[Closed] When you reach a certain level of fitness, is it just a weight thing for climbs?

Somewhere on the web there is a 'what if' table based on the ADH climb, Power, Time and Weight.

Here you go..
[img] [/img]

LOL give up meat.... i'd rather finish 45th.

Kryton57 - Member

Explained here:

https://cyclingtips.com/2013/09/climbing-and-time-trialling-how-power-outputs-are-affected/

THAT is something I've been wondering about for ages, and was reminded of last week riding with a mate in Sardinia, which was hilly and flat. Thanks for the link...

Was going to link to the same GCN vid.

Is this the on or off-road route up Butser? From which side? I did an experiment last year when I rode up (off-road) on my heavier bike and my lighter bike. About 6 or 7lbs difference in it. It was a pretty negligible difference (something like 20 secs I recall) or about 3% quicker... I definitely feel faster when I lose 6lbs of bodyweight but as the GCN video shows, it doesn't necessarily mean that I'm much quicker. However, difference of 20kg is whole other matter.

if it wasn't for the promise of a guilt free bacon sanger, I'd never have raced a Gorrick in my life.

Nairo Quintana weighs 58kg, if that helps.

My weight varies between 76-80kg, and I certainly [i]feel[/i] much quicker at 76kg, so much so that I always aim to get down to that if I have a race coming up. It might just be about finding a reason to feel positive though! 🙂

I am assuming a lot of this also applies to running? Or at least the general principle.

Although I suspect the disadvantage of being lighter on a bike and putting out watts is not as bad when running?

Asking as I an plateauing a bit and getting more long distance hill training in is not really an option at the moment but losing weight a bit and shorter leg stuff/gym/cycling is.

Note fell running, proper hills, long climbs, none of this small tarmac stuff. Currently hefting 80kg around with me

I reckon the effect will be even more in running, as the part of the equation with air resistance can almost be removed; this is due to the speeds being much lower.

So even if you drop some power when losing weight providing it's not proportional to the % weight loss then less weight will mean run faster (for distances not sprinting of course)

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/knowledge/training-plans/article/izn20160113-Ask-the-experts-How-to--Strength-exercises-for-cyclist---climbing-0

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/knowledge/training-plans/intermediate-advanced/article/izn20160113-Intermediate---Advanced-4-week-Hill-Climbing-Training-Plan-0

https://www.medibank.com.au/livebetter/welcome-to-the-cadel-evans-gymbetter-bike-training-guide/

https://cyclingtips.com/2014/03/the-rok-of-monaco-what-it-takes-to-train-the-worlds-best-cyclists/

https://cyclingtips.com/2009/01/plyometrics_for_cycling/

http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/2007/02/plyometrics-research.html

https://breakingmuscle.com/learn/preseason-strength-training-for-cyclists-gaining-power-off-the-bike

http://www.redbull.com/en/bike/stories/1331777674589/nino-schurter-xc-training-red-bull

http://fullsus.co.za/the-ins-and-outs-of-strength-training/

using this website http://bikecalculator.com/ and only changing rider weight from 94kg to 70kg up a 1km 10% climb, power the same at 150 watts, time changes from 12.3 minutes to 9.5 minutes

@weeksy, had a think about this a bit more while out for a recovery spin this evening (yes, i'm that sad).

Whilst weight is still a big part of the equation, i reckon you've still got a lot of scope for improvement through fitness/power too. There's plenty of big units on the time trialling scene churning out 350W+ FTP. Got to bear in mind your quite new to 'training', you've probably gobbled up the easy gains, but still plenty more to come by sticking at it.

Is this the on or off-road route up Butser? From which side?

i reckon you've still got a lot of scope for improvement through fitness/power too. There's plenty of big units on the time trialling scene churning out 350W+ FTP. Got to bear in mind your quite new to 'training', you've probably gobbled up the easy gains, but still plenty more to come by sticking at

Oh don't get me wrong, i'm well aware of that buddy, well aware. But i also feel as you say, i've taken the easy gains and any other power increase is going to get exponentionally harder to drag in. When i looked at the Photos from Southern XC race they were in 'race order' and i saw a couple of guys ahead of me by 10 places who i was 10-20kg lighter than ! So clearly it's not just weight holding me back currently.

Don't get me wrong, i'm not looking for an easy way out or the easy option, it was more just a gauge of where i could be if i dropped another 5-10kg but didn't increase anything else.

In my ideal winter plan this year i'll Zwift like a lunatic and both increase power and decrease weight for next year... Whether or not that can be realistic we'll have to wait and see.

Weeksy- The trouble with doing lots of similar length Zwift races at your Threshold is that you get really good at....... riding a Zwift race at your Threshold.

To actually improve it, you need to Push it or Pull it up now. Push it by doing longer efforts slightly under Threshold and pull it on other days by doing shorter intervals over Threshold.

The longer steadier rides would help with the fat burning too. Of course high intensity stuff burns more calories but it also raids your glycogen stores and makes you hungry.

As I said the other day, I'm quite taken with that '10% improvement every 20 weeks' rule as it seems very accurate.
That should help focus your mind on an achievable level of progress- you only need to improve 0.5% each week to reach the maximum sustainable progress.

I weighed 74kg in January 2016 and upping my monthly mileage and using my fitness pal as a calorie counter dropped to 65Kg by November 2016, unsurprisingly I am better at climbing. However I have noticed that since switching to a compact from a triple I have moved on again, I'm assuming that it's because I don't have the luxury to spin smaller gears and have had to develop the strength to pull the slightly taller gearing?

jwt technique and right gearing will have an affect. Spinning and locking your core will help.

Without a power meter its hard to say if you've lost power which is down to training not weight loss.

Ultimately its power to weight ratio and being light makes you faster up hill for the same power output, gears technique.

Also a lot of mileage may just be junk miles. Structured training and working on hills will also improve your climbing ability. If you have a power meter then you will have a better idea of your true fitness. They are better than a HRM for this sort of thing

http://science-cycling.org/?page_id=524