any like food cravings that are like out of the ordinary for you while pregnant? it's weird. I I always thought like you were supposed to and it'd be like major sign, but I haven't really had too much. I maybe say like parts of palm and hickama were some things. I would I'd really want something. I'd like, I really want this and then I'd eat it for the next three days and then I'd be like, Nope, not anymore. so and it's still like the third trimester's actually been the worst for me. with just like nauseousness and just it's like that indecisiveness of deciding what you want to eat. Knowing you still need to eat and you should fuel, but you're just like, I don't know what to do. Yeah, yeah. I yeah, I bet the body's like just like calling out for so many different micronutrients too. Like maybe that's why those cravings happen, like just heart to palm load up on that whatever that's super rich in and for a couple of days. too. Like my body craves stuff that it needs. and I listen to it. and I'm mainly healthy, you know, I I'll eat candy and stuff, but I actually haven't had any cravings for like super ultra processed foods. It's been just kinda like fruit. I have to say, yeah, that's probably one of the biggest cravings was just fruit. It's like all I want is fruit. Yeah. I yeah, I wonder if that's like the water aspect too, right? Like your blood plasma volume is just like increasing so much. Doesn't it like fifty percent increase or something crazy with your blood plasma volume? Yeah. Yeah. All the fluids. It'll pass. it's so easy for them 'cause it just like s comes gushing out. They're just like, Oh, gotta get it. So yeah. like ready. that's wild. Yeah, one of our athletes, she like was on a while pregnant uh watermelon. Like she was eating like an entire watermelon a day. Cause and I think like it was a hydration component too, it's like a big piece of that, just keeping flu. too because like in your third trimester your stomach's also very smushed. So I think that's what also makes it super difficult to kind of decide on food. And even cooking for me is tough. And I love cooking. but it's just like so you can only eat so little. And I think, you know, it's hard to hydrate, like just drinking a lot. and it's so important to hydrate. So I think having foods that are super hydrated foods are very smart. Yeah. Yeah. Small often meals maybe or small frequent meals if the like the stomach is all being pressed on. okay. Well, I'm we're gonna jump back a little bit to pre-pregnancy. when you were on track for the twenty twenty four Olympic development pipeline and then COVID and pneumonia, is that right, took you out for a a full year? Is that what I researched? Is that right? Wow. so yeah, I grew up junior racing, went to Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado for a full ride for road cycling. I was 100% a roadie, nothing else, no off-road stuff. it was my trajectory and that was what I wanted to do. And I yeah, let's see, 2020 is when the whole world shut down, but that was also my year that I graduated. And I had met my husband three years prior to that. It's actually our anniversary today. and he was a mountain biker, but he came over to the roadside. So that's how we met. Because I would have never met him if he was staying on the mountain bike side. But we did long distance for a couple years. So that last year of college was kind of a struggle. I was stying try like I was still riding as a pro. I was riding as a collegiate racer and a pro athlete and a full-time student and jobs And so I was just trying to kind of keep afloat. I think I was struggling a lot. back in high school I had an eating disorder that kind of kicked me out of high school for a while. I was in the hospital for a while and it took a lot of, you know, recovery from that. And it's not like it's ever gonna go away. So I think I relapsed a little bit that last year of college just because I was very like pin focused on being a roadie. And at the time in my career it was Good that you didn't eat when you were on the bike. It was good that you didn't have your period when you were racing and stuff. It was like a thing that was a good sign, which we know now is really not. but it was still that kind of old-fashioned way of like, don't do much strength because that's gonna make you too bulky. And so I was kind of just teetering in on starting that, but sometimes when you're like super underweight, your body does an amazing job at holding on and being strong. So I COVID happened, the whole world shut down and I started Zwifting. I've always been a Zwifter Zwifter, which is online virtual biking. I started racing on there because I started having races. And team 2024, which is now 2028, because that's the next Olympics. the director was like, Hey, she looks great. Let's have you on our team. They were kind of thinking of going more into gravel because when the world shut down, road like so many of the big road races just ended. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Colorado Classic was one of my favorite, Cascade Classic was one of my favorite, and they're all no longer there. So and that a code was a big part of those not being a thing anymore. So yeah, she asked me to join the team. I joined the team, we did zwift racing, which is great, and then we started to get into gravel racing. And this team is a high, high caliber team. Nicola Cranmer, the director, she's still directs for them. She's an amazing human. She's really hardcore. I was terrified of her. Absolutely terrified. because she was super upfront. She would sit me down and be like, you are too light. You cannot keep doing this if you're so light. But she's she's been in this career for so long that she's seen a lot of women go through this. It's not not common, unfortunately. So yeah, she sat me down and I was stubborn, young and stubborn, but I was still trying. And I think the pressure of always trying to do well and trying to win and being on that high caliber team was starting to get to me. Cause I was also just super fragile. super light, super fragile. My mental ability was very fragile. And I'd also during COVID packed my whole life up and moved to Park City to live with my now husband. So there's a lot of changes happening and I just kept training and training and training and just training and training and training and not eating enough, not sleeping enough probably, and I ended up getting COVID, which turned into pneumonia for me. and that took me out for a very long time. It you know, pneumonia could be a short term thing, you can get it fixed, but I didn't address it until finally my husband was like, You need to go to the doctor, you're coughing way too much. I can't sleep, no one can sleep. yeah. it had taken over my right lung and it can be a pretty common thing. I mean, lungs are really important for athletes. And the unfortunate thing is there's scar tissue that comes with that. And so you could get antibiotics and get that cured and get better, but then your lung capacity struggles. So I struggled with a whole year of trying to breathe, and I live at elevation as well. So being at elevation, trying to breathe is kind of like being pregnant right now. You just can't breathe. So I eventually just finished my time with that team. I got a really great opportunity there. We did great races. I learned a ton. I got to race with a lot of great women. but I started to realize maybe I didn't want to go back to road, that I wanted to maybe just settle down in my life and figure things out. I just felt myself kind of pulling back from road just because I felt like it was pretty toxic for me at the time. And so I ended up kinda saying I retire from road in twenty twenty two, I think. Yeah. Did you at the time ha did they have like an RD or performance nutritionist or like a psychologist or therapist? Nothing for on the team? No. Yeah. unfortunately how budgets go for teams like this, it's they're already struggling trying to even just get a UCI license or getting people over to Europe to ride because that's where the real racing is. so unfortunately I did have my own psychologists on my behalf. but I took years off of it too. And you know, being stubborn and young, like sometimes you're like, I'm I'm better than this. Like, I don't need this. Yeah. think there's a lot of compounding factors and and the fact that I was just so hyper focused on training that I didn't let like anything else kinda like get in the way. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That is tough. I that and I mean t your lungs too, just thinking about like you're saying the scar tissue in your lungs. So is that something do you feel pre pregnancy? Do you feel like you were able to get your lung like breathing capacity back to a good place? Nice. Yeah. then allergies come along. Like it's our bodies change so much year to year. It's just crazy. And we have to just kind of go with the flow, but from the pneumonia got athletic induced asthma. so it was something you you always have to work on and kind of just deal with. And I learned that the high intensity stuff, the short races, I just could not do as well as I used to. mm, mm, mm. I just didn't have a lung capacity to really push that. And then I didn't ever really get to build that back. And so I started to gravitate towards ultra-endurance stuff, which is plenty of time to breathe. Right. Yes. Yes. Totally. so talking kind of now moving into like the ultra bike packing, and going from like you're talking about trying to not eat anything on the bike to now like ultra bike packing. tell us a little bit about what what is eating on the bike look like when you're ultra bikepacking now. Ultra bikepacking, self-supported stuff. Even I would say ultra running, it's all an e game, eating game. It's like that's what it comes down to because that's what fuels your ride. If you're doing more than 48 hours of riding, it it's so important to eat because you have to fuel that movement and fuel your mind as well, because it deteriorates over time. So eating is a huge challenge. Prior to ultra racing, I'd always like even through road, I'd always felt like I wasn't myself. I was always feeling like I needed to find my place in biking. Like I loved biking, but was it road, was it being a climber, was it gravel? Like I couldn't really find my niche where I felt like I could be myself and also just not feel like in a toxic world that was very competitive or just toxic with each other. Hmm. so I'd been searching a lot, and I, you know, I found gravel, and gravel was great. And then I surprisingly got into mountain biking. doing a really hard mountain bike race called Point to Point here in Park City for my first ever mountain bike race. It's 80 miles of 100% signal track. So I after that, I just like started to see the mountain biking world as really exciting. They were just like beer and parties and just relaxed, and because I'd come from such a rigid lifestyle of like having the same schedule every day and you know, it was it's good to have a rigid life, but then when you marry someone and you get into someone else's life and you need a full time job, it starts to kind of just like grind its gears against other things. You just realize that it's not working. But it's it's more of a very selfish thing. and I didn't want to be selfish. I wanted to support my husband. I wanted to continue having a career outside of biking. And being an inspiration to others, which is the coaching that I do now. But yeah, it was so I like the mountain bike world. But then getting into the ultra world, which last year was like my first official year doing solo stuff. but I'd done some duo stuff with my husband because he got into it before. And now I think he regrets it because he's like, You're obsessed. I'm like, I am. But get the ultra world, just having it be about eating on the bike and Just even the top of the top pros in the ultra world will stop to take a picture of a beautiful view. Like having that, it's just grounded me to be like, this is where I belong, because I love nature, I love riding my bike, I love getting to places, I love being competitive, and I want to be fine with eating on the bike and not be surrounded by this like, well, you need to do facet training, you need to do this, you know, you know. so eating for ultra self supported stuff is tough. Yeah. to say I'm during this pregnancy when you get this like fatigue of like it's like choice fatigue. You're like looking, you know you're hungry, but you're like, I have no clue what to eat. I'm kind of nauseous, but I know I should eat. Like you're trying to like go through the list of things that you like and seeing if you want that, but then you're like, uh, that's exactly what it feels like for ultra racing. So lots of options on on the bike. Yeah. then be being celiac and dairy-free, it adds not as many options when you're at gas stations. And I've learned a lot of like things to look forward to and and have on a list to go find. And I've also released a lot of like that because, you know, there's sugar and I used to be really afraid of sugar and stuff. But when you're out there and you're riding for many, many miles and all you have as a choice is get sick because it has gluten in it, or get a bag of candy sugar, then it's fine. It's fine. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. what what is your like go to gas station grabs when you're doing an ultra bikepacking? I love I love the is it motz? No, it's not motz, it's Welches. The the little like gummy fruit gummies. I will down a whole bag in one sitting. That and like the baked lace chips, those are pretty good. Those have hit pretty well. Nice. Yes. A sweet and savory combo. and when you're planning these, like or prepping for like a bikepacking uh like race, are you trying to think about like how many, I don't know, like calories per hour you're trying to get to fuel you? Or is it just I'm kind of eating until I feel like comfortably full every so often? Like how do you think about that going into an event like that? Unfortunately you can't eat until you're full because you're gonna be full all the time. ah when you just I mean, maybe the beginning's fine, like you start your signals are there, your hydration signals are there, but over time, especially when you're sleep deprived and just tired, like day three or even day two, your body just doesn't have signals. so you kind of have to just have a plan to eat. And so for Doom, I had a big plan of I had a certain amount of calories on board up front because there wasn't really much out there to refuel with. and I underestimated it. That's something if you're getting into ultra, always overestimate. Try to overestimate. Bring more than you think, because you're always gonna underestimate, even if you're like, this makes sense on paper that I'm gonna burn this and I need to consume this. There could be weather, there could be longer sections, there could be. so much that will make it longer and you need to make sure you have food. Cause riding without food, which I've done, there's some points in Ultra Races that you just are getting close to refuel point, but you have absolutely nothing. It's kind of scary because you just you don't know, you're way out there in the middle of nowhere. and there's not really many people around. It could be in the middle of a forest. So it's important to make sure you pack a lot of extra food with like for yourself. Yeah. Mm-hmm. on my husband, he he eats anything and everything, so it's a little easier for him to just be like, I'll stop here and grab whatever. but a lot of like the things that you are used to eating and have like a government on sometimes with like for me I only eat certain like I don't like beef sticks or whatever, but at some point, if that's all you have, you're gonna go for it.'Cause Like anything goes at that point. Yeah, yeah, totally. so with that too, like hydration, obviously water weighs a lot. You mentioned mapping out like water fountains or places where you can refill. do you do you try and like carry so much water on you or and and also how are you packing this? I think too that's helpful for our listeners to know like how do you transport that? Are you putting it all on your back? Do you put it in like the frame bag? Like how do you Prefer to like carry the weight too when you're doing these bikepacking things. Yeah, it dep it depends. It always depends. Every race is different. Like Arkansas is very watery. So what's really important, and even Colorado too, is to make sure you have like a gosh, a filter. I had like one that had a bag that you can squeeze out. And then I also had one that attaches to my hydration pack so you can drink out of it. But the problem with that one is it got clogged. So like Halfway through my north-south race, I like was trying to drink water out of my hydration pack and like could not drink anything. So I had a backup. So it's good to have backups too because things get clogged, things go wrong. It's just part of the game, which is why I love ultra racing, because it's always solving some kind of problem. whether it's like a sore saddle sore problem or a mind problem or your filters clogged. so yeah. Having a filter is like number one. Even if you think there's plenty of water, I always have a filter with me just because you never know, you don't want to get bad stuff. I know some people actually just kind of deal with it and just like risk it, but for me, I don't want to risk it and then get really sick and then that costs me an entire race. so filter and then I usually do hydration packs now. because I don't have any space for bottle cages on my bike. I don't like to put fork bottle cages or bottles on my forks because they can bounce out. I try that once and it's also like just really hard to grab. It's not really, it's like more of a like extra. So if you have like a Nal gene, you can put that up there and have it as extra. But I mainly have a full frame bag. And then I have my hydration pack, my Usui, which is one of my favorites. They're vests. So have pockets too. Like it has tons of pockets you can fit stuff in. So I'll just put a three-liter bag in my frame bag and like like squiggle this straw all the way up through the frame bag to where I I can just pull it when I'm riding. and then the cool thing is like if I can stuff it, I can stuff my frame bag a lot because I can fill that hydration pack up halfway or all the way if I need. It has space because it's three liters is quite a bit. Nice. hydration pack on my back is two, two and a half liters. So yeah. Yeah. Usually I don't. Usually like I have and then I have my filter bag, which is I think a liter. And so I could also carry that and put that in my hydration pack as well. Cause that thing stretches a lot. so I could carry up to like six liters at one point. But I don't think I've ever done that because there's always opportunity for water if you do your research. Right, right, yeah. So I could be totally wrong on this, but I think one liter is two pounds, right? Is that so then that could be up to twelve ten to twelve pounds of weight from just water. twelve ounces. So however many I can't I can't math. Thirty two so yeah, that's that's a good amount from water. Do you and what do you try and target like flu like fluid wise? And I'm sure it's temperature dependent, but are you trying to put down like a liter an hour? Are you trying to do you have a like goal there? How many sips? dependent. I try to make it to where I'm like, okay, I'm gonna drink this whole dry whole hydration pack within like two, three hours. If it's really hot, then it's like I need to drink this whole thing the first hour and a half. but the cool thing about like the ultra racing is in a way that you don't listen to your body, you kinda force yourself, you also like just become one with your body. So you kind of just are in the survival mode. So you just kind of find yourself drinking often and Doing that unless it's bad weather. That's where it becomes a challenge. which is a lot of ultras I've done have been really bad weather. Yeah. to set like a timer, like a food or drink timer on your bike computer or anything like that that helps you or you just intra Yeah. for shorter races and I still do. For like point to point, I would do that just because I get so wrapped up in stuff. but for ultra, like I go in with a mindset of like I need to eat and I need to drink to keep going. And so I keep reminding myself, and usually some yes, I'll definitely forget at some points. and then your body's like, I'm so thirsty right now, and you're just like, Okay, I gotta drink a whole bunch of water. Yes. so have you dealt with any like GI issues, nausea, cramping, like anything like that when you're doing any of these? I've been lucky. I've been lucky. Except the nausea, but that's pretty normal, I think, for ultra athletes. So I have a lot of backups. so I have Tums, I bring Tums with me, I bring Advil, I bring gin gins, which are ginger candies. sometimes I eat them just because they're good. Sometimes becomes an issue. I have to bring more. and then I bring enzymes with me. because yeah, I already have a very sensitive stomach, just being celiac. Mm-hmm. you never know, like I run into things where I do have dairy. Celiac is tough. I have to be very careful with celiac because it's a actual allergy. Whereas dairy I can have it, but man, it it takes its toll on me. So I had the enzymes just in case, like in Chile when we were doing across Andes there, they had some rice and I really was just starving and wanted rice. I knew it had butter in it, but who cares at that that point. So I just made sure I had some enzymes and dealt with the stomach issues. Right. along with it. but for most people they're pretty lucky because they can just eat whatever. But I would still recommend having enzymes because again, if you're burning twelve to twenty thousand calories a day because you're biking all day, can you eat? Can you eat even ten thousand calories? And a lot of people would be like, that's so easy. You just like eat peanut butter all day. Well try eating peanut butter on a bike all day while you're trying to push up a hill and so it's really hard to eat. So when we eat, we're eating fast, we're getting more oxygen in, so there's bubbles. Probably you're gonna get constipated because your body's just focusing on things elsewhere. so having enzymes helps a lot. I recommend that for a lot of athletes that do long endurance races. Yeah. Did you notice the benefit like when you had the rice with the butter? Like did it minimize any side effects from that? Mm. Mm hmm. Yeah. Yeah. terrible and I could deal with it.'Cause usually at that point, like you're s everything hurts anyway. So you're just kinda like, a little bit of stomach pain, that'll direct the pain elsewhere that I can focus on for a bit. Yeah. And then if you get exposed to gluten, what is the what allergic reaction do you experience? I know some people like have all different kinds of reactions to gluten. I get like a heart palpitate. I get very nervous sometimes just because it's so effective or so not effective. It's so affecting me. but like I will get just terrible GI distress. it's like literally tears my insides out, pretty much. Just because I don't have the correct enzymes or the filias in my stomach to break it down. And I've been gluten free since I've been Tiny. So maybe if I was little, like six years old, and I still tried to eat gluten and stuff, maybe it would have gotten better. But now, you know, sometimes like you that allergy just gets worse over years that you don't. So I am waiting. Maybe there is some kind of magic pill out there. Eventually it'll create that can help people with celiac to actually be able to eat bread. I'd love bread. Yeah. they're have you found a good gluten free sourdough out of curiosity? A brand? No. Not here in the States, but definitely in Europe. Europe is really good with their gluten free stuff. Yeah. the I I know Italy did a really great job with like their gluten free pizza. but I don't think I ever tried any gluten free sourdough while I was over there. Did have you found sourdough over there? Really? the name of the brand. I took a picture of it because you can order it there and I'm like, maybe next year. Cause you can only get it well in Austria, because I mainly go in Aust uh mainly go to Austria a lot. you can only get it at a Billa Plus. And it's like freshly baked. I'm just like yeah, I was like in heaven. I was like, we finally we went the we went like last month and I grabbed like three loaves with like two days before we were leaving and I'm like, I don't care. I'm gonna eat it all before we leave and I did. Yeah. That's great. That's great. We have what makes me think. We have it's it's called Flowercraft Bakery, out here in the Bay Area. And they do a gluten free, they call it a bool, like B O U L E. I'm not sure if that's a like a European term, but it basically just looks like a big round sourdough loaf, but it their entire like kitchen, everything is everything they make is gluten free. yeah. And they it's it is very good. It is very good. They also have like a focaccia that's really good. So if you bike through Bay Area, you should definitely hit up Flowercraft. they have also Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They have also a ton of good baked goods. They do all kinds of great stuff. yeah. Yeah. but like buying normal gluten free bread, it's just it's also just like buying normal bre bread here in the States anyways. It's just eh. Yeah. Some of are yeah, they're just like a brick. It's like you're buying a brick or something. reading the ingredients and you're like, where's bread on this? Like what is this? Yeah. You know who I just discovered was Queen Queen Street Bakery. I've only had their bagels, but they're gluten free and they're actually very good. and they do I think where are they based out of? I think they might be based out of Canada, actually. but they're in like Whole Foods stores that I've found them and They have like a cinnamon raisin, they have an everything seed and something else. And like if you put them in the toaster oven, like I mean, I haven't had gluten also in like 15 years. So, but it to me, I think it tastes like what a real bagel is supposed to tasting. Right. but yeah, they think they do a good job with like the texture and the ingredients are really good. I check them out. I am not sponsored or affiliated by them, but I do think they're delicious and I have them multiple times a week. so if there's other celiac folks listening, you can check those out. listeners that also make bread that's gluten free, I could use a lot of help there. I'm not good with that. Right. Yeah. Totally. We had an athlete where she thought she was underfueling. I think she was, but then as a fuel source, she kept eating more and more sourdough bread. And then it turns out she and she kept feeling like worse and worse. And it turns out she had celiac the whole time and she didn't know. Yeah. So someone coming out with a good s like gluten free bread would yeah. Uh or sourdough in particular too would be would be great. Yeah. the the the cyclist would be uh so excited for that. okay. I did want to ask you one last question about the most recent doom you did while pregnant. did you notice any increased need to have to fuel more often? Like did you feel like your blood sugar was at all more erratic? well or in any of your training sessions, I should say, since pregnant, do you notice like a increased demand for glucose at all? It's actually was quite the crazy sensation. training and stuff, I was pretty easy to control. I just and I wouldn't I didn't train much before. I was just training, you know, up to an hour ah on the trainer because it's winter here in Park City, though kinda wasn't winter this year, but but it was so weird because you'd eat something and usually, you know, like you feel kind of feel the energy going, you can feel it going on, you're like, Okay, cool, I feel great. I would eat something and it would just go nowhere. Obviously it went to the baby. and I was just like, I felt like I had to eat so much. And I just felt like I didn't have the energy. And it was kind of messing with my mind because I've been so used to where you eat something, you feel the energy and you feel better. Where I would eat something and need to eat more and eat more and eat more and maybe feel a little bit. So it was really challenging. Yeah. totally underestimated that race with my fuel. I mean, it was only 100 miles. but I way underestimated. So we ended up having to stop at a gas store. Well, no, it was a liquor store at the very end. And I that's where I got like five beef sticks, a whole bag of chips, and I was like, I need food. So it was weird. fueling is it like a larger carb? Like if you were doing, say, like 20 grams of carbs per hour before, do you try and do like 30 or 40 grams of carbs per feed now? Or like how has that's just an example, but like are you trying to increase the amount per feed right now to like keep the blood sugar up? Or how are you navigating that to like feel good? Okay. of ultra endurance stuff. If you're doing like an hour of regular biking and it's just endurance, you don't necessarily need 60 if it's just an hour. But if you're doing 18 hours of it, I would try to stick to 60. And I usually try to start really strong because it usually weathers away towards the end. so it'll be like 60 for the first five hours. maybe 50 for the next five hours because it just gets harder and harder to consume. When I'm racing like point to point, I do 80 per hour. That's tough. and the biggest thing is, you know, we can always think of this specific car range per hour, but it really comes down to what power are you putting out? What's your output? Because a lot of mistakes I see people do is they either underfuel. So they're not putting in, they're putting out a lot of power but not putting in enough. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I'm gonna be like Bagachar. I'm gonna like put in 120 grams of carbs per hour and they're putting out like 200 watts rather than his crazy, I don't know, 500, whatever his wattages. So it's really important to kind of like you can get metabolic testing too. I have not gotten metabolic testing, but I just kind of know the basic range of like my power numbers. So I know let's say this is not exactly where they're at now, but like 200 is my tempo. So Right. I'm gonna if I'm doing an average wattage of 200, and this is what I put on my head unit, is I always have the average wattage. So I can kind of gauge of like what is my total output of energy. And if it becomes like where there's a lot of hike a bike or there's a lot of pushing hills and stuff, you have to add on to that out like output. Yeah. you know, if you're doing tempo, then maybe you need to do fifty to sixty grams. If you're just doing endurance or you're noodling around in a park, maybe it's like 40. So it's it's hard. And then for ultra stuff, it's hard to do like 80 grams an hour. I think it's really, really hard. Because your body just doesn't like it. that's and for ultra, it's also important to make sure you get fats in and protein, just because of the multi-day. And I think that's why at the end too, I was just craving protein. Mm-hmm. like, I need protein right now and for some reason pregnancy is very much like that. Like all you want is protein for some reason. Not meat. That's gross, apparently. Yes. So where where do you like to get your protein from like while pregnant if it's not from meat? Do you do tofu and and mame and stuff like that or? Mm-hmm. Mm-mm. I do eat turkey and chicken occasionally here and there. I don't do red meat. I'm allergic to pork, so I can't have that. yeah. but actually this pregnancy, I've been just eggs. Eggs have been like my daily routine. Just eggs. I love eggs. Yeah. Yeah. Eggs are very like versatile. I feel like you can mix them up, add things to them to them, put them on and stuff. Like you can and they're yeah, they're usually like pretty darn palatable. One of my biggest things right now that cause I always went through I guess I did go through some cravings. I call I call it phases, I guess. Cause one was like I just liked making my own like oat banana waffles or yeah, waffles, and I made that for like two months straight. And I was stoked on that. And then I got so tired of it. So now my whole new fix is oats with egg white in them and you cook it together. And you're getting your protein. I put chia seed in there, so you're getting fiber. if you're pregnant, you need a lot of help with digestion. So chia seeds I found are really helpful. I put some cinnamon there for taste, salt, and yeah, oats, and it's it's a good breakfast. It's weird because you're like, Why are you putting egg whites in there? But it tastes good. Do you do you cook that on the stovetop or how are you like mixing the eggs in? Yeah. Yeah. it on the stove top. I let everything like heat up first and then I add the egg whites in and stir for a while after and then add frozen fruit at the end. Yeah. similar to that as well. And I was like trying to navigate. I've heard some people try and put in the microwave. I'm like, that just seems weird. Yeah, or like turn like too rubbery or something. okay, so let's see, through your pregnancy and pregnancy as as an athlete, is there any supplements, vitamins, minerals that you're including into your day-to-day routine? Yeah, for being pregnant, yes. Quite a bit. I mean, I've always taken quite a few supplements because especially when you're doing ultras and stuff, it's you're you just would have to eat so much to be able to get the nutrients you need. So right now I take chroline, omegas, DHA, vitamin D, they recommend that. Vitamin K, they recommend that. I take a prenatal, which is kind of a mixture of a bunch of different things. They always recommend that. Full weight is one of the biggest things. I'm trying to think what else. I still take my enzymes occasionally. I don't do it all the time. I'm a big fan of like rotating your vitamins. So if you're someone who takes the same vitamins for the last two years, you probably want to look at a different schedule or a different kind of regimen because our bodies change and seasons change too. So just like in winter, we might need a lot more vitamin D. Mm-hmm. then the summer, because if we're riding outside all the time in summer, we're getting vitamin D there and then supplementing a ton of vitamin D also, it just is like too much. So I change up my vitamins quite a bit seasonally. But yeah, being pregnant, I always have my prenatal. Yeah. If you've ever tried to buy creatine or electrolytes online and wondered, is this actually legit? We got a quick fix. We built a Fullscript dispensary for Nutritional Revolution listeners so you can shop trusted professional grade supplements that ship direct from the manufacturer, no random third party sellers, no sketchy storage. You'll find brands we use with our athletes all the time like Thorne Klean Athlete, Nordic Naturals, Pure Encapsulations, Designs for Health, Designs for Sport, et cetera, and a ton of NSF certified for sport options. Everyone gets 20 % off always, and it's free to create an account. Just open up the show notes and tap the full script link to get started. Nice. and then let's see, I want to be mindful of your time, but what's coming down aside from the baby? I know you said the baby's coming down the pipeline, but and you had some races teed up. do you are you do you have a coach that programs for you or do you do your own programming for what was the one you signed up for? You said in was it September? Yeah, uh November. Yeah. I did it a couple years ago as my first like let's get into long hours, no sleep, mountain bike riding. it's a mountain bike race. And it's twenty-five hours because it's on the time change. Which I think it'll be like the last time change. Or maybe we still have a few years still, but so it's not twenty-four hours because you uh you fall back an hour so you gain. There's another hour you have to do. So is it it's so it's a lap, like you do as many laps as you can in twenty five hours? Cool. does the most laps. And the hardest thing about that race is there's also relay teams. And a lot of juniors love to do the relay teams. So if you're solo, which I'm doing it solo, you're in the mix of people that are going so fast because they're only doing a lap where you're like gonna do ten. So it's it's always challenging navigating through because you're like who who's the solo people, who's doing the relays? Я And there's people flying by you and you're like, I just gotta ride in my face. Yeah. okay, and then we'll do a couple rapid fire questions and I want to get to your two truth and two truths and lie. what is the mid mid-ride snack you defend in court? Like what is your absolute go-to? that's really hard. I always I have such a big list of snacks because I like variety. But honestly, I nothing really beats those applesauce pouches. Like I just they hit well and if you're really struggling, they still track really well. I do have a really weird habit. I also like corn tortillas that are heated, not just plain. I'll just eat those plain. Weird, but it tastes good. Yeah, totally. One of that makes me think one of our one of our cyclists, he he would buy the frozen Amy's burritos and he'd just put it in his pocket and then he'd go ride and it would defrost and he would eat that. Okay, I've done that too. He's not alone. Those are so good. I was like, oh shoot, that could have been my favorite. So it's hard. I defend them all. okay, what is your go to pre-race breakfast? It changes, but for the most part I like just plain rice, like a rice pudding. So rice with raisins, some cinnamon, mixed in some either coconut or almond milk, and some fruit. And that that's just simple white rice, not brown. just simple because now though, ultra racing I'm not as nervous in the mornings and they don't start as early, but like when I was doing unbound and all that stuff. You're getting up at four in the morning, so the last thing you want to do is eat. So just a little bit of that helps. Yeah. what's one nutrition rule you've abandoned over the years? having a regimen plan.'Cause or just certain foods that you have to eat on the bike, like that's gone out the window for sure. yeah. And then is there an underrated electrolyte product that you love to use for hydration? so I'm not a big fan of electrolyte water. When doing ultras, like you tend to just crave water. So when you get like juices and stuff and electrolyte mixes, it just it just gets really uh boring and just annoying. So I do electrolyte pills and chews. So I'm thinking salt stick, they have these chews that you can chew on. One thing is they get down faster because if you're sipping away at water, you're only getting a certain amount of electrolytes. Yeah. So I'd take the chews. My favorite ones are like the coconut coconut pineapple. And then hammer also has electrolyte pills. So I'll take those and then I'll also take sport legs, which aren't electrolytes, but they have different components in there that can help with muscles and stuff. Nice. That that's a good combo. and then let's see, is there a book that changed how you think about endurance? Any trying to think. I mean, I've I've read so many books, but I think one of my favorite one is called Breathe. I can't remember who it's by, but it's all about like how our breathing has changed. I had a really good friend recommend it to me, and it's just explaining how our nasal passages have changed over the years because of our eating more soft foods and just our development as humans and their progress. so it's a really interesting read. I'm sure you can find it anywhere. It's called Breathe. It's a good one. I think I I totally can picture the cover of that book. And I'm I'm almost certain we Yeah. I think we might have it. My husband's really into like breath work and all of that stuff as well. okay, and then uh rather ride indoor or outdoor? I'd say both. Like absolutely both. Cause I think both are so great. I love riding outdoors, but I also love riding indoors. Like being indoors is super convenient. And when there's bad weather too, you can really make it good for training. But then also outdoors, like just sometimes when I go back outside after being like in a big winter season, you're just like, how did I not do this? So I I think both are just. Perfect and awesome to do. And I think people should do both if they want to and shouldn't stress about which one's better. just go ride your bike. Totally. Yes. Yeah. The Zwift stuff sure makes it like m you know, more fun to ride inside too, I think, as well. I Zwift is a game changer. Yeah. okay. Two truths and a lie. You said you were raised on a farm with twenty six to thirty horses, uh, was on a chef show on YouTube and they biked in eight different countries. I think I thought the eight different countries was the lie. Is that which one was your lie? I was not on a chef show on YouTube, though it would be cool. It would be great. thing? Like has have you seen is that an actual thing, do you know? Like a chef is the of YouTubers out there that are like going to people's houses and having them cook for them and I think it'd be cool. I I love cooking. I'm hoping after this pregnancy that I'll regain the hope. I go through phases still. But yeah. Yes. Yeah. My sister is actually an Olympic rider, horseback rider, for three day eventing. My mom is a trainer. Wow. so raised with a lot of horses, a lot of chickens and a lot of dogs. I didn't get into horses, but yes, I can ride and I can jump and I can do all that pretty naturally, which always frustrated my mom 'cause she's like, Why why are you biking? No. but yeah, I've there's a lot of horses on that farm still, and it's in Colorado. Yeah. And then you have Viked in eight different countries. Yeah, I was counting. I was like, I need a good truth. And yeah, I guess it's been every year we try to aim for a different country to bike in. So last year we did, gosh, Norway. And then the year before we did Portugal. And then we've done Chile. And then we've done Finland. I've biked in Mexico, Austria, Germany, France. Yeah. Yeah. That's amazing. Wow. That is so cool. Were these all like bikepacking things? Were there races or specific events going on? Yeah. me it's like our vacation is doing a bikepacking race. that's what my husband signed up for. So we usually do a duo race. We haven't had good success yet, but we're hoping the next one will be with our kid. So we have a pretty fun list of things to do, and I have a huge list of things I wanna continue to do for ultra races in the states and outside of the country. Yeah. be so fun. okay, well where where can our listeners find you and follow you? Yeah, can mostly find me on Instagram under Charlotte Backis. and I'm I mean I'm on Facebook too and everywhere else, Strava as well. but you can also head over to my w website, exqcoaching dot com. I have blogs there too that I post about any scientific information and updates and all of that. So yeah. we will link that in the show notes for the listeners and so they can check that out and follow along on your journey and and and then thank you so much for joining us. This has been so fun and informative. And I think the women listeners will particularly enjoy this one as well. So thank you. Thank you.

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Kyla Channell, MS

Host