Road Bike Advice and Gear Reviews | : | For MAMILs
I love cycling, me. And I love coffee.
Coffee and cycling go together like monkeys and tennis rackets (“monkey tennis!”). Like Ginger Biscuits and Fred Astaire. Like Bert and Ernie. Like salt and caramel (or so they’ll have us believe).
As a committed coffee drinker and a somewhat less committed cyclist, at least right now (based on my Strava records) I thought I’d look into the mighty bean and the drink it produces, with a cycling bent.
And then write a post about it. Please to enjoy.
It’s a perennial question (and sometimes a perineal one).
If, broadly speaking, consuming too many calories and not burning them off leads to increased body fat storage, surely training without taking in any calories is going to tip the scales in your favour?
I’ve been asked about the subject of ride nutrition in the past. I didn’t know much then. I don’t know a great deal more now. But I’m eager to explore. Let’s take a look.
The basic presumption when it comes to eating and exercise, is that you should try to be fully fuelled for a session.
There are certainly types of training, and shorter session lengths, where you won’t want or need to take on fuel. For everything else, the starting point is to assume that you’ll need to eat (or drink) calories before, during or after the session (and sometimes all three).
Welcome to the fourth in my series of posts, ‘Get Lean For Performance’.
Originally intended as a July series, I seem to have crept into stomped all over August. Whatevs. This is my final post on the topic for the time being. My next ‘thematic series’ will look at training (whoop!).
So far in this series, we’ve talked about the two key (eating-related) habits of successful fat losers and the 6 Key Steps To Enlightenment (er, weight loss). We’ve enjoyed the inspirational story of Sportive Cyclist reader Giles, who lost over 50kg through developing a cycling habit.
The final topic I wanted to talk about is what a healthy diet looks like. We all know what it smells like: [whispers] “…victory…”
(Note: This post contains affiliate links. If you click and buy something, I get a commission. You pay the same price.)
Once more I’m using as my guide the muy excelente book, Racing Weight: How To Get Lean For Peak Performance
, by coach and sports nutritionist Matt Fitzgerald. I cannot recommend this book highly enough, particularly if you are confused by fad diets and just want to get pragmatic, evidence-based advice.
Are you looking to shift a few extra pounds and think the bike may be the tool that helps you do that?
Good news – you’re on the right track. And I have a reader success story to prove it.
(Yeah, yeah, a sample size of 1 does not prove the argument. BOOM! Sample size of two. I believe we call that statistical significance).
In today’s post, long-time Sportive Cyclist reader Giles Roadnight (which is a cycling superhero’s name if ever I heard one) shares his weight loss ‘secret’ and the remarkable results he’s achieved through one simple lifestyle change (note: simple, not easy).
Oh yeah, Giles also does a fine line in London aggro-commuting videos which he shares on Youtube (don’t watch if you’re thinking about starting to cyclo-commute…).
Over to Giles…
Hello campers.
Welcome to the second post in my series looking at weight loss for cyclists. Together we’re getting lean for performance (that’s right, me and you).
Last time we looked at what we’re hoping to achieve, namely:
1. Improving our cycling performance through achieving our optimal ‘racing weight’;
2. Reducing our levels of body fat, both in absolute terms and as a percentage of our overall weight.
Targeting objective 2 is the most likely route to achieving objective 1.
We also noted the two (slightly surprising) daily actions that are most likely to result in you losing weight (I’m not going to tell you them here – go back and read my last post!).
Banal truism alert! Pretty much everyone wants to lose a bit of weight.
Magazines and newspapers of all persuasions are obsessed by the topic. Millions of pounds are spent, lost and gained in the name of shedding weight.
If you’ve subscribed to my blog in the last couple of months, you may remember getting an email asking about your cycling struggles.
After lack of time, and maybe fear of hills, the subject of weight is frequently mentioned. My sense from your comments, though, is that you have a healthier attitude to weight-loss than other sectors of society. Rather than fixating on body image, you feel that losing a few pounds would simply help your performance, both on and off the bike.
And you’d be right.
So let’s do that. Me and you. Starting now.
PS. Read to the bottom if you’re bothered eager to find out my body fat percentage and whether it’s falling…. (now there’s an offer).
In today’s post I am delighted to feature an interview with Mark Hammond.
Mark, writing as Velopixie, maintains a blog about his road cycling escapades, which you can find here.
Er, wait a minute, who is Mark exactly?
Well, like many of us, Mark is a keen cyclist and sportive rider.
Like probably fewer of us, this year he is signed up for the Etape du Tour, RideLondon and the 206km Dragon Ride Gran Fondo. Last year he turned 50.
So far, so within the normal spectrum of activities for a keen road cyclist.
But what makes Mark’s story worth reading is that over the course of 2012 he lost a whopping 6 stone, as a result of exercise (primarily road cycling) and changes to his diet.