Originally Posted by
ktulu05
I've been riding on roads for several years, but am trying to get more serious about it this summer. I've been riding every weekend since April, and am now averaging about 75 miles per week. Have ridden 350 miles so far this year. I usually ride 15-20 with a group on Wednesday, 25-30 on Saturday, and 25-30 on Sunday. I'm 6'1", overweight, and need to lose about 60 more pounds (have lost ~17 since April). Since April, most of my carbs are whole wheat, and I try to eat more protein than carbs, along with fruits/veggies. My diet isn't perfect, but it's at least somewhat better.
On my Wednesday evening rides, I have incredible power (for me at least), climb hills easily, and usually beat most of the other riders back after the ride is over. The weekend rides are a different story. I struggle even early on, have no power, and feel just pathetic afterwords. On the weekend rides, I tend to not eat anything before because when I did eat in the past, my stomach would awful. On the Wednesday rides, I eat a normal breakfast/lunch and feel great. During all my rides, I've been bringing one bottle of water, and one bottle of Cytomax to replenish some calories.
I've read enough to know now that on my weekend rides, I have no carbs in my system, and my body is "hitting the wall" and trying to gain all of the energy required from burning fat. Which is bad if you're trying to ride with a group of fit cyclists, but good if you want to burn fat? I see a lot of posts and advice for cyclists to load up on carbs (whole grains, fruits, energy bars, energy gels) beforehand and during, but I'm thinking this is geared more towards people with low body fat?
This weekend, I ate nothing on Saturday and performed awful. On Sunday, I ate a whole-grain english muffin with natural peanut butter, an apple, and a glass of OJ. I felt better than Saturday for the first 20 miles, but the last 9 were a struggle. I guess my question is how do I balance the weightloss with performance? I know I need some carbs to avoid struggling the entire time, but I don't want to load up so much that I don't lose any weight. Or do I need to just forget about performance, and struggle the whole time, to maximize fat burn?
Thanks,
Kevin
When you ride in the morning on an empty stomach you are not riding with no carbs in your system. Your muscles likely have at least 1500 Cals of glycogen providing you ate properly the day before. So first off make sure you are eating a sufficient number of carbs on Fri before your Sat ride.
If you are feeling poorly from the start on Sat it's quite possible the pace is higher and you are riding harder. If possible, try and reduce your effort by drafting more and not doing any work in front of the group.
The number of carbs your body burns is a function of intensity not how much is stored. The higher the intensity the more carbs will be utilized. Group rides are fun but not necessarily optimal for burning fat as you may have to ride hard at certain points.
Sometimes you just need to experiment. Try eating some cereal before your Sat ride and try riding at a slower pace if you don't feel well. The last thing you want to do is stop riding because you don't feel good.
Other recommendations:
- Try eliminating any calories during rides under 2 hrs. You aren't riding frequently enough or long enough to have to worry about replenishing your glycogen stores. Just eating a normal balanced diet should take care of restocking your glycogen.
- Try and ride more frequently. If you're trying to lose weight, consistency is important. Its easier to lose weight when the amount you need to eat each day is the same. See if you can fit in 5 or 6 rides/week.
- Maximum fat utilization occurs around 65% of VO2Max which may not mean much to you but it's basically a steady moderate effort. It shouldn't feel easy but, you should be able to maintain this level of effort for several hours. It's often difficult to ride at a steady effort with a group so consider doing more solo rides. Riding with low to moderate effort also has less impact on hunger following the ride.