I agree with you, 53-11. In my experience some cyclists and weightlifters are complete opposites. A lot of the guys who lift seem to eat nothing but protein and eat almost no carbs at all. A lot of cyclists eat nothing but carbs and eat almost no protein at all.

I understand the idea here- we need to eat lots of carbs after a ride to restore glycogen. But we also can't forget that we've been out there tearing leg muscles apart, and these muscles will need to be repaired. This is where protein should come in.

For whatever reason a lot of cyclists are so concerned with body weight that they'd rather let their muscles deteriorate than gain a pound. I don't really understand that. You'll never get 20" biceps from riding a bike, no matter how much protein you eat. Fact is, most of the protein will go towards rebuilding your leg muscles, and why wouldn't you want to repair your leg muscles? Leg muscles turn the pedals. Cyclists are so scared of muscles. What the hell is wrong with these people? If you have more leg muscle, chances are you'll be faster.

What good is losing 1 pound if it comes from your legs and makes you weaker?

Quite true. It's a pretty balanced diet for the most part. Fruits, veggies, fish, olive oil, wine, a little meat, and don't forget the gelato now and then. I'm heading back to Italy on Thursday for 10 days of cycling. Can't wait!

Here's a radical solution: mind your own damn business. Worry about yourself, and spare others your carping.

Easy, huh?

Or shall I say, Why don't you mind your own damn business?

It's the training and Nutrition forum Buddy. I can talk about it if I want.

If you don't like my thread don't read it. How tough is that? Easy huh? :p

Some people :rolleyes:

Because we can?

I'm 23 and have a pretty high metabolism to begin with. I don't just use my bike for exercise. It's transportation too. So if I go somewhere, I'm burning calories. I can eat and eat and eat and still stay skinny. I'm hungry so much of the time that I'm not fussy about what I eat :)

Have you ever been to a pro training camp, there is a pallet of spagetti outside the kitchen next to a hundred cases of bannanas. Ever read what the TDF Guys eat? CarboLoading and then some! Once after a double century we had an audience at a Denny's. They thought we were part of a pasta eating contest. I had two bananna split too. Next day was a mere 120 miles. This was 20 years ago, I still like my carbs but my spare tire doesn't. If you ride enough, all the carbs along with proper protein intake works well for cyclists.

I think it depends how hard you push yourself. If you're just spinning away doing base miles, you're not really tearing any muscle down.

Do some hard intervals and that's another story. The timing of the protein does matter (it should go with your carbs)

Perhaps you're right. I am trying to get more seriously in road riding, but am basically a newbie. Maybe I'll have to eliminate Swiss Cake Rolls as one of my primary food groups later on :(

With your scientific approach (compared to other cyclists who are "in the Stone Age" with regards to nutrition science), please tell us how many races you've won this season?

I don't race bikes. The top guys at Elite levels that do win races have a much better nutritional program I'm sure.

When do you see any nutritional info in a cycling magazine?.....none.....that's my point. It's geared more towards the bike itself.

If use Pubmed, you will see a wealth of nutritional information regarding exercise. You never see these abstracts printed in cycling magazines.

Heck runners get more information than cyclists...hence "stone Age"

There's absolutely NOTHING wrong with eating carbs, especially complex carbs ... despite what the fads will have you believe.

I agree 100%. If you are going to binge on carbs after a ride why not eat some protein with it?

Back when I lifted weights I ate a ton of carbs, but I never ate just carbs in one sitting. I always balanced it out.

This is something I posted in another discussion on a similar topic about post ride meals:

top priority, replace fluids
Then carbo rich foods within 15 minutes to 1/2 hour of your workout. Protein is good too, but not in the excess that we have a tendency to do in American thinking. A good ratio is 3g of carbo to every 1g of protein.

On average a 150lb person needs about 75g of carbohydrates and 25g of protein in a post exercise meal.

This is of course based on a longer ride, not just tooling around for an hour.
This comes from my wife the Registered Dietitian.

You're just another troll.

FWIW, most cycling publications feature advice on nutrition, electrolytes, post-ride recovery, etc. Much research has been conducted on the subject, and published in peer-reviewed journals, and in cycling magazines. Chris Carmichael has published an entire book on nutrition for cyclists.

Are we supposed to agree with you that we're all nutritional idiots, just because you've looked at a few PubMed articles and ridden a bike for a year or so? Sheesh...

A "Bagel with Banna and honey on top of it" is a binge******************************?? Um, no. Sorry. 12 bagals with bananas and honey on top might be a binge, but one is not. A bagal with a banana and honey is merely a small snack, and a pretty good one at that: complex carb, high calorie, potassium ... lots of good stuff.

ok, I'm assuming weight lifting is different than interval training on a bike, correct?

Because I was told that as long as I was lifting weights I should be eating 1g of protein for every lb I am. So I weigh 147lb, I eat approximately 150g of protein a day.

Is that correct?

edit: and my normal post-ride meal(snack) is a banana and some pasta with homemade sauce(tomatoes, some ground turkey meat, spices.).

Wow......Why don't read that stuff then? Since when is pure carbohydrate the best recovery formula for a hard training athlete. I'm not just talking about a leisurely 30 mile spin either?

Since when is cycling any different than running on treadmill or a stairmaster from a nutritional standpoint. I take that back, I push myself harder on a bike. It's all exercise, nothing about riding a bike makes you exempt from good nutrition.

Since when do special nutitional rules apply to cyclists. Let me know the loop hole....I'm curious.


No protein though. That's not a binge either, true.

Who said anything about special nutritional rules for cyclists? FWIW, I usually throw in a scoop of whey protein in my post-ride recovery drink, as do most of the cyclists I know. That's nothing new, junior. What do you think Endurox is all about?

What I'm objecting to is your silly, troll-like characterization of all cyclists as in the "stone age" nutrition-wise.

I don't know if I would heap unconditional praise on bodybuilders' diet. My impression of some bodybuilders is that they can be suckers for the mega-vitamin snake oil hucksters. You see them in GNC spending $50 on a big jar of Mega-L-Protoplasma-Amine powder thinking its gonna make their shirt bust another button when in fact 99% of that Mega amine powder gets peed right into the toilet.

It's true some cyclists have bad diets. I have been amazed though at some very portly riders who have remarkable speed and endurance despite the pendulous girth stretching those lycra kits to sizes beyond XXL.

In the end, though, I think cyclists have a better state of mind than bodybuilders. Bodybuilding strikes me as being uncomfortably close to narcissism ("woot, my lats are lookin' fine in the mirror today!"). Cyclists also get a little self-absorbed in their workouts but at the same time just like to be outside absorbing the sun, the air, the scenery.

LOL....I know there are a lot of questionable supplements out there.

I don't buy anything at GNC except whey protein ( mix that up with some bananas and milk after I ride or lift weights) . I used to buy creatine too (the only supplement proven to be effective).

As far as bodybuilders being in a better state of mind you have to compare the athletes at equivalent levels in each sport. The average young guy that lift weights in no more fanatical than the average cyclist who obsesses over grams on his bike. There is a lot of craziness that goes on at the top levels of cycling too (no doubt). I don't take cycling or weightlifting as seriously as some do.

If you're buying anything at GNC, you're paying too much. All of their stuff is way overpriced. You can get whey protein a lot cheaper at CostCo, or at www.nutritionexpress.com.

Right now Costco has some 6lb jars of whey protein for $20. They only had chocolate when I went to get some.

Anyway, back to cyclists diet.

I think it all comes down to how serious they are about their health. The average weekend rider who goes out for a leisurely 5mi ride on saturday is probably not going to be having a debate about how many grams of protein he should eat post ride. On the other hand, the racer who is riding 300+mi a week is going to be a bit more concerned about what he is eating.

P.S. Where do you get creatine? I could only find it at the Vitamin Shoppe down here in SD.

I've had good luck with www.nutritionexpress.com. Really good prices, excellent service, fast delivery.

That said, I would not recommend creatine for cyclists (even though I have a container of it in my cabinet). I've had problems with cramping in previous seasons, and my worst cramping episodes always seemed to come on days when I'd taken creatine.

This might not be true for everyone, but I now avoid creatine during the cycling season. I still use it sometimes during the fall and winter when I do more weight lifting, but by spring I give it up. I hate %$#@! cramps!

re: CostCo whey protein

They also have it in vanilla flavor. Unfortunately, their quality seems to have taken a turn for the worse recently. I like to add a scoop of whey in my morning cereal, mixed in with the milk. Previously, this was no problem - I'd just add the whey, mix it up with a spoon and it was good to go. But, the latest batches have been extremely "clumpy" and refuse to mix well with the milk. It might not be a problem if you always use a blender, but it didn't used to be this way and if the next batch has the same problem, I'm switching back to whey from www.nutritionexpress.com (the stuff I've bought from them always mixes easily).

I wouldn't be using it, I have all the muscle I need.

However my cousin does want some as he wants to gain some weight/muscle so he doesn't look so skinny when he stands next to me at the beach ;)

oh yeah, and he's going to wrestle next year too. Gonna have to get some muscle on those toothpicks he calls arms(if your reading this, I'm just kidding Brian...)

edit: about the cramping. I heard that the creatine causes you to use/retain alot of water so you have to drink much more than normal. Maybe that was the problem? You thought you were drinking enough but you really needed a bit more because of the creatine.