First of all, being a Clyde has nothing to do with being fit or overweight. It's simply a category of athletes that do not fit within the norm for endurance athletes. The original Clydesdale category used to start at 185 lbs. If you visit the road racing and triathalon forums you will find a patern that suggests athletes at or above this weight are competitively disadvantaged. Plain and simple, to climb well on a bike, lighter is better, to a point. It's didn't initially have anything to do with a lack of fitness. It was just a way to recognize athletes that were particularly fit but not of the necessary physical frame to be competitive against 135-165 lb 5'9"-6'2" spiders.

It has since, also been adopted by those participants that are not fit. So, a lot of the discussions around here revolve around the challenges of folks who are looking to loose weight. Keep in mind that any of those charts that are at all based on BMI (body mass index) are hugely inaccurate and horrible for people who are not of average build and height. Specially those who are taller than average. At 6'5", 42" waist, 54" chest, but weighing more than I would like to, not many would look at me and call me "obese" as the bmi charts do. My goal weight of 250#, just gets me into "overweight". To become "normal" I would have to get down to 215 or so. That weight would be completely "undoable" for me. No doctor would ever suggest that 215 would be a healthy weight for me. So, with regard to BMI, don't pay attention to it. Instead, look to measure you fitness and health, with regard to your body fat percentage, resistance to illness, and physical strength(measured however you like).

With regard to "geared for the ultra light": Let's face it. When it comes to competing at an elite level, "it is". That's not to say that any and everyone can't enjoy cycling. We can,.....just not at a level that is likely to see us win at an elite level. The exception for someone of a build like yourself might be track sprinting or criterium racing(if it lacks significant climbs). But, when it comes to road racing and long climbs, long limbed (for torque) but extremely thin and light (for better power to weight) riders will consistantly dominate.

It's still fun to drop the all too frequent poser :-) !!!!!