pgoat

I was actually concerned about carbo loading - specifically the depletion that comes before it - as being too hard on the body. It strikes me much along the lines of blood doping - or any doping for that matter...suddenly infusing a boost to your system.

Just to be clear, I was off the bike for 2011 (aside from a few rides here and there to test the injured ankle) and very few miles for the last six months of 2010 (hand injury). In early 2010 I had more or less the same riding schedule as I do now - one hard ride on Sat. or Sunday - anywhere from 40 to 100 miles, avg HR 135-139 bpm. But I also bike commute on average three days per week year round (I take a few weeks off in the worst winter weather but also ride 4-5 days/week in the summer months....I'm doing about 4 days/week now). My commutes are mostly stop & go traffic and relatively flat, avg. 6-9 mph, though there are some interval bursts where My HR goes up (getting through yellow lights, etc). The only real hard riding there is climbing over a bridge twice a day (about half a mile each way, avg. grades about 4%). So they are not grueling commutes or non-stop spinning, but they do add 20 miles round trip per day, giving me a weekly total of anywhere from 80-200 miles. It's about an hour and ten minutes each way unless I really push the pace, it'd be more like 50 mins...which I could do, but prefer not to, for safety's sake in dense traffic (NYC).

I can certainly put in more miles, and plan to, as I continue to re-hab my ankle. But the nutrition is so in need of attention too.

This type of riding I do probably keeps me from weighing 300 lbs. (the way I eat, with a desk job) and God knows how many other health issues that would have popped up by now....but I really need to address the diet if I am ever going to drop down to a good healthy weight.

Most people I know are shocked when I tell them I weigh over 200 lbs, perhaps b/c I hide it well with clothes or just carry it well on a large frame? But they also can't believe I haven't lost more weight with the amount of riding I am doing! I have to kind of agree with them on that one....although it's clear I need a food intake overhaul.

I will check out that Chapple book...my wife is also trying to get me to read her book on 'Clean Eating' (the author's name escapes me at the moment).