How important is weight

I dont no if it's true but i have heard that losing 1kg reduces your climbing time by 1.25%, which would mean that you are now 10% slower (if you have gained 8kg), again I dont no if it's true

 

That makes sense, so I must of increased my power output by 10%.

Sitting steady at 80kg at the moment.

 

7.7 km hill climb

Jan 30th: Weight 79kg: Avg Power 347, Pnorm 362 ---- 28 min 21 sec
May 9th: Weight 76.8kg: Avg Power 351, Pnorm 368 ---- 27 min 7 sec


Weight matters

 

So if I can shed some weight while retaining my new strength, then I'll fly up the hills.

 

I find that even loosing a few pounds helps. Possibly its partly physchological but its nice not having shorts etc not so tight as I'm slowly grinding up a hill.

I'm a pretty slim build anyway but I've really been concenrating on loosing weight after being away lately and have gone from 73.5kgs to 70.5 in 18 days.
I certainly seems to be making a difference getting up hills & I need all the help I can get as I'm training on my singlespeed in a reasonably hilly area .
Now there are more hills that I can get up without getting off the seat(partly that is my muscles getting used to the bike gearing etc) whereas 2 or 3 weeks ago I was off the seat more.

 

3kg in 18 days !!!!! what did you eat - lettuce leaves?

I lived in Auckland in the 70's, which roads do you ride?

 

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HI.
Loosing weight is becoming easier for my wife and I as we already don't eat meat(we do eat fish - we're Fishatarians!). I've not had red or white meat for 11 years and my wife - about 4 years(since just before we were married). We're bringing our boys(aged 18 months and 3 years) up this way too(of all the little kids we know they're the healthiest).

We've been reading re cutting out all animal products from our diets for health(mainly reasons) and so we've bascally cut out all dairy too and a few little treats we would have(I had a filling break off and have sworn off lollies etc).
I don't eat bread, butter, baked goods etc.

My average daily diet is pretty boring but it works for me; I'm loosing weight, have plenty of energy and its healthy.
I need to maintain this as even though I ride a lot my metabolism is at crawling speed!!

My goal is to get down to the 68kgs I was when I was in my early 20s and fast up a hill on a bike...possibly I'm dreaming

Breakfast; either vegetable and fish mix with rice or cereal/bran with fresh fruit(kiwifruit or banana).

Morning break; muesli bar

Lunch; vegetable and fish mix with rice

Bike ride; usually two muesli bars and two sports drinks

Dinner; vegetable and fish mix with rice

Auckland must've been a cool place in the 70s - a cheaper place to live, easier to get around(traffic is terrible now - not good public transport with a few bike lanes), harbour and beaches etc .

I live out West(race out here with a club ocassionally but race most weekends with a club in South Auckland) so ride Waitakere ranges, Kumeu, Taupaki, a lot with ocassional rides in to Pt England and Tamaki Drive(Mission Bay etc) and some Saturdays ride with a group on the North Shore.

Happy climbing, Paul ;-)

 

I was 50kg a year or two ago. But now I'm closing in on 70kg Performance on the hills doesn't seem to have changed much since it was my fitness that was limiting me, and I didn't have clipless back then.

It doesn't help that rugby and cycling require totally different body shapes. And ironically I cycle far more than I play rugby even though the majority of my winter workout is orientated for rugby. Heck, I've only played rugby twice in four months.

 

I would get with a nutritionist during the winter and tell them that you want to loose as much weight as you can without digging into your power.

I did this last winter and I dropped from 157 to 145, and I can tell you that it has made a tremendous difference.

I have stopped trying to loose during the season since I do not want to cut into my power now, I still watch what I eat, but I make sure to fuel also.

During the winter I will get with my nutritionist again and see what more weight I can drop, since next season will be my first season racing Pro-1-2.

HUMP

 

My weight seems to of stabilised in the 80 - 82kg range. Bodyfat is around 13% so I could cut a little weight there. There are other areas to focus on, before worrying about weight. I read sometwhere that 4.5kg is approximately a 1.8% performance hit.

 

At 13% you can lose a good bit in that area, but like I said, it is easier in the off season, since you are not worried about power as much at that time. I myself and going on longer rides during that time with little intensity, and I can tell at the end that I am about to starve. A good trick is to do the old Merckx diet, eat less, ride more. Simple if you can do it. You can do this with a good hearrate monitor that does calories burned, or if you are running a powermeter. You take the calories burned and only take back in over the course of the rest of the day about 3/4 of what you burned, leaving a 1/4 defficit.

That is one way.

Like I said, during the season when I am peaking for an event, my body fat is in the 3-4% range, very lean. THe only way I am going to be able to really drop considerable weight during the off-season is to lose more muscle mass, and I have some to lose in the upper body.....I do not want to mess with the legs, but if you are riding your legs will keep the muscle, that is your bodies way of taking care of the muscles that are working and pulling from those that are not.

HUMP

 

Hey Hump,

Amazing Body Fat % you have got, congratulations.

Here in Sydney we don't have an off season, in winter we ride and winge about the cold and in summer we winge about the heat. Compared with other places in the world we have nothing to winge about.

I was discussing weight with out clubs #1 track sprinter and we are the same weight.

 

How are you guys measuring body fat? My physician told me that calipers are not accurace, water displacement is much more reliable.

Not that I really want to know at this point, I have gone from 244 pounds January 15 to 209 pounds this morning. I am 6' tall and would like to make it to 185 pounds by December.

I love time trialing and train almost every day now.

Funny, one weight/height chart I recently read tells me I am obese at 209. When I told that to my wife she told me I am becoming compulsive and asked if I would be shaving my legs next. I told her that I would let her do it for me, but I wanted a body fat measuring device for my birthday.

 

Well, the only way I have close by and affordable is the caliper test which is still more accurate than some.

You may be the body type for sprinting which lends itself to bigger guys.

I will be working on getting lower over the winter, right now I have to work on the will power to keep from eating chocalote chips. That is my vise, and when I have rest days it is hard for me about the eating.

It all takes commitment.

HUMP

 

The problem with fat calcuators is that they make assumption as to how much muscle you have and sporty's have more muscle, so the calculator over estimates the fat.

This calculator is a bit better because it takes in your waist measurement, but you need to be accurate with measuring the waist. Having said that no calculator is 100% accurate.

Am I a sprinter? Perhaps, with some more experience I'll know.