Cycling Fitness / Training Advice

What's the course actually like?

BMI is a really crap indicator of weight, if you've been cycling for a while you may find each leg weighs a metric tonne. It's better to focus on bodyfat.

Which if you're a man is easy to measure as most fat stays on the belly so focus on getting the outside fat down in size :)

Take weight and tapemeasure for belly, if weight and belly go down: good. (once a week, take the same day, in the morning and not obv. after a night on the piss as you'll be waterlogged or dehydrated and measures will be off)
If weight stable and belly goes down: more muscle also good (unless you want to really starve yourself down for hills like Sean Kelly did...but that may be not fun at all :)

Also track calories on myfitnesspal, boring but it works. If your diet is shit/or you are just eating too much of healthy things your weight will drop fast, if it's not getting to 86 may be work enough.

Take a post training recovery drinks.
Drinks can be simply low fat chocolate milk btw. Or splash out on Sky stuff which is nearly everywhere (or make it yourself with myprotein stuff & some other cheap ingredients if you can be bothered)

Good luck smash all the hills :)

In order for protein shakes to work effectively as recovery drink. They really need a load of carbs.

I try for lean protein in the morning, and carb Rich protein post training.

Seems to stop me getting too hungry.

......or just eat pies, do 30min training sessions With ultra short intervals, and smash them in the sprints.

Great info! The best part is that it's inspiring.... Got a brutal hangover so training starts in earnest Sunday...

Usually for weights recommendation is 1 gram protein per kg bodyweight but 2 gram carbs per kg bodyweight. As yes indeed...you need the carbs too to recover :)

Or a big bottle of low fat chocolate milk that'll do rightly too.

I've never tried cycle racing but let's say for my height I'm more a sprinter weight :/
(I blame the weights and not the pies :P

Its the carb content that promotes the absorption of the protein.

http://www.mysportscience.com/#!The-proteinforquickrecovery-myth/cjds/559255c40cf2585ebcd9c89c

Thats pretty interesting.

Maybe its my weights/rugby background . But I totally focus on carbs and protein. So a carb Rich protein shake immediatly after, then I'll be thinking Fish/chicken + rice/pasta as a meal later. I Guess I overestimate the importance of protein.

Does help me avoid over eating though.

Rolling

For rolling stuff I'd consider trying some over/unders.

learn to recover while still putting out descent efffort.

Oh well that's easy then - start fast, smash the middle bit then crush them in the finale...

You only need protein to help rebuild muscles, this is unlikely to be necessary after endurance training on the bike unless you've been doing really hard stuff like overgeared, seated hill reps. Especially if you come from a weightlifting background.

I still regularly have protein shakes after longer rides, as a) you can never really have too much and b) it controls my appetite and stops me eating 300 pieces of toast in the half hour after getting home.

Get on rivet, stay on rivet, drink all the beer.

I've tried protein shakes.. all it does is delay me eating everything in sight, it doesn't stop me eating everything.

That sounds about right.

#lfgsspacingftw

So team sky is full of it when they sell their high protein shakes? ;)

I too come from a lifting background. When I cycle I don't focus much on protein but my diet is already quite good, hence I tend to recommend a recovery drink with protein to ppl not tracking it :)

So team sky is full of it when they sell their high protein shakes? ;)

Trying to sell drinks full of carbs to office workers sat on their arses all day doing shit like Atkins, bun-free burgers and LCHF means it's a way harder sell than 'high protein'. How many Sky riders have been spotted in the wild drinking it?

To be honest I am mainly using whey as a means to Control 'the hunger' post ride.

I was kinda drawn in to the 2:1 (or whatever it is) carbs:protein post recovery though. I Guess its true that you better absorb protein post training together With carbs. The question is whether you actually need to (I probably dont).

4:1 carbs:pro

Bait taken ;)

A lot of those drinks are either very £££ for what they are and/or indeed not used by pros.

Ah yeah.
Used to drink that 4:1 at rugby tournaments.

I'm sat eating chocolates after a hard 4 x 20.

doingitright?

Isn't this "recovery" stuff only very marginal in effect? As in, I get it if you are on a training camp or a multi-stage race where you need to nail it again 12 hours later. But if you are having a day off the next day then I can't believe it makes much difference- willing to be broscience'd wrong.

Different if you are trying to specifically build muscle in a gym.

One of my current favourates is Varterøl. Unfermented beer. Quite a few carbs, B-vits, and tastes yummy.

hmmmmmm.........fizzy vegemite