Eating habits of pro cyclists

[User]

 

[Dogtrousers]

From twitter

Mark Cavendish

Would definitely give a customer service prize to staff in @NandosUK Loughton (don't bother insinuating I was paid to say this. I wasn't)

Edit: I've now read the article, and it was very thought provoking. Deserved better than my silly Cav-eats-Nandos response.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

That's a really good piece - that could apply to a lot of sports although in pro-cycling, the contemporary thinness of road riders is obvious.

 

[DCLane]

Very interesting. My youngest is naturally thin, which helps him race well. I'm similar.

It's the next stage, documented here, which leads to problems. SWMBO is a Dietitian and has dealt with lots of people who have eating disorders.

 

[BrumJim]

The same mentality that laughs at weaker riders who get dropped on climbs can easily laugh at the individuals who cave in and binge on cookies and pies.

Paging @vernon !

 

[Dogtrousers]

Kimmage in Rough Ride also talked about riders secretly smuggling food and eating it like naughty kids smoking behind the bikesheds, away from the eye of the team director.

Also, in another book, I recall Greg LeMond finding the strict dietary restrictions of French teams completely weird, ice cream was good (or possibly bad) cheese was bad (or possibly good) ... and so on. A lot of it made no sense whatsoever.

Tyler Hamilton quoted some doctor or other (maybe Ferrari) saying that to succeed in GTs a rider needed: "To be very very fit; to be very very skinny; to have a high haematocrit." We all know how they achieved the third of these, and the first comes from genetics/hard work.

I'll see if I can look up these quotes.

 

[DRM]

I'm sure I read in Charly Wegalius' book, domestique that Italian D.S would take food off the riders during evening meals to keep the riders weight down, and that he was also permanently hungry.

 

[oldroadman]

Quite a lot of it is that it's hard to eat enough quality food to replace 5,000 + kcals a day.

 

[DRM]

Yes the riders must be burning more calories than they consume, finding food that doesn't bloat them and make them feel heavy and lethargic, and be tasty must give the team chef's a real headache, one that lasts 3 weeks.

 

[raindog]

Felice Gimondi tucking in

 

[Arsen Gere]

At the back of Michael Hutchinson's book he says if there were two things he'd have done differently in his career they would be to spend more time on his tt bike and pay more attention to the quality of his diet.

 

[slowmotion]

Wasn't there a blog by a TdF chef (or somebody) a year ago that showed what his team was eating every day? I don't know about his portion control, but it was a mouth-watering read.

 

[fimm]

There is (or at least was) "Team Sky Chef" on Twitter (can't remember the exact handle, but it was something like that).

 

[StuAff]

There is (or at least was) "Team Sky Chef" on Twitter (can't remember the exact handle, but it was something like that).

Søren Kristiansen, now working for MTN-Qhubeka (as currently named). Twitter handle now @TheFuelingChef. Also Hannah Grant of Tinkoff-Saxo, @dailystews.