What sort of Cyclist are YOU ?

[N0bodyOfTheGoat]

One that has been quite obsessed about cycling for fitness for just over nine years, rather than just for short sub 30min journey transport on and off for decades.

I got quite heavily invested in trying to attain 4W/Kg+ for 20mins (mostly on Zwift, not many practical roads locally) after a couple of years, despite starting this fitness mission aged 43 and being ~95Kg the previous summer. Briefly got down to ~73Kg over 14 months, but couldn't sustain that and usually fluctuated 76-80Kg.

Loved the challenge of max effort intervals on local Hampshire/ West Sussex categorised climbs plus a few near Longleat and Denbighshire, approx 263-1210 feet averaging over 3%.

However, I get quite anxious about the busy hostile roads within ~3 miles of home heading up to the South Downs lanes from the eastern edge of Southampton. I really struggle to get out or return through that close sub 10mins if it's rush hours or school run times.
Won't go out if rain expected or roads still wet.
Really struggle to get out if it's 25C+ or under 13C.

Still trying to come to terms with how long covid drastically reduced my cycling fitness and stamina (plus life in general) almost four years on. At least I've been able to reach the hills near Old Winchester Hill for the last ~14 months, on the ebike, despite being back over 90Kg again in recent years.

 

[sevenfourate]

........despite starting this fitness mission aged 43 and being ~95Kg the previous summer. Briefly got down to ~73Kg over 14 months, but couldn't sustain that and usually fluctuated 76-80Kg.

Im around 100kg / 6'3, large-framed guy. And have always felt strong / healthy at this weight. *Where i have no doubt i'm 5-10kg overweight. Maybe more on some 'ideal' weight charts.....

I've also yo-yo'd. And have been as low as 80kg in fairly recent years. But i've then always felt 'weak'....drained by too much exertion. And mostly for that reason have put it back on. That and i love my food !

I did notice at the weekend (I very rarely weigh myself) i've lost nearly a stone recently (Down to 93kg) - through much cycling. And certainly not because i've been eating less or super-healthily !

What about you ? Does any of that ring true with you ? I seem to be somewhat alone in feeling stronger / healthier being a little on the lardy size.

 

[N0bodyOfTheGoat]

Im around 100kg / 6'3, large-framed guy. And have always felt strong / healthy at this weight. *Where i have no doubt i'm 5-10kg overweight. Maybe more on some 'ideal' weight charts.....

I've also yo-yo'd. And have been as low as 80kg in fairly recent years. But i've then always felt 'weak'....drained by too much exertion. And mostly for that reason have put it back on. That and i love my food !

I did notice at the weekend (I very rarely weigh myself) i've lost nearly a stone recently (Down to 93kg) - through much cycling. And certainly not because i've been eating less or super-healthily !

What about you ? Does any of that ring true with you ? I seem to be somewhat alone in feeling stronger / healthier being a little on the lardy size.

My weight has yo-yo'd a fair bit since the late 90s when I would have been 25ish and 5'10", before then ('90-'96) I was always a fairly lean athletic type that was doing the taekwondo tournament in the 70-75Kg bracket. Whenever I reduced my sport/exercise, my weight ballooned, because I also love my food (classic symptom of SAD, eating in evenings even though I feel full).

It was my weight gain by summer 2016 that pushed me to try and do something about my weight again, because I'd put on ~15Kg since my cycling RTA days after my 40th and my only real exercise was my postie job for ~3.5 years.

But I hear what you say and I think it's possible to lose weight "badly" and feel worse for it. I found it interesting during most of '22, I was seriously challenging or beating my own Strava segment bests for fun on segments I'd done many times since '17, despite being ~80Kg instead of nearer 73Kg and approching my 49th birthday.

The problem I have these days it that losing weight is damn difficult with long covid, because like other sufferers, I have to be so careful not to exert myself too much that I have a massive Post Exercise Malaise fatigue crash that can leave me feeling like death warmed up for days/weeks.

We've just had a week on IOW where I didn't cycle at all (a cycle break of 3+ days is so rare for me and feels so odd) and I thought I was snacking at least as much as normal during the evenings, but I did ~9 hours of walking, partially thanks to lovely trails right next to the ParkDean site in Shanklin. I was shocked to see I'd lost ~1Kg over the hol, especially given how I drink so much fluid during heatwaves.