Originally Posted by
briandelmo
I'm suited for more break away/tt type riding. I used to be fairly explosive but too many years in triathlon has killed that, so I'm working on my sprinting and short efforts.
As a sprinter type my experience is that when I tilted toward the "hell, I'm heavy, why don't I get really strong" side of the equation, my sprint really didn't get better. I was stronger in some ways (weight lifting metrics) but on the bike not much changed. To be fair I don't do leg work because fragile knees and my preference for injury prevention.
I was probably 190-195 lbs at some of those points. I was pretty strong, bench 200 lbs, 160 lbs easy, leg press all the weights I had in the house, etc. I could do pretty good sprints but no better than normal.
Then I had a chance to lose weight, mainly because I was in a wheelchair. I dieted, got to a weak 150 lbs (I was sometimes seeing weights in the 145 range), gained some weight as I trained more, hit racing season at 155 lbs. It was like I had a motorized bike, I was flying up the power hills. I was dragging my brakes on the regular laps on the Bethel hill because I didn't want others to think I was doping and I didn't want to pass the field every time we went up the hill.
For me losing weight is always the first thing to do. Then fitness.
Light + not-fit = I can race fine in Cat 3s. 160 lbs or less is light for me. Not-fit means 0-3 hours a week.
Heavy + fit = very hard for me to race well in the 3s. 170 lbs or more is heavy for me. 190 lbs is sickening. 215 lbs was my max riding weight.
Light + fit = Cat 2. 160 lbs or less, and "fit" means riding maybe 3-5 hours a week plus having maybe 60-80 hours in the three months Dec-Feb.
If you do the w/kg calculations, figure out how much stronger you have to be to go up a bit. Then do the same power but lower weight.
I'm 200w, 77kg, give or take. 2.6 w/kg
If I'm 220w (about my best), 77 kg, 2.85 w/kg
200w but I lose about 10 lbs, 72 kg. 2.78 w/kg
220w, 72 kg, 3.05 w/kg.
When I upgraded to 2 I'd raced the season at 220w, 70kg, so 3.14 w/kg.
To get to 3.14 w/kg at 77kg I'd have to be at 241w.
To get to 3.14 w/kg at 72kg I'd have to be at 226w. That's much more likely.
My jump doesn't change much. My fitness determines how long I can sprint.