Marty, you interpreted my words in the right way.
But really I participated in Paris-Brest-Paris the most famous long-distance ride on earth, and quite a few of the participants lugged considerable amts of weights.. though most were very fit, although not as skinny as road racers.
Hence the question.. road racing only involves distances of maximally 250 K and is done at very high speeds.
An endurance cyclist rides a lot slower and can draw from his own body fats more than a faster rider.
Actually, my high BF% probably saved me from not DNFing earlier as I survived 45 hrs/700 K with very very inadequate energy supply (sports drink based on sweetener)

This was 3 years ago.. PBP 2003 is going to happen mid-August, 10 mo. from now.. Now is the time to lose weight and do weight training at the same time to get a good base.. so my question was quite simple: where should I aim for.. from all the stories I read, it seems that nearly everyone can go down to low levels of BF% if they work hard enough. 25% is seen as healthy for a woman, but 18% as extremely fit.. is that also true for randonneurs?
Obese = anyone (for females) with body fat above 30 or 32%. Slightly obese would be a bit lower..