Power/Weight
Variado
Posts: 107
When does power/weight matter, and when is it just power?
Reason i'm wondering is that I know I have unspectacular power numbers (recent lab-measured MAP ~350W) and on a fast run I find myself working to keep in touch with other riders (typically Cat 3-4) even if they're not pushing particularly hard. If they floor it then i'm off the back after a couple of painful miles. But when we start uphill things change, and I can fairly easily drop many of them without redlining myself. Then back to flat and it reverses again.
My naive assumption is that this is just because i'm quite skinny (5' 10", 141lbs at the moment) whereas most of the people I ride with are more heavily built and carrying a few extra pounds. So in absolute power terms they may be a step above me, but on power/weight i'm probably quite competitive. And power/weight matters going uphill.
Is that all there is to it? Or am I missing something? Not particularly important - will continue to suffer on the flat - but curious about the reasons...
Reason i'm wondering is that I know I have unspectacular power numbers (recent lab-measured MAP ~350W) and on a fast run I find myself working to keep in touch with other riders (typically Cat 3-4) even if they're not pushing particularly hard. If they floor it then i'm off the back after a couple of painful miles. But when we start uphill things change, and I can fairly easily drop many of them without redlining myself. Then back to flat and it reverses again.
My naive assumption is that this is just because i'm quite skinny (5' 10", 141lbs at the moment) whereas most of the people I ride with are more heavily built and carrying a few extra pounds. So in absolute power terms they may be a step above me, but on power/weight i'm probably quite competitive. And power/weight matters going uphill.
Is that all there is to it? Or am I missing something? Not particularly important - will continue to suffer on the flat - but curious about the reasons...
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Comments
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Power to weight comes in with accelerations and climbing.
On the flat, power to frontal area is much more important...0 -
If they race and you don't then there's your answer.More problems but still living....0
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If you're good enough to drop them without too much trouble uphill, you should be able to ride with them on the flats. Are you comfortable riding in a group? You should at least be able to sit on their wheels.0
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go eat a few steaks, put on 6lbs
or just concentrate on your climbingCrafted in Italy apparantly0 -
Variado wrote:When does power/weight matter, and when is it just power?
Reason i'm wondering is that I know I have unspectacular power numbers (recent lab-measured MAP ~350W) and on a fast run I find myself working to keep in touch with other riders (typically Cat 3-4) even if they're not pushing particularly hard. If they floor it then i'm off the back after a couple of painful miles. But when we start uphill things change, and I can fairly easily drop many of them without redlining myself. Then back to flat and it reverses again.
My naive assumption is that this is just because i'm quite skinny (5' 10", 141lbs at the moment) whereas most of the people I ride with are more heavily built and carrying a few extra pounds. So in absolute power terms they may be a step above me, but on power/weight i'm probably quite competitive. And power/weight matters going uphill.
Is that all there is to it? Or am I missing something? Not particularly important - will continue to suffer on the flat - but curious about the reasons...
In broad terms you are probably right - but as otehrs have said - there are other things to think about too, like following a wheel and recovering quickly from very hard short efforts.0
