Glycemia and performance in endurance amateur cyclists participating in "The Quebrantahuesos"

Owing to the increased number of persons taking part in sporting events and the importance of diet, health, and performance in different sports disciplines, especially those of long duration such as cycling, the aim of our study was to analyze the association between post-exercise glycemia and clinical symptoms, age, pre-training, and performance in amateur cyclists competing in long-duration races. The sample was composed by 104 (six cyclists did not finish the race) Spanish male amateur cyclists, who performed the cycle-tourist race "Quebrantahuesos". Chi-square (x(2)), t-student, and logistic regression analyses were performed. There was a significant decrease in glycemia and weight pre and post-exercise. No correlation was found between post-exercise glycemia and the age of cyclists, kilometers covered in previous trainings, performance, and cortisol levels. Based on the results of this study, we can conclude that long-duration-race cycling leads to a clear decrease in blood glucose during exercise. Despite this, hypoglycemia in athletes seems to be well tolerated, as the subjects manifested very few symptoms at the end of the race and these did not correspond to the classic signs of hypoglycemia. Further, glycemia post-exercise did not affect performance.