Originally Posted by
McBTC
Not so at all... the 'extended elaboration' is a single sentence, just to make sure we're talking about the same thing which I thought was necessary because of preceding posts as well as your conclusion which in my opinion is erroneous. Average mph clearly is an objective indicator of performance and if you apply a little common sense, it provides meaningful information-- again... just my opinion.
Average mph is an objective indicator of performance in a race, sure. Or it can even show trends in aggregate over larger periods of time. But not in a day to day sense for pure performance assessments.
But that wasn't your premise, anyway. You stated that you can tell that you worked harder, which is a subjective assertion. I can very easily "feel" I work much harder or easier than I actually do. A false flat with a headwind may 'feel" harder than going the other way with a tailwind, even though I put out the same power. And then speed is clearly going to be significantly different for either situation should that wind change. Lots of various scenarios to debunk said premise.
But this topic may extend past the pinnacle of common sense you're so adamantly declaring, so...