Any Road cyclists here on Reta?

[Daisbuys]

Glad I found this thread, was just about to post. My "Kit" arrives in the next few weeks and I am a April - Oct roadie, about 2500 miles. Some years more, some less. But, I was about to ask how Reta effects rides. I do mostly group or solo rides and sometimes , a fondo so nothing competitive besides personal expectations.

How did the training go, how did u fuel it? Did you see any dropoff or feel weak or did it all hinge on staying hydrated and keeping protein up ? TY !

I’m still 8 weeks out for the trip, and the great British weather has stopped myself from going out to get the miles in, so been doing a lot of indoor cycling which has its good days and bad!

But I did manage to get out this weekend, and done a very hilly 40 miler with a group and didn’t struggle once!

I can still eat reasonably well on Reta so fuelled the ride with a bowl of porridge and 2 bottles of tailwind (300 calories and electrolytes in each) but my hydration/electrolyte/magnesium intake is on point throughout the week.

Still consuming approximately 2000 calories a day.

Another 50 miler to do this Saturday and will repeat last weekends process.

 

[Daisbuys]

If you can get to your goal weight before you go to the Pyrenees, then couldn't you just stop Reta or go down to a low maintenance dose so that you can be confident you can fuel properly for your rides?

I’m going to take a miss on my jab for that week. Want to be confident I can get get proper fuel in throughout it, so will resume at the same dosage when I come back

 

[Cannonball72]

I am an active mountain biker, typically 4 day/week, 10+miles x2, 15miles, and 20+ mile a ride, I also lift weights 2x/week (push/pull).

The activation of fat metabolism with Reta is a blessing and a curse, it’s great in that I don’t get hungry on longer rides, have sustained energy, but it leads to under-feeding.

The most notable change I see is my max HR, I am 53, have always had a max HR of 180/190 on intense efforts (shorter days), but now see my Max HR going over 200. It’s forced me to dial back a bit. At first I thought it was a glitch in the watch, but my resting HR is also up from 50ish to mid 60s, and this is common on Reta. I am monitoring this closely.

I am relatively low dose, 1.5mg twice a week. This dosage has been very effective for my overall health goal, and greatly reduced my emotional/stress/boredom eating and alcohol consumption.

I am a big fan of minimum effective dose, as I am on true TRT at .6mg/week (.3 x twice a week) on same days as Reta. Also Gonadatropin 2x/week @.5 mg, and daily tadalifil for full disclosure.

For the record, daily tadalifil was a strong positive impact on my endurance, perhaps this is why I don’t notice the energy loss from Reta calorie deficit.