I dunno, Danno. You know more about it than I. But the fast LD riders I know got faster (like
way faster) while riding long distances. A fast woman who was leading a class on riding the 1-day STP many years ago said, "Distance equals strength." I've always remembered that. A buddy of mine who does 20k-30K miles/year got incredibly strong after a few years of that. I used to get pretty strong in the summer, doing a 7-18 hour ride about every other weekend. Of course the folks I've hung out ride their LD as fast as possible rather than as slow as possible . . .
And of course my experience has been with riders who are already quite fit, many of whom could ride a fast century on any given day with no prep. You may be right about folks who are just starting out. Partly it's just semantics. The mavens always say the TdF will be won by the strongest rider. They don't mean the guy who can squat the most. Heck, The Chicken almost won it.
Be all that as it may, if someone rides 150+ miles/week, week after week, they're going to get stronger. I've never ridden with anyone who got weaker by doing my rides.
Or perhaps I should say, surviving my rides. If they came back, they got stronger. I don't know what happened to those I never saw again.
