Hell yes!!! I lost 20 lbs last fall and I went from our 19 mph club group ride (19 mph on the flats) to being one of the better climbers on our race team (right behind the real climbers).
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Cat 2 Track, Cat 3 Road.
"If you’re new enough [to racing] that you would ask such question, then i would hazard a guess that if you just made up a workout that sounded hard to do, and did it, you’d probably get faster." --
the tiniest sprinter