Originally Posted by
wolfchild
How many people ride 300 pound bikes up 10% grade ?? . It's a recipe for disaster which will kill and destroy your knees...I much rather prefer deadlifts, squats , power cleans and plyometric jumps. I also commute on a fixed gear which provides more resistence then a freewheel bike.
i have been doing this for years and i haven't had any problem yet and i had an achille tendon rupture when i was younger. I believe that as long as i keep riding i won't have any trouble as my bones are used to.
Originally Posted by
PennyTheDog
You pedal to accelerate, but you also pedal to stay at constant speed. Different kinds of friction apply a force backward and you need to apply an equal force forward to stay at constant speed. And friction increases nonlinearly with speed, which is why it's so hard to maintain say 25 mph even on flat ground. You can look up power output for pro racers, and it's very high. As long as you're pedaling at the same cadence, higher power means higher torque (and higher force).
i agree but you agree that the average joe will have a bike less clean (which means more friction), not as efficient (cheaper gears), probably some larger tires and an heavier bike than a pro racer. Because of all that i couldn't say which one has to handle more friction. I know for sure that the average joe will weight more and will be heavier than some pro racer.