will dehne

I wonder if others noticed that there may be many food addicts hanging out as bikers?
This what I did on Fathers day. OK, my wife knows what I like, but what do you guys think of this?

Breakfast: Roast beef sandwich with two eggs on top. Three open face sandwich with cottage cheese and jelly. Pot of tea.
Drive to Bike Trail: Cherry turnover, large coffee with cream and sugar.
Bike furiously for 25 miles.
Have Ice coffee with cream and sugar (large), torte with fruit. Can of Slim-Fast.
Bike furiously for 25 miles.
Have ice-cream and coffee while driving home.
Dinner: Large portion of German boiled potatoes, mixed veggies in broth, liver and onions, mixed salad, bottle of good red wine with assorted cheeses.

Next day I went on scale: No loss, no gain.
This amount of food-intake is not unusual for my rides of 50-100 miles/day.

maddmaxx 

I'm sure that the can of Slim-Fast helped hold down the gains.

I think it was Bicycling magazine that used to run a column on what we could eat (excessively) because we ride. I could never help but think that in my case I had to ride because of what I liked to eat.

HopedaleHills

Sounds like a pretty reasonable days worth of eating to me. I've been known to come in from a long ride and down three bottles of Ensure back-to-back, then go looking for some real food.

stonecrd

I love to eat and cycling does increase the appetite. I resist the devil's food such as sugar, breads, pasta and stick to salad and meat and more meat as much as possible. I do indulge in a bottle of red wine over the weekend and I have been known to eat 1/2 a pizza on a Sunday for lunch after a 60mi ride. Sometimes resistance is futile but I keep trying. I've gotten from 205 to 187 at least 10lbs more to go, and there is no way I can eat less.

The Weak Link

Coffee?
Red wine?
Ice cream?

I'd say you have all the essential food groups covered

Camilo

I do two endurance sports fairly seriously, XC skiing and biking. Well, seriously for me anyway - 5 or so hours/week "training" and one or two long events per year in each as a goal. Not a big deal. No big lifestyle sacrifices.

My observation on people who kind of do it at the same level - one of the benefits we get from it is to be able to have the beer and good food and not become totally fat blimps. It is not uncommon for fairly serious citizen athletes to talk about the rewards of a cold beer or other high calorie treat. I know MANY who are in pretty darn good cardiovascular shape who are not totally lean and eat and drink as they please.

We're talking middle aged people here. Hell, any 20-something can be lean and mean, and eat and drink what they want with impunity (they don't realize it's creeping up on them 1/2 - 1 lb per year). It's the 40-50-60 somethings that I'm talking about.

Sure, I'm no lightweight (5'8", 162 lbs headed toward 160 for the first time in 15 years!), but I definitely use exercise as an excuse to have that beer or bowl of ice cream. Oh, the exercise makes me feel better and I enjoy it too. But, I like to have a beer every once in a while and eat good food!

head_wind

Get some lean muscle mass and you can burn lots of calories,
even in your sleep.

head_wind

The president of the local bike club is unsure if the club is a
bike club with a food disorder or a food club with a bike disorder.

Denny Koll

On the flip side of that I often use my intense workout schedule as an excuse to overeat ...I could probably have something better for me than ice cream for example...but hey, I just put in two hours of intense calorie burning. I have to be careful not to use my exercise as an excuse to be a total pig.

Red Baron

Egad Will ! - I eat light so I don't throw up from the exertion. With what you eat, I'd be upchucking within 5 miles.
Then when I'm finished a ride, I need some downtime before I eat hardy.

BSLeVan

Why you old goat! (Just kidding... ) Your inclusion of "Slim Fast" caused me to spray a mouthfull of my ice tea all over the desk top!

will dehne

OK guys, here is my analysis of above responses. Nine out of ten love to pig out as I do and I feel as part of that group. Accepted.
The "Red Baron" is in a performance class outside my skills and reasonable expectations. I fully agree that there are many Road Bikers like Red Baron. They pass me all the time. But, even biking has a "Peter Principle" and at 65 I have reached my, proudly and satisfied.

crtreedude 

What is more fun? Eating or biking? Friends and cyclist - we don't have to choose. In fact, it is a good thing we do like to eat for that is how we refuel.

will dehne

That is the idea of my lovely wife. She is lactose intolerant. Slim Fast makes a version without lactose. I tried it, she tried it, seems no harm done and it is 200 calories. They call that 200 energy in some parts of the world.
I make no claim beyond this highly researched (kidding) statement.

will dehne

Hey, I am not kidding. What is your TT speed for say 50 miles (or anything else you got).
I really like to know and we will exchange data.
I am assuming you are in the jppe or Lance A. club.

will dehne

For those who do not know this: I am a long distance biker. 65 years old, 185#, 6'1".
I have and can do 150 miles/day consecutively for many days. My eating has to support this. We were on a supported tour and 5000 calories/day were not unusual. However, the average speed was 16-17 MPH on most days (biking time).

I cannot and have not tried shorter distance races.

waldowales

Cut back on the coffee, add some beer.

The Weak Link

This is a bit OT, and I'm sorry I haven't searched previous threads to see if DG has already asked this question, but......

You ride like I would like to. If I rode so much as 50 miles on consecutive days I would hurt myself.

Were you always athletic? Did you start when you were getting old? If so, long did it take to get to where you are, and how weird did you have to get in order to do it? Serious question.

n2t

I love food, food adict all the way. Forget fat free, salt free, health food/drinks. I'm a beef, butter, whole milk, potatos with sour cream. Enjoy in my opinion, if it's not fast enough to escape it's a food source that's why I started biking. Oh and I'm 5'7 and 150lbs. So though not in peak condition, I'm not huge either.

George

I'm not very much of a big eater. Even the day I went my age, I had 2 or 3 power bars, a bowl of cereal, 4 slices of cheese and a few pieces of chicken, After the ride I ate some fruit and that was it. Two bottles of Gatorade and 18 bottles of water. When I started riding I weighed 206, got down to 196, and now I'm 200, go figure. When I want to workout hard my knee starts nagging me so I guess I'm peaked, maybe.

will dehne

I was athletic up to age 20 (rowing). Got married at 20 with child and had to focus on money.
Age 45 started having health problems. Obesity, excessive drinking, stress.
Started light exercise and eventually jogging. Knees and hips started hurting. Found Rail to Trail biking in Wisconsin. Did that at slow speed for ten years. (about 50 -60). Put on more weight. Size 40 waist 240#.
Decided to train for Cross America Tour at 16.5 MPH average and 120 miles/day for 3000 miles. Dropped 40#. Size 34 waist.
Did the tour without problems.
Accelerated my bike training after the tour. Will do another tour next year.

will dehne

George- You are using high cadence? About 90 RPM?
Are you sure you are properly positioned on the bike?

You should not have knee pain from proper biking.

George

Yes Will, I'm at about 90 to 95 and sometimes 100 and that's what I'm trying to figure out. I don't know if I'm far enough back with the saddle, but the rails on the B17 a kind of short and I have the saddle all the way back. I can't raise it up anymore as my leg is almost completely extended. I paid once for a bike fit and the guy screwed me up big time. I could hardly ride for 3 weeks, he didn't twist the clips on my shoes. I spin between 95 and 100 for 10-15 minutes and if I hit it hard,( not real hard) I'll have a little bit of pain. I'm talking the middle ring and 5 or 6 in the back, which is pretty easy.

will dehne

OK George, I understand. Here is what I did and it works for me.
Adjusting the bike for road biking offers too many distractions. I put the bike on a hydraulic resistance trainer and focus how things feel. I always do 16.5 MPH at 90 RPM. I changed saddles (I would not be hung up about any saddle. Saddles are cheap. Doctors are not. I would get a simple Serfas Gel saddle)
I changed the position of saddle any way it can be adjusted. I tried higher and lower cadence. I try getting off the saddle every 10 minutes. Adjust the cleats on my shoes. I raised and lowered the handle bars, tried aerobars, drops.
George-I did that until it worked and not give up. I will not tolerate pain in my knees or anywhere else because in long distance biking that does not work, it only gets worse.
Most important......do not give up.

ralph12

I don't really eat a remarkable amount, but I have a very lean build. I love to eat though. Unfortunately if I eat too much before a ride, I feel weighed down and too tired, and if I go for a long ride without eating at least every hour, I lose my appetite at the end and have to choke my next meal down.