Originally Posted by Cadillac
I mentioned to a friend that on a particular route I was slow climbing the hills.
I said that although I was doing 20 km/hr on the flat, I was riding only 5 to 8 km/hr up the steep hills.
He said, "It doesn't matter how slow you go up a hill because you can always make up for it on the downhill so that it will even-out your speed."
While his "theory" sounds plausible, it seems to me that in practice it doesn't hold up.
Can you comment?
Not exactly true: The fastest average speed you can attain on a climb and descent is twice your climbing speed. Suppose you ride up a one mile hill at 4 mph, so it takes you fifteen minutes. Now turn around and ride back down at an infinite speed so the descent takes precisely zero seconds. Then you've ridden two miles in fifteen minutes for an average speed of 8 mph. So you've "evened-out" your speed somewhat, but there's a limit to it. That's partly why the TdF guys who are fast in the mountains win the Tour.