Join in the fun; The Calorie-Count Cycling Club...

Welcome to all who have an interest in anything cycling of any kind.( road, mountain, commuting, stationary, whatever).

This is the place to come to ask that question you have been wanting to ask,

or tell that story about your latest adventure riding your bike,

find out how to use cycling to get in better shape, or anything else you can think of.

So, to start, tell us, what you ride, where you ride and what type of riding you enjoy.

Come back often too check out what's going on and see what's on everyones mind or add your knowledge to the group. 

 

Hey all..

Very cool group, count me in..

I'm Max from Sydney, Australia.

I'm back on the bike after a very long hiatus... Too long..

Back to pounding out the k's and racing, i'm building for next year and only have a few long charity rides and a couple of 'friendly' races to gauge progress this year. My work and family commitments mean that most of my riding is done at nights, the christmas tree riding the streets of Sydney late at nights is me, no matter how many lights i strap on i still seem to get ridden off regularly. I have a velodrome 10k's from my place which i ride to once a week to practice my sprints.

I have a Trek 5200 carbon beast for the road, very light but extremely stiff, purchased it specifically as the training bike to hone the legs back into race form. Salivating over the 08 Nago's, anyone happy to donate an Extreme Power to my cause?? I will happily tattoo your business name on my back and ride naked.

I have a Norco Fluid 3 full suspension mountain bike that i love riding around the national parks with my friends early sunday mornings.

 

maxv,

Welcome, I'm In Ohio, USA so I'm getting ready for winter and you are getting ready for summer, you'll be getting all the great rides in while we sit around and get fat.  Be nice to hear some ride reports from the other side of the world during the cold winter.

I do mostly road riding but recently started mountain biking too!  My son talked me into it and so far it's been a blast (except for the two broken ribs).  We have several trails very close to us and one is 24 miles long around 50k, I think, and it is awesome.

My wife rides also, and although I'm a bit partial, she is pretty awesome on a bike.  She's done 5100 miles this year and I am about to finish a 10,000 mile challenge (9755 miles done with 245 to go)

I do some small citizen races, mostly road races, as crits scare the hell out of me. I have a trek 5000 and a 1200. guy in my club just bought a colnago (don't know which one) it should be in soon! Those bikes are just flat out beautiful.

As for track riding, there a isn't velodrome within 500 miles of me that I know of, would be fun to ride one though.

Well, enough for now, so how's about you/ get any nice rides in lately.  I did 111 miles yesterday so today I'm sitting around doing the recovery thing.

DAN

Hi Dan

Hitting the trails is a heap of fun and benefits the road riding skills immensely, you tend to be a little more 'relaxed' when the road bike gets a little unstable, broken bones and broken bikes is definately the norm with mountain biking.

Those miles are amazing, 10,000 miles.. WOW.

Velodromes are FUN, you have to check one out, you're practically riding vertical around the corners, you can feel the G forces pushing you into the seat. The great thing about them is that you can focus on your pedal stroke and just go as hard as you can till you're spent.

I am posting my riding on my journal, i'll try to post every ride up there so you guys in the northern hemisphere can stay motivated through winter.. :P

I have a few charity events coming up, the first is a 50km ride through Sydney for MS. You get to ride over the harbour bridge, and through the city, it's a great day, i'll probably dress up for it, here's a link if you want to check it out:
http://www.springcycle.com.au/

Early November I have another ride for MS, it's a 90km ride from Sydney to wollongong, here's the link:
http://www.gongride.org.au/

It's for a very worthy cause and you can sponser me here:
http://register.gongride.org.au/?Sidewinder
I know that's a shameless plug, but, MS is a desease that affects a lot of people, both young and old and any money you can spare goes directly to the people who need it.

Thanks again for the welcome.

maxv, Looks like some nice rides to start out your season!  We have a few left to do yet here before the weather gets too cold.

The first is one this weekend called the "fall-n-leaf", it's in one of the hillier regions near us and has some great cookies.  65 miles of hills to work off the extra calories and the scenery is nice too!

the other is my clubs ride, called the "Red Flannel", it is concidered the last ride of the year on the local cycling calendar and if the weather is good we get quite a turnout.

No problem with shameless plug,but I'm a tad parnoid about the internet so how about if I just donate to one of the local MS rides in your honor.

So what bring you to CC, I got started here way back, lost about 45 pounds at the time and have gained some back, but I think I went a little too far. I was down to 138 pounds from 185 now I'm around 150 or so.  Did wonders for my uphill performance though.

Well, I guess it's off to do some riding before dinner, see ya DAN 

Okay, this may be a dumb question, but how dangerous is it for me to really drop a lot of weightt quickly to get in better cycling shape?  I read Mike Magnuson's book, Heft on Wheels, and he took a really radical approach to losing weight, one that I don't think I'll try.  Basically, he went down to about 1500 calories and rode around 250 miles a week, which means he was losing around 5 pounsd a day.  He ended up becoming a pro racer.  Now, I'm pretty heavy, and I'd love to lose around at least 60 pounds.  I train three days a week with my trainer and try to ride two to tree days a week, too, which means I don't put in much more than maybe 50 miles a week (I'm a newbie, so I'm still slow and my longest ride so far has been 21 miles).  Because of my weight training, etc., I try to stay around 1800 calories a day, which is the level my trainer suggests.  But he doesn't train any other cyclists, and he's used to training people who want to put on a lot of muscle, wrestlers, and soccer players.  I'm seriously getting pounded flat on the hills, and I'm sick of it.  I practice hills all the time, and I feel like my weight is what is holding me back the most.  It's really, really frustrating because I can turn a good 16-17 on flats, but there are a lot of hills that have me going 6.  I'm wondering if creating a much larger deficit and riding like crazy is the way to go.  Suggestions?  Thoughts?

mlbtracy, I've ridden on and off for years but I'd been in an off phase the last couple.  I was up to 215 last spring, a new all time high for me (I'm 5'10").  I started riding again last March and cut back on the diet.  I actually started eating a little more when I came to this site site but I was still only eating 1700 to 2100 cals a day and by the end of May I was riding 200 miles a week.  I lost a steady 2 lbs. a week even though my deficit was theoretically greater than 1000 cals a day.  I hit 170 by mid- July and I am at 160 now.  I do a litlle upper body work with dumbells but no lower body work off the bike.  So you can definitely cut fat cycling.

As far as hills go, it comes down to power- to- weight ratio.  The only way to get better going up hills is to generate more power or cut weight and frankly it is easier to cut weight for most of us than it is to gain power.  But riding hills a lot helps too.  On the flats, it is power-to-frontal exposure that determines speed.  Big riders and small riders have basically the same frontal exposure so the bigger rider can usually generate more power and go faster than the smaller rider but on the hills that advantage goes to the little people.

You can train for more power too but really if you are riding 50 miles a week, the first goal would be to get the milegae up to 125 - 175 ish and build endurance.  The problem though for those of us in the northern Hemisphere is that our season is winding down.  In a couple of weeks it will be hard to work during the day and still get 50 miles in a for the e week outside.  That means time on the trainer and yes now is the time to hit the weight and work on lower body strength.

It takes time but keep at it and you will get there.

Thanks, Tom.  Yeah, I started my career as a cyclist really late in the season, so it's a bit frustrating too because everyone else has a whole summer on me.  I get dropped off the pack really fast, partly because I live in NC and all of our club courses are really, really hilly.  I have a stretch of striped bike lane that's about 7 miles with some really good hills in it that I just practice over and over, so my gearing is getting much better.  Moving to clipless has helped, too, and I need to learn to get comfortable climbing out of the saddle at some point (I'm still a little scared of this on the bike, it's no problem in Spin class).  I'm definitely hitting the lower body for weight training, and that's going well, along with core and shoulder strength.  I'm slowly upping my mileage and length of time on the bike in one throw.  This weekend I'm going to ride in a rally that's 28 miles, and in a couple of weeks I'm doing a charity 50k.  So, I'm getting there.

As far as the days getting shorter, do you think a trainer is the way to go, or should I go back to Spin classes?  Is there an advantage of the trainer over Spin?  I know Spin was developed by a racer to help train during the off season.  I'm not ready for rollers yet, that's for sure (they scare me much more than out of saddle climbing!).  I'll probably tweak my calories, too.  I've noticed that as I ride more, I'm hungry all the time, even though I'm drinking water like mad.

mlb, That radicial of a weight loss would be hard to maintain, If your losing now keep at what your doing and remember some of those you are trying not to get dropped by may have been at it for quite a few years.  You'll get there just be patient.

As for the trainer, I can tell you my wife used mine last year along with some workouts from a book called "The heart rate monitor book for cyclists" and I can attest to the major improvement in her abilty, both just biking and uphill.  Her recovery on climbs was the most amazing part.  you might find it at a library or cheap book store I think it's been out for  while.  The workouts don't seem to be that much and even my wife doubted there ability to improve her, then she started riding in the spring and WOW!!! I'd give it a try.

DAN

mlbtracy, probably the best way to lose weight on a bike is by doing long endurance rides, you can burn sufficient calories during those rides to drop weight fairly quickly.. 5 pounds a day?? WOW, i can't even imagine how one would do that. He must have been riding for half the day.

With climbing and getting out of the saddle a good way for you to practice that would be on a flat run, put both pedals level and stand up, once you're comfortable with that, start to move forward over the handlebars a bit until your shoulders are in line with the axle of the front tyre. Once you're really comfortable with standing up and the pedels are level, try pedalling and standing. No need to push it all during one session, just a little evertime you ride, pretty soon you'll have that bike dancing under you whilst you power up those hills.

Another tip for hills is to try to keep the cadence up, spin those legs, i know it hurts, but, it's what we do it for no?? Seriously though, once you get comfortable pedalling out of the saddle it will be easier. For big hills i generally mix it up so i'll do 20 pedal strokes standing then 20 sitting and watch my breathing.

Yeah, I screwed up there, it was 5 pounds a WEEK.  That's what I get for multi-tasking....  ;)  But still, it's a lot of weight to lose really fast.  His approach landed him in the hospital because his body started to self-canibalize.

I'm building up my distance on my rides.  Last Sunday was 21, the longest before that was 15, and I'm doing 28 this Sunday.  It doesn't sound like a lot, but I've only been on the bike for a little over a month (spent about three to four months in Spin before that).  Like I said, those are also hilly miles, so I'm feeling fairly good about it, too, except I'm slow.  I think I also de-motivated myself a little last week because I lifted on my legs the day before, and I think they just hadn't recovered well.  I also screwed up on my pre-ride nutrition and dehydrated a bit because it was 90+ degrees.  It's all a big learning curve, I guess.  But I think that's why I like cycling...I'm very analytical by nature.

Thanks for the advice, guys!  We are actually moving to San Jose, CA, later this year, and the local bike club (1000+ members strong!) rides year-round.  So, I might not have to spent as much time in the trainer as I feared.  I will also take Max's advice and practice getting out of the saddle.  I had tried just going for it before, and the sudden lurch of the bike always had me sitting back down.  I think this is something I need to practice on my own, too, away from the group so I don't take out a bunch of the club with me if I do screw up.  :)  I think this will help me out a lot with my legs just giving out on the 1 mile+ ascents especially!

Eventually, I'm working my way to a century.  It feels like a good milestone, and I've already picked out the one I want to do for my first -- the Oahu century.  Hawaii and cycling...what could be better?

MLB: Drastic calorie reductions along with developing as an endurance cyclist is a bad combination.  As your rides get longer, you will need more nourishment during the ride.  A metric century -- about 65 miles -- will use up a couple of thousand calories and you will be hard pressed to finish if you don't put some of that back while you are riding.

You should start thinking in terms of a program.  How do you get from 50 miles per week to 150 miles per week?  How do you get from 20 mile rides to 100 mile rides?

You need to gradually but steadily increase your mileage -- about 5% at a time.  There is a book that I have read and Dan mentioned it a couple of months ago, I am not sure of the exact title but it is something like "Long Distance Cycling".  Among other things this books provides some pretty well tried programs for getting to century rides.

Also, I have found that high intensity interval training on an exercise machine is a big help in developing your ability to handle hilly courses.  You can go to spinning classes or just use a trainer in your basement -- say a fluid trainer.

Yup, I'm actually working my way up to a half metric on Oct. 27, and I have increased my calories up to 1800 a day.  Normally, I wouldn't have increased the length of my long rides so quickly, but I need to get ready because it's a charity ride and people have already donated.  I feel I owe it to them to do this, and to myself.  I do plan to take it easy for a couple of weeks after, though, just doing some shorter, easier rides.

I've also switched out some of my protein for more carbs (trainer's suggestion) for more fuel for my rides.  I screwed up last weekend because I underestimated the amount I should have eaten the day before and morning of the ride and didn't get enough fluids to compensate for the hot, humid conditions.  The club also hadn't ridden this course before, and we were told it was a "flat" course -- it was anything but flat!  Hillfest was a much better term for it.  Not many rollers, more long, steep ascents followed by false flats (the type of hill that pounds me down to 6 mph, then frustrates the crap out of me on the false flat).

I do have a copy of a book about training for a century in 100 days, and I'm working up to that program.  So, yeah, base mileage is something I need to work on, and I'm getting there.  My biggest weakness right now is just these hills!  I feel like I could ride at least 50 miles on flats, but when you throw NC hills in the mix, I go to my granny chainring and I'm spinning like mad, and only going 5-6 mph.  Which makes me start panting instead of breathing correctly, and I start to panic because the rest of the group has dropped me, which makes me work 10x harder and 10x breathe worse.  It's just very, very frustrating.  I know we all have to start out newbies, but I feel like I'm screwing other members out of a good ride every time someone has to ride sweep with me in the back!

mlb, A good trick to use when you do your 1/2 metric ride is to think of it as 3-20 mile rides, most events have lots of rest stops along the way and they are usually spaced out at 15 to 20 mile lengths.  Keep in mind though that you don't want to stop for too long >10 minutes, this keeps your body form thinking it is done for the day.

Don't worry about keeping people back, most of us welcome new riders and know that it takes time to build to a certain level, as long as they see you are working to improve, I can't imagine they would mind staying back to get you along.

Our club has several riders, some new some older who aren't as fast as some of us.  We take turns off the back to make sure everyone has company and has help if needed.

What charity are you riding for?  There's a couple rides I go on that get like 3000 riders, how maney will be on yours?

DAN

Hi, Dan,

I'm riding in Le Tour de Femme, which is a women's ride for the Lance Armstrong Foundation and The Angel Fund, a fund for cancer patients at a local hospital.  It's a small ride, just 100 riders so far, but I thought it would be a good one for my first event.  One of our club members who also rides slower is my partner for this one, so we're going to hang together, which makes both of us feel better about it.  She has ended up riding solo on a few event rides and is glad for the company, and I'm glad to have someone to help me pace for my longest ride yet.  According to the cue sheet, we have only one rest stop, but I'm only riding in a 1/2 metric, so 31.2 miles.  I actually didn't know how long I should stop, so I appreciate the 10 minutes or less tip!

Most of the club members are really nice about riding sweep with me, but last week I could tell that the guy riding with me really wanted to ride faster which made me feel bad for him.  He let me draft off him for awhile, which helped pull me in some, but his average is usually like 17-18 on a ride like that, and mine's 12-13.  Lots of people were getting pounded on the unexpected hilll course and heat, though, so most of the club was in the 13-14 range.  I'm sure if he had ridden by himself he would have beaten that, though.  I know I just have to keep getting out there, though.  We switched formats because we are doing more weekend rides, though, and while I was leading the newbies the last couple of rides, the rest of the newbies aren't coming out for the longer rides.  Which means I'm with the faster, more experienced riders now.  That means I'll train harder, I know, but I gotta get my head wrapped around it.

mlb, half metric, DUH! I was thinking full metric. Well one stop would be around 15 miles anyway.  I did a pelton ride for armstrong fondation myself. I think we had around 50 riders  for that one.

I think hanging with the fas riders didn't hurt my wifes ability any, it just made her more determined, just like you.

Have fun, DAN

MLB: I did a 10 week program taining for a century last summer.  I didn't make the century but I did drop 12 pounds, which was pretty good considering I was already down in the 18 - 19% body fat range.  Anyway.  You are not that far from a 1/2 metric.  I went from 20 to 35 miles in 2 steps 18 months ago.  The intermediate step was a solo 25 miler.  That was mind blowing for me at the time.  The 35 miler wasn't too bad except for the headwind along the Potomac on the way home.  Any way, you might want to consider shooting for 25 miles this weekend and 27 to 30 next weekend as prep rides for your event.  It would probably be a good idea to keep your workouts light the week before the event so that you go into the ride well rested. 

Good luck

Yup, this Sunday I'm riding in the Fall Rally here, on the 28-mile course.  Mostly rollers, but average grade is only 2.  That should give my knees and lungs a little break, but it's 7 miles more than last Sunday.  Then I'm off for a whole week due to travel, then the half metric Oct. 27.  I figure if I can do the 28 mile course, 31.2 will be a piece of cake.

Okay, I am a true beginner here.  Just bought myself a Raleigh Venture 3.0 one week ago.  My goal - for the moment - is 20 minutes, 5 days a week.  Right now, that translates to 3-5 miles per ride depending on how hilly the terrain is.  I currently ride on the various bike paths in parks near my home, but expect to be doing more road work by next spring..  I live in NJ, so I know I'll have to be moving to the trainer in another couple of months.  I enjoy reading about what you all are doing, as it is a good inspiration to keep me going.  It's been 10+ years since I was last on a bicycle, and more than 20 since I rode with any regularity, so any suggestions on how to do this sensibly would be appreciated. 

joji, welcome!

well at first, I would suggest just takling it easy and have fun until you build up a little endurance.  The worst thing to do is go out and try to add on too much mileage too fast.

As you pointed out winter will be upon us soon enough, go to a local book store or library and pick up some books on training to get the most out of your indoor riding.

winter will also give you a chance to track down some local bike clubs to ride with next spring.

above all keep it fun! DAN

MLB: Hope your ride went well.  I put in 50 miles today I have no idea what category the hills were but they are pretty lightweight compared to what I am looking forward to at the Great Pumpkin Ride on the 27th.  I missed a turn and ended up exploring a route for future rides.  I picked up the WB&A trail (Washington-Baltimore and Annapolis), which is really a work in progress.  The section I took dead ends at Race track road -- so named for the Bowie Race Track.  Eventually it is supposed to be connected to a 10 mile stretch that currently runs between Annapolis and Baltimore.  But if you pick up a north bound road like the Laurel-Bowie Rd, you get a pretty good ride up into Laurel for a round trip that is close to 100 miles.  I haven't figured it out yet but today got me a step closer.