Strong enough for what?

[George Christiansen]

Admittedly, this is during Gandhi's peak "cuts" period, just before the Mr. Olympia competition.

Do you have any idea how much weight you lose during a long distance race or a multiday event like the Tour de France? The cyclist photos are not necessarily their walking around weights.

Have you seen any of the rather petite women on these boards that can squat more than most guys at a commercial gym? Does their example not lead one to believe that, while most guys on here do want to be big and strong, that it is possible to get rather strong without getting terribly big?

[Crom]

Do you have any idea how much weight you lose during a long distance race or a multiday event like the Tour de France? The cyclist photos are not necessarily their walking around weights.

Yes. But it is not as much as you might think; only 5 lbs or so, because they intentionally approach the race as lean as possible and then try desperately to maintain their caloric balance throughout the race. Most of the weight fluctuation is just water weight during very hot stages.
For example, the picture of Bradley Wiggins, above, was not taken during the Tour de France, but was actually taken after a crash, part way through a one-day race (Paris-Roubaix). It is not like you can visually notice them go from "chunky" to "skinny", because they are experts and simply maintaining their "optimum" weight.

Have you seen any of the rather petite women on these boards that can squat more than most guys at a commercial gym? Does their example not lead one to believe that, while most guys on here do want to be big and strong, that it is possible to get rather strong without getting terribly big?

Well, that is the goal for cycling. But the question still remains "how strong?" and "over what time period of effort?".
'Five reps' represents about 3.5 seconds of cycling pedal strokes.