So first off let me say that I live in a VERY flat area with hardly any climbs. None for sure that last over 2 or 3 minutes. And here lately in all the rides/races it seems that the fastest guys are always the bigger muscle head riders that are substantially bigger than what you would expect your average road cyclist to look like. So my question is to all of you smaller guys weighing in around the 140-160 area, myself included, are we really at a disadvantage on extreme flats that act as pretty much a Velo scenario with bigger guys just pedal mashing as hard as they can? I weigh in around 144 and I am a far better climber than any of the bigger guys around here but since there are no real climbs the lead they build up on the flats is more than I can overcome on such short hills.

How big are the guys that are winning your local races? I'm curious if I should change my thinking on all of this.