Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

I'm in my mid 40s & started cycling , to lose a few kgs & get fitter.This seems to be happening . Basically for the past 8 weeks been riding 4 times a week.
Now doing 2 days a week 15km ride & 2 days 40km.. My thighs are aching all day but I figure thats muscle building up.

Is there any vitamins or protein supplements I should be taking.. This is all new to me so please keep it basic..
I'd appreciate a simple plan of what to eat or drink before during & after a ride

What I've been doing so far is eat a peice of fruit cake or nutbar before & after a ride & drink 500ml of gatorade during the ride.

This is totally probably not recommended - but I find spicy foods 30 mins before riding keep me going like a steam train haha
Where are you getting your fruit cake from? I wouldn't recommend eating fruit cake from like Coles or anything - absolutely zero nutritional value whatsoever!

Replace it with some real fruit and a wholesome sandwhich (assuming lunch, pack 2!!) with some meat
Has all the glucose/energy and iron you need and with the health benefits too :p

40km ride and you only consume 500ml of gatorade? I usually go through 600ml's of water per 10km D=

And don't forget. After you do an intense ride, make sure you have rest so your muscles can recover and build up! Don't keep burning em with lactic acid without recovery else you won't be doing yourself any favor (learnt that in year 11 sports ed lol).

steambao wrote:I usually go through 600ml's of water per 10km

500ml for 40km is plenty unless is really hot. probably no need for gatorade at that distance either

Sorry, that should be 600ml for 10km flat out
I thought that was normal? Lol. I guess not

JV911 wrote:

steambao wrote:I usually go through 600ml's of water per 10km

500ml for 40km is plenty unless is really hot. probably no need for gatorade at that distance either

i do about 600-700ml per hour

or i can go through 2 bottles in a hour if im doing 2x20's

Most cycling or fitness related articles suggest that sports drinks like Gatorade are not needed unless you are riding for over 2 hours.
Stick to water while you are riding, and have a banana or multigrain slice of bread instead of the fruitcake..

Depends how hard you are riding in those two hours....on a hard ride I can do 2400Kj in two hours...thats nearly equivalent to an adult males daily intake.So if you can get some energy in thru your liquids all the better.The drink powder I use gets in about 250Kcal per 600ml and it's yummy .

I will go through a couple of bottles an hour during a tough session as well.
If I dont mix at least 1 of those bottles with an energy drink (Torq energy), il have spasms in my right calf all night. Dont ask me why

Before a 100km to 120km ride, I don't normally eat anything unless I am hungry, but I do carry some Snakes with me in my pocket. I usually ride in the morning so generally not hungry. But if I was hungry, a toast and banana usually does the trick and keeps me going for a 3 hr ride.

Do you have any weight loss and training goals you would like to achieve?

J

Thanks I will try some of the suggestions above & see what works best for me.. Main aim is to get fitter ,Not really overweight, just trying to get down from 85kg to probably 80kg & goal is to do a 100klm ride.

I was 85kg, now 71kg. Doing a 100km ride tomorrow.

As others have said, for strength: train hard, but rest also. Maybe ride every second day. For part of your ride, go hard up a hill or do something to raise your heart rate for a bit. This is why running is more effective for quick weight loss and fitness, as you are almost forced to go hard (unless you walk). Make sure you have enough protein in your diet, like eggs and meat. And make sure you get a small amount of food and drink in you shortly after your ride, maybe Powerbar chocolate protien powder with milk?

If you want to loose weight, bring it back to basics. Cut out all sugar for a period. Water only. You have to get scales and weigh youreself everyday also.

If you want to loose weight, people can only help if they know all the food you eat in a 2 day period. With what you normaly eat, you may not need any other food before a ride.

For water during a ride, it depends on how much you sweat, and everyones different. Weigh yourself before and after to work it out. You don't need to drink exactly as much as you loose, but at least a good part of it.

Energy for a ride only needs to be fruit, pasta or rolled oats that you had for the previous meal anyhow.

sorry, will stop now.

Jonny Rochester wrote:I was 85kg, now 71kg. Doing a 100km ride tomorrow.

As others have said, for strength: train hard, but rest also. Maybe ride every second day. For part of your ride, go hard up a hill or do something to raise your heart rate for a bit. This is why running is more effective for quick weight loss and fitness, as you are almost forced to go hard (unless you walk). Make sure you have enough protein in your diet, like eggs and meat. And make sure you get a small amount of food and drink in you shortly after your ride, maybe Powerbar chocolate protien powder with milk?

If you want to loose weight, bring it back to basics. Cut out all sugar for a period. Water only. You have to get scales and weigh youreself everyday also.

If you want to loose weight, people can only help if they know all the food you eat in a 2 day period. With what you normaly eat, you may not need any other food before a ride.

For water during a ride, it depends on how much you sweat, and everyones different. Weigh yourself before and after to work it out. You don't need to drink exactly as much as you loose, but at least a good part of it.

Energy for a ride only needs to be fruit, pasta or rolled oats that you had for the previous meal anyhow.

sorry, will stop now.

Was 107kg 2 years ago, 69kg now. Highly recommend riding

J

was similar - 101 and now 78.
All through better diet & riding (with some running thrown in there).

the reason gatorade is used is because your liver can store two hours worth of energy in it. after that, the body uses sugars from the blodstream (where gatorade quickly goes). if you're using it for 15km rides however, the 40grams of sugar is going to waste. thats ten teaspoons worth of sugar extra in your diet per bottle!

try sticking with water only, and be sure to drink a bit before pedalling so its in your system. biggest mistake i do is to ride for 15 minutes then feel parched because i havent drunk aynthing beforehand.

as for the nutrition side, cake and other sugary foods are going to make you thirstier. if you like muesli (fruit free) with fresh sliced kiwi, strawberries and banana, you'll be good for a healthy meal

just remember that fitness is about exercising as much as it is about nutrition. good sleeping patterns will motivate you to ride (and feel) better too!

ss--ss wrote:I'm in my mid 40s & started cycling , to lose a few kgs & get fitter.This seems to be happening . Basically for the past 8 weeks been riding 4 times a week.
Now doing 2 days a week 15km ride & 2 days 40km.. My thighs are aching all day but I figure thats muscle building up.

Is there any vitamins or protein supplements I should be taking.. This is all new to me so please keep it basic..
I'd appreciate a simple plan of what to eat or drink before during & after a ride

What I've been doing so far is eat a peice of fruit cake or nutbar before & after a ride & drink 500ml of gatorade during the ride.

If you're losing weight and that's your goal then I say keep doing what you're doing

silkishuge wrote:

Jonny Rochester wrote:I was 85kg, now 71kg. Doing a 100km ride tomorrow.

As others have said, for strength: train hard, but rest also. Maybe ride every second day. For part of your ride, go hard up a hill or do something to raise your heart rate for a bit. This is why running is more effective for quick weight loss and fitness, as you are almost forced to go hard (unless you walk). Make sure you have enough protein in your diet, like eggs and meat. And make sure you get a small amount of food and drink in you shortly after your ride, maybe Powerbar chocolate protien powder with milk?

If you want to loose weight, bring it back to basics. Cut out all sugar for a period. Water only. You have to get scales and weigh youreself everyday also.

If you want to loose weight, people can only help if they know all the food you eat in a 2 day period. With what you normaly eat, you may not need any other food before a ride.

For water during a ride, it depends on how much you sweat, and everyones different. Weigh yourself before and after to work it out. You don't need to drink exactly as much as you loose, but at least a good part of it.

Energy for a ride only needs to be fruit, pasta or rolled oats that you had for the previous meal anyhow.

sorry, will stop now.

Was 107kg 2 years ago, 69kg now. Highly recommend riding

J

Wow. Well done mate

Congrats on starting out on the bike.

Perhaps I can answer training diet in two ways

I too restarted on the bike in mid 40's with aim to get fitter and lose weight. I currenty ride around 120 to 180 klms a week with the odd ride about once a fortnight of 60klms + adding to regular rides. I generally plan allow 1-2 rest days a week.

My general diet, including red wine, (purely medicinal ) has not changed dramatically, except I tend to eat less at meal times. I can't explain why but I do feel 'full' easier exercising regularly. Diet is pretty good generally, not much crap, just too much for lifestyle. Generally I hate fast food and would rather have an egg on toast as my fast food meal in favour of Maccas and alike. Ideally I aim for another 10kgs loss, but another 5 would be fine. Basically like many my age it was more lack of exercise and too much food. I chose exercise as it is more fun that starving onself. In 2 months I have lost 8+kgs and this continues as I now take on greater challenges during rides such as hills.

For individual rides over 1.5 hours I take a sports drink (750ml bottle) + water (750ml drink bottle) + fruit (usually banana - top cut to help access whilst riding) and either fruit jube type lollies, such as snakes or perhaps a fruit gel. More often than not I return with lollies and fruit intact but most of the drink bottles gone on rides up to 2 hours. I found this article quite useful as a guideline http://www.cyclingtipsblog.com/2008/09/the-long-ride/. I plan to do the 140klm Rainforest Ride at Apollo Bay in November and plan a bottle of sports drink per hour plus carry lollies to top up but will probably prefer to stop to buy lunch on the way if they have sandwiches (& coffee ). You can find some sports drinks will sell sachets of powder sufficient to fill a water bottle so you can mix up at drink stations. Alternatively I sometimes carry individual powder servings in self seal sandwich bags. I find the gels seem to make me 'thirstier' and sometimes give 'tummy' ache. I am not riding in races so a couple of minutes mixing drink myself is no big deal and I mix to y preference. This way I can be self sufficient so my family can go about their own activities. If racing, of course, a ground support crew to mix and feed is a more essential 'luxury'. Interestingly on the cyclingtips blog, he suggest a simple 500ml flavoured milk as a recovery drink 'cos it provides sufficient protein etc to aid muscle recovery following a big ride.

For shorter rides up to 1.5hours I find a normal meal within 1 to 1.5 hours before the ride is sufficient and only take water and/or a half strength sports drink solution probably more for flavour or encouragement to ensure I drink it especially on the hotter and windy days. Even on 1.5 hour rides though I will start out with 2 water bottles. A top up drink before leaving helps too. I usually don't drink everything but at least a water bottle full.

The only time I really 'tanked' was after an early work start without breakfast (2.5 hours then went on ride) and riding 35klms into very heavy wind. I put it down to riding without food intake for close to 12 hours as major contribution. Lack of sufficient hydration accompanied this too. The legs were pretty sore and 'crampy' for 2-3 days following this but energy drain ok after breakfast and lots of water.

A couple of months in muscle soreness between rides is rare and light. In fact in some ways the minor pain is a pleasant reward for a job well done - climbing a big hill or increasing avg speed by 1kmh+. Again for me using the sports drinks & water indictes that much of the muscle soreness was due to losing salts and insufficient hydration during exercise. By minor pain I mean noticing 'burn' when tensing leg muscles at rest. Day to day activities such as climbing stairs or walking are not hampered. Once or twice I've had cramp issues at rest and magnesium was suggested, but I have tended more to bring forward the rest day to allow recovery or at least a recovery ride of lesser distance and effort.

I hope this answers questions about training food both general diet and specific rides.

kibnedyo wrote:Perhaps I can answer training diet in two ways

Nice post.

steambao wrote:Where are you getting your fruit cake from? I wouldn't recommend eating fruit cake from like Coles or anything - absolutely zero nutritional value whatsoever!

On the contrary, if you look at a Coles fruit cake ingredient list, it seems a perfectly reasonable food to me for a ride snack.
https://www.colesonline.com.au/webapp/w ... uit%20cake

Maybe you can make a "better" cake at home but saying the Coles product has "absolutely zero nutritional value whatsoever!" is a load of tripe. The body knows how to break down the various sugars and fats etc, irrespective of what brand of packet they happen to be wrapped in.

ss--ss wrote:I'm in my mid 40s & started cycling , to lose a few kgs & get fitter.This seems to be happening . Basically for the past 8 weeks been riding 4 times a week.
Now doing 2 days a week 15km ride & 2 days 40km.. My thighs are aching all day but I figure thats muscle building up.

Good. Best way is to focus on becoming fitter, and allow diet to take care of getting lean.

ss--ss wrote:Is there any vitamins or protein supplements I should be taking.. This is all new to me so please keep it basic..

You don't require supplements. Provide you have a normal, balanced, healthy diet, all of the required macro and micro nutrients will be in ample quantities.

ss--ss wrote:I'd appreciate a simple plan of what to eat or drink before during & after a ride

What I've been doing so far is eat a peice of fruit cake or nutbar before & after a ride & drink 500ml of gatorade during the ride.

Sounds OK to me. On shorter rides (if not hard) you probably won't need much (e.g. can just use water) but a little snack before riding is a good thing. Eating something immediately after is also a very good idea.

If what you are doing is working for you, you are feeling as if you are improving fitness and not running out of steam, then stay with that.
As you gain fitness and perhaps increase the amount of riding you do, you'll probably need to look at eating more, not less. Depends on how much you eat now.

Thanks for the detailed responses.. Gives me something to work on Cheers !

In regards to -

ss--ss wrote: My thighs are aching all day but I figure thats muscle building up.

Make sure you stretch your muscles to reduce this tension, before and after you head out. It's really important to keep yourself excersizing in different ways, boxing, running, whatever. Just make sure you're stretching fanatically. You'll thank yourself for it. As for eating, get enough iron, keep your diet natural. If you want energy just have some Jam, that will keep you going the hard miles.

Good luck stranger'.

Hi

BikeRadar.com often has some interesting articles on nutrition etc. I have listed some of them [ur=http://www.aushiker.com/2008/09/bicycli ... and-health]here[/url]. They might be worth checking out.

Regards
Andrew