I did a 102 mile ride a few weeks ago, by myself, not a group. Also, I am 190 lbs, 6 foot, early 50’s.
Oatmeal and grape nuts before ride. 2 sport legs capsules before and 2 more during. Food during; 1 banana, 1 peanut butter sam, 2 gu’s, 2 bottles of cytomax, 3 bottles water with a magnesium powder. 19-21 mph, not much wind (tail wind home).
No way I could ride that far on an empty stomach.

I agree. For most people, it would be healthy to realize that if it took ten years to put it on, you should give yourself ten years to take it off, not a few weeks. White knuckling it through weight loss certainly won't last a life time. :)

As for fasting, I can't even make it through a 45 minute spin class without falling off my bike unless I eat first.

To take things to another dimension- I wonder what these people eat on their little ride. It runs right past my house. I think I will ask! (when they get here) :)

https://transambikerace.com/

AS of right now- It looks like Ed is in the lead. Go Ed!
(oh nevermind- It's PA! Go PA!!!!-He's ridden 1411 miles)

Could that be because you're used to being constantly fed?

You do have to train your body to be more efficient at consuming fat, but that's why our body creates fat, for us to have an energy store to rely on if/when we don't get food regularly.

I think this is true but I think another word for it is "aerobic fitness." I haven't seen any evidence that riding fasted helps grow aerobic fitness. It hurts so I wanted to think there was a benefit but I've found no science that agrees. Supposedly peak benefit to aerobic fitness comes from riding at low intensity (Z2) for between 2.5-6 hours and no one's found a shortcut.

I have two friends that are competitive in the local 100 mile mtb races. They both look like birds, both are really fast, and they both have put in a lot of training hours over the last 10-15 years. Both independently started screwing around with keto diet and both lasted 9-10 months before deciding it was too difficult and took too much happiness from their lives. They did it just long enough to catch up to their old pre-keto speed, then gave up. They said they were unable to hammer when they were on the keto diet, but they also didn't need to eat all day long.

After years of high level competition and structured training they are still both very conscious about diet, they get most of their off bike calories from fat and protein, but on the bike they hoover up nasty chemical carb packs like they are hummingbirds.

The aerobic process needs blood sugar to operate, if the blood sugar drops you bonk and the body starts metabolizing muscle. Even endurance mtb races have high intensity and you'll eventually deplete all your sugar stores, I don't know anyone that doesn't eat carbs during a race to try and replenish their stores. At the most I can take in 350-400 calories/hour of simple sugar.

Anyway, that's my sample. The best diet book I found is "Advanced Sports Nutrition" by Bernardot, is the only book that really connected the dots for me.

If you've got some science to share about fasted training I'm all ears.

It’s more because at a spin class I don’t have to worry about cycling home so I go all out and outpace my fat conversion abilities by quite a bit

I can actually go a lot longer without eating if I’m just out on the road on a long easy ride. I don’t seem to do many of those though because I only seem to have the ability to go like hell, or be lazy

Fasting and keto (ultra low carbs, ie Atkins) are different, even if you do get into ketosis.

Somethings I’ve certainly felt in times of being in better shape than others are that:

1) I can break into a sweat quit easily when in shape (preventing over heating)
2) my body becomes more efficient at releasing energy from fat more quickly allowing me to sustain higher levels and longer durations without hitting the wall compared to when in less shape


Of course when you are really out of shape none of this matters. Since your heart and lungs are so in efficient at that point that you tire quickly before ever over exerting your muscles or depleting glycogen stores

Wow..that is awesome, I have yet to spend the better part of a day just riding and breaking the century mark, I believe I have the legs and stamina for it, so hopefully I can post up (one day soon) that I've accomplished it.

In the morning I'm off on the hardest ride of my life, and this time its not the distance...or lack of food...


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/off-topic-discussions/912909-cycling-training-advice-2-x-century-37.html

I just read this article, should scare most people away from starvation mode living.

Sorry, keto fans, you're probably not in ketosis
https://www.popsci.com/not-in-ketosis?CMPID=ene060918

That article is long on pop, short on science. Lots of new research that refutes pretty much the entire article. While a true keto diet may be less desirable to many due to the heavy reliance on fats, the old advice regarding the health risks of saturated fats has been proven wrong by the latest research (it's insulin resistance, not fats). Keto diets are highly effective at reversing insulin resistance (and hence improving or reversing diabetes, Alzheimers, heart disease and other diseases). While I acknowledge it may not be the right diet for ultra endurance athletes, it's also not the dangerous diet this article would have you believe. And the whole bit about consuming your own body's muscle mass for energy while on keto is complete garbage. Only if you're in starvation, which is not keto nor fasting.

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