120,000 kCals = Tour de France
NorthCascades
Posts: 10,970 Member
I found this interesting and hope a few other people enjoy reading it. 🙂
https://theconversation.com/tour-de-france-how-many-calories-will-the-winner-burn-163043
https://theconversation.com/tour-de-france-how-many-calories-will-the-winner-burn-163043
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Nah. Those guys have been cycling for *years*.
If your body gets used to an exercise, it doesn't burn many calories anymore from doing that exercise. All the Beachbody instuctors and bro-science fitness trainers will tell you so, so "everybody knows" that.
😉🤣😉🤣😉🤣
Now, not joking: Yes, massive power, massive endurance, so massive calorie needs, of course. But interesting to see specific physics of it. Thanks!6 -
Isn't it amazing, they aren't efficient enough to pull calories out of the air? (Even my cat can do that!)2
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Interesting to read. There’s a cool docuseries I think on Amazon Prime called “eat race win” that shows what these guys have to eat every day. Massive quantities. Amazing!1
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They should only eat back 50 percent, though...just to be safe.
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SuzySunshine99 wrote: »They should only eat back 50 percent, though...just to be safe.
It would be fun to know how much their weight fluctuates through the day, or across a few. I'm sure they're trying to stay reasonably hydrated, but still . . . .0 -
SuzySunshine99 wrote: »They should only eat back 50 percent, though...just to be safe.
It would be fun to know how much their weight fluctuates through the day, or across a few. I'm sure they're trying to stay reasonably hydrated, but still . . . .
Some riders on some stages, or the end of stages, will be deliberately under-hydrated (not dehydrated in the medical sense) as there is a performance advantage in being a little lighter.
It's a tricky balance to find though with a massive penalty if you get it wrong. A friend of mine got it badly wrong, had to be rescued from the side of the road and looked like he had aged ten years.0 -
SuzySunshine99 wrote: »They should only eat back 50 percent, though...just to be safe.
It would be fun to know how much their weight fluctuates through the day, or across a few. I'm sure they're trying to stay reasonably hydrated, but still . . . .
Some riders on some stages, or the end of stages, will be deliberately under-hydrated (not dehydrated in the medical sense) as there is a performance advantage in being a little lighter.
It's a tricky balance to find though with a massive penalty if you get it wrong. A friend of mine got it badly wrong, had to be rescued from the side of the road and looked like he had aged ten years.
Do you have an estimate of the weight fluctuation a person like your friend might see in those circumstances? I know they're maybe not weight-obsessed in exactly the same way as folks here often may be, but I know it's not super unusual to weigh in as one aspect of gauging hydration strategies (in some sports), so wondering if you might know?0 -
SuzySunshine99 wrote: »They should only eat back 50 percent, though...just to be safe.
It would be fun to know how much their weight fluctuates through the day, or across a few. I'm sure they're trying to stay reasonably hydrated, but still . . . .
Some riders on some stages, or the end of stages, will be deliberately under-hydrated (not dehydrated in the medical sense) as there is a performance advantage in being a little lighter.
It's a tricky balance to find though with a massive penalty if you get it wrong. A friend of mine got it badly wrong, had to be rescued from the side of the road and looked like he had aged ten years.
Do you have an estimate of the weight fluctuation a person like your friend might see in those circumstances? I know they're maybe not weight-obsessed in exactly the same way as folks here often may be, but I know it's not super unusual to weigh in as one aspect of gauging hydration strategies (in some sports), so wondering if you might know?
I can't speak for cyclists, but I have read about professional hockey players and their weight fluctuations.
Many say they lose 5-8 pounds over the course of a 2.5 hour game. Goalies can lose even more:
Washington Capitals goalie Braden Holtby told the Washington Post in 2016 he can lose 10-13 pounds during a game despite drinking 16-17 liters of liquid on a game day.1 -
SuzySunshine99 wrote: »SuzySunshine99 wrote: »They should only eat back 50 percent, though...just to be safe.
It would be fun to know how much their weight fluctuates through the day, or across a few. I'm sure they're trying to stay reasonably hydrated, but still . . . .
Some riders on some stages, or the end of stages, will be deliberately under-hydrated (not dehydrated in the medical sense) as there is a performance advantage in being a little lighter.
It's a tricky balance to find though with a massive penalty if you get it wrong. A friend of mine got it badly wrong, had to be rescued from the side of the road and looked like he had aged ten years.
Do you have an estimate of the weight fluctuation a person like your friend might see in those circumstances? I know they're maybe not weight-obsessed in exactly the same way as folks here often may be, but I know it's not super unusual to weigh in as one aspect of gauging hydration strategies (in some sports), so wondering if you might know?
I can't speak for cyclists, but I have read about professional hockey players and their weight fluctuations.
Many say they lose 5-8 pounds over the course of a 2.5 hour game. Goalies can lose even more:
Washington Capitals goalie Braden Holtby told the Washington Post in 2016 he can lose 10-13 pounds during a game despite drinking 16-17 liters of liquid on a game day.
Gosh, since another thing "everyone knows" is that every single person in the known universe, regardless of circumstances, should be fine if they drink as many ounces of water daily as half their body weight in pounds, and 16-17 liters is 541-575 ounces, it seems self-evident that Holtby must weigh 1082-1150 pounds (which is 491-522kg). Probably covers the whole net with just his body geography.
Again, for the literal folks in the reading audience, which I'm sure doesn't include the person to whom I'm replying: 😉🤣😉🤣😉🤣
Serious reaction: Wow! That's interesting. I figured there could be big numbers, but that's *really* big.3 -
SuzySunshine99 wrote: »They should only eat back 50 percent, though...just to be safe.
It would be fun to know how much their weight fluctuates through the day, or across a few. I'm sure they're trying to stay reasonably hydrated, but still . . . .
Some riders on some stages, or the end of stages, will be deliberately under-hydrated (not dehydrated in the medical sense) as there is a performance advantage in being a little lighter.
It's a tricky balance to find though with a massive penalty if you get it wrong. A friend of mine got it badly wrong, had to be rescued from the side of the road and looked like he had aged ten years.
Do you have an estimate of the weight fluctuation a person like your friend might see in those circumstances? I know they're maybe not weight-obsessed in exactly the same way as folks here often may be, but I know it's not super unusual to weigh in as one aspect of gauging hydration strategies (in some sports), so wondering if you might know?
My friend was a 24hr race competitor and was trying to do an early morning and fast Century training ride on just one bottle.
His drink was also pretty concentrated in terms of the amount of carbs to water, sickly sweet and frankly disgusting.
Not sure what level of fluid loss each rider can tolerate but probably quite varible.
As a recreational cyclist being down 3 pints at the end of a long, hot ride isn't unusual and I feel fine, if thirsty, there's no benefit for an old plodder like me to seek out my limit.
The weight obsession in endurance cycling extends to cutting lables off clothing, buying the latest shoes that shave a fraction of a second off a 40km ride or even stopping track cycling as track riders tend to have more upper body muscle mass than road cyclists from bracing to accelerate huge gears. Wiggins was reputably at 4% body fat level in the 2009 TdF. Pinpoint accurate nutrition must be crucial at that level.
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Six to eight thousand calories per stage, and do it 21 times.
And the kicker is the size of the cyclists, with most of them at weights that many would consider underweight by normal standards.
That's a lotta wattage.... I wonder if they get sick of fueling by the end of it?1 -
robertw486 wrote: »Six to eight thousand calories per stage, and do it 21 times.
And the kicker is the size of the cyclists, with most of them at weights that many would consider underweight by normal standards.
That's a lotta wattage.... I wonder if they get sick of fueling by the end of it?
I'm sure at least some of them do. I watched an ESPN show that was covering a cross-country endurance race here in the US (San Fran to NYC) many years ago. During the segment that I was watching, one of the riders blew a tire and while the mechanics were swapping out the wheel on the bike another crew member ran up to the rider and shoved a plate of 'food' (strawberries in whipped cream with protein powder mixed in, if I remember correctly) at the rider and told him to eat. His reaction was 'oh god... more food?!?!?'.0 -
They are no doubt the physical peak of our species.0
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