ldesfor1@ithaca

well, not really a crisis, just a realization of a truth that I've know deep down for years.

So, what does one do with this truth? What have you done with it fellow "too fat/heavy for this sport" folks?

I've got a few ideas:

1. Lose 20 lbs and still weigh 180 (too fat!) AND look/feel worse than i do now.

2. Start lifting weights, focus on track and try my hand on the planks of the Velodrome and race mostly crits.

3. Combo: stay (get back to) around 190 (which will put me @ 6% bodyfat!), keep working on the sprint and stop thinking I'm going to win friggin mountainous stage races. Focus more on winning some crits and maybe a green jersey if I'm lucky.


Currently option 3 is looking the best, but number 2 seems fun, too.


So, how have fellow clydes dealt with this?

Grumpy McTrumpy

Mike Jones was second to Moninger at the 04 Gila on GC, he weighed 180 at that time.

ldesfor1@ithaca

Damn you, Grumpy!!!

I've had enough disappointment this season in the hills of Vermont, dont get my hopes up.... and I dont weigh 180. In fact I've never weighed 180 at this height. The lightest I've ever been is 186 and I was at the end of a no carb experiement (no glycogen to weigh me down). I've race well @ 190.

Psimet2001 

As my coach once put it, "losing weight is the new EPO"

MDcatV

ive a team mate who's built like you. he's a pretty competitive cat 2 and focuses on stuff that suits him - flat preferably windswept courses that favor big wattage without premium on w/kg. he's also a very good bike handler which puts flat technical crits as a strength for him.

horses for courses, choose wisely.

bitterken

L, I've seem you destroy courses that would be considered hilly around here (Sterling, etc.) so don't you dare say you're too fat for this sport!

As MD said, pick your races. You can still race the mountainous races/stage races for fun and/or sprinter's jerseys and for your teammates with GC inclinations.

ridethecliche

You're going to have to lose some upper body muscle if you want to get down to a sustainable lower weight.

If you don't like the idea of that, then target flatter road races, crits, and events on the track. You should still road hilly RR's but that's because you friggin' love the suffering.

TheKillerPenguin

Long Z2 rides man, tis what you need. That superfluous upper body mass (who the **** needs biceps?!) will melt away. And, don't you dare lift anything heavier than a box of pasta for the next year or two. Must get you twiggy.

El Diablo Rojo

KP welcome back and where have you been!

gsteinb

umm not fer nuffin, but where are you finding 'planks?'

botto 

might i suggest LTFU? and i don't mean weight.

TheKillerPenguin

Heh, AZ for 3 months without internet. How you doin?

El Diablo Rojo

Excellent. Glad your back..the 33 has been less with out you.

Nate552

If I remember correctly from your TT fit video you are pretty thick up top. Is that intentional? If so, stop it.

rbart4506

I'm screwed...refer to the 41...

ridethecliche

You're tiny. Stop b1tching. There's no comparison.

mollusk

I drop weight during "base" and try to not gain too much during active racing and intense interval weeks building up to active racing. Being in Florida we are entering the summer "lull" in our road season. Our road season starts in January and goes to late June, stops for a while, and picks up again around Labor Day.

During this "lull" I'm going to drop about 10 to 15 lbs by doing a lot of Zone 2 hours in the saddle. That will get me around 180 lbs. I will then no longer be too fat for this sport, but I will still be too heavy for this sport. (I'm 6' 2" tall with a very long torso/very short legs.)

El Diablo Rojo

I'm just the opposite...I gain some weight during out summer 'lull'..I'm up about 6lbs from late May, 142lbs to 148 now. Yes Botto you weigh less than me. But I'll drop at least half of that by the end of July and the rest in August. Just have to knock off the desserts every night, and up the hours back to around 10-12 per week.

ZeCanon

Stop putting dumb shlt like "upper body work" in your training plans (like the one you posted for this week).

And stop focusing on GC at hilly stage races. Seriously. I don't even do that, and I weight 60 lbs less than you. Your raw wattage is kickass, and your w/kg is... not. Accept that, get over it, and do races where it doesn't matter.

carpediemracing 

You're in the center of a lot of crits and such. Why not go for it in them?

I spent a couple naive early years thinking I could go to Philly. Ha! Okay, I could drive there and watch the pros, but to do that hill every lap? Forget it. I know my place and I accept it. Like errr the Panasonic pro whose name escapes me who was fired as part of the Rasmussen thing from Rabobank - they ask him why he doesn't try to win the yellow jersey or something like that. He replies something like "I know my abilities and I know.. I know.. I know that I'll never be a team leader, that's for sure."

I could enter road races and suffer at my barely Cat 5 w/kg ratio (after losing 25-30 pounds this year - it was "untrained" last year), but why? It's much more rewarding doing crits, even if I'm dying the whole time. Okay, I admit that the 21.3 mph race I did in the rain wasn't really that hard on me but it was the most stressful one.

cdr

Grumpy McTrumpy

or be a good teammate and help your GC guy out.

Grumpy McTrumpy

The OA/Cyclemania team did this to perfection in the 40+ at KSR.

Stage 1: their guy wins the sprint, gets yellow jersey
Stage 2: their "other guy" wins TT, gets yellow jersey
Stage 3: TT guy goes OTF at the gun with two others, Sprinter from stage 1 goes to the front and sets tempo just high enough to discourage attacks and makes it possible for the break to stick for one half of the race. He and another teammate sit up after the first big climb, work done. TT guy wins GC as part of break.

mollusk

I think that I see the reason why we go opposite ways.

When I get into "base" mode I'm doing 15 to 20 hours per week. And if I'm not doing anything intense I don't get ravenously hungry. Doing this the wight just flies off.

TheKillerPenguin

Have you considered amputation?

wanders

Kp's training camp.