74: Fueling a Pro Gravel Cyclist: Chase Wark on Carbs, Racing & Going Long

<p>What happens when you combine professional gravel racing, race directing, fatherhood, a LOT of carbs, and an impressive knowledge of Midwest gas stations? You get Chase Wark.</p><p>Chase and I have worked together on his nutrition over the past year, so this conversation was especially fun because we get to pull back the curtain on what fueling actually looks like for a high-volume gravel cyclist and why getting it right often has less to do with perfection and more to do with planning ahead.</p><p>Chase is a professional gravel cyclist, co-founder of Lunchbox Racing, coach, race director, and community builder. His impact goes well beyond his own racing, and in 2026 he received the inaugural Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame Community Impact Award for his contributions to the sport.</p><p>In this episode, Chase and I talk about how he went from biking to hockey practice as a kid to competing at the elite level, why giving back to the gravel community matters so much to him, and what it takes to balance training with being a dad, race director, and team leader.</p><p>And, of course, we talk nutrition.</p><p>When Chase first reached out to me, nutrition wasn&#39;t necessarily a disaster. The bigger challenge was consistency when life got chaotic. Travel, race directing, long training days, and stress could quickly throw his normal eating routine off.</p><p>Instead of making radical changes, we focused on small adjustments that made his nutrition easier to execute in real life.</p><p>That meant meal prepping before busy race weekends, packing coolers for travel, keeping easy meals and snacks available, prioritizing protein around massive training days, and being more intentional about carb loading before races.</p><p>We also get into Chase&#39;s approach to fueling on the bike, including why gummy worms have replaced some of his beloved gas station donuts, his ability to take in around 120 grams of carbohydrates per hour during races, and why he thinks more endurance athletes need to get comfortable eating carbs while they train.</p><p><br></p><p><strong>What You&#39;ll Learn</strong></p><ul><li><p>Why Chase believes building the cycling community matters just as much as his own race results</p></li><li><p>How becoming a dad changed his approach to training, recovery, sleep, and planning</p></li><li><p>The nutrition challenges that finally pushed him to ask for help</p></li><li><p>Why we focused on consistency instead of completely overhauling his diet</p></li>