Does it matter if I'm fat?

Variance

I'm going to be racing next season for the first time and plan on riding a local crit series which is on a pan flat course. I'm pretty powerful with a decent kick. My fitness is good and I'm following a structured plan to get the most out of winter training.

The 'problem' is my weight. at 5ft 9 and 93kg I'm pretty heavy. I'm sure the increased in intensity of training will see me shed a fair bit but I'm not going to be 10 or 11 stone come April. I'm just not built that way. I'd be surprised if I was less than 13st.

My question is how much will this affect my performance in this type of race if at all?

As I mentioned it's a pan flat purpose built circuit with 2 LH bends and a slight RH with 2 long straight sections.

markhewitt1978

You won't be able to accelerate quite as fast as someone lighter with the same power. That's all.

imposter2.0

On a flat circuit, power is king...

mamba80

Variance wrote:

The 'problem' is my weight. at 5ft 9 and 93kg I'm pretty heavy. I'm sure the increased in intensity of training will see me shed a fair bit but I'm not going to be 10 or 11 stone come April. I'm just not built that way. I'd be surprised if I was less than 13st.

As I mentioned it's a pan flat purpose built circuit with 2 LH bends and a slight RH with 2 long straight sections.

... if you are anywhere near 13st, then that's not going to be an issue what so ever.

DavidJB

Just avoid hilly road races.

BeaconRuth

Variance wrote:

The 'problem' is my weight. at 5ft 9 and 93kg I'm pretty heavy. I'm sure the increased in intensity of training will see me shed a fair bit but I'm not going to be 10 or 11 stone come April. I'm just not built that way. I'd be surprised if I was less than 13st.

Sounds like you're doing all the right things and getting your weight down gradually is very sensible. But don't resign yourself to being heavier than ideal for a cyclist just because you're "not built that way". People can and do change their body shape quite markedly.

My question is how much will this affect my performance in this type of race if at all?

It will make a difference every time you change speed - accelerations will be harder if you're heavy so whenever the pace kicks off or you have to accelerate out of a corner you will be at a disadvantage compared to someone who is a more ideal weight. But it's possible that your natural power and kick could go a long way to making you competitive all the same. I guess it depends just what level of race performance you aspire to. You might do very well at 4th or 3rd-cat level. If you started to race amongst 2nd-cats your extra weight might make life more difficult.

Ruth

okgo

Agree with Ruth. I was nearly 100kg and didn't look TERRIBLE for it, I suppose I had the old cliche of 'rugby build' as I lifted a lot of weights. I think I started racing at around 85kg and found Hillingdon to be fine.

I now wear 30 inch waist jeans and buy small shirts. You can change your body to a fair extent. I'll never be like Froome but it's a marked change.

Manc33

If you want to be 140lb by April 1st you'll need to lose 16.5lb a month which is about double the accepted "safe" rate.

I went from 175lb to around 145lb in a matter of a few months, by having a pint of blended peas in the morning and lasting out all day then having green beans and salmon at night. I went for months only having those 2 meals and yeah, quite a lot of tea and coffee... but I was on about 1400-1600 calories a day and I found eating a lot of green veg is the only way I could lose any weight (and I had tried for months on end before that, yes on 1400 calories etc, its eating greens that did it AND cutting the calories, its not just one or the other).

Try eating 1400 calories of McDonalds and pies a day and see how you feel, you'll be grumpy and weak. Its like night and day when I have those pea drinks/soups. You feel better as soon as you've drank it.

I think everyone that isn't getting any sun (erm, the UK) needs vitamin D3 as well, just to help with weight loss. I read something about lacking vitamin D causes fat to get stored more than it would. Thing is its vital and people just don't know about it. 5000iu a day minimum! If you sunbathe 15-20 minutes a day, thats the same as 10,000 to 20,000iu!

DavidJB

Manc33 wrote:

If you want to be 140lb by April 1st you'll need to lose 16.5lb a month which is about double the accepted "safe" rate.

I went from 175lb to around 145lb in a matter of a few months, by having a pint of blended peas in the morning and lasting out all day then having green beans and salmon at night. I went for months only having those 2 meals and yeah, quite a lot of tea and coffee... but I was on about 1400-1600 calories a day and I found eating a lot of green veg is the only way I could lose any weight (and I had tried for months on end before that, yes on 1400 calories etc, its eating greens that did it AND cutting the calories, its not just one or the other).

Try eating 1400 calories of McDonalds and pies a day and see how you feel, you'll be grumpy and weak. Its like night and day when I have those pea drinks/soups. You feel better as soon as you've drank it.

I think everyone that isn't getting any sun (erm, the UK) needs vitamin D3 as well, just to help with weight loss. I read something about lacking vitamin D causes fat to get stored more than it would. Thing is its vital and people just don't know about it. 5000iu a day minimum! If you sunbathe 15-20 minutes a day, thats the same as 10,000 to 20,000iu!

Christ...kudos to you for existing on that for 2 months!

ai_1

Bear in mind that acceleration includes slowing down.
You will have to brake earlier than a lighter rider for corners as you'll have the same amount of rubber on your brake pads and tyres trying to provide more braking power. I'm not sure how relevant this will be in a flat race but if it's a tight circuit with lots of corners it could be a factor.

Variance

Thanks for all the constructive replies. I've done a quite a few 10m TT's on the same course on a standard road bike. My PB is a 25.30 so quite a bit slower than the 26-27mph average for the 40 min plus 5 lap Cat 4 races. I guess riding in a group, some new wheels and hopefully losing a stone will help. Just got to get used to the breaking/accelerating/surges. My training plan includes plenty of that sort of stuff so fingers crossed I'll be as ready as I can be.

napoleond

New wheels won't help much, if at all, but riding in a group does massively.

Variance

My wheels atm are the bog standard ones that came with the bike. Surely lighter wheels will have a decent effect in accelerating & braking?

napoleond

Not really. Not in a bunch race where you will be riding in a big group until the ubiquitous final lap acceleration and sprint.

Furthermore, don't race what you can't replace, I have some nice wheels but for short circuit races the cheapo wheels come out. High crash rate in those races!

Variance

Cheers. My new wheels are new, but cheap! A club mate is building them for me at cost price At £200 for the pair they'll be used all the time, rather than just for the races.

mpatts

At a flat crit race, power is key, rather than power to weight. As others have said the decelerations/accelerations out of corners may hurt you a little, but a lot of this is about positioning anyway.

I'm 64kg, and although my power to weight is OK, I regularly get spat out of the back of the heavier/more powerful riders when it comes to the bunch sprint.

Anyway, as I've decided it's not really about the winning, it's about taking part (just as bloody well)

DavidJB

Wheels do a make a difference but not as much as you think. I've won races on my £250 campagnolo zonda's and on my £1500 FFWD F6R LTD's...I use my Zonda's if I'm riding to the race! I can notice a difference but when you're riding on the limit your wheel choice is the last thing on your mind