Originally Posted by
ericgu
If I saved 1.5 pounds, that would be a difference of 1.5 / 185 = 0.8%. On a 20 minute climb, that's 10 seconds faster.
I like light wheels because they spin up faster, but they don't have much effect on climbing speed.
I totally disagree, in this particular case.
This race will likely involve 9-10 total *climbing* hours so even 1 pound off the wheels could be very significant. I know the usual arguments about a few grams here and there are bogus, but with ~14 total hours of racing in 2 days, I think the comparison of 10 seconds on a 20 minute climb is not so applicable (even though I agree with you on the math, as you'll see in a second).
Let's extrapolate, assuming you're right - 10 seconds saved per 20 minutes, over 10 climbing hours, that's 30 times 10 seconds = 5 minutes. Seems significant to me, that could be a couple places in the race.
And even 10 seconds on a single climb can be significant, if you're a racer. I've been gapped by 4 seconds over a climb before, only to lose the front pack after they accelerated on the flats after the climb, because 4 seconds was about 20 meters, and I was caught alone out of the draft.