Exclusive | I did a 12-hour, 207-mile bike race while breastfeeding my milk became Red Bull for babies

For professional gravel cyclist Isabel King, battling heat and peanut-butter-thick mud during UNBOUND Gravel, a 207-mile race through the Flint Hills of Kansas, was nothing new.The LA-based endurance athlete had completed this race four times before and was accustomed to spending 10-plus hours in the saddle.This year, though, she had a fresh challenge to face when she rode up to the start line at the end of May: figuring out how to manage pumping breast milk as a nursing mother while racing.Following the birth of her daughter, Hazel, last August via cesarean section, King’s approach to racing took on a new direction.For one thing, she was acutely aware that her own fueling and tapering (the practice of reducing mileage in the weeks leading up to a race) probably looked different from her fellow racers.“I joked that I was the only one in the Peloton that my taper into the race included spreading out my pumping sessions for breastfeeding,” King told The Post.She also predicted she’d need a pit stop to pump.With a newborn, moms typically need to breastfeed or pump every two to three hours.

Going much longer can leave the breasts painfully full and, in some cases, contribute to inflammation and mastitis.As babies get older and begin eating solid foods, they generally nurse less often — meaning moms may go longer between feeds or pumping sessions.As the race grew closer, King’s plan was to ride for eight hours nonstop — then pause at an aid station 150 miles in to pump before she finished.But her body had other ideas, and she didn’t stop to pump after all.Instead, she completed a grueling 12 hours and 17 minutes on her bike through a four-hour downpour and intermittent lightning, crossing the finish line before taking care of her breast milk.“It was getting really hot, and if I stopped, it was going to be really hard to get going again,” she explained.

“I was like, ‘We’re going to risk it, we’re going to try and get to the end.'”When it ca...