then you may have seen the riders

taking on bags like this from people stood at the side

of the road, roughly halfway through each stage.

They're called Musettes, and they're full of food.

The reason for it is it means the riders

don't have to start each day stage

with their pockets jam packed full,

bursting with all the food that they'd need for the day.

In essence, they contain the riders' lunch.

In this video, we're going to go through

exactly what is in a typical musette,

we're also going to explain why it's there

and show you how to make some of the special things

that the pros eat like rice cakes.

But before we do, make sure you subscribe to GCN

if you haven't already, and also click the little bell icon

as it will give you a notification when we upload a video

and, well, it's free and it helps support the channel.

Here is our GCN musette, I'm going to put everything in it.

Starting with the biggest item, which is bottles.

(relaxed electronic music)

Typically you'll find two bottles in a musette,

or bidon, is what they're called if you're French.

And this means that when the riders take their musette,

they'll get rid of the bottles that are on their bike

which means that if you're after a pro water bottle

as a souvenir, a good place to go,

is to hang around in or just after

the feed zone at a pro race.

There are loads of different things

that you can put inside bottles,

and these will be tailored for the individual riders

depending on their personal preference

but also the demands of a stage.

So you can just have plain old water in there.

And a lot of riders do, but you can also use energy powders

such as these from our friends of the channel, Enervit.

They come in either sachets or tubs.

And they allow you to rehydrate

with all the essential minerals

but also get in that fuel as well

and that carbohydrate for the stage.

Something else we've seen as a bit of a trend,

which we noticed at the Giro is some riders

actually have protein in some of their bottles.

And this'll typically be on a flat stage

where for someone who's a Grand Tour contender,

this is almost like a recovery day for them

and so, they'll have a bit of protein

in one of their bottles at some part during the stage

just to help that recovery process.

Personally, I like to have water in one my bottles

and then some energy powder in the other one.

So that's what I've got,

and they're going to go in the musette.

Next up is energy bars.

Now one of the great things about energy bars

is that they contain quite a lot of carbohydrates

in a relatively small volume, meaning,

well, they don't take up

a huge amount of space in your pocket.

Now they come in all sorts of different flavors

and types these days, and generally,

they're full of easy to absorb carbohydrates

which is what you want.

But a recent trend we've noticed

with pro riders is we're increasingly seeing them

go for ones with protein in.

Now, this has the added benefit

of helping the riders recover and adapt to exercise

while they're doing it.

Over the course of a three week Grand Tour

like the Tour de France, the small things

like recovering a bit better, can make all the difference.

I'm going to put a few of these in the bag

I'll put one of the protein ones in there.

And then a couple of these lemon cream flavor.

My favorite.

Next up is gels.

Now, gels are probably the most well known

and sort of, well, Family Fortunes top answer

for what cyclists eat on the bike.

They come in hundreds of different types

and flavors, but if you're not familiar

with what they are, they're essentially a very viscous,

sugary liquid that you can quickly slurp down,

get it in your system and it's rapidly absorbed

and gets into the bloodstream

to supply you with that glucose, fructose and sucrose

and other sugar molecules that are in there

to keep you fueled.

Now, there are loads of different kinds of gels,

there's isotonic gels to help keep you hydrated

on really hot days, and there's also caffeine gels

which are gels with caffeine in them.

And the pros like to take these

to give them a little bit of a boost,

generally towards the end of a stage.

And gels in general are something that they take

towards the back end of a race or stage,

they tend to start with more real solid food,

so the bars and the other bits we're going to get on to.

And then when they really want that quick boost

at the end, gels.

I'm going to put in this caffeine flavor one

for the end of today's stage for me.

What have we got here?

Cola flavor and orange flavor.

I'm a cola man, I'll have a cola gel.

Next up is something that you might not expect.

But it is something we see quite often in pro musettes.

And that is a can of fizzy drink.

Now, I am a normal sized human being,

this isn't a normal sized can.

Just wanted to clear that up

in case you thought I was a giant or something.

It's a little 150 milliliter can

instead of a normal 330 mil one.

Although you wouldn't see this particular drink

because I just picked this off Lloydie's desk

and it's beer, put that right over there.

You're more likely to see Coca-Cola.

And the reason for that is it's a sugary cold drink

and the riders, well, if they like the taste,

it's good for morale.

But you're not going to see a normal sized can

and the reason for that is it's fizzy

and the bubbles and the gas,

it could cause a bit of bloating,

a bit of indigestion which isn't what you want

while you're riding a bike.

But we'll put it in the musette.

In many musettes, you'll find little sandwiches

called paninis, within the sport, referring to Italian.

And they'll often be wrapped like this.

Now, what they are is typically,

little sweet, well slightly sweet brioche buns

like this, no crusts, and then filled

with different fillings, it is lunchtime after all.

Now, Dan Lloyd's favorite filling he tells me,

was peanut butter with bits of banana in

so that's what we've gone for.

But chocolate spread is also common

if you're feeling naughty.

But also, more savory things, so, tuna,

ham, cheese, whatever, anything goes really.

Whatever the riders like.

So we're going to put a couple of these in the musette as well.

And while the carbohydrates in the little sandwich

aren't as easily absorbed

as something like a specialist energy powder,

it is nice to have something that's a little bit savory

and a little bit more solid

in and amongst all that easily absorbed food

and it's a bit nicer for the digestive system.

Especially over the course of three weeks.

Next up, rice cakes, I've got some here.

And rice cakes have become a firm favorite

amongst riders in the pro peloton.

And for good reason, rice is a great source of carbohydrate,

it's very easily absorbed and it places very little stress

on the digestive system and the gut of most people.

It's also low residue which means that

for the amount of energy it actually contains,

it doesn't leave much fiber behind in the gut.

So, you're not carrying the excess weight of that fiber

that wouldn't otherwise be doing anything

which is crucial in a sport like cycling

where power to weight is so important.

I'm going to put a couple of rice cakes in the musette

but before I do, we're going to head into the kitchen

and I'm going to show you exactly how you can make

and wrap your own rice cakes.

(relaxed electronic music)

Now, gels and bars are a great source of fuel,

but you wouldn't necessarily want to eat them

all day everyday for three weeks at a time.

And, well, neither do the pros.

I'm going to show you how to make a basic rice cake recipe

which I learnt from Nigel Mitchell

from EF Education First-Drapac.

Now, this is a recipe that I make quite a lot

and I really like the taste of it

and my friends like it too.

It makes 20 cakes and each cake has about 23, 24 grams

of carbs in it and is about 120, 130 calories.

Right, let's crack on, get 'em made

and then I'll show you the pro wrapping technique as well.

I'm going to need the GCN Capron.

(bell ringing)

These are the ingredients for the recipe, first up, rice.

Now, you should typically use a pudding style rice

or a risotto type grain, you can use sushi rice as well.

I've got arborio risotto rice, 500 grams of that.

Some soft cream cheese, 250 grams.

Just as it is in the tub.

Some vanilla extract, some cinnamon,

just ground, normal cinnamon.

Some sugar.

And some agave nectar to sweeten it.

You could also use honey as well if you wanted to.

I'm first going to wash the rice

and get ride of the starchy residue on it.

And then, what you want to do is put it

in a large saucepan like this

and make sure you've got a lid.

To the washed rice, I'm going to add three tablespoons of sugar

I'm using white caster sugar

but you can use whatever kind of sugar you want.

I'm then going to add a couple of teaspoons of cinnamon.

I'm not measuring this, I'm just winging it.

And finally, a teaspoon of vanilla extract.

To the rice mixture here, I'm now going to add 800 mils

of water, now try and be fairly precise with this.

If you add too much water, it'll result in the rice

being too gooey and too sloppy

and it won't hold its shape very well.

You then bring this mixture to the boil

and then once it's boiled reduced it to a simmer.

Should take about 10 minutes to cook.

And it's important to put the lid on.

If you've got a rice cooker,

use one of those 'cause they're really good

but, it's not essential, you can just use a pan.

But, reason why you've got to have the lid on

is it helps keep the moisture in there

and helps keep the water volume consistent.

If you didn't have a lid the water would evaporate

and you'd actually not have

the right amount of water for the rice.

You can tell when the rice is cooked

because basically, all the water's been absorbed

and the rice has gone nice and soft.

So, I'm going to take this off the heat now, done.

Next step is to put the rice mixture

inside a large tray like this.

To the cooked rice mixture, we're now going to add 250 grams

of cream cheese, you can make it vegan

so you could use a vegan alternative

if you wanted to to normal cream cheese.