PEOPLE
114 | MTB | amateur pros
oxidising sugars (carbs) – is
required to deliver and replenish
energy required for these hard
eff orts,” says Dr Posthumus.
“However, there is great benefi t
in Rob incorporating faster
rides, or rides with low-carb
availability, in his endurance
training.”
And here’s why. You’re only
capable of storing so much
glycogen – once you burn
through it, you’re forced to rely
on using fat, which is a less-
effi cient fuel source. The idea
behind fasting before a long-
distance ride is to rid your body
of its glycogen stores and force
your body to burn fat, teaching
it to use fat as fuel better.
THE FINER DETAILS
Six years ago, Waleed
participated in BIKE Transalp in
Austria, where he discovered
he struggled with cycling at
high altitude. First, he ordered
an altitude tent from Hypoxico
in the US, and proceeded to
sleep in it for two months
prior to the Cape Epic. But
he found sleeping in a tent
During the two months
leading up to the Cape Epic,
Waleed lives in an altitude
accommodation he has had
installed in his home.
uncomfortable. Time for an
upgrade. Waleed bought an
altitude accommodation,
from the owner of BikePlus,
Cape Town, Xavier Scheepers.
It’s a special room where,
using a compressor outside
and a computer inside, the
composition of the air is
altered to simulate an altitude
of 3 000m. It has a bedroom,
kitchen and bathroom.
“BikePlus followed the
model of train high, live low,
but Waleed built the perfect
model: sleep high, train low,”
Dr Posthumus explains. “That’s
what professional teams do on
training camps.”
Although acclimating to
decreased atmospheric
pressure at high altitude
increases your ability to carry
and use oxygen and in turn
increases the amount of oxygen
your body can convert to
work (VO2max), high-intensity
exercise can’t be done at a fast
enough speed at high altitude.
“Despite the fact you improve
your body’s capacity to carry
oxygen at high altitude, the
amount delivered to working
muscles is decreased when
compared to training at sea
level,” says Dr Andrew Bosch,
associate professor in the
Department of Human Biology
at the University of Cape Town.
Waleed considers the weight
of his bike another important
factor. If his bike weighs more,
he will ride up to the Block
House in Cape Town in a slower
time at a certain heart rate. He
says every gram of weight he
shaves off his bike aff ords him
an advantage of an extra fi ve
to 10 Watts of power. He also
measures everything, from heart
rate to power output, as does
Andrew Mclean.
EPIC/SPORTZPICS •
At the sharp end of the Cape
Epic fi eld, power-to-weight
ratio (P:W) is everything when
it comes to climbing up long,
steep hills. “Waleed looks
underweight because he’s a tiny
guy,” Rob comments, “but he’s
actually a couple of kilograms
heavier than race weight.”
The problem lies in the way
in which Waleed chooses to
lose weight. According to
Michael Hutchinson, author of
Faster: The Obsession, Science
and Luck Behind the World’s
Fastest Cyclists, intermittent
fasting is bad news for cyclists.
If your body has insuffi cient
carbohydrate when you’re
performing at high-intensity,
muscle protein could be used
as fuel instead. This potential
loss of lean muscle mass would
ultimately lead to loss of power.
It’s the equivalent of eating
your own legs! Therefore, it’s
important to factor in P:W when
trying to determine an optimal
body weight.
“There are two important
aspects of the P:W equation
– body fat and lean muscle
mass or strength,” explains
Shelley Meltzer and associate
registered dietician Rowena
Visagie. “I would recommend
that Waleed visits a biokineticist
to test his body fat. If he could
benefi t from dropping his body
fat, I suggest he consults with
a registered dietician who has
sports experience, so that he’s
able to eat in a consistent way
that will maintain his lean body
mass, optimise energy levels for
training, and promote a healthy
immune system, while shedding
body fat in a safe manner.”
Rob goes on fi ve- to six-
hour fat-burning rides. “Purely
ketogenic diets generally don’t
work well among mountain
cyclists, simply because the
majority of athletes aren’t able
to adapt to be able to produce
enough energy from fat for
high-power eff orts above their
threshold. Rapid energy – which
is commonly derived from