Originally Posted by
andr0id
Of course I race. And I've worked races. And you know what... The last 5 racers across the line out of a 75 man pack are riding bikes JUST AS LIGHT/HEAVY as the first three!
If weight mattered, we could just line up everybody, weigh their bikes, hand out prizes and send everybody home.
Racers blab about light bikes just like beauty queens blab about lipstick. Neither one is going to make a winner.
This doesn't make any sense. Of course their bikes are going to be about the same weight. But go to a climbing race you aren't going to see a guy with a 25 pound bike beating a pack of guys with 15 pound bikes unless he is a monster working his way quickly through the categories. For the most part the competition is similarly matched physically and by equipment. Of course you wouldn't just weigh everyone's bike and give the prize to the person with the lightest, the strength of the rider still comes into play and even then the strongest person doesn't always win, that's why we race. But more weight = more effort. If someone is stronger than everyone else then the effect of the weight will be less important.
Or put another way, a light bike isn't going win a race for someone but a heavy bike could cost one.