47. Cycling is a weight sensitive but not a weight making sport.
The number one nutrition goal cyclists of all ages and abilities have when they want to work with me as a sports dietitian is to lose weight and improve their power to weight ratio.
Many cyclists assume that if you weigh less your power to weight ratio will be higher and you’ll perform better on the bike.
While this CAN be the case - it is not always true for every individual depending on their starting place and the strategies they have used to change their body composition.
I have known cyclists who lost weight lose considerable watts across the whole spectrum from their 5 second sprint to their 90 min power. And I have also seen cyclists seen their power numbers skyrocket and become when they’ve gained or maintained weight.
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Thoughts on race weight and power to weight ratio
It's important to look at your physical frame - some people are naturally more petite and others are more muscular and naturally will weigh more because they have more bone and muscle. The number on the scale isn't the only factor influencing how powerful or fast someone is.
Jonas Abrahamson is a fantastic example of a professional rider who stopped fighting his physiology starving himself to ride at 60kg, gained 20kg and last year raced Tour de France around 80kg
Lower weight doesn’t automatically equal faster just as much as a higher weight doesn’t mean you’ll be slower.
It all comes down to body composition, your personal physiology and the types of races that you do. There is not just one type of cyclist out there.
When people think of a cyclist, they often visualise the climbers the Chris Froomes of the world, very small, very lean, almost cachexic and frail, but incredibly fast climbing up hills.
But cyclists come in all spectrums, and there might be a 20-30kg difference between the lightest and heaviest rider in a peleton because they all come with different roles and physiologies.
Whenever we lose weight, it’s not just body fat that we are losing - but there are also muscle losses and the faster the weight goes down the more likely muscle is affected.
If a rider who is more muscular and powerful, like van der poel or wout van art lost muscle to achieve a specific weight goal he would likely see ridiculous drops in his power and performance.
Which is why working to your strengths and choosing nutrition, weight and body composition goals that are actually relevant to you matters.
Where and when does power to weight matter?
If you are a climber and there are long draggy 20 min plus climbs - this is where optimising power to weight matters most. You’re squeezing the past on the climb and the competition can’t hold on the pace and starts dropping.
Here in Australia there are rarely races with long enough climbs to need to utilise the highest power to weight ratio- it’s more the punchy climbs that sees riders getting dropped.
If you’re riding one day stage races in Europe, being too light can work against you, because you can get blown about in the wind and having to work harder not to get dropped.
Whereas if your role in the team is to be the climber, you’ve got those steady dragging climbs and your physiology is suited for it - this is when power to weight matters most.
So what is ‘ideal race weight’?
Cycling is a weight sensitive but not a weight making sport. There is no one perfect ideal weight. The right weight for you should be something that you can maintain with your lifestyle, exercise and social life without needing to think about food 24/7.
I will often see riders or coaching staff give blanket you must lose 2kg recommendations to riders without taking into account their physiology.
I have seen in the off-season compare themselves to other riders and want to be lighter even if their key race isn’t for six months down the track.
I have seen riders with the lowest skinfolds I have ever measured believe that they need to lose weight because they are comparing themselves to another rider who is naturally more petite or shorter than they are.
Sometimes there is minimal weight to lose. It’s a fine line between being lean and underfuelling in a way that increases the changes of REDs. Any weight loss they have is going to losses in muscle, water and worse case scenario bone. All things which negatively affect performance.
If you have any of this negative chatter in your mind, I’ll share with you what I remind them.
Ignore the others. Put your blinkers or and focus on you. It is not a competition to be the lightest possible. That is not what wins the race.
Race weight isn’t something you can predict or give a blanket statement for what it should be. Being the strongest, healthiest and most powerful version of yourself. That is what is your ‘ideal race weight’ is.
The old school approach of being super restrictive during the race season and then going overboard in offseason with nutrition results in big swings in weight up and down. It also comes with health complications and disordered eating patterns that can linger for years.
Ideally you are able to maintain a weight that stays relatively stable throughout the year without much effort, and then once or twice a year around your key race, we tighten the screws a little. Become a little more focused and intentional in the lead up to that race, then transition back. There may only be a difference of 1-2kg between the two.
This is where your nutrition can make or break it.
I often see people cutting corners underfuelling their training and spending the rest of the time hungry, thinking about food, restricting the urge to eat and their weight and body composition doesn’t change even though they are training all the time.
Optimising your nutrition around your training helps you achieve the best body composition for you, while supporting high quality training and rapid recovery.
Through this approach I have helped cyclists get to and sustain a much lower body weight than they had previously thought possible (without feeling like they were on a diet). As well as help riders to skyrocket their power numbers and cycling performance and power even though weight on the scale stayed the same.
It all comes down to timing and fuelling your training.
If optimising your body composition is a goal you have set for yourself this year, I’d love to invite you to come join my team and support you on your nutrition journey.
That’s all for today. Until next time, like subscribe and remember to fuel your ride.