When it comes to bikepacking, it’s a very personal thing. Everyone has their own way of doing things. It might be how often you stop, how you set up your bike, or even what you wear. When it comes to what you eat that’s where I get a lot of questions, especially about bikepacking on keto. 

As a very experienced rider who has been lucky enough to study nutrition and has extensive experience bikepacking, I was always curious about what it would be like to bikepack on keto. I tried it years ago, and it showed some interesting results. In this article, I’m going to tell you all about them. 

• What Is Keto?
• My Experience Bikepacking On Keto
• My Pros And Cons Of Bikepacking On Keto
• Would I Go Bikepacking On Keto?

Disclaimer

Before we start this article, it’s vital to understand that I am not a nutrition expert. If you plan to make any changes in your diet, you should contact a nutritionist or a medical professional. I can only tell you my experience. My knowledge is limited. We are all different and require unique advice.

Again, before any dietary changes, consult a medical professional! If you plan to try going down a keto route, do your research and seek professional help. This article is just my experience and cannot be taken as advice!

What Is Keto?

Keto is short for Ketogenic. It refers to a way of dieting and how some people choose to fuel themselves in general life or even cycling. When you go on a keto diet, your body goes into a state called ketosis. This is where the body changes its primary fuel source from glucose to ketones.

This means that the body doesn’t fuel from carbohydrates as much but from fats instead. It has been very popular as a way to lose weight quickly, and for people with diabetes, it can help regulate blood sugar. 

Common foods you will find that are eaten in a ketogenic diet are eggs, cheese, nuts, seeds, oil, and dairy products. The foods you need to avoid are high-sugar foods like sweets, fruits, and things like bread and pasta. 

Carbohydrates have 4 calories per gram but fat has 9 calories per gram. So essentially a ketogenic diet turns you into a fat burning machine which can fuel your own stores. Sounds like a very interesting way of eating, right?

My Experience Bikepacking On Keto

Now for the exciting part, I am going to tell you my experience with keto and how it was bikepacking. I have to go from the start so that everyone understands why I was able to do it and how it worked with me. 

Getting Into Ketosis

When I first started on a Ketogenic diet, I was around 24 years old and, at this point, wasn’t a cyclist. I was actually more interested in going to the gym and was at a point where I was much larger than I wanted to be. 

I had found an Aktins book and started reading it. The next day, I started the diet, and it was a lot of learning what I could and couldn’t get away with. The first few days were tough. The high-fat foods make you feel very full, but you lack energy.

After that, about a week in, I started getting lots of headaches, which is normal, but alongside feeling drained, it was awful. I had lost a couple of kilos at this point, but the majority of that was water weight more than anything.

After two weeks, I did feel really good. There were no highs or lows throughout the day, I felt full all the time, and I had much better discipline and could control my eating better. 

Six Months Later

Six months later, I had lost around 18 kilos and was back to the weight I wanted to be. I started introducing more carbohydrates and went back to a normal way of eating, which was nice, but I did enjoy the diet at the time. 

I did find there’s a limit to how much it can be done where food often gets boring and social occasions get tough. It’s incredibly limiting, and I was at a point in my life when I didn’t need it. I also didn’t want to lose any more weight at this point, so I stopped. 

Bikepacking On Keto

Then, around six years later, I was heavily into bikepacking and ultra-cycling. I was very competitive, and this was around 2018 when I was racing in the Bikingman series, an event in Oman, Taiwan, Peru, and Corsica. 

Around May, I felt I needed an edge to be a better bikepacker, so I thought I would try to go back into keto to see if that would help give me an advantage in an event or on an adventure. So, I went into the two-week process of getting into ketosis and then started doing longer rides. 

The rides were good. Anything up to about 6 hours didn’t feel too bad, but I had to completely change how I was fueling and come away from carbohydrates much more. Big sustained efforts were very challenging, but at a low pace, it worked ok for me. 

The Trip

After around a month, I thought it would be good to test my keto diet on a proper adventure, so I decided to cycle from my home in King’s Lynn to Portugal for an adventure and a training trip. I just planned to go at whatever pace and enjoy the ride for what it was. 

On the first day, I didn’t struggle too much. Sometimes, I felt low on energy, but this was generally after big climbs or times I might not have eaten enough. It was easy for my mood to drop, but in general, the keto diet was working. 

As I got into Spain on the second or third day, I felt like I was struggling. I was trying to put in 100 to 150 miles per day, and it was challenging to find keto-friendly food to work with. I ate a lot of cheese and fatty foods, which are tough to eat in high quantities. 

After around four days I was very much struggling for energy and I ended up having to dial the mileage back and stopped early in a hostel on the coast which was bike friendly. There, I chose to stay and focus on shorter or longer rides at a slower pace.

The Lightbulb Moment

On the last few days of the trip, I realized that when on keto, I was really good at long, very low-paced riding, provided I could find enough food and took regular breaks along the way, say 20 minutes every couple of hours riding. 

I also found that when it came to high intensity, I just didn’t have the energy to do it. Afterward, it was like my body couldn’t recover quickly enough, and I was not getting any energy back. This made steep climbs very challenging.

Not only had I worked out some advantages of keto, but I did work out how to use it. I did come away from it towards the end of the trip because I was losing weight very quickly and had dropped a few kilos in around a week.

My Pros And Cons Of Bikepacking On Keto

After my experience on that trip, I came to these pros and cons of bikepacking on keto. Here’s what I found. Remember, the results will be different for everyone. 

Pros

• Great For Low Paced Riding
• Much Fewer High And Lows Through The Day
• Could Go A Long Time Between Refuels
• I Found I Could Concentrate Better When Tired
• The Higher Protein In My Diet Helped Recovery

Cons

• Much Less Food Choices And Hard To Find On The Road
• High-Paced Riding Was Tough
• Getting Energy Back After High-Paced Riding Felt Tough
• I Was Losing Weight Very Quickly
• I Seemed To Have To Drink Much More Water

As you can see, there are some big pros and cons for me. I have found this for many cyclists on ketogenic diets, but for some other riders, it’s not always the same story. 

Would I Go Bikepacking On Keto?

Personally, I found it an amazing experiment to try, but after the trip was over. I did go back to eating more carbohydrates and fueling the typical way using glucose. There were many reasons for this, but the main two were limited food choices and struggling with high intensity.

I was ultra racing a lot at the time. In this, I needed to be able to work at high intensities, eat huge amounts of calories, and I was going to very remote places where I couldn’t get the food I required. 

I would do it again, but it would have to be a casual bikepacking trip in a country such as the UK, where there are small supermarkets everywhere to get the right supplies. Also try to weigh myself regularly in case I lost weight too quickly.

A Final Note

Bikepacking on keto is a very interesting subject, and I know some riders who have had some success from it. I personally did make it work, but it wasn’t easy, and it didn’t suit the type of bikepacking I was doing. 

If you enjoyed this article you might like The Bikepacking Cheat Sheet, Water Bottles Vs Hydration Bladders, and The Ultimate Bikepacking Kit List.

Again, if you are considering this route, check with a medical professional and do your research. Read some books and see what others are saying online.