Old 04-07-20, 02:20 PM
  #49  
HTupolev
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Originally Posted by ChrisAlbertson
I've now realized that asking this question is exactly like asking if men are taller than women. How would we answer this? Obviously the average heights are different but does it make sense to compare only male and female elite basketball players?
You don't have to. You can compare performances across any percentile. Obviously you'll have to adjust things somewhat based on what the different active percentiles represent in terms of the total population (i.e. female cyclists are sampled more sparsely from the population of all women than male cyclists are from the population of all men), but it doesn't make the comparison impossible.

That 5.2W/Kg woman would sure as anything beat me. I am male, over 60, 10 pounds overweight and don't seriously train. I think I might be 2W/Kg if averaged over a 20 to 30 mile ride. But even so on local roads, I've only been passed by a female cyclist a very few times.

So the question now is how to even ask the question.

How would you perform against a similar-age woman, who is similarly overweight and who also doesn't seriously train, who compares similarly to other women in that boat as you do to other men in your boat?
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