My bike racing highs and lows

By Daniel McMahon

Knowing full well that I could open with self-targeted Jan Ullrich analogies of the stuffed-sausage variety, I resist in the name of good taste, dear reader. You see, lately I’ve been thinking of ways to improve on my heretofore sorry-ass attempt at becoming a stronger rider and better racer. Last year, my sometimes-called comeback year to cycling, picked up almost 10 years after I took leave of the sport, and for the most part I didn’t take anything too seriously in 2009, racing- or training-wise. I just wanted to get some kind of basic fitness, figure out the New York City racing scene, who was who, and enjoy riding my bike again. I’m happy to say I achieved those goals.

And since I hung up my cyclocross wheels in late November, after a killer fun first CX season, after what was an unremarkable road season, I’ve been constantly reviewing and questioning my approach to racing, training, and diet.

This year I’m a lot better prepared for racing, and I want to have a good year with some actual results. Last year’s random sampling of top 10s and top 20s were nice, but now it’s time to get a lot more competitive. And aggressive.

To that end, I’ve been devouring any book on training that I can get, surfing the Web nearly ad nauseam on topics related to improving performance, badgering my friends and mentors, and I even got a cycling coach, my first ever. To boot, I just bought a new bike and new pedals and new shoes, too. (No, these upgrades were not rash purchases made in hopes of making myself a better rider; I truly needed to upgrade all those materials things. My previous rig was nearly 10 years old.) For the first time in a long time, I’m going to have a separate set of racing wheels. That’s hot.

Those superficial things aside, we all know the most important thing to improve is your body, whether it’s your fitness, power, strength, LT, sprinting, bike handling, flexibility, breathing, nutrition, recovery, what have you. Of course, psychology is important, too.

The bottom line is, I wanna go faster, much like everybody else. But how does one go faster?

Because I’m not a naturally talented bike racer—I mean, I’m not like those few who are just incredibly strong on the bike from day one and can ride really fast for a long period of time, hills or no hills, attacks or no attacks, headwinds or no headwinds—I have to work really effing hard to be competitive. This means working diligently in every area that I can control.

And although I’ve been looking at every aspect of my preparation as we head into the new season, I’ve been focusing on my diet and my weight more than ever before, both of which go hand in hand.

A brief history
Last February, almost exactly a year ago, I weighed a pain au chocolat under 200 pounds. (I wish that were a typo!) I got dropped like a hot potato on some early-season group rides, embarrassingly. In the second half of last season, 2009, I hovered between 180 and 185. Today I’m 175, give or take an almond croissant. For perspective’s sake, I’m a little over 6’2” with a medium build, and I’m turning 38 late this month.

In 2000, I was fortunate enough to spend a couple of years living in Nice, France, where I worked less than full-time—just enough to pay the rent and eat—and pretty much rode my bike the rest of my hours and days, whenever I wasn’t loitering in coffeeshops or at the beach. I joined a local team, Sprinter Club de Nice, though there were no sprinters on the team. After a long season, I weighed 153 pounds at my slightest.

Sure, I was getting up the climbs pretty quick, but on the flats I was only so-so, and when it came to sprinting, well, I lacked power. In hindsight, I needed what my coach calls “durability.” More well-rounded power and less mountain-goat waifishness. I was focused on becoming a good climber and gave up on the idea of being a good sprinter, or even a decent rouler. After all, most of the races that mattered included climbs that blanket the foothills of the Alps. If you couldn’t climb well, you were screwed and not going to see the front of any races, save for the odd crit or circuit race. And that’s no fun at all, as pretty as the vistas were.

Every time trial I did that year was either straight uphill or included rolling hills that were fairly long. I was riding so much that I self-cannibalized and ate into my muscle tissue. I was really too light. I couldn’t eat enough. I ate five meals a day. I ate like a madman. And I could not gain weight. I had triple scoops of gelato every night. I ate a loaf of French bread every morning. It didn’t matter. I was riding a zillion miles every single week. Eventually, I had to ride less. That sucked.

I don’t wanna go there again. So to counter this from happening these days, I’ve looked seriously at my diet and am more careful about what I eat and how I train. I also incorporate some gym work, too. That gives me some extra mass and power, though you would probably never know it looking at me. Overall there is no time in my life now for riding as much as I did in Nice, with my girlfriend, my job, and the rest. That’s probably a good thing, because I really like to ride my bike. If it were up to me I’d ride it a lot, every day, huge miles. Too many miles.

The good loss
Can I tell the difference after losing weight, too. I’m faster. Maybe not fast, but definitely faster. It’s amazing how much easier it is to ride harder and longer and faster when you’re 10, 15, or 25 pounds lighter. Duh, right? Yeah, it is duh. But it’s been a long time since I, well, didn’t weigh a lot more than I should, and you kind of forget this stuff.

You know those doctor TV shows that feature obese people who are trying to lose weight, where they show all that blubber in a big see-through plastic bag, where they make the people struggle to lift that big bad bag of blubber, where everyone in the audience and on the laugh track gasps Eeewwwww! Ohhhhhhh! Eeeeewww! Gross!

Well, I sometimes think of riding with a backpack filled with textbooks, like 25 pounds’ worth. That’s how good it feels to ride closer to your ideal weight. And it’s when I’m tempted while watching an NFL playoff game by the appetizer specials at my local that I think of those bags of blubber. Absurd, I know.

I’m not sure what my ideal race weight is, but I’m aiming for 170. Then I’ll see how I feel training and racing at that weight. I could see going to 165 later in the year, say, by June. We’ll see how I ride.

Less is more
I’ve found that the two main factors in my so-far-successful weight-loss adventure have been cutting back on portion sizes and eating better quality foods, in addition to training consistently, of course, with no more than a day off at any point. Even on my days off, I’m usually at the gym for a relatively light Pilates session or a yoga class or just stretching for a good half hour. Or getting a massage. And eating a little less than I already do on those days off.

It’s been surprisingly easy cutting my portion sizes down. I now normally just eat half of what I order or make at home. I just tell myself, I’m eating half of this. That’s it. Not a bite more. It’s worked. The other thing is, I’ve been eating pretty much only good-for-you food. I don’t think I’m eating like Paleo man or anything, but I’ve been cutting out most bad foods. These include white breads and starches of most kinds, fried foods, pastas (for the most part), most cheeses, not-so-lean meats, any junk food like chips, soft drinks, burgers, etc., you get the idea. I’ve scaled back on the pints, too. Now it’s a nice glass of red with dinner. Maybe two if it’s a wild night. If I meet up friends out for drinks, it’s a few Guinness (170 calories a pint, which ain’t too bad).

Largely my diet these days includes a variety of chicken, fish, lots of veggies, fruits, water (lots of water), nuts, salads, greens, and so on. It’s nothing new, but for me it’s new that I’m adhering to some best practices that I’ve read about. As said, the payoff is great.

What’s more, I’ve been breaking up my lunch into two meals. For example, if I order some grilled chicken and mixed veggies (no potato, no starch), I’ll eat half of it one day,  the second half the next. This works out well, and it’s saving me money, too, a nice byproduct of this monkish approach to dieting. I don’t feel hungry either. Your body just gets used to getting by on less.

It’s funny eating this way, though, because the guys who work the steam table at my local laugh at me when I order my meals. They tease me by dangling heaping spoonfuls of buttery mashed potatoes and cheesy chicken parmesan dripping with calorie-rich tomato sauce.

Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, dine like a pauper, or something like that
It’s strange when you get into a healthier eating routine. When I’m waiting for my food, I look around and see most people ordering and eating slices of pizza and doughy treats infused with cheeses and sauces galore. And once you get used to eating about half the food you normally eat, it’s like everybody else is pigging out. You think, Are you really going to eat TWO slices of pizza? Whoa. I hope you have a ride to Nyack in your near future. Again, absurd, I know.

These days my daily menu looks something like you see below. Of course, variety is the spice of life, so it’s important to mix things up all the time and try new things. These are just some meals I’ve had the past week or so.

• Breakfast
  Option 1: Small yogurt or small bowl of oatmeal with fresh fruit and almonds
  Option 2: Egg whites on whole-wheat toast
  Black coffee
  Small juice (fresh)
  Water
• Post-training ride
  Chocolate milk or smoothie with fresh fruit and whey protein
  Banana or apple
  Water
  If very hungry, small panini
• Lunch
  Option 1: Grilled chicken with extra carrots, broccoli, kale, mushrooms, etc.
  Option 2: Salmon with lemon and mixed veggies
  Option 3: Spinach, arugula, or mesclun salad with veggies or chicken and vinaigrette
  Water
• Dinner
  Option 1: Small helping of lean steak and veggies
  Option 2: Salad with chicken or shrimp
  Option 3: Fish and veggies
  Option 4: Smoothie with fresh fruit and whey protein
  Water
• Dessert
  Small chocolate mousse
  Fruit
  Sorbet
  Light cheese sample
  Water
• Snacks
  Almonds
  Fruit
  Protein shake or chocolate milk
  Yogurt
  Energy or protein bar
  Water

It’s important to be very critical and objective about what you eat. And to watch the smaller things. I mean, I’ve given up extra sauces, butter, cream in my coffee, etc. The little things add up bigger than you might realize.

As always, you can’t really drink too much water, so I’ve got a bottle of it in arm’s reach at all times.

Overdoing it
There are some caveats, of course. I’ve made a few errors in judgment doing the Paleo thing this year already. No, I didn’t bonk. But I did not eat enough carbs in the 24-hour period before a big workout. So one day I went out and did a hard three-and-a-half-hour ride with climbs and some interval-type openers. Well, I got an unpleasant feeling in my stomach and, later, my whole body, as if I was empty. Which I pretty much was. I’m more careful now about eating at least some carbs with my proteins when the next workout requires a big effort or long duration. I have not eliminated all carbs, but I have cut back pretty dramatically.

By the way, dieting often fails because people want to lose weight too fast and end up bouncing back to oversize portions. I’ve been “dieting” for about three months. It’s a long-term thing that cannot be rushed. If you do diet fast, your training will suffer and you won’t refuel for recovery sufficiently. So plan on no more than two pounds a week, at most. Get into a groove and stick to it.

I figure when I get down to my ideal weight and regular racing kicks in, I can resume healthy carb consumption as part of a good cycling diet. Right now, it’s a good challenge to be trying to lose weight, especially when it helps you go faster.

Of course, all this must be part of a healthy, well-planned training regimen. In other words, you can’t just start eating Paleo or whatever and ride tons. Doesn’t work like that. But with the help of my coach, and a lot of reading up on the topic, I’ve found that a stricter diet in the context of a well-tweaked training program can really make a big difference.

Having said all that, it’s okay to let go now and then. Maybe have one or two the-hell-with-it meals a week. That’s fine, as long as you are doing things right all those other meals.

Finally, this program of mine goes somewhat out the window once warm weather and regular racing come to town. It’s all largely about what I’m doing in the off-season as I build up. Tweak as necessary.

Bon appétit!