New To Racing--What To Do?

[breakz]

Hey all, I figured this would go best in here since I'm pretty young (18, 5'6", 165) and new to the whole cycling world. I love it, and its great--but I have two problems.

The first is my weight. It's about 15 lbs heavier than I'd like (haven't had a body fat test yet), and I'm wondering how to go about the whole weight loss thing. What is the general diet pattern (i.e. 60/20/20 or w/e) I should be following? What are some healthy carb-packed foods I should be eating? And when should I start seeing weight loss? Just for reference, my body fat from back in May was an abyssmal 19%, tho some crude measurements in July pegged it at 15%.

The second is my bike situation. I'm riding an ill-fitting 8-speed Cannondale hybrid right now (52 cm frame, IIRC), and I'm wondering what kind of difference a new bike would make. I'm currently going at about 12 mph on rides (which last from 8-12 miles for now), yet on a stationary bike I'm pushing 20 mph. Is the stationary trustworthy? And how different would a bonafide road bike be? Finally, what's more important in a new bike: components, wheel set, brakes, frame, etc.?

Thanks for the help in advance.

 

[KeSs]

Hey all, I figured this would go best in here since I'm pretty young (18, 5'6", 165) and new to the whole cycling world. I love it, and its great--but I have two problems.

The first is my weight. It's about 15 lbs heavier than I'd like (haven't had a body fat test yet), and I'm wondering how to go about the whole weight loss thing. What is the general diet pattern (i.e. 60/20/20 or w/e) I should be following? What are some healthy carb-packed foods I should be eating? And when should I start seeing weight loss? Just for reference, my body fat from back in May was an abyssmal 19%, tho some crude measurements in July pegged it at 15%.

The second is my bike situation. I'm riding an ill-fitting 8-speed Cannondale hybrid right now (52 cm frame, IIRC), and I'm wondering what kind of difference a new bike would make. I'm currently going at about 12 mph on rides (which last from 8-12 miles for now), yet on a stationary bike I'm pushing 20 mph. Is the stationary trustworthy? And how different would a bonafide road bike be? Finally, what's more important in a new bike: components, wheel set, brakes, frame, etc.?

Thanks for the help in advance.

Hey,

First off, welcome....

Let me first say that you height will be your best friend if you really start to get into cycling. The smaller the better (less weight to move around). About the weight issue though......there really isn't a need for a diet yet or to watch what you eat. Just make a habit of going out and riding as much as possible. When i started to take cycling serious i still ate all the same stuff i was eating but i was just burning it all away with hard excercise. For the 1st few months forget about diets and what not, just go out and have fun biking! Once you get to the point where you beleive you can offer some good competition then come back here and i will tell you about proper carbs and what to eat and when. I know i lost about 15 pounds the first 2 months of training. Not that i had much extra weight to begin with but now i finally have a 6 pack (yeah!).

As for the bike, it sounds like you have a better bike than me......i am running a 7 speed guerciotti! My dad says biking is 80% physical ability, 15% mental, and 5% technology. I agree with this statement. I plan on putting a race bike together over the winter but i might not even choose to use it till late next summer. Why you ask? I am beating people with it, lol. I placed 1st in the junior race last weekend, every other rider had full blown carbon frames and i was passing them with my steel frame and shimano 105 componets. If that isn't a good enough motive then if i can win races and be a competitor on my steel frame then think how much of a difference it will be once i finally bust out the carbon!

My advice is simple, make the best of what you have right now, don't worry about diets and other garbage like that. Make sure you are having fun before you start getting concerned with everything else

 

[rayner]

Hey all, I figured this would go best in here since I'm pretty young (18, 5'6", 165) and new to the whole cycling world. I love it, and its great--but I have two problems.

The first is my weight. It's about 15 lbs heavier than I'd like (haven't had a body fat test yet), and I'm wondering how to go about the whole weight loss thing. What is the general diet pattern (i.e. 60/20/20 or w/e) I should be following? What are some healthy carb-packed foods I should be eating? And when should I start seeing weight loss? Just for reference, my body fat from back in May was an abyssmal 19%, tho some crude measurements in July pegged it at 15%.

The second is my bike situation. I'm riding an ill-fitting 8-speed Cannondale hybrid right now (52 cm frame, IIRC), and I'm wondering what kind of difference a new bike would make. I'm currently going at about 12 mph on rides (which last from 8-12 miles for now), yet on a stationary bike I'm pushing 20 mph. Is the stationary trustworthy? And how different would a bonafide road bike be? Finally, what's more important in a new bike: components, wheel set, brakes, frame, etc.?

Thanks for the help in advance.

I'm with Kess on this one. Forget about your weight and eat what you want. When you start riding more you'll burn more and to be honest you'll be struggling to keep weight on. Don't get caught up weighing yourself because weight fluctuates daily, plus with more training fat will be replaced with muscle so you could weigh the same but with say 10% body fat. Don't get caught up in it.

With the whole bike thing I'm kinda like Kess too, although Iv'e got something newer (1998? giant with shimano rsx and low down campag levers) I'm not riding anything flash. Personally I think riding is nearly all mental, the best physical athlete can absolutely suck if theyre not mentally tough, they wont train, they'll give in when it gets tough. "hard work beats talent if talent doesnt work hard". The same goes for equipment, if youve got something average and know how to use it you're going to kill someone whos got something **** hot and doesnt know how to use it.

I don't think a stationary bike is reliable to work out speeds and so forth, do as many k's on the road as possible.

My main piece of advice is to have fun and work hard, not worry about the little things like weight and equipment. I know 80+ kilo men who can absolutely kill the little whippets round the place and there are lots of fellas on old bikes who can absolutely whip blokes on bikes worth ten times more.

To answer you're last question, there's no comparison between a road bike and anything else. Much better, but if you want to be good youve still got to train hard.

Just have fun.