Originally Posted by
scplus5
I agree completely on the last statement.
What about rolling resistance? He's squishing the tires at 230 more than I do at 195 or another guy at 150.
I get the acceleration part....completely makes sense and it is a good parallel to climbing, at least in my mind. But even
once he is at top speed, it must take more power to stay there than it would if he dropped 30 lbs. Right?
Once he's at top speed, he has momentum. Air resistance and rolling resistance are the only things slowing him down at that point. So if a 230lb rider and a 200lb rider with exactly the same aero profile get to 40mph at the same time and both stop pedalling, the smaller rider will slow down before the larger one.