Fergie wrote:Three things....

1. See a Dietitian and get the right advice first off, not from a training book or magazine.
2. Get a perm. May not help you lose weight but then no one will go out with you so no high calorie restaurant meals.
3. Tell me where you get those Pie, Pies with the Gravy topping, that looks f**king awesome.

True, True, and True!!!
I have done 1. Well worth the money if you're serious.

The picture says it all, northern boys love gravy! Also lost 2 - 3kgs today, bought a Giant TCR Composite 1off a mate to replace my Apollo Performance Does this mean I can eat 2 - 3kgs of pies

Fergie, already married and it is the kids that stops me eating high calorie restaurant meals and since I had a demi-wave in the 80's been too scared to go to the next stage of un-natural hair curling

nzmatto, are you saying you had a perm and can recommend it!!

Thanks for all the advice, do appreciate it, but still need info on the fundamentals of the question. I.e. Would I benefit from the extra energy of a 5% CHO solution on a 2 hour ride as this would mean I could ride harder and thus burn more calories on the ride, or is this benefit outweighed by the calories contained in the solution? TVM

The whole thing is pretty bloody simple really.

Ride heaps, eat less. Don't get on the beers, don't smash the bakery on the way home. Ride some more.

Not sure about the perm.

Given that you're 6 months out from K1/taupo. I'd spend the first 3 months dropping weight and the second 3 months getting faster.
Hard to do both at once.

Not too sure about not getting on the beers Mono.
All the Pro's I know are absolute piss heads and only abstain a few days out from a race. That being said most of them are lightweights and are smashed in 5 or 6 beers