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Cycling Anonymous
I'm 6'0" and weight about 190. I'm kinda flabby, but I'm in decent shape. A buddy of mine sold me a bike three weeks ago, and I'm starting to get up into serious business range. Today I just went 50 miles at 16mph avg. I looked online at a calorie calculator; it said i burned 3000 calories on that ride. If that's true, it's the most exercise I've ever done in my life.

Cycling is crazy for how many calories it burns an hour while still not feeling exceptionally difficult. I really like it, I guess there's something to the wind cooling you off and not having to pound your knees into the concrete like when you're running.

So here's my question. I thought the 50 mile ride was difficult, but it's something I could do once a week. Is there really any advantage to those long rides? Should I just stick with a shorter 20-25 mile ride every other day? Also, what do you eat before during after, etc. What should I avoid? Any general advice would be appreciated.
>> Anonymous
I think splitting it up onto different days would give your daily metabolism a boost.

Plus, you might start to eat your musclez with ~3+hours of biking
>> Anonymous
Extremly long rides tend to get me a sore ass and back.
I prefer to do 20 - 30 mile rides every other day.
Better training effect too than just doing a killing tour once a week.

Food: Carbs before, I load up with oatmeal.
During: Water and electrolytes and some more carbs in form of banana or energy bar.
After: Some more carbs and loads of protein.