I am 6 feet, 168 pounds 60 years old with an inseam of 32, arm length of 35 and waist of 31. I have broad shoulders and a skinny waist which is a characteristic of a mesomorph. I am excellent at hitting a golf ball far, throwing and tennis. My body mechanics offers great acceleration of the limbs.

In cycling, I have a big profile that is not very aero compared to a classic ectomorph or bean pole body type with narrow shoulders and waist. So I have to keep my body low and out of the wind. That is all well and good except, I need excellent flexibility to do that which has not been my strength.

My weight is not great to be a climber and my frontal profile was little too large to be a time trialist without a lot of work. I started riding the track and thought maybe I just had to be a beast.

The Aussies published a report http://www.ridethetrack.com/pdf/character_of_track.pdf discussing many aspects of track cycling. My body type is a perfect fit for pursuit but I still have the issue of reducing my frontal area. The report is sort of interesting but very technical. It has a couple of tidbits and one has to scale back the numbers to fit club racers versus Taylor Phinney and Chris Hoy types.

So I worked on my flexibility, position, reducing my frontal area and trained very hard at the track. I won the Masters Track State 2K pursuit championships this year and the 3K team pursuit. So maybe the Aussies were right.

With respect to road time trials and hill climbing, IMO, it is easier to train on hills (assuming you have them). For me, it is impossible to climb a steepish longer climb without using threshold or sub-threshold power. And in climbing, it is easy to change position on the bike. One can stand, sit, sit up, bend forward and etc.

Contrasting climbing with time trials, one has to ride in the time trial position and produce threshold or sub-threshold power to get results. It is more difficult mentally to push very hard training on the TT bike. However, IMO, it is essential to ride a lot of miles in the TT position to train the muscles and the lungs to bring in enough air. If you look at DZ's position on the TT bike, he is very low and his hip angle is extreme. However, he seems to be able to breathe which I think is probably an adaptation of riding a lot on the TT bike.

Since I have been training with a power meter, it has made a dramatic difference in my power production. One finds that you choose to ride a levels that are comfortable or slightly uncomfortable. Those power levels are Z1, Z2 and Z3. Z4, Z5 and Z6 are typically off the table unless one is climbing or in a group dynamic. Looking at the monthly rolling average power curve, it is easy to see the break point between threshold and VO2 max power. Once this is obvious, one can choose to make changes.

Hence, if one likes to climb or is a natural climber, one will spend more time in Z4 and Z5 than someone who rides flatter terrain and develop threshold and VO2 max power. The person with flatter terrain has to either push the pace (do Z4, Z5 or Z6 intervals) or ride with faster people.

At our racing club, we have an elite P/1/2 team. Most of the racers are 140 to 160 pounds and great climbers and time trialists. We have a couple of pure sprinters but they have to survive the race to sprint at the end. I think 5' 11" and 150 pounds are terrific metrics for a cyclist as a climber or time trialist. At 168 pounds, I need to get to 164 to be better. Even at the track, the Aussies found that the leanest strongest guys were the fastest.

For my body type, I am in my "I have to be a beast" mode with lots of power, great flexibility and as little weight as possible.