"Chris Horner heals and hopes for call to Tour de France" - article from OregonLive

cool tidbits about Horner's life in Bend including stuff about his kids... oh, and cycling of course!

over 2 years ago guidemd 16 comments 1 recs |

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The million dollar guestion... Who's gonna get the call for the Tour?

I sure hope he gets it.

by sminer on Jun 20, 2009 4:17 PM EDT reply actions

Interesting!

Interviewer: Do you know who is the leader going to be this year for Astana?
Horner: Haha! Ooh know you’re getting in to the questions.. On paper it’s pretty easy. Alberto Contador BUT sometimes you have to look further than the cover..

Crashdan: "Veni Vidi Vici beats Wing Kong Exchange... … and I’ll change my signature to a backwards smile for a month."
Frining "It's what he thinks.. But he always do.. I eat my shoe if he ride top 15 in le Tour" about Devolder

by Frinking on Jun 20, 2009 5:17 PM EDT reply actions

And if you go beyond the cover then it is even clearer that Bert should be leader

by Phil H. on Jun 20, 2009 6:15 PM EDT up reply actions

And this is worrying me:

At 5-foot-11, Horner is tall for a racer, but he weighs a mere 140 pounds, the lightest he’s been as a professional. Astana lists him as 154, but while recovering from this year’s injuries, he began a strict diet to lose weight so he could climb faster. He consumed just 2,000 calories a day — less than prisoners in Texas get. Breakfast was tea and toast.
“I can’t train any harder,” he says. “I’m at the max of what the body can handle. I’ve tried everything else and this is the only thing left.”

Elliott, who just finished her first year in law school in San Diego, is his unofficial nutritionist, and doesn’t worry about him sacrificing power in the name of shedding weight. “He’s good at reading his body,” she says.

Now back on the bike, he’s doubled the calories. He’ll increase that to 6,000 to 6,500 a day for races, but he earns his Belgian nickname honestly. They call him “Snickers man.” Amateur riders, hide your eyes: Before a 50-mile ride, he downed a Dr Pepper and a chocolate chip cookie

Wtf.. Where does that stop…

by Frinking on Jun 20, 2009 5:25 PM EDT reply actions

I don't know, but snickers is one of the best candy bars out there.

Especially the new dark chocolate.

by sminer on Jun 20, 2009 5:55 PM EDT up reply actions

you

got DARK chocolate snickers over there ? mmmm…..bl**dy colonials….

by lucybears on Jun 20, 2009 10:15 PM EDT up reply actions

What exactly is worrying you?

Every serious athlete in a sport where weight matters, is on a diet. He has a nutritionist and, more importantly, he is a man, so he should be all right.

by tedvdw on Jun 20, 2009 5:58 PM EDT up reply actions

catabolism

specifically, bone density catabolism.

Beyond the shocks to the immune system when you go that skinny, that sort of calorie deficit drives the body to raid the bones to make up the nutritional needs.

You’d think a guy recovering from a broken bone . . .

by R Mc on Jun 20, 2009 8:18 PM EDT up reply actions

the whole block quote sounds pretty profoundly unhealthy to me…then again what do I know, these guys live in a different world I guess

by plinytheelder on Jun 21, 2009 12:01 AM EDT up reply actions

Well he seemed to recover enough from that shoulder and rib(s) break in April to race the Giro in stellar form

And also he wasn’t riding at all so 2,000 calories is enough to scrap by with if your spending some Q/T on the couch and not doing much.

by Vlaanderen90 on Jun 21, 2009 2:36 AM EDT up reply actions

and you often see the riders downing coke and candy bars/gel packs (how's that different from candy bars)? during stages

"Wizard's first rule. People are stupid. They will believe anything they want to be true or fear to be true." -- Terry Goodkind

by umwolverine on Jun 20, 2009 6:11 PM EDT up reply actions

coke only at very end of race for immediate sugar boost, no?

And I thought the makeup of most gels was pretty different from that of candy bars?

by plinytheelder on Jun 21, 2009 12:00 AM EDT up reply actions

Both contain sugar, but that's about as far as the similarity goes.

Candy bars usually have sugar plus a lot of fat (a Snickers has 11 grams fat, 4 of that saturated) and sometimes protein (Snickers: 5g). The main ingredient in gels is also sugar, but usually with salt, potassium, vitamins, amino acids, electrolytes, and/or caffeine thrown in to help recovery or boost performance. Concentrated sport drink, really.

Lance was drinking Coke on the bike during the Giro.

I can't understand why people cheat--Mark Cavendish

by majope on Jun 21, 2009 7:28 AM EDT up reply actions