fitness and losing weight
radiation man
Posts: 446
due to family time problems, will rides of about 30 miles with some big hills, be enough to keep my current fitness up for 50 to 60 mile sportives or do i need to do over 50 mile rides, also i seem to think that doing longer rides seem to put more weight on due to eating more to keep the energy up,
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It's a balance really.
It comes down to intensity I think. If you do 30 miles but do it at a high intensity, then you will have the fitness to do a 50 mile sportive (but maybe not at 100% efficiency).
If you can still work in a 50 mile ride now and again - it will help.
And the nutritional needs for a 50 mile ride shouldn't be much greater than for a 30 mile ride. Most people will do both with just 2 bottles of drink and maybe a banana or small snack.
You should have enough stored energy from your previous meal to do a ride like that without having to top up. (Assuming you've eaten a decent meal the night before and a good breakfast, etc).0 -
I agree on the food front. I take 2 or 3 nutri-grains for a 50 mile ride and 1 or 2 for a 30 mile ride. They have 130 kcals and you'll be doing 800-1000 kcals an hour. So unless you eat one every 10 minutes or cycle very very slowly you'll be using much more than you eat.2010 Trek 1.5 Road - swissstop green, conti GP4000S
2004 Marin Muirwoods Hybrid0 -
Er yes. As the others have said with less time - up the intensity! I managed a respectable time in the Dragon Ride (6hrs.25mins) with a diet of brisk 90minute rides.radiation man wrote:due to family time problems, will rides of about 30 miles with some big hills, be enough to keep my current fitness up for 50 to 60 mile sportives ,
if you eat excessively - of course! But typically longer rides are perfect for weight managementradiation man wrote:i seem to think that doing longer rides seem to put more weight on due to eating more to keep the energy up0 -
The weight gain from longer rides is highly unlikely to be because of the food you consume on the ride, you simply couldn't really eat enough on the bike to put on weight. Having masses of food after a ride is the normal case, but just eat normally after a ride, if hungry, make sure your meal includes decent amount of protein.
When you do a long ride, your muscles get damaged in the process, and during the repair process they are inflamed, and this is where excess fluid is stored to help with the inflammation. For a 50/60 mile ride you don't need to eat much anyhow, perhaps a breakfast bar type thing once every hour, just have an energy drink, and that will supply most of your needs.
Depending on how hard you ride, you are unlikely to burn much more than 500 calories an hour.0 -
my local loop is 25 miles with around 1000-1200 metres of climbing.i recently did a 72 mile ride,so you should be ok.my tip is keep hydrated,drink before your thirsty and eat energy bars, gels and take some bananas and salted nuts to prevent cramps.as previously said shorter intense rides should prepare you well.0
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dmch2 wrote:I agree on the food front. I take 2 or 3 nutri-grains for a 50 mile ride and 1 or 2 for a 30 mile ride. They have 130 kcals and you'll be doing 800-1000 kcals an hour. So unless you eat one every 10 minutes or cycle very very slowly you'll be using much more than you eat.
Unless you are flat-out racing, it is unlikely that you will be doing 800-1000 cals an hour. More like 600-800 an hour. I don't think I've ever gone over 850 cals an hour (and that's fairly accurate based on powermeter readings).0 -
Indeed - it obviously depends on how hard you are going.
Also I'm basing it on readings from a rowing machine (where 1000 an hour needs me to be pretty fit and leaves me pretty tired towards the end, but 800 is easy) and comparing that to how tired I am cycling.
The rowing machine is doing various guesses and bits of maths as it doesn't use HR to calculate it. It's quite possible that it reads high as I'm light for a rower. That could easily drop my 800-1000 guess down to your accurately measured 600-800.2010 Trek 1.5 Road - swissstop green, conti GP4000S
2004 Marin Muirwoods Hybrid0 -
Since iv taken up running about 4 years ago it really helps keep the weight off,
I run a lot more in the winter as its cooler but enjoy cycling a lot more,
Get focused and sign up for a half marathon, give urself a 6 month traininng plan and away you go!hills are made for climbing .....
Bikes
2008 Gaint TCR
1990 Mike Mullet 531c
1980 BSA javerlin
1975 Trike.0 -
Pokerface wrote:dmch2 wrote:I agree on the food front. I take 2 or 3 nutri-grains for a 50 mile ride and 1 or 2 for a 30 mile ride. They have 130 kcals and you'll be doing 800-1000 kcals an hour. So unless you eat one every 10 minutes or cycle very very slowly you'll be using much more than you eat.
Unless you are flat-out racing, it is unlikely that you will be doing 800-1000 cals an hour. More like 600-800 an hour. I don't think I've ever gone over 850 cals an hour (and that's fairly accurate based on powermeter readings).
Isn't 250 W about 900 kcal an hour? I would have thought it would be very possible to exceed that at least for a couple of hours.Le Blaireau (1)0 -
dmch2 wrote:I agree on the food front. I take 2 or 3 nutri-grains for a 50 mile ride and 1 or 2 for a 30 mile ride. They have 130 kcals and you'll be doing 800-1000 kcals an hour. So unless you eat one every 10 minutes or cycle very very slowly you'll be using much more than you eat.
I very much doubt that! In a HARD 1 hr interval session I'll only burn 700-800 cals. That session usually has me wiped out... (Although according to my garmin it's about 12-1300! Garmin/HR monitors greatly exaggerate the amount of calories expended).
I only have food on rides of over two hours, and just eat something on the hour each hour, usually a banana or whatever.0 -
DaveyL wrote:
Isn't 250 W about 900 kcal an hour? I would have thought it would be very possible to exceed that at least for a couple of hours.
For some people, possibly.
On monday night I did a 52 miler that included a club chain gang for 30 miles, the total cals as measured by my powermeter (as accurate as you can get without actual blood testing) was 2035 cals, just over 3 hrs (included warm up and cool down).
The peak hour (270 NP) watts was about 840cals and was bloody hard going!!0 -
270 W? Trivial
Le Blaireau (1)0 -
Well, something about the OP suggests to me he may be losing energy through another source, not just from pedalling... Le Blaireau (1)0
