ATP Performance Coaching

Can menthol really make you faster in the heat?

With the heatwave across Europe and the heat rolling through the US this summer, riders are reaching for menthol rubs, gels and mouth rinses. Does the science back it up?

Menthol does not lower your core temperature. It activates cold receptors (TRPM8) in the mouth and on the skin, tricking your brain into feeling cooler than you actually are. That shift in perception is enough to change how hard an effort feels.

THE EVIDENCE FOR IT
Mündel and Jones (2010, European Journal of Applied Physiology) were among the first to show swilling an L-menthol solution during exercise in the heat improved thermal comfort and extended exercise capacity.

A 2019 meta-analysis (Jeffries and Waldron, Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport) found menthol mouth rinsing improved cycling performance in the heat by around 1.8% in trained athletes, a meaningful margin in a time trial.

Gavel et al. (2021, International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance) found female cyclists completed a 30km time trial 2.3% faster after rinsing with menthol versus placebo.

THE DOSE
Research points to a 0.01 to 0.1% L-menthol solution as the effective, tolerable range. Swill for a few seconds and spit out (do not swallow) at intervals through the session. Above 0.5% tends to cause irritation without extra benefit.

THE BALANCE
Not every study agrees. Gibson, Wrightson and Hayes (2019, European Journal of Applied Physiology) found menthol rinsing did not improve intermittent sprint performance in the heat. Other trials show no benefit in cooler conditions, consistent with the effect being heat specific rather than universal.

The key caveat: menthol changes how hot you feel, not how hot you are. Core temperature keeps climbing regardless. Use it alongside hydration, pacing and heat acclimatisation, not instead of them.

Train the whole athlete.

Here are our Top 5 ways to avoid unnecessary time off the bike.

Everyone wants to get faster, but consistency beats the perfect training session every single time. Here are the five biggest things I encourage all my athletes to focus on.

1. Strength training.

A well-designed strength programme helps build resilience, improves tissue capacity, and can reduce your risk of common overuse injuries. Stronger riders spend more time training and less time rehabbing.

2. Look after your saddle hygiene.

Saddle sores are one of the most preventable reasons riders miss training. Wash your bib shorts after every ride, use a quality chamois cream, and shower as soon as possible afterwards. Your skin is part of your equipment, look after it.

3. Recover as hard as you train.

Fitness doesn’t happen during the session; it happens when you recover from it. Prioritise good sleep every night, and don’t skip recovery weeks. Those easier periods allow your body to adapt while preventing training stress from becoming chronic.

4. Fuel for the work required.

Not every ride needs the same nutrition. Longer and harder sessions require more carbohydrate. Under-fuelling doesn’t make you fitter; it just limits performance, slows recovery, and increases your risk of illness and injury.

5. Don’t wait until you’re mentally burnt out.

Physical fatigue is easy to spot. Mental fatigue often isn’t. If motivation is dropping or training feels like a chore, have that conversation early. Taking a short mental reset before you need one is often far more effective than being forced into weeks away from the bike.

If you want to stay healthy and keep improving, don’t just train harder, train smarter. Consistency is what drives long-term performance.

Which one do you think cyclists neglect the most? Let us know in the comments.

“60g of carbs per hour” used to be gospel. Now everyone is talking about 90 to 120g/hour+. Neither number tells the full story on its own.

Here’s what’s actually going on.

The old 60g/hour guidance came from early research on a single carbohydrate source (glucose). Glucose is absorbed through one gut transporter (SGLT1), which has a limited capacity, so 60g/hour became the practical ceiling.

Then the science moved on. Pairing glucose with fructose brings a second transporter (GLUT5) into play. Two absorption pathways instead of one unlocked much higher oxidation rates, and 90 to 120g/hour+ became achievable, particularly for athletes who have trained their gut to tolerate it.

But here’s the part that gets lost. That 100 to 120g/hour+ figure largely comes from studies on well trained, often elite athletes performing sustained, high intensity efforts. It was never meant as a blanket target for every rider on every ride.

Real fuelling needs are built from three things:

1. Intensity. Higher relative effort shifts your fuel use toward carbohydrate and away from fat.

2. Distribution. A steady endurance ride and a race full of surges and attacks demand fuel very differently, even at identical average power.

3. Total energy output. This is the one people forget. A WorldTour rider holding 400w for an hour is burning dramatically more total energy than an amateur averaging 250w for the same hour. Same duration, same sport, completely different fuelling requirement.

That is why a flat number, whether it is 60g or 120g, was never going to work for everyone. Carbohydrate intake should be periodised around the actual demands of the session ahead, and tailored to you as an individual.

Easy zone 2 spin? You likely need far less than the elite ceiling. Race simulation or a hard interval block? You may need to fuel closer to it, if your gut is trained for it.
Train the whole athlete. That includes how you fuel it.

Save this for your next training block, and tag someone still stuck on 60g/hour, or cramming too much at 120g/hour.