-- It’s a question every cyclist should ask
Somebody once said that cycling is the only community in which men appear to obsess more over their weight than women do.
It’s a fair assessment and a pointer to the brutal reality of a simple formula from which there is no escape. Cycling’s magic formula: power-to-weight ratio, which essentially dictates that the more power you can produce, and the less you weigh, the faster you climb.
The stark truth of this formula is seen in wearers of a grand tour King Of The Mountains jersey, who are invariably squits, often weighing in at less than 60kg. And this is why cyclists, particularly in the early season, spend so much time looking at each other’s arses – simply because size reliably indicates probable performance.
Much science has been put to assessing advantages of lost kilos. Calculations show that carrying 1kg less on a 7% grade is worth 0.04m/s (90 kg bike + rider) to 0.07m/s (65 kg bike + rider). For the 90kg rider this translates to 144 metres gained over 1 hour of climbing.
It doesn’t sound like much, but it was just a few kilos that apparently undid five-times Tour de France winner Miguel Indurain, whose reign was finally broken in 1996 by one Bjarne Riis (who has since admitted to EPO use). At the time of his win Riis weighed 150lbs (68kgs) and possessed Maximal Sustainable (MS) power of 480 watts, giving him a power-to-weight ratio of 7 watts per kilogram (480 / 68 = 7) – widely regarded by professional cyclists as the magic number.
Somebody once said that cycling is the only community in which men appear to obsess more over their weight than women do.
It’s a fair assessment and a pointer to the brutal reality of a simple formula from which there is no escape. Cycling’s magic formula: power-to-weight ratio, which essentially dictates that the more power you can produce, and the less you weigh, the faster you climb.
The stark truth of this formula is seen in wearers of a grand tour King Of The Mountains jersey, who are invariably squits, often weighing in at less than 60kg. And this is why cyclists, particularly in the early season, spend so much time looking at each other’s arses – simply because size reliably indicates probable performance.
Much science has been put to assessing advantages of lost kilos. Calculations show that carrying 1kg less on a 7% grade is worth 0.04m/s (90 kg bike + rider) to 0.07m/s (65 kg bike + rider). For the 90kg rider this translates to 144 metres gained over 1 hour of climbing.
It doesn’t sound like much, but it was just a few kilos that apparently undid five-times Tour de France winner Miguel Indurain, whose reign was finally broken in 1996 by one Bjarne Riis (who has since admitted to EPO use). At the time of his win Riis weighed 150lbs (68kgs) and possessed Maximal Sustainable (MS) power of 480 watts, giving him a power-to-weight ratio of 7 watts per kilogram (480 / 68 = 7) – widely regarded by professional cyclists as the magic number.
Indurain’s MS power of 550 watts was much greater than Riis’s, but he weighed more (176lbs or 80kgs), giving him a power-to-weight ratio of 6.8 watts/kg - 0.2 less than Riis. Indurain might have cleaned up the time trials, where weight is less significant, but on the long steep climbs he was caned.
Time to dust off the scales.
Time to dust off the scales.
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2 comments:
Good Lord, this filly requires urgent Mongolian water training. Let's see to it.
Is that you, Lester? This is a cycling blog and nothing to do with horses. Get back to your Best Bets.
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