Long Distance Cycling - Lost 10 lbs on a Double Century

I feel fine, if not a bit sleepy and tired and slightly sore in the shoulders, back and knees.

I've never lost that much weight on a marathon or any long ride. My fueling strategy of powders and gels of 225 calories an hour was dead on. Took alot of endurolytes and even supplemented with race caps and mito-r caps for vitamins. I finished fine with the group at 19.8 ave and rode the 6 miles home.

I'm just surprised at the weight loss. Water weight? My body fat was only 6.6% down from about 9%. I guess ten hours of riding will do that? I'll continue to hydrate today whatever the case.

Thoughts? Thanks in advance.

In 10 hours of riding, you might burn 8000 calories if you are working *really* hard the whole time. To keep from bonking, you'd need to take in around 2000 calories. That means at *most*, you used 6000 calories from fat, which is about 1.75 pounds.

You are dehydrated, and it may take a while to get back to equilibrium.

If you're using a scale to measure your % body fat, their measurements are very dependent on hydration.

Sounds like your STP was nice.

good post eriqu... you are dead on. It takes abotu 3500 calories to lose a lb. If you lost 10lb... well, thats definitely mostly water.

Id also be interested in knowing how you are measuring your bodyfat... if you are at 9% and dropped to 6.6% in one day... well, thats impressive(if accurate). Im gonna take a wild guess though and say your measurement technique is somewhat faulty. Im not positive, but it just seems unlikely to the point of impossibility.

A 10 double is extremely fast. Usually it takes me 16 hours or so to do 200. This year I have lost 5-10 pounds on two doubles. During a normal 45 mile training ride, where I know I have adequate hydration, I can lose 4-5 pounds. Most of it is water, and I usually gain it back in a day or two.

A good way to judge hydration is how much you pee, along with its color (should be light yellow).

The body fat measure was done on the home Tanita athlete model. Far from accurate for sure. Urine during the ride was not dark, but light yellow and not clear. There was not a lot of volume. I did not have to pee. Just whenever we stopped I'd stop by the port-a-john just in case.

Sounds like water weight and a dehydration. Thanks all.

The body fat measure was done on the home Tanita athlete model. Far from accurate for sure. Urine during the ride was not dark, but light yellow and not clear. There was not a lot of volume. I did not have to pee. Just whenever we stopped I'd stop by the port-a-john just in case.

Sounds like water weight and a dehydration. Thanks all.

Sounds like my DNF 600k (in addition to knee pain, which KO'd me).

Do you have veins visible on your arms or legs when you are at normal weight? If you can't see em now, when flexing, you are surely dehydrated, as I understand it what liquid is left in you is being rationed out - including your blood.

Nice ride report. Whats the terrain like out there?

Veins? No, don't normally see 'em. Can't tell on that front.

The terrain on this ride was considered flat. While the GPS reported a 7,000 ft elevation gain, the only climbing we did was two big shortish hills and some rollers coming in from the Washington/Oregon border.

I did a 200k brevet on Saturday, and according to my scale, I found 3 of the 10 pounds you lost. Feel free to come and pick them up any time... :D

I seem to have the opposite problem, for the 2-3 days after a long ride I retain water. I guess I have yet to find the right balance of electrolytes.

The body fat measure was done on the home Tanita athlete model. Far from accurate for sure. Urine during the ride was not dark, but light yellow and not clear. There was not a lot of volume. I did not have to pee. Just whenever we stopped I'd stop by the port-a-john just in case.

Sounds like water weight and a dehydration. Thanks all.

I have a tanita as well. I normally end up around 11-12%, but when I got back from STP (double century) last night, it said 6.6%.