For some reason I have seem to have lost like 10 lbs in the last few months. My biking in the hills seems to have gotten faster. Is there any direct relationship between how much a person weighs and how difficult hill climbing, or just flat bike riding speed can be? I sure do not need to get any skinner, but, something is going on.
For some reason I have seem to have lost like 10 lbs in the last few months. My biking in the hills seems to have gotten faster. Is there any direct relationship between how much a person weighs and how difficult hill climbing, or just flat bike riding speed can be? I sure do not need to get any skinner, but, something is going on.
Think about it logically (scary, I know…). Going up a hill, if you weigh less, it takes less work to get you up it OR the same amount of work will get you up it faster. There’s a direct relationship on flat speed as well, but it’s less noticeable and less directly correlated.
Some people say not only does your w/kg go up because your kg goes down but your wattage should go up because the fat isn’t stealing your blood.
That is what I assumed :o) But, I am just amazed how much faster my last few bike rides have been, and the only thing that has changed really is my weight. Now, if I can get back to my high school weight of 150 at 6’5". :o)
This also means folks who carry many water bottles on their bikes are not helping themselfs much.
Interesting. I just never thought I have much fat to lose. I just went to my doc for my annual yesterday, and had blood work this morning. I just would love to know why all of the sudden I have this weight loss. Must be the unemployment. :o(
I am going to do the Auburn Tri race on Sunday with the killer hills. Guess a good time to have lost some weight.
This is why people pay a sh*tload of money for Dura Ace or Sram Red or Super Record components and why people buy carbon fiber accessories for their bikes and super light wheels. And with this stuff, we’re talking about a few pounds at most. People pay $3000 more for the difference between a 15lb bike and a 19lb bike. The funny thing is, most of them would be better off keeping their money and working out more to lose 10lbs just like you did.
At some point weight loss will hurt climbing.
As an analogy.
Would you rather race up a hill in a 4 cylinder toyota with almost no gas in the tank or a Challenger SRT8 with a full tank of gas. Sure the toyota is lighter, but with weight comes power.
you mean spending that 3k on liposuction 
.
I’m currently loosing weight (7lbs so far, 5-6 to go). I’m starting to see improvements not only in my rides but also on my runs. I’m not fully training yet, because I’m still on a diet and I get dizzy or sloppy on hard training sessions.
I’m really looking forward to start training full and be 155 pounds
I wonder what point losing weight hurts a person? Seeing how skinny pro bike racers are, I sure would say the lighter the better and it cannot ever hurt you.
Now, it would be fun to get back to my high school weight of 150 lbs. Boy did my ribs stick out then.
Just an opinion…
I lost about 30lbs over the last 6 months and have been doing 3 workouts per week on a spin bike…generally about an hour with some intervals. No actual bike work (was overseas).
I saw my local hour rolling ride average speed go up by over 3 km/h and I think that to be a considerable difference.
I think that point is where you develop too large of a calorie deficit for too long. And your body starts eating itself and muscles to fuel your rides. If your eating enough, and eating healthy, I don’t think you can get too light. What did Wiggo drop last year for the tour? Wasn’t it 10kg? And he was already light.
I’m in this boat. Ive hit my goal weight that i set in January, but now I’m not sure what my next goal should be. I still have plenty of fat to lose.
Glad to see that it might all not be in my head. Sure wants me to just stay active, and not pig out on food to put the weight back on.
I now have this nuts goal to see if I can get back to my high school weight. If I survived playing the sports I did back then at that weight, it would be perfect. BUT, I sure do not plan on eatting less to get there!!
Some people say not only does your w/kg go up because your kg goes down but your wattage should go up because the fat isn’t stealing your blood.
My n=1 study confirms this.
I don’t have access to selling on the classified yet but if any of you are interested I have 10-15 pounds of grade a fat that I could send your way, I am not even looking for anything in return its just some extra I have hanging here and there and would like to give it to some people who can put it to better use.
12 lbs down since March, 15 to go!
Dave,
After arguing during a post I started about how weight-weenie bikes are retarded in tri, I went out and tested with a PM to see if I could tease out any difference in 5 lbs. My course has two hills and rolls a bit, but I would not call it super hilly. The difference over 10K was like 4 seconds in favor of the lighter weight, but frankly that kind of falls into the “noise” category of road pavement, light breezes and such. Now, I know where you live and it is much more hilly, so double the weight loss and ride your hills and you are going to start seeing a difference. During the aforementioned thread, one guy crunched the numbers and found that 1 pound loss would save you 14 seconds from the bottom of Alp D’Huez to the top, so about 3,500 feet of climbing. 10 pounds make that 2:20 saved. So if you are riding to the top of a mountain or riding many hills, then it can add up. Most folks, though, can’t lose anywhere near 10 pounds on their tri bike; even five pounds could cost you as much as the orginal bike cost. On the flats, it is all about power and aero which is why the fabulous Fabian wins so many time trials, but can’t climb with the best in the mountains.
Chad
Chad, interesting. I climb 4700 feet in 60 miles. I used to average 3:53, and my last ride was 3:38 and the one before 3:40. I am just scratching my head. (And no crank length changes. :O) )
I had read every 5 lb saves like 5 seconds per mile pace?
So, assuming lowering the weight total for the bike plus rider is true, then it sure seems much more cost effective to lets say lose 5 lbs than spend thousand of dollars to try and do it with bike parts. I remember Peter Reid saying just not taking that second water bottle is a few pounds.
Oh well, will see how I do on the hills at Auburn on Sunday.
Whether the weight lose is helping me, it sure seems I have nothing to “lose” by keeping it off.
Sorry we are going to miss you again Sunday. You should bring the family up to the LOP race on Sept 4th. Going to have a big party with lots of local tri folks.
I’ve had the same experience but not the dizziness. I’ve lost 20 lbs in the past few months and my biking has dramatically improved as has my running all from eating less but eating better. Check your diet, you may be starving yourself too much if you are getting dizzy. I have found that I am eating a bit less, but calories are now coming from as many raw vegs and fruits as possible for snacks, protein in my main meals and I have started to cut out all calories for workouts, just water if I feel I will need it. It has been amazing how much my diet has changed my workouts. Now if I could only finish my HIM with just water!! That would be great! but I’m not that stupid (notice I said THAT, I’m am stupid!). Good luck.
Some people say not only does your w/kg go up because your kg goes down but your wattage should go up because the fat isn’t stealing your blood.
for every lb or so overweight you have an extra mile of vasculature. i dont think this is performance inhibiting though because of the sympathetic autonomic nervous response to exercise decrease in blood perfusion to the less essential body parts.
it definitely pays to drop weight in running.