Originally Posted by
RH Clark
You're just too awesome for me dude, and you already know everything so there's no use discussing it. No hard feelings though. I'm still smiling, and I wish you the best.
I'm hardly awesome. Physically, I'm quite untalented. I had a hard time getting my mile time under 8' so I wouldn't have to repeat Basic Training. That was during the VN war. However, I am a talented student. I learned how to ride by always riding with people who were faster than I and asking them how they did it, then using that information to experiment on myself. I've done the same thing here on BF. I've asked a lot of questions, learned a lot and continued to improve over the years, that is w/r to my age group. So yes, I've learned a lot.
That's normative behavior in the cycling world. You are on to something - the hardest thing to learn is nutrition, again in my experience. Training is actually pretty easy. Almost anything works if you do enough of it. Food isn't like that! It's more like saddles - different for everyone in the details, but very similar in the macro. I know of a couple people on BF who fuel just like I do, but no one that I've ridden with, though they're all carb-fueled riders. Everyone has to experiment and find out what carb-heavy on-bike regimen works for their stomach, taste buds, and physiology, say between 100 and 250 Calories/hr. for rides over maybe 1.5 hrs. Below that, just water is best. What one eats off the bike is much simpler - just has to have enough protein, vegetables, and a little fat. Off-bike carbs can vary with the weekly volume. Low volume = little carbs. High volume = lots of carbs.
There is an issue with very low weekly carb quantity though. It turns out that the more one concentrates on burning fat, the worse one's carb burning ability gets. The reverse is also true. That's why all training plans feature some long, steady distance (fat) and some hard riding (carbs). Thus both energy systems get a workout and function well. Training is just as much about working your energy systems as it is working your muscles, and maybe more about the former. That's an issue I have with HIIT - not enough fat burning. If one is going to ride very far and hard, one wants to be a good fat burner.