A five-day pairs-format Alpine MTB stage race — high-altitude singletrack, glacier valleys and Grisons cantons stitched into one week.
Build Your Personalized Race Fueling Plan — $19General, evidence-based guidance. Numbers should always be personalized to sweat rate, body mass, fitness and weather.
60–90 g/hr of mixed-source (glucose + fructose) carbohydrate per stage for most amateur riders; trained guts can push to 90–110 g/hr on shorter stages. On the biggest climbing days at altitude, drop to 60–80 g/hr — pushing sea-level volumes above 8,200 ft triggers nausea.
17–34 fl oz/hr baseline per stage, biased higher in dry Alpine air. Track daily body-mass at the same time each morning (weigh before breakfast) to catch cumulative dehydration. A 1 % daily deficit becomes a 4–5 % deficit by Day 5 if untreated.
500–1,000 mg/L of fluid, tuned to sweat testing. Long Alpine days can outrun a cautious sodium plan — cumulative loss over 5 stages is the classic cause of late-week cramping and cognitive fog. Salt caps in a jersey pocket let you dose independently of drink-mix flavour fatigue.
3–6 mg/kg per stage, split pre-start and mid-race. Rotate lower-dose days (Days 2 and 4) to preserve responsiveness for the queen stages. Skip caffeine entirely for one 24-hour window mid-week if the schedule allows — the response comes back sharper for the final stages.
Every stop is a bottle swap first, calorie top-up second. Pre-mix bottles the night before and label them by stage-hour. Epic Series aid stations typically stock water, sports drink, bananas, cola and basic snacks — bring your own gels and preferred products; do not trust brand availability to match your gut.
1–4 g/kg carbohydrate 2–4 hours before each stage, from rehearsed low-fibre, low-fat foods. Rotate 2–3 breakfast options across 5 mornings to prevent flavour fatigue. Race village kitchens open early — confirm timing on Day 1.
Fuel by the clock, not by feel. Altitude, cold, technical singletrack and pairs-format concentration all suppress hunger cues. Set a 20-minute alarm on the head unit for every stage and log every intake to catch drift before it becomes deficit.
Within 60 minutes of every finish: 1.0–1.2 g/kg carbohydrate, 0.3 g/kg protein and 150 % fluid replacement with sodium. Dinner: 2–3 g/kg CHO. Bedtime snack: 30–50 g CHO if the day was long. Recovery on Day 1 shapes Day 5 — treat every finish as a full nutrition transaction, not a spectator moment.
Grams and millilitres per hour for each phase of the race. Personalize to your sweat rate, body mass and conditions.
Swiss Epic · 5-stage arc for a mid-pack amateur team
Race village (Davos / Lenzerheide / etc.)·Arrival to Day 1 morning
Focus: Sleep priority, low-fibre carb load, familiar foods only. Recon Stage 1 finish area if possible. Rehearse aid-station handoffs with your partner on a short recon ride.
Typically 43–56 mi, 2,000–9,840 ft of climbing·4–6 hours
Caffeine: 100–200 mg pre-start, 100 mg mid-race
Focus: Ride conservatively. Do NOT chase the leaders. Aim for high zone-2 heart rate for both riders. Practise the pairs-format aid stop discipline — 2 minutes max, both riders eat, both restart together.
Typically 37–50 mi, 2,500–11,480 ft of climbing·4–7 hours
Caffeine: 100 mg pre-start, low-dose day
Focus: First high-altitude stage. Drop carb intake above 8,200 ft by 10–20 g/hr. Force fluids on descents — dry Alpine air suppresses thirst. Confirm cumulative body mass loss <1 % before dinner.
Typically 50–62 mi, 3,000–13,120 ft of climbing·5–8 hours
Caffeine: 150–200 mg pre-start, 100 mg pre-final climb
Focus: The longest and hardest stage of the week. Pre-load with a bigger breakfast (top of range 3–4 g/kg CHO). Pack extra gels + one solid item in your jersey/pack. Pairs-format discipline is critical — no surge attempts here.
Typically 37–47 mi, 2,000–9,190 ft of climbing·4–6 hours
Caffeine: Rotation low-dose day (100 mg pre-start only)
Focus: Manage cumulative fatigue. Legs feel worse than the numbers suggest by Day 4. Focus on hydration and steady pace — do not chase overall positions here unless you and your partner are both in fresh form.
Typically 40–53 mi, 2,500–11,480 ft of climbing·4–7 hours
Caffeine: 150–250 mg for the final stage — save the biggest dose here
Focus: The finish line stage. Emotional pacing is a real risk — riders over-cook the first hour to 'seal' a GC position. Trust the routine: alarm-based fueling, pairs discipline, ride to power, celebrate at the finish line, not at km 30.
Race village finish + travel home·First 72 h after crossing the final finish line
Focus: Race-village pasta party + real Swiss meal (Rösti, Älplermagronen, Zopf). Sleep priority for 2–3 nights. Ferritin, vitamin D and iron check 7–10 days after, not immediately. Recovery week: easy spins only for 5–7 days.
Numbers assume a 5–7 hour daily amateur team in typical mid-August Grisons conditions (50–59 °F mornings, 68–82 °F valleys, 41–50 °F on 2,500+ m passes). Faster teams (4–5 hours/stage) can hold higher carb intake but must protect between-stage recovery. Slower teams (7+ hours/stage) should bias to more real food and shift caffeine timing later in each stage. Individual sweat rate can shift fluid and sodium targets by ±30 % — personalize with a pre-race sweat test in similar Alpine conditions.
Every aid station along the Swiss Epic course, with crew access, drop-bag rules and the fueling action to execute at each stop.
Quick bottle swap and one gel. < 90 seconds. Restart with your partner.
Full bottle reset, one solid item, layer decision if weather is shifting. 2–4 minute stop max. Both riders eat before restarting.
The last aid before the finish. Force one bottle + one gel even if you feel fine. This is where under-fueled teams lose the most time in the final hour.
Sprint-race intake volumes (>90 g/hr indefinitely) and race-pace effort on Stage 1 wreck the gut and legs before Stage 3. Stage racing rewards conservative Days 1–2, honest Day 3 and controlled Days 4–5 — not a hero performance on Day 1.
Dry Alpine air masks respiratory water loss. Cumulative dehydration wrecks late-week performance. A 1 % daily body-mass deficit compounds to 4–5 % by Day 5 — enough to drop your team out of contention or into a DNF.
Even a 4-hour 'easy' stage needs full recovery nutrition. Cumulative debt is what breaks stage racers, not any single hard day. Treat every finish line as a nutrition transaction: 1.0–1.2 g/kg CHO + 0.3 g/kg protein + 150 % fluid within 60 minutes.
Altitude slows gastric emptying by 15–25 %. Pushing lowland intake late in a high-altitude stage often triggers nausea. Drop to 60–80 g/hr above 8,200 ft — the total daily intake matters more than the peak hour.
Being cold on Alpine descents burns glycogen (shivering costs 300–500 kcal/hr) and suppresses fueling. Pack real layers, not just an emergency vest. Layer down before climbs, layer up before descents — do not wait until you're cold.
Altitude, cold, technical singletrack and pairs-format stress amplify GI risk. Race only what you have trained on rides of 5+ hours over multiple weekends. Bring your own gels and drink mix — the race village stocks basics but not necessarily your brand.
In pairs format, your partner's bonk becomes your problem. Coordinate intake and aid stops — one rider forgetting to eat costs both riders 15+ minutes on a climb. Discuss the fueling plan the night before every stage.
Stages start and finish in different towns. Riders who arrive at Day 2's start venue without their spare bottles, breakfast rotation or race kit have already lost the day. Pack a stage-day bag the night before, every night.
Emotional pacing on the last stage is a common team-killer. Riders over-cook the first hour to 'seal' a GC position and blow up in the last 19 mi. Trust the numbers, trust the routine, cross the line together.
A practical race-week checklist: carbs, hydration, sodium, caffeine and race-day supplies — print it or keep it on your phone.
Free calculators, checklists and articles to help you personalize your Swiss Epic plan.
Every athlete is different. FTP, finish time, body weight, sweat rate, weather, nutrition preferences and race goals all change what you should eat and drink.
FuelQ Pro builds a personalized race fueling strategy tuned to your ride — carbohydrate, hydration, sodium, caffeine and recovery, mapped to the course.
A Race Fueling Plan gives you a personalized strategy for this event. The free checklist helps you prepare the basics first: race-week setup, 48-hour prep, race morning, hydration, sodium, caffeine, aid stations, and backup calories.
