rms13

that reminds me, whatever happened to DreamRider85?

https://www.bikeforums.net/road-cycli...out-bikes.html

datlas 

Being veg(an) probably makes little to no difference in your cycling performance. IMO it is more of a philosophical decision.

BTW I am ovo lacto veg X 30 years.

Pirkaus

I am a no meat athlete, and perform as well as my peers I ride with that do eat meat.

Maelochs

Much much easier to get enough protein if you allow dairy ... and eggs are almost pure human protein (closest animal protein to human protein.) Pure vegan is a lot harder ... but obviously it can be done.

Really, it is all about nutrition. Get what you need from whatever source and you are good to go. Your body doesn't care what your beliefs are, it just wants fuel and material to build with.

f4rrest

I stopped eating wheat, meat, chicken, eggs, and dairy a couple weeks ago. I've mainly been eating boiled veggies, rice, oatmeal, and fruit.

It's almost vegan, except that I have little fish each day at lunch or dinner.

2 days ago on a hard 5-minute effort, I saw the highest heart rate I've ever seen cycling (with HRM): 188 bpm, and I wasn't seeing stars or ready to puke. It felt like maybe 95% effort. Prior to that, my max had been 180 bpm.

Normally I'm suspicious of high readings due to jersey flap, etc., but I was already sweaty and going uphill, so it might be legit. I'm hoping to repeat a max effort soon to see if it was a fluke.

bakes1

Vegans are generally intolerant and combative. They have to question everything they eat.
It is what it is but please spare me the "poor old misunderstood vegan" nonsense.

birru

Didn't realize you were vegan.

Wested

Says the guy from New Jersey.

Doge

Meat is easier.

bakes1

Brooklyn?

Maelochs

Much ... but for some of us, easier is also much not the better option.

Vegs and vegans really need to learn protein combination. Again, it is not just "protein" but which proteins you eat which determines how much of what you eat, you can use.

I swear by peanut butter sandwiches because they last a few days a under any weather conditions except flooding, travel well in a pannier, and combine carbs, fat, and both grain and bean protein .... pretty complete protein so not so much is wasted. Adding nuts to the mix (peanuts are not nuts, by the way) is a big help, and raisins and almonds are a great light breakfast as well.

Quinoa is good but it's better if mixed with some bean protein. Brown rice and garbanzo beans is one of my staples at home, but its a lot to carry on the road, and the beans need to be soaked a long time, or pre-boiled---lots of pots, lots of water. I suppose you could carry a half-gallon of beans in water on the bike, to soak on the day's ride but that's extra weight, and shifting weight---and be sure to leave room for the beans to swell.

if you mostly do one-day rides, where you eat at home, experiment with grain/bean blends and recipes to see what suits you. Hummus with bread is pretty good for a change from rice and beans. Seeds and nuts are a good source of fat and kick up the protein and can be eaten or added to a dish raw, or pre-roasted, or eaten as a side dish.

If you tour .... Hope you like peanut butter sandwiches and protein bars.

Humans (in general) are ominivores. We should all probably be eating more root vegetables and insects, and steering clear of so much cow meat. But individual humans are all different; what works for one might be ruinous for another. Have fun experimenting.

deapee

For me, I don't eat clean enough to exclude meat from my diet. I don't like most things that vegans would have to replace meat with.

But yeah, I follow durian rider on youtube.

I knew a guy a few years back that switched to vegan -- he did p90x and picked up cycling...he went from skinny-fat to completely ripped and huge muscles in about 3 or 4 months.

As for long term, I don't know how it worked out...all of his conversations all of the time switched to veganism so I stopped hanging out with him. I mean the guy would tell the cashier when checking out at the gas station that they needed more vegan options in their snack aisle and stuff...

topslop1

Absolutely disgusting. Can not be good for you - more bait click **** on youtube than anything I must say.

I eat a lot of plants and fish lately. I'm dropping weight down from the drinking days of winter...

Anyhow, I don't do this from an ethical standpoint..

Veggies are good for you
Wild caught fish are about as untampered with as you can get for a meat source.

OR

You can fumble around with plant proteins and need a host of supplements to get to be functionally healthy.. don't vegans always have low Iron and other issues?

Dan333SP

Dave Zabriskie is a vegan, and he raced in the TdF a few years ago. There are a handful of pros out there who are vegan. Doesn't meant they don't dope, though.

silversx80

Zabriskie is now a vegan, but during his TdF days he was not. From what I can remember he never finished a TdF while on a full vegan diet (not his fault as he crashed out), but he did finish on a vegan+salmon diet. Also, there has never been a vegan pro cyclist to podium a world-tour stage race while on a vegan diet. In fact, I don't think anyone has ever finished the TdF, the Giro, or the Vuelta while on a strict vegan diet.

There are, however, a ton of lacto-ovo vegetarians and pescetarians on the world circuit... Mark Cavendish comes to mind (he doesn't do dairy or meats other than fish). From my limited research into the matter, I've come to understand that animal proteins are more easily put to use by our bodies, and are ready more quickly since little conversion needs to take place.

Wested

That's a myth. Iron deficiency is no more common among vegans. There is plenty of non-heme iron in dark leafy greens among many others. Too much iron (mainly of the heme variety) is far more of a problem in the US than too little. The only supplement vegans should consider taking is B12, which used to be prevalent in our water but gets destroyed through chlorination. Or just consume fortified foods, e.g. almond milk, cereals, etc.

Wild-caught fish still often have similar levels of PCBs and other contaminants compared to farmed fish, so I wouldn't assume they're any healthier.

RPK79

In an Alanis Morissette kind of way yes.

Doge

For racing at the top level (full time pro), I don't know of any doing it on a vegan diet alone, and I expect we would, if there were any.

For performance cycling - sure. My wife and I road/toured with a vegan couple. This discussion came up a lot. She was also a dietitian. It was pretty clear that they could ride well - fast and long hard 100m+ days) .
They had a son - raised as a Vegan about 2 years before we had our son. He is a "average" Cat 1. I believe he is still a Vegan, he was at age 14. I see them at races, and don't ask about diet - but they avoid the BBQ. These are the only Vegan performance cyclists I know, besides Zabriskie.

clasher

Fumbling around with plant proteins isn't an actual problem or anything to worry about. Protein combination and other silly ideas aren't needed. Soy contains all the amino acids the human body doesn't produce and anyone eating a varied diet that has grains, nuts, and beans in it would probably have to work really hard to be deficient in any amino acids. Proteins are really just combinations of amino acids and the body can produce many different kinds of amino acids and it breaks down any protein source into amino acids and recombines them as needed. Iron deficiency is common among omnivores as well. Fortified foods can provide all the B12 and other nutrients needed. I've been vegan for a long time and I have more than enough iron that I can give blood every 56 days without dropping below their minimum levels.

I mostly ride long distance (randonneuring) and my fastest time last year was a 200K (212km in 9:35 total time) so while it's not racing speed I felt it was a really good performance. This year I've managed to keep up an average of 28km/h for 1h54 and again I know it's not super fast but it's not bad for a 200lb vegan with a spare tire. I don't eat anything too "far out", mostly oatmeal and museli for breakfast and veggie burgers for other meals. Bean burritos and tofu tacos are favourites. I eat a fair bit of vegan junk food too. The only supplement I take is a vegan omega-3 one made from algae grown in a lab so it's cleaner than fish oil or whatever most omega-3 is made from. Soy, wheat and oats are the foundations of my diet. Works for me and gets me places. I also ironwork when I am not cycling so veganism isn't just for scrawny hippie types.

topslop1

I'm getting further from the meat meat lift lift mindset. Say I have a sweet potato and some broccoli and cauliflower for lunch and fish. What X items would you replace the fish with? Beans?

DXchulo

I've been cycling since 2004 and went vegan in 2015. I didn't notice a drop in performance at all. I've never been fast, but I'm still riding a century every week and ~1,000 miles per month. My recovery is as good as before and I think the whole protein worry is completely overblown. I'm still as strong as I was when I was eating animal products and my weight is the same.

I tried going completely raw for a week and that was a different story. I had a hard time getting enough calories that way.

clasher

Smoked tofu is good thing, slice it and give it a quick fry. Seaweed has a salty oceanish flavor and one could wrap some plain tofu with that and a squirt of soy sauce or something. I never really ate fish much, battered and deep fried was about the only way I used to do it, but that is easy enough to replace with beer battered tofu in my case. Crab cakes of some type but sub in white beans and season accordingly might work too.

bigdo13

Vegan for 3 years woot woot!!!!

bigdo13

I get that question a lot too... like, uhhhm, I'm a Vegan, not a pescatarian, and fish is awful for you... you're eating pure mercury.. They shrug it off and then tell me i'm gonna get "sick" because "Omega 3's"... They don't even know what Omega's they get from fish nor what they do (DHA creation) nor that you can get the same from dark leafy greens, walnuts and flaxseeds..flax being the best option..

As for DR... yeah, he was kind of the guy that got me thinking on it really hard and his diet recommendations were what I started out with (yup, i used to kill 20 bananas a day) ..these days his channel is more about Youtube beef and his sick lifestyle (homie just jet sets with his beautiful ass gf, who is also a vegan cyclist and soooo lean) so yeah, Maven and The Vegan cyclist are good options... DR is more consistent with uploads though.. Maven's editing is top notch though... same with vegan cyclist..

Hermes1

Only 1-supplement needed and that is B-12.