Women's opinion please!!

[malkin]

Maybe we are all freaks of nature!

kancamagus Is this a real name? If I ever get tired of being malkin, maybe I'll become that!
All amid the dragon fungus lived the mysterious chicamungus...

[Veronica]

It's a road in NH - very beautiful and very hilly. I've only been out there once, even though I grew up in Maine. My sister and I went for a drive out that way.



Some scenery from the drive.

Veronica

[Crankin]

And it's a *very* tough climb.

[Bike Chick]

I also think it takes 4 to 5 years to build a good set of "bike legs." I've noticed that it doesn't take me near as long to get up to speed in the spring than it did the first 2 to 3 years of riding and I'm just as active or less active in the winter.

And one rule I learned the hard way: Never, ever, take off on your bike without food and water no matter how far you are going.

While on a camping/bike trip in Wisconsin one year the group decided at dinner to eat breakfast the next morning at a local restaurant in town before hitting the road for the day so DH and I woke up, packed up our tent and headed out with the group only to pass the restaurant on our way out of town. When we spoke up we learned that some folks in the group had decided we would ride to the next town (30 miles away) and have breakfast there. They had forgotten to tell us. Besides being really po'd, we rode the next 30 miles on a stale, half-eaten Clif bar we split between the two of us. I have never gotten on the bike without food since.

[marni]

the trick is to drink before you get thirsty and eat before you get hungry. Depedning on where you are in your training, weight,weather ,road conditions and riding style that may be every 10 miles or 25.

It also depends on what you eat and drinkas you ride I drink a combination of FRS and Accelerade when I ride. The Accelerade actually has quite a bit of whey protein in it so if I've eaten my morning steel cut oats with blueberries and walnuts, I can go a couple of hours at least before I need to eat but by the time I stop to nosh, I will have also gone through at least 22 ounces of accelerade and another 12 of FRS. Of course in the summer, in thhe heat and humidity of Houston I run out of liquid in 20 miles.

Right now I am working myself up to riding at least 30 miles before I step off the bike. but that is to build up TITS time (time the saddle) for some long distance rides. I alternate addind on five miles before I step down and then bringing my speed up over the same distance,Doing it iin 5 mile increments allows me to fine tune the nutrition aspect.

I firmly believe that you can never drink too much water either on or off the bike.

marni

[echidna]

Hi -
You may be able to store 2000 kcal of glycogen WHEN you're well-trained. It doesn't just appear in the muscles. You have to "teach" them - through repetitive training rides - that glycogen stores are required. Glycogen storage in muscle is an expensive process, metabolically speaking, and our bodies are programmed to be efficient. If you don't appear to need something, it goes away. When you stop using your muscles, the enzymes that help store muscle glycogen aren't made in the same quantity any more. It takes time to build the system up again.

Early in the season - particularly in a second season, where your body doesn't have as much memory of years of riding - you're not going to have enough storage to put down a 2-hour hard ride without adding fuel - and possibly electrolytes.

When you're more into the swing of things with your riding season, you may be able to head out the door for a 2-hour ride with a bottle of water and one of carb/electrolyte beverage and be perfectly good to go. That's because your body has learned to store more glycogen, and use it more efficiently. It may take several seasons before that system goes into "autopilot" as other posters have alluded to.

Did a club ride with a guy who's riding into shape yesterday. Seventy miles. He did great for - you guessed it - two hours. Up at the front, riding like one of the big dogs. No one guessed he was struggling. Then he bombed. Cramping AND bonking. He NEEDED fuel and electrolytes to get through the ride - as well as a lot of encouragement. Training up/getting fitter is hard. Don't make it harder on yourself by not fueling up as much as you need.