531Aussie

not on hill climbing, please
we all know how detritmental excess weight is when going up hills.

I can't find any good articles descricing the physiological effects of being, say, 15lbs overweight, when
doing (for example) a time-trial on flat ground.


thanks

bbattle

The fat is just dead weight so it's not doing anything to help you as muscle would. Depending upon where it's located, it could be a source of drag or subject to wind resistance. More likely, it's on your belly and back and so I don't think it would be much of a hindrance. My two cents.

DannoXYZ 

You do have to keep it alive...

Richard Cranium

I'm not sure what you want to know. Essentially, the excess weight increases your energy required to accelerate while on perfectly flat surfaces. I suppose, there are some additional increases in rolling resistance as well.

In theory, if you rode an extremely even speed during a TT - your weight won't cost you much.

In an unrelated area, excess body fat creates mechanical as well as possibly metabolically related inefficiencies. (thermal, blood vessel, fluid transport etc)

Two evenly-powerful cyclists? Bet on the light-weight guy.......

Guest

Well, with a decreased VO2 max, you're not going to be able to realize your full potential with speed, but if you could drop a few pounds, you'll be more efficient and a bit faster, regardless of whether you're on a flat road or climbing a hill.

And that fat doesn't do as much work as muscle either, like bbattle said.

Koffee

531Aussie

thanks for he replies

I'm finding it difficult to find exactly what I'm looking for on the net.

this is the kinda stuff I'm looking for.

Years ago, I remember hearing something like: the fat is a waste of blood because (as you guys suggest) it needs blood too -- it's gotta be kept alive.

lamagy

i dont know why but i just learned that i do better in a race with a few hills rather than a flat time trial.....i was keeping up until the 1/2 way through it and then i could keep the pace and droped down to about 17mph..

and yeah im carrying at least 45%BF.

SSP

Per the Calories and Watts Calculator built into my CycliStats program, a 165 lb rider, on aero bars, riding 24 miles at 24 mph, on a dead flat course, would burn 820 calories, and require an average output of 220 watts.

Keeping everything else the same, but with a rider weighing 185 lbs, it estimates 838 calories burned, requiring 224 watts.

Of course, these are only estimates, and any amount of climbing would have a major impact on the calculation.