so....you guys are saying...???

Don't be fickle. Don't change your mind every time the wind changes directions. Do what you want. But listen carefully to why people advise you to do one thing or another.

But seriously, read the threads here. You can always take the majority rules side of things.

yjuosj said:

The man on the bike look like a racer taken out of the magazine, with muscle defenition clearly seen through the jersey and shorts (altough it was 40 degrees out), with a fancy specialized s-works carbon bike, and just an air of supperioty. However, the man was old enough, that I could keep up with him on my alluminum heavy bike.

So, he was all decked out in the fanciest kit and haughtiest attitude, but you were still able to keep up with him despite his vastly superior gear and training program? 🙄

Definitely sounds like someone whose advice I would take with a grain of salt.

Hey.....I could be that guy 🙂

I am without a doubt the most muscular and leanest guy on my club rides, but unfortunately I am one of the slowest of all the riders even compared to those who are in their 50's +.

If people could see me slumbering along at the back of the group there would be no further questions regarding weight training on this site. 🙂

Just kidding, sort of

frenchyge said:

Definitely sounds like someone whose advice I would take with a grain of salt.

Maybe so, but fast guys can always ride slower to match speed with someone...us slow pokes can't exactly speed up to catch them if they want to drop us. :o

could be a rest day too. You don't have to ride fast all the time jsut cause you have a team kit

K50 said:

could be a rest day too. You don't have to ride fast all the time jsut cause you have a team kit

Exactly. I'm even on a racing team, the kit is on order, but I suuuuuuuuck!

I would think that he should be more wiser???? He is obviously retired and to have all the time in the world to train and to do whatever the hell he wants. He can't tell younger riders, who have a job and maybe even a family to take care of, to train the same way. Couple of things he should know that it is not how much you do but what you do that matters. Yeah, he rides 6 to 7 days a week added with some weight training. I doubt that he is even training hard at all. If he is that serious, where the hell was his power meter???? 🙂 Also, weight training really does not do much for your cycling ability. Maybe he is just old and looking good and that's about it.

yjuosj said:

About a week ago i was out riding (i'm hooked on the bike, just like you guys said) when out of the blue i see a shadow behind me. The man on the bike look like a racer taken out of the magazine, with muscle defenition clearly seen through the jersey and shorts (altough it was 40 degrees out), with a fancy specialized s-works carbon bike, and just an air of supperioty. However, the man was old enough, that I could keep up with him on my alluminum heavy bike. We' biked together for a while and later on chat a bit too. He told me that he ride 6 of 7 days of the week and worked out on three of those days!!! and when my turn came to tell him I worked out (being younger). I told him that I rode four times a week for 2 and half hours (T., W., T., and F.) and played basketball for also 2 and half hours on tuesdays and saturdays, and that I didn't work out... He gave this speech of how a was wasting my time and that if I wanted to compete I needed to workout at least one hour a day!!! I'd read the threads about working out, but seen how fit the guy was I'm begging to think twice about working out! Should I listen to the old man or to you guys?! Help me out!!! and enlighten me on this subject!!!

JJakucyk said:

Maybe so, but fast guys can always ride slower to match speed with someone...us slow pokes can't exactly speed up to catch them if they want to drop us. :o

K50 said:

could be a rest day too. You don't have to ride fast all the time jsut cause you have a team kit

I suppose so, but it's pretty obvious (to me, at least) when someone has slowed down to ride with me. In that case, I wouldn't be telling people that the guy was so *old* that I was able to keep up with him on my heavy bike. 😉

Felt_Rider said:

Hey.....I could be that guy 🙂

I am without a doubt the most muscular and leanest guy on my club rides, but unfortunately I am one of the slowest of all the riders even compared to those who are in their 50's +.

There's no problem with that at all. I doubt it was you, though, because it sounds like you leave the air of superiority at home and don't tell people that their training programs are a waste of time until you're sure you can drop them. 🙂

frenchyge said:

There's no problem with that at all. I doubt it was you, though, because it sounds like you leave the air of superiority at home and don't tell people that their training programs are a waste of time until you're sure you can drop them. 🙂

Ahhh......there's nothing more humbling to the ego than a 60 year old woman in the club ride past me like I was sitting still and she is talking about getting new drapes in her house to another club rider. I sat on her wheel at a 23 mph pace for the last 4 miles of the ride. She amazed me.

It is funny because I look like I am in pretty good shape and I am often asked by the other club riders if they are too slow for me........LOL....if they only knew the truth on how I am struggling to keep up with them. 🙂

Wow - a year 60 year woman cruising at 23 mph puts me to shame. Usually I cruise at 18 to 20 mph to keep in my fat burning range or else my workout is useless to me. I could cruise at 25 mph but I think I'd be doing 92% MHR so I wouldn't be burning fat.

JTE83 said:

Wow - a year 60 year woman cruising at 23 mph puts me to shame. Usually I cruise at 18 to 20 mph to keep in my fat burning range or else my workout is useless to me. I could cruise at 25 mph but I think I'd be doing 92% MHR so I wouldn't be burning fat.

This doesn't matter. Although fat oxidation occurs at lower rather than higher intensities, all that matters for weight loss is that you expend more energy than you take in.

If you are time limited (e.g., you can't train for 5+ hours every day) and are limited to short periods of time and are aiming for weight loss, then it makes more sense to train *harder* rather than easier, as more energy is expended this way. It doesn't matter a jot where the energy comes from (e.g., fat, carbs) so long as a deficit is created.

Ric

JTE83 said:

Wow - a year 60 year woman cruising at 23 mph puts me to shame. Usually I cruise at 18 to 20 mph to keep in my fat burning range or else my workout is useless to me. I could cruise at 25 mph but I think I'd be doing 92% MHR so I wouldn't be burning fat.

Not to worry because I didn't reveal all the facts and I should have.
She was also drafting behind some other riders and we were at about a 2 to 3% decline when she went by me, I got on her wheel and drafted the group.

If you want to see just how much you need to hit the weights to be competitive, scroll down to the picture of Michael Rasmussen:

http://tinyurl.com/ac92m

Disregard if you're into time trials.😉

artmichalek said:

If you want to see just how much you need to hit the weights to be competitive, scroll down to the picture of Michael Rasmussen:

tinyurl.comac92mOpen ↗

Disregard if you're into time trials.😉

Dude!!! I like time trialing and climbing. That's what I train for on the days that i ride. I'm not heavy nor light, I'm 5'5 at 130 lbs. You might think that I'm fat, but I'm really not. Ragardless, you guys have not answer my question. should I weight train? (now that you know that I like climbing and tt)

I am your weight, maybe couple of pounds more, and 5/9". I don't weight train. As of now, I have total of 2000+ miles since late Oct. Half of those miles are done at threshold power. My aerobic system is completely enhanced. I just did an hour tempo and lower l4 threshold power workout on the trainer. I felt like I barely worked at all. Last Sunday I did a 3x20 upper l4 threshold interval on the trainer. Result? I can generate 3.7w/kg for an hour. I can consistently output the same power to weight ratio without exceeding my LTHR. To me, this is extremely important. It tells me that I can work hard and harder but not too hard that I can't reproduce the same power output.

yjuosj said:

Dude!!! I like time trialing and climbing. That's what I train for on the days that i ride. I'm not heavy nor light, I'm 5'5 at 130 lbs. You might think that I'm fat, but I'm really not. Ragardless, you guys have not answer my question. should I weight train? (now that you know that I like climbing and tt)

yjuosj said:

should I weight train?

Not for endurance cycling performance. See stickied threads at top of forum for details.

artmichalek said:

If you want to see just how much you need to hit the weights to be competitive, scroll down to the picture of Michael Rasmussen:

tinyurl.comac92mOpen ↗

Disregard if you're into time trials.😉

Not that I endorse weight lifting or bodybuilding per se, but after years of being in the WL/BB enviroment, maybe my view of what's healthy is askew. But that picture resurfaced those feelings again. To me that is not healthy. I know his cardiovascular system is in top shape, but he looks emaciated, not able to lift a paperclip. I don't know, just doesn't feel right....just as does "Mr/Ms Olympian" seem grotesque, this falls on the other extreme spectrum. Even Mario Cipollini, I remember watching him on one of the Grand Tours, While riding a stage, he took off his jersey to put another one, Phill Ligget made the comment.. "look at his muscular physique" or something similar. Not that I expected a 25 inch arms or bulking chest, but the guy had nothing! He was a twig! What I wonder if when they retire, as they get older, having so little muscle mass affects them in their everyday life?
I don't know where I'm going with this, but I had to get it out of my chest....err muscular chest🙂

Induray said:

Not that I endorse weight lifting or bodybuilding per se, but after years of being in the WL/BB enviroment, maybe my view of what's healthy is askew. But that picture resurfaced those feelings again. To me that is not healthy. I know his cardiovascular system is in top shape, but he looks emaciated, not able to lift a paperclip.

I don't think anybody would claim that Rasmussen is "healthy." The claim is that he's "fit," and fitness is always relative to a particular activity. In the case of road cycling, fitness can take you a long, long way from an ideally healthy state.

Remember that photo the next time you're disappointed by some pro taking drugs; drugs or no drugs, most of them are already taking pretty extreme risks with their long-term health status to be better at riding bikes. Which is the kazillionth reason why I don't view pros' training as something I should imitate.