I have been studying this closely myself, and have reached some conclusions too. I had the sense that given a 26 lb weight loss, I ought to be performing better. I have a 20 mile route for weekday rides when I'm pressed for time. All season I've been doing it at 16.5 mph, on the slow side for me. It's been hard to understand.

I hit my target weight a few weeks ago, and have been reintroducing fruit. But I went to Italy for 2 weeks, got back a week ago. Was unable to restrain myself in the land of pasta, so last weekend my glycogen was fully tanked up. I felt more energy on my ride, and clocked in at 18.1 mph. That's a big difference, a full cycling category at least. I have repeated this twice, eating ~100 carbs/day instead of 20.

Similar results with tennis. More stamina, shorter and better recovery between points with carbs.

For me, LC is great for weight loss, but I pay a price in athletic performance.

Boy am I glad lowinpa resurrected this thread...thanks!! :D

Just last week I posted this comment about my first longish ride while on a LC diet. I knew of the cautionary note in Why We Get Fat about aerobic training while VLC, but experiencing it first hand was a real eye-opener.

BTW, I hope Rick 51 and others here will become active on the forum again. I hope to gain insights from their experiences about how to successfully mix cycling and LC.

Thanks again! :)

As mentioned a few posts back, no better person than Dr Stephen Phinney for this. Here's his new book:
http://www.amazon.com/Art-Science-L...e/dp/0983490716

Wow...awesome looking book, Janet. Thanks for the link! :)

/but I still want a cycling support group here on ALC... :D

Have you looked into the Primal Blueprint forums? They have endurance athletes that do LC plus enough for athletics.

Will keep an eye on this thread. I've never done more than 15 miles or so (I am a newbie) but I am really interested in nutrition tips for cycling long distances. I use to have a banana as a post cycling snack and now I am not sure what to eat, if anything!

Jen

I ride up to 16 miles to work now, after two months on Induction, and am no longer having any food or energy issues at that distance. That said, I recently tried a 24 mile route and ran into problems after about 18 miles. I completed the route but was really washed up after the ride, even though I ate a largish LC meal about an hour before the ride, and ate again as soon as I finished. I did not, however, take any food while riding...only plain water.

I guess the lesson here is to give your body time to adapt to new exercise loads on LC, and to gradually work one's way up to longer distances. Jumping on one's bike and suddenly going from one hour to two is NOT a good plan! :cool:

Various books and articles I've read list 6 months to 2 years as the time needed for an adult to truly and completely adapt to LC, so I am not going to risk any kind of setback by outstripping my body's energy reserves to the point where I feel compelled to add carbs back just to complete a workout.

YMMV, of course! :agree:

At goal weight, I feel I can use fruit as necessary. I did a 50 miler recently, and had two bananas over the course of that. Went very well. Also am starting up tennis for the indoor season, and a banana beforehand makes a huge difference in my energy level. I refuse to lose matches due to a diet that is good for me in every other way but athletically. I'm not experiencing any harm from this practice.

Hence my comment, "YMMV, of course!" :D

I bike up to 25 miles without eating anything. When IF was new to me and earlier on with LC, I would definitely be slow and low energy. But my performance continues to improve the more adapted my body becomes to my new way of eating. It makes it so easy not have to pack a bunch of snacks.

I don't need to eat over a 25 mile ride either, but I find if I'm going much over thirty, I tend to feel better if I do. And in the high thirties or over, I have a stronger need for some calories.

You might be interested in this interview with Dr Steve Phinney: http://www.meandmydiabetes.com/2012...ff-volek-study/.

He tells the story of an ultra-marathon (~100 miles) runner winning a particular race while eating low carb. Several of the runners ate low carb and Phinney and his assistants were able to observe their eating before and after the race as well as take blood tests. The analysis won't be available for some time, but this is very interesting new information for those participating in low carb endurance sports.

My purely anecdotal experience.

I've been on a LC WOE for 5 months now. I started in May of '12 and went whole hog (mmmmm....bacon) and have kept my carb levels in the 20g/day range. I went through the usual setbacks for the first couple of weeks as I adapted to burning fat, rather than glucose. In July I did a 9 day loaded bicycle tour on the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline drive (think mountains), giving me 2 months to adapt to this way of eating beforehand.

I did not slack off on the carb level on the ride, and kept the carbs in the same range. As others have said, once you are fat adapted, getting food is not much of an issue. I would eat a big breakfast of eggs, bacon and/or sausage...probably 700 cal. worth, and then snack through the ride. I lived on macadamia nuts and pepperoni on the road, and not as much as you think. Probably 2 oz. of each spread out over 6 hours of riding. I rarely had a lunch, not because I didn't want one, but there were few places to stop. By evening, my energy levels were still high and I would have a typical dinner, not too much at all. If I was camping, I was eating lean rations, as I didn't carry much food at all.

I tour every summer. This was my first LC tour. In previous years, I never lost weight on the ride. the typical mindset on tour is, "eat all you want, you'll burn it off." The reality, in the past, is that you aren't burning as much as you are eating. Not by a long shot. This past summer, I dropped 5# while on tour. I have to think that the ketogenic diet helped me fuel the ride by burning my own body fat, as I ate much less than in previous rides.

This weekend, I'm doing the Seagull Century on the Maryland Eastern Shore. I plan on taking a pocketful of macadamias and some sugar free electrolytes with me, after eating a BAB in the morning.

Goog

i like trail mixes made of nuts and dried berries. works for me on long hikes. i don't need to eat while i'm running so far. i've run for an hour and a half and i feel fine. afterwards, i try to eat within the half hour. we'll see what happens when i hit the 2 hour mark. if you are LC, you should be a fat burner and won't need to eat nearly as much as someone getting their energy from carbs.

Well, did one yesterday, 55 miles R/T, to a library to check out some Atkins books! lol.

Some oddities:
It was very cold, at least for a Texan, low 30s.

It was very windy, in an unhelpful direction most of the way. (behind windbreaks on the way there, directly into my face for 15 of the miles back. 15+mph wind.

Did *NOT* eat breakfast of any kind. I'd eaten a large steak and green vegies dinner late, and didn't feel like eating.

I don't ride a roadbike. I ride a hybrid thats rigged heavy with lights and panniers, total bike weight is about 70lbs. Wind really beats me up good.

That said, it went like this. Warming up phase had more negative sensation than usual. About ten minutes in, I was at normal output, and HR matched perceived effort. With the wind, the speeds are all goofed, but seemed more or less as expected. At 48 miles while heading into the wind, I kinda ran out of excess salt, and didn't realize it; my speed cratered and my ability to climb or accelerate from a stop took a big hit..... The cold also locked up my aging hand joints and it became very challenging to shift down (up is a click, down is a smooth push), so that contributed. Despite that, I didn't have to stop, and didn't feel like I'd be forced to stop any time soon, though I had noticeably less power.

Something that has never happened, happened after I finished. I got cold. That I'll attribute to the LC side, as replacing the salt was easy enough at home...

Total calorie output, measured by monitor: 2500 kcal. That's much more than just stored glycogen could provide; I'll have to do a similar ride when the weather is more gentle, and see if some water+endurolyte pills, and maybe some salty dry-shredded meat can prevent the problem.