Originally Posted by
asgelle
How are you measuring how much force is going onto your pedals? It's easy to calculate the force required to produce a certain power at a certain rpm (after all power is just force times velocity) and this has been done numerous times. The results show that for sprint powers around 1500W and cadences of around 110 rpm (because I don't know the exact values), the resultant force is around 80 lbs.
O.K. I'll do it again. 1500 W; 110 rpm = 2 m/s; => 750 N = 168 lbf for 2 legs = 84 lbf/leg
Understood now in addressing your original statement that "you must be severely limited in leg strength to have producing this amount of force" - this would then make the assumption that all people who are capable of producing this amount of force are equal wouldn't it? The greater strength you have the more efficient you are at reproducing 80 pounds of force continually (i.e. while sprinting) thereby making you faster.
BTW sprint cadence is well in excess of 110 rpm - probably more in the 130-150 range.