I've went low carb (old Atkins Phase 1) several years back with fair to good results but even after going to Phase 2 didn't sustain it and fell off the wagon. My cycling kept the weight off but I had come to believe that somehow the carbs were needed for my cycling performance. Well, the combination of a long bad winter, some health issues, and some family and work demands (along with me being lazy and indulgent) put 15 pounds back on my carcass and it wasn't coming off. Still I was downing granola bars, cookies, sports drinks, and the like justifying it as I "need" the carbs to ride well.

Today marks one week that I have been back on a low carb diet somewhere in the neighborhood between new Atkins Phase 2 and South Beach. I'm seven pounds down (yeah, I know, water weight and newbie losses) and today was my first real test on the bike as I have been working 24-hour on-call for the past five days and couldn't do much more than tool around the neighborhood.

The old: 500+ kCal high-carb breakfast and 200-300 kCal primarily carbs every hour = 1,600 - 2,100 kCal which was mostly carbs on an 80-mile ride. Average speed of my long rides (50-100 mile) so far this summer 15.4 mph.

With almost no carbs I expected this to be a slow, rather short ride despite the beautiful day.

Today: 200 kCal breakfast of protein and fats (2g carbs) and a total of 450 kCal of low carb snacks during the 80-mile ride. Average speed 15.3 mph and that considers that I did the opposite of what I usually do and started out with the wind during the first half of my ride which is mostly uphill on a slight grade with a few rollers and one short 8% grade climb to the mid-point of the ride. The second half of the ride was rollers with a net downgrade for about 5 miles then almost dead flat into a 4-8 mph wind quartering or directly from the front.

I felt just fine, never hungry, never bonky. Only during the last 16 miles did my legs start complaining and I started to have trouble maintaining an even speed. After the ride, no severe hunger, no shakes, no cramps. I put my stuff away and had a 300 +/- kCal low-carb lunch and feel just fine. Total calories so far today = 950-1,000 with approx 12g carbs compared to 2,000-2,500 and a crap load of carbs the way I had been eating on similar rides.

Low carb guys, you may have another convert