Bike Race & Power to Weight
UpTheWall
Posts: 207
A mate was was mouthing off about how I wasted money on buying an expensive new bike and reckoned he could easily beat me on his old bike.
I agreed and proposed a lap of the park.
He then backed down and changed the challenge to say he could beat me if I was carrying our weight difference, i.e. 18kg!! (Him 80kg, me 62kg)
That's quite a lot of weight, and would mean my power to weight would be seriously affected.
What do you reckon?
He's not very fit, just doing a bit of weights and running to look pretty. I cycling about 750 miles a month.
I agreed and proposed a lap of the park.
He then backed down and changed the challenge to say he could beat me if I was carrying our weight difference, i.e. 18kg!! (Him 80kg, me 62kg)
That's quite a lot of weight, and would mean my power to weight would be seriously affected.
What do you reckon?
He's not very fit, just doing a bit of weights and running to look pretty. I cycling about 750 miles a month.
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Comments
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Problem is - you can't just strap 18KG on your back and ride off. He has a point to a certain degree, but if you were heavier - a good portion of that extra weight would be muscle and therefore your power would also likely be greater than it is.
And the weight would be distributed throughout your body, and easier to move, etc.
Basically he's got a big mouth and is looking for a way out.0 -
use a kiddy trailer or something - you will absolutely destroy him, nothing can train you for cycling, like cycling.
especially if you get him on anything with just a slight gradient, old bike/new bike wont matter if you do that kind of mileage he wont be able to stick with you let alone beat you.0 -
Aye, thinking on it, I'll take my old bike with the panniers I used for the end to end - I've got a big saddle bag and a handlebar bag, so my drag will be minimal...0
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If he was the same height as you (is he?) then increasing your weight a bit might have some credence.Giant XTC Pro-Carbon
Cove Hustler
Planet X Pro-Carbon0 -
He then backed down and changed the challenge to say he could beat me if I was carrying our weight difference, i.e. 18kg!! (Him 80kg, me 62kg)
To make it fair, do a 2-stage challenge. 1st add 18kg to your bike. Then get him to reduce his weight to 62kg. See how far he gets.0 -
It's your money and enjoyment. Tell him to f*ck off and mind his own business."There's a shortage of perfect breasts in this world, t'would be a pity to damage yours."0
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Have a look at this thread on the commuting forum which is along the same lines.
Bhima mark 2 I think:
http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=127356470 -
Just remind him that your waiting to beat him any time he has the courage to race. Until then just smile. Don't enter in to any crazy handicap that could cause harm to your or your new pride and joy. 8)Why tidy the house when you can clean your bike?0
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To be fair (as he has pointed out himself) he's trying to put the point across that there are a load of things that make a bike go faster than how much it weighs but he obviously hasn't worded his original post very well and ended up suggesting he can personally beat anyone else. On the flat streets of London much of what he seems to be saying is pretty true but it would be a different story in hillier terrain although some still over estimate the benefit of a lighter bike - my old steel bike used to go a lot faster than my current carbon bike as I was fitter, stronger and lighter myself.0
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i think adding 18kg to you would be very hard, your body is used to carrying 62kg trying to make it carry 80kg is asking alot, as had been said if you are 80kg you will have more muscle and more power. Its the reason i don't see any point in saying how much power you can produce without stating your weight it completely pointles0
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Just tell the guy to shut up and f*** off.
Jealous twa*.0 -
If the course is flat, and you can get the weight on the bike, rather than yourself, there should be no problem and you'll win by a country mile. My commuting bike with full panniers is at least 10 kg heavier than my road bike, but on the flat there is no difference in maximum speed. Alright, the acceleration isn't there, but if you can get up to speed, keep your head down you'll sail past him. More muscle mass may enable him to have better acceleration so avoid a sprint at the end, but I'd guess he'll have no stamina or road sense, so keep the pace high and watch him suffer.
On the other hand, if he is 6 foot plus and only 80 kg, he's not exactly a great lardy lump, so don't underestimate his fitness?0 -
If I took on a challenge like this it would be just my luck that my opponent would be some kind of cross between Jason Queally and Rebecca Romero who just stepped onto a bike from another sport and went like the clappers right from the start.
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Pokerface wrote:Basically he's got a big mouth and is looking for a way out.
Or you could always fill it with knuckle sandwich
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OK, so I've made some assumptions here which may or may not be based in the reality of your particular situation. But...
Pro racers will peak at about 7W/kg. So let's say us mortals will put out about half that - say 3W/kg to make the maths easy.
Assuming two riders are of equal fitness, a heavier rider will need to put out more absolute power than a lighter rider to stay at the same speed. If you're a fit club rider, you'll be putting out somewhere around 250W over "a lap of the park" (20-30 mins). He's heavier, so he will need to be putting out around 300W to keep up.
18kg x 3W = 54W.
In this model your mate will therefore find it 4W "easier" and so will beat you by 1.5%
Obviously this is all back of beer mat stuff so feel free to challenge my assumptions/maths/credibility...0 -
seeing this is about the expensive bike V the not so expensive bike, they should be ridden by the same rider to see if your money is wasted? Eg: if you did 10K on both bikes and the cheap bike was quicker then your mate is right.0
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Sounds like your friend realised he stood no chance and turned chicken. He said your bike made no difference and was a waste of money, but most of the money on a high-end bike goes precisely on saving weight. Bit pointless to say the bike doesn't matter and then try and impose a handicap that negates the bike's advantage.0
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Gazzaputt wrote:Have a look at this thread on the commuting forum which is along the same lines.
Bhima mark 2 I think:
http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12735647
Pretty incredible."A cyclist has nothing to lose but his chain"
PTP Runner Up 20150
