Originally Posted by terrymorse

I posted an article recently about how the best female cyclists in the world stack up against men. Here are how the best female metrics stack up against men:

Body fat: Cat 3 or Masters 50
VO2max absolute: Cat 5 or Masters 70
VO2max mass scaled: Cat 2 or Masters 40
Max power to weight: Cat 2 or Masters 40

VO2max absolute is a good measure of flat TT performance. Women don't do very well here compared to men.

VO2max mass scaled and Max power to weight are good measures of climbing ability. Women do much better here.

So women, with their relatively high power-to-weight ratios, should do best at climbing. I know a couple women who can make me suffer like a dog on a climb, and I climb pretty well for an old guy.