The ideal cycling weight for what?

The word ‘Ideal’ implies that there is one perfect weight for a given cyclist but this is not true. The answer to the question posed in the article title depends on what the aims and lifestyle of that cyclist are. The needs of a professional athlete are very different to those of the cycle tourist or someone who just uses a bicycle for transport. Having said that, there is a truth understood by anybody who has ever toiled up a steep hill on a bicycle – fat is hard work when the road rears up!

Cycling for health

If you only cycle to keep fit and well and are not interested in performance, then you don’t need to concern yourself with your weight, beyond keeping it within a healthy range. Some people refer to Body Mass Index (BMI) for this, but I don’t like it because it doesn’t take into account how muscular your body is. Muscle is good, excessive fat is bad but BMI ignores the difference.

My advice would be to use your cycling to help get your weight down to the point where you don’t have a roll of fat round your waist, or at most just a small one. Don’t go so far as to have all your ribs sticking out. If you achieve this then you will be maximising the health benefits of your time on the bike.

Cycling for fitness

If you are trying to maximise your cycling performance, you should pay close attention to your weight. Any excess fat is a burden to carry uphill. You will go downhill faster than your skinny buddies, but that will never make up for the time lost climbing. The steeper the hills, the worse it gets.

Upper body muscular bulk will not help your cycling either. Lance Armstrong came from a triathlon background and his swimmer’s upper body muscle was a handicap on the bike. It was only when he reduced the size of his upper body that his road cycling performance improved. If he’d still been a triathlete, his swimming would have suffered when he did that. This is why I say that the ideal cycling weight depends on what type of cycling you do, and what your goals are.

The specialist climber

If you look at the ‘mountain goats’ of the pro peloton, you will soon notice that they tend to be incredibly skinny. The truth is that they constantly battle to keep their weights down to that level and some have eating disorders. That isn’t a healthy thing to do, but it is an individual choice to make. If you consider yourself to be a climber, just be very careful not to overdo your weight loss – winning a bike race isn’t worth dying for and Anorexia Nervosa isn’t something to play about with.

What is my ideal cycling weight?

I have a lot of experience of cycling in the Pennine hills of northern England. I have done it fat and I have done it skinny and I can tell you straight that cycling round here is easier when skinny! I overdid it a few years back and got too thin. I looked gaunt, I kept getting ill and I didn’t have the stamina that I have now. I could climb the first few hills quickly, but then I’d get exhausted and perhaps come down with a cold a few days later.

Over the years, I piled a lot of weight on. Sure, I stopped getting ill but I got to an unhealthy size and felt really unfit.

I’m 6′1″ tall and a medium build. For me, as a cyclist who enjoys riding in the hills and mountains, below 168 pounds is too light, above 182 pounds is too heavy so I’m aiming for about 175 pounds. You should be able to work out a range of weights like that for yourself. Aim to lose weight until you are slimmer and fitter. If you overdo it, put a couple of pounds back on and maintain that weight from then on.

You can follow my efforts to improve as a cyclist by losing 46 pounds of ugly fat on my blog at SlimmerAndFitter.com.

I have my successes and I have my failures but I am steadily getting there and I tell you how. If you are overweight and it is holding back your cycling, now is the time to start doing something about it. Remember – what one fat person can achieve, so can another! Why not you?

I’m no nutrition expert, but I’ve found a guy who is… Read my review of his acclaimed book and take an important step towards finally reaching your ideal cycling weight!

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1. The Right Cross

The right cross is the most common way to be hit or almost to be hit by a car while on a bicycle. It consists of a car pulling out of a side street, parking lot, or a driveway on the right and hitting a cyclist. There are two possible types of collisions here. Either the cyclist is in front of the car and the car hits the cyclist or the car pulls out in front of the cyclist and the cyclists hits the car.

Ways to Avoid this Accident: a headlight so that cars see the bike and a horn that is loud and is used, a lot.

2. Door Prize

In a “door prize” accident, a car’s driver opens the car door right in front of a cyclist. The cyclist runs into the door because he or she is unable to stop in time or swerve to avoid the door. This type of accident or collision is more common than one would think. It is actually the most common car-bike collision in Santa Barbara.

Ways to Avoid this Accident: ride far to the left of parked cars. Riding far to the left of a parked car will prevent the doors from being close enough for this situation to be a problem.

3. Crosswalk Slam

In a crosswalk slam, a cyclist is riding on the sidewalk and crosses a street in a crosswalk and a car makes a turn right into the cyclist. This accident occurs because cars don’t expect bikes in a crosswalk so cyclists must be extra careful to avoid this type of accident. This type of accident is so common that some studies show that sidewalk riding is twice as dangerous as riding on the road. Another study showed that sidewalk riding was more than twice as dangerous as riding.

Ways to Avoid this Accident: Use a headlight, slow down, or don’t use the sidewalk at all

4. Wrong Way Wreck

A wrong way wreck occurs when a cyclist is riding against traffic. A car will turn onto the street right into the cyclist. The car doesn’t see the cyclist because it was looking for traffic coming from the left, not the right. There was no reason to expect someone on a bike to come at them from the wrong direction.

Ways to Avoid this Accident: Always ride with traffic, not against it.

5. The Red Light

Red lights are very dangerous for cyclists. In red light accidents, a cyclist will stop to the right of a car that has already stopped at a red light or stop sign. Unfortunately, the driver of the car can’t see the cyclist. When the light turns green, the cyclist moves forward and a car that turns right will turn right into a cyclist.

Ways to Avoid this Accident: don’t stop in a car or other vehicle’s blind spot.

6. Right Hook

The right hook occurs when a car passes a cyclist and then tries to make a right turn directly in front of the cyclist or right into the cyclist. The car thinks a bike isn’t going fast because it’s a bicycle so it never occurs to the driver that he or she can’t pass the cyclist in time. Even if a cyclist has to slam on his or her brakes to avoid hitting the car, the driver won’t feel he or she did anything wrong. This kind of collision is very hard to avoid because it is typically not seen until the last second and then there is nowhere for the cyclist to go to avoid the accident.

Ways to Avoid this Accident: Ride in the center of a lane of traffic. This reduces a car’s ability to pass a cyclist and so reduces the possibility of turning directly in front of the bike.

7. Right Hook, Part 2

The second type of right hook occurs when a cyclist passes a slow-moving car or other bike on the right and then it unexpectedly makes a right turn into the passing cyclist.

Ways to Avoid this Accident: Don’t pass on the right.

8. Left Cross

This accident occurs when a car coming from the opposite direction of the cyclist makes a left turn right in front of the cyclist or right into a cyclist. This type of collision is very similar to the right cross accident, above.

Ways to Avoid this Accident: Use a headlight, wear something bright even during the day, and avoid sidewalks

9. Rear End

A cyclist innocently moves a smidge to the left to go around a parked car or other road obstruction when it gets hit from behind by a car behind it.

Ways to Avoid this Accident: Never move to the left without looking first; use a rear view mirror; and don’t swerve in and out of the parking lane and the traffic lanes

10. The Rear End, Part 2

The rear end part two is the biggest fear for many cyclists. In this accident, a car hits a cyclist from behind. While it is a significant fear, it is not a very common accident. This type of accident makes up only 3.8% of all bicycle-car accidents. This is, however, one of the hardest collisions to avoid since a cyclist rarely looks behind it. Any risks of being hit from behind are greater at night and during rides outside of a city where the traffic is faster and the lighting is worse.

Ways to Avoid this Accident: get a red, rear light for the bike; wear a reflective vest or triangle; select wide, slow streets; get a mirror; choose back or side streets

For more information on bicycle accidents and the world of cycling, please visit http://www.bike-locks.com.

Joseph Devine

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