OK, my brother has gotten me hooked on cycling. First off, he has ridden road bikes for probably 10 years, but a back injury prevented it for a year about 4 years ago. Once that healed, he got serious about fitness and went from 230 lbs at about 30% BF to 168 lbs at 8%, and is now pursuing his masters degree in exercise science.

Anyway, he got me into cycling, and for the last year or so I have ridden three times a week, for about an hour at a time (~20 miles typically), with the occasional longer ride of 30 miles or so on the weekend (the longest ever being 85 miles for a big ride for charity).

Recently, I have been riding for longer distances regularly. Last Saturday was 65 miles, which took approximately 3.5 hours @ an average heart rate of about 145. I make sure to drink constantly (diluted gatorade or the like), and eat energy gels (100 cal) about every 40 minutes. After completion, I have a recovery shake containing 65g carbs from dextrose and 32g whey protein. I repeat this a couple of hours later, and then a meal every 3 hours or so for the rest of the day.

Today I'm getting ready to go for a 70 mile ride, and am just wondering if doing this sort of thing this frequently is going to harm me in terms of muscle mass. My cardiovascular health and endurance is DEFINITELY improved from this, but I don't want to LOOK like a cyclist (you know, small but fit upper body with large legs). Basically I don't want to whittle away at the muscle mass that I've worked for years to achieve, especially now that I've been able to cut away much of my fat to make it visible.

Any opinions? While I don't think the occasional long ride will hurt me, should I stop with the regular LONG sessions? Or are there things I can do so that they won't cause any serious muscle loss in my upper body? Or am I worrying about nothing? What about when I switch from cutting to bulking (hopefully in another couple of months)?

IANAC (I am not a cyclist) but:

I'd say keep doing it, if you enjoy it. A lot of people get uptight about the littlest possible losses of muscle mass, but if you train smart the aerobic benefits outweigh any losses.

I'd eat a little more frequently than you do though. Every 10 miles or so.

Keep weight-training hard and definitely eat at maintainence levels or a little bit above. Being on a diet-induced calorie deficit, at least on those days, is probably not what you want to do if you want to preserve muscle mass.

The reason while cyclists have almost no upper body muscle is because they don't need those muscles and try to be as light as possible. So they lose as much weight as they can and don't "bulk" the upper body.

As long as you work in the gym, you should not lose upper body muscles.

There is one thing you should be aware of. Long endurance events tend to encourage the development of lean muscles. If you look at a track cyclist they have body builder looking legs. Long endurance riders, like on the Tour tend to have much leaner muscles. So if you want bulk on your quads, really long endurance training is not the best.

I agree with everybody posting so far. I ride BMX (not racing, freestyle I guess you would call it...), and mountain bike from time to time. Both require A LOT of muscle power and though I probably burn off a couple thousand calories each day I ride, As long as I keep on the weights and the food, I never lose muscle mass. I see the same thing in my friends who ride too so it's not just me.

I agree, just don't neglect your upper body. Keep lifting and make sure your nutrition is there to maintain your current muscle mass.

You're getting plenty of carbs during your long rides so your body should not have to cannibalize your muscles to fuel it. Make certain to get enough protein in your post-ride meals, continue to lift, and you should be fine.

I'm also new to cycling but I'm hooked now. My longest ride has been 30 miles but I plan to crack 75 by the end of Aug. The 30 mile ride was done after working my 12 hour shift (8:00PM to 8:00AM) and I forgot to bring extra water and food. I felt I could've done more, but I decided to proceed slowly.

I'm slowly gearing up for my first century ride. I hope to try it by mid/late Sept.

Set your priorities, but yes, this amount of cardio will limit your muscle mass. It's just so damn catabolic. It may not limit it much, and slim and erasonably muscular is better than chunky and bigger, but if muscle mass was your key priority, this wouldn't be helpnig.

Thanks everyone for your input.

I think what I will do is to continue with the long rides as often as I get the opportunity (and have the desire) while I am in my cutting phase. Once I get to where I am trying to bulk (hopefully starting this fall sometime), then I will limit my rides to an hour or so, with some interval training worked into them (hills!).

This should work pretty well, since it's tougher in the winter to get as much cycling in anyway, due to weather alone.

(As it turned out, the 70-mile ride I was getting ready to take when I started this thread got abbreviated anyway when I hit one of those metal plates that was layed down over some road repairs, and I broke a spoke. Had to call the sag-wagon (aka my wife) to come get me, since the wheel was so out of true as to be unrideable).