Someone Please Wake Up My Metabolism!

November and December were 60 days of free for all caloric excess. It came in many forms, but mostly liquid, empty calories of the hops and barely variety. I put on 22lbs from my '08 race weight and it is coming off ever so slowly. Even with the increased training volume, the pounds are loathed to be shed. They have found a home and they ain't leaving! My near 40 physiology showing me who's boss. I can't even monitor my weight because I broke my scale. Well, I actually smashed it. After a strong week of training I stepped on the scale to be confronted with a number that was an affront to my senses and betrayed the hard work I had put into the peddles and snowshoes that week. Well, in a fit of anger I stomped down, I guess pretty hard (see how this training pays off?) on the scale to punish the evil coil mechanism for providing such an egregious number to me. I crushed the scale in spectacular fashion and now it's in a landfill somewhere in central Maine (my guess is Norrigewalk). To be competitive in cycling, one must have a good power to weight ratio. Strong, but light riders rule the course pushing big gears with light bodies. Big muscle heads like me go fast on flat roads where sheer muscle mass can churn out high power, but when the road starts to tilt up, gravity's insidious pull turns the strong, but big rider into a suffering puddle of flesh. The same mass that helps the big, strong rider tear it up on the flats, works against him in the hills. Speed does not kill. Gravity does. So, I'll keep training and work on the discipline to limit the empty carbs as these are the easiest calories to limit (I'll save some money while I'm a t it!). For a more detailed discussion of the role power to weight ratios plays in cycling, check out the link written by a former American pro, Bobby Julich:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/features.php?id=features/2009/bobbyjulich_jan09