Originally Posted by
hamster
It's not hard to demonstrate that it isn't.
....calculations....
My cycle club just had one of their large all-club rides. I ended up leading the slowest speed group. We did an 11.5 mph average for 25 miles, with a 4% grade hill and a 3% grade hill and smaller roller hills, 800 feet of total climbing for the ride.
The riders were nowhere near 145 watts. Think 60 or 75 watts as the effort some of them were willing to do.
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Now that I think of it,
Back 15 years ago, when I was an occasional rider, using my mountain bike with slicks on city rides, my "epic" ride was 8 miles to a local park and back, with a 5-6% grade of 200 feet or so after a shallow grade climb of a mile or two. I was in my triple's 24(approx) chainring x 30 (I think) cog, at well under 4 mph. I was working hard, too.
Estimating from your calculator link, I was probably near 100-120 watts. My 15-16 mph speeds on the flats was in that ballpark, too.
Now I sometimes ride that same hill on the way to a 35 mile group ride, and it seems like nothing much at all.
My old self would be amazed to think that years later, I'd be riding 50 or 60 miles with 6000 or 8000 feet of climbing.