How do they adapt between racing and less strenuous times? Must be hard to maintain that kind of eating discipline.
If you see the hell professional cyclists put themselves through, eating discipline is probably the least of their concerns
A carbohydrate revolution is speeding up pro cycling
21–30 of 44 posts
Re: A carbohydrate revolution is speeding up pro cycling
#22> How has the peloton gotten so fast? This question in the article is almost comically naive. In the most drug-filled sport in history, with its most famous athlete a known drug cheat, the answer to this isn’t “carbohydrates”, it’s almost assuredly “drugs not being tested for”.
this is absolutely the right answer to the question that the peloton can go faster now that it did in the worst of the EPO years is a dire reminder that it'll always be a race between cheaters and the doctors that come up with reliable tests other ludicrous explanations coming from people that make a living from the cycling industry is "improvement in bike technology" (which then again is absolutely laughable)
I am an amateur cycling and I am pretty sure that bike technology is a key factor in improvement in cycling performances. Better aerodynamic, disk brakes and more sliding wheels are a thing.
There is also another factor that is having an huge impact on cycling performances: power meters. Power meters help a lot on energy and fatigue management and also on training in a scientific way. In the 90s (the EPO era that you are referring), pros used only HR monitor, right now pros are using PM and a lot of other sensors to track every details of their body.
I am not saying that there is no doping, but reducing the improvements only to doping is a bit silly.
Re: A carbohydrate revolution is speeding up pro cycling
#23Was Durianrider correct all these years? Many cyclists now just skip the expensive gels and literally put some sugar in their water bottle.
I heard it in a podcast from a professional cyclist too.
Re: A carbohydrate revolution is speeding up pro cycling
#24> How has the peloton gotten so fast? This question in the article is almost comically naive. In the most drug-filled sport in history, with its most famous athlete a known drug cheat, the answer to this isn’t “carbohydrates”, it’s almost assuredly “drugs not being tested for”.
> its most famous athlete a known drug cheat I'd bet you're thinking about Lance Armstrong, and arguably that person would be Eddy Merckx - but the funny thing is that with either one that premise holds true
To be fair, with cycling, you can pick pretty much any famous one and you'd stand a fair chance of picking a doper (either exposed or widely suspected.)
Re: A carbohydrate revolution is speeding up pro cycling
#25> How has the peloton gotten so fast? This question in the article is almost comically naive. In the most drug-filled sport in history, with its most famous athlete a known drug cheat, the answer to this isn’t “carbohydrates”, it’s almost assuredly “drugs not being tested for”.
I would love to see some good performance distribution charts. Outliers are interesting for all sorts of reasons!
Re: A carbohydrate revolution is speeding up pro cycling
#26Was Durianrider correct all these years? Many cyclists now just skip the expensive gels and literally put some sugar in their water bottle.
> “At the time I was being beaten by a guy who was claiming to build bikes out of washing machines, eating marmalade sandwiches and getting up and do the hour record. It was quite irritating to say the least,” - Chris Boardman.
I went to a film premier about the great Graeme Obree and afterwards he gave a talk.
He mentioned that people used to laugh at him for eating marmalade sandwiches heavily in training. He countered that as far as he could see sugars are are just sugars no mater where you source them from ...and he happens to like marmalade and bread.
His down to earth approach to cycling was so ahead of it's time. He earned all his success the hard way. A truly interesting bloke.
Re: A carbohydrate revolution is speeding up pro cycling
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’m not going to disagree with the sentiment that drugs are speeding up the peleton. but >>” most drug filled sport”. comes off as probably naive. o think footbal, hockey, soccer, or baseball are are more clean is laughable, they just dont test for anything EVER, except maybe steroids every so often. id bet my bottom dollar all those pro sports with $$$$ flying around HAMMER any drug cocktail that might get them the…
Doping is probably still common, but the more endurance or speed based the more drugs help. Soccer values attributes drugs exaggerate - but it has a skill component that is more important vs cycling. Soccer also has breaks and substitutes and ways to slow the game down to close the gap. I'm not ignorant to the tactics and technique required in cycling, but its a smaller part of the sport vs tactics and skill in footb…
PEDs aren't just for endurance. Prescription painkillers, stimulants and corticosteroids are easy to get prescriptions for or even TUEs. The typical player in the NHL gets tested 2-3 times a year, and almost never in the off season. Some sports barely test more than once a year. In cycling it's closer to once a month for an average rider but it can get a lot higher if you're successful as most orgs will test their top 3 after every stage or race.
Re: A carbohydrate revolution is speeding up pro cycling
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
this is absolutely the right answer to the question that the peloton can go faster now that it did in the worst of the EPO years is a dire reminder that it'll always be a race between cheaters and the doctors that come up with reliable tests other ludicrous explanations coming from people that make a living from the cycling industry is "improvement in bike technology" (which then again is absolutely laughable)
I am an amateur cycling and I am pretty sure that bike technology is a key factor in improvement in cycling performances. Better aerodynamic, disk brakes and more sliding wheels are a thing. There is also another factor that is having an huge impact on cycling performances: power meters. Power meters help a lot on energy and fatigue management and also on training in a scientific way. In the 90s (the EPO era that you…
They actually started using powermeters in the 90s, Lemond was one of the first to train using one. Nothing compared to what we have today though.
Re: A carbohydrate revolution is speeding up pro cycling
#29How do they adapt between racing and less strenuous times? Must be hard to maintain that kind of eating discipline.
Riders like Pidcock, Van Aert and Van der Pole will be racing all year round swapping between Road, MTB and Cyclocross.
In "Faster: The Obsession, Science and Luck Behind the World's Fastest Cyclists" Michael Hutchinson talks about how much effort Team Sky/Inneos into planing diets.
They copied the way doctors help cancer and terminally ill patients that have difficulty absorbing nutrients. The team use medical dietitians work out exact plans for each rider.
The final ingredient is guilt. Geraint Thomas talks on his podcast about how he could go off plan when no one is watching but that he knows it will come out when the team next meet up and start measuring performance. Guilt and fear of failure keeps them on the programme.
It's no coincidence that a lot of professional cyclist go a bit off they rails after they finally retire.
Re: A carbohydrate revolution is speeding up pro cycling
#30> "Riders are able to eat so many carbohydrates on the bike now, almost twice as much as before." > “But what has changed is the way riders get their glycogen fix. New formulations from nutrition brands like Maurten, Precision Fuel and Hydration, and Science in Sport means the age-old carb “ceiling” of 60-90 grams per hour has been blown into another orbit.” “Consumption thresholds have been shifted thanks to “hydrog…
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