Pro's W/KG and climbing question!

Tom_UK
Tom_UK Posts: 171
edited September 2013 in Pro race
Hi all,

I was having a discussion at work about watts per KG and climbing and was hoping someone could shed some light on this question.. bare with me

Lets just say for instance..

Tony Martin can produce 6w/kg for 1 hour and Chris Froome can also produce 6w/kg for 1 hour why do these big TT specialists who can produce huge power for a hour at a time struggle on the big long steep climbs even when there are no attacks just high tempo? So if they are producing very similar w/kg why do they not climb at the same rate?

Is there a sliding scale of how gravity effects Weight X Power X Gradient?

Hopefully this makes sense, thanks in advance for the reply's

Comments

  • majormantra
    majormantra Posts: 2,094
    I've wondered about this too. The variables that dictate a rider's climbing ability seem rather complex.

    Btw, remember this?:

    http://www.steephill.tv/2009/tour-de-fr ... sults-2009

    He got up Ventoux a minute ahead of some dude called Bradley Wiggins.
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,150
    People on here will give better answers than I can but here are some points (which may be wrong)

    1. There's a difference in efficiency between man and machine in time trials and climbing - due to things such as different gearing for example.
    2. There's a difference between doing that wattage relatively fresh and after 150km through the mountains
    3. There's a difference between doing once and doing on consecutive days - I bet Tony Martin would have been of little use to anyone on Thursday.
    4. Tony Martin is actually a decent climber - he's won Paris-Nice and been 2nd on Ventoux (from a break). He can hang in with the good climbers on a one-off stage, but not consistently, so he tends not to bother.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • TheBigBean
    TheBigBean Posts: 20,571
    If Tony Martin could produce 6w/kg he would go up hills competitively. I don't think he can, so he doesn't.

    He wins TTs because his watts to wind resistance ratio is very high.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,590
    Tom_UK wrote:
    Hi all,

    I was having a discussion at work about watts per KG and climbing and was hoping someone could shed some light on this question.. bare with me

    Lets just say for instance..

    Tony Martin can produce 6w/kg for 1 hour and Chris Froome can also produce 6w/kg for 1 hour why do these big TT specialists who can produce huge power for a hour at a time struggle on the big long steep climbs even when there are no attacks just high tempo? So if they are producing very similar w/kg why do they not climb at the same rate?

    Is there a sliding scale of how gravity effects Weight X Power X Gradient?

    Hopefully this makes sense, thanks in advance for the reply's

    Rich has it right.

    Also, on the really steep stuff there is a small acceleration every half revolution of the pedal, as you loose a fair bit of speed pedalling through the dead zone at 6 & 12 o'clock.
    _

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