mmmdonuts

Take some weight off...

svtmike

That must be really shiny special sports drink!

But the advice is sound.

VeloNewbie

OMG, the OP's posting had me ROLLING on the floor just now!! I dunno why. I guess it was the way he composed it.

2manybikes

I just ate 7lbs of ice cream.

hamster

It's simpler than that.

The guy is used to Gatorade, which contains lots of simple sugars, sweet, and can't be absorbed in concentrations much higher than 100-120 cal / 24 oz, for reasons which are too complex to discuss here. If he rides a lot and he relies on Gatorade, he tends to be glycogen-depleted most of the time.

He came across HEED, which is made from maltodextrin, much less sweet, and much more readily absorbed. He probably piled it on till he got to the level of sweetness of Gatorade, at which point he had something more similar to syrup than to sports drink.

Drinking that stuff all day, he ingested enormous quantities of malto, which not only cancelled his glycogen loss from the ride, but fully reloaded his glycogen stores for the first time in weeks.

Glycogen is 4 calories per gram of dry weight and each gram of glycogen is bound with 3-4 g of water.

It's still not easy to gain 7 pounds from HEED alone, but, if he had something like 25 scoops total during the event, that's 2500 calories, or 625 g of glycogen, or 6.9 lbs assuming 4:1 water:glycogen ratio.

This is essentially an extreme form of carbohydrate loading. Carbohydrate loading has been shown in studies to result in at least 5 lb glycogen+water gain over a few days, even when done with solid carbohydrates (e.g. pasta). Malto is known to be even more efficient for these purposes than solid carbs.

If this is the case, there is an easy solution. He has to do a DIY century while eating nothing and drinking nothing but water and electrolyte tabs. (I'd bring some food and some gels along in case of a bonk.) By the time he's done, those nasty 7 pounds will be gone. Also, if he manages 100 miles without any on-the-bike calories (a feat that is nearly impossible without carb loading), he'll know that this theory was correct.

bigfred 

I'm off to the grocery for 2ltrs of milk and a package of mint creams.

RUOkie

I'm going to Chipotle to eat a 7# burrito

Racer Ex 

You used the wrong bulb in your light.

Orangejuice

Gold.

DaveWC

Really well put. (The whole thing, didn't repost it all)

valygrl

This actually makes so much sense that i am wondering what it is doing here.

datlas 

ls01

wut

BillyD

Ok boys, I'm sure OP got the message by now, he's barking up the wrong tree.

Party's over, nothing more to see here. Bye!