Winter Training on a Heavier Bike
#1
The Burninator
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 18
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
Winter Training on a Heavier Bike
I was having a discussion with some of the guys I work with and I wanted to get another take on this subject. Does riding a heavier bike in the winter make you a faster rider when you switch to a racing bike in the summer?
Theoretically the extra weight a heavier bike brings to the table will only come into play when you are climbing a hill or under acceleration.
Now let's take two riders of equivalent ability and place one on a heavy bike and one on a lighter bike. While climbing a hill both rider will generate the same power output and obviously the guy on the lighter bike will reach the top of the hill first at a faster overall speed. During acceleration the rider of the light bike will simply reach an equivalent speed sooner than the rider on the heavy bike. So the only difference I can see to riding a heavier bike is that on hills and during acceleration you spend a longer period of time at a high power output.
Couldn't you then get the same benefit (higher power output for longer periods) by climbing a bigger hill or accelerating to a higher speed on a lightweight bike? Am I missing something?
Mike
Theoretically the extra weight a heavier bike brings to the table will only come into play when you are climbing a hill or under acceleration.
Now let's take two riders of equivalent ability and place one on a heavy bike and one on a lighter bike. While climbing a hill both rider will generate the same power output and obviously the guy on the lighter bike will reach the top of the hill first at a faster overall speed. During acceleration the rider of the light bike will simply reach an equivalent speed sooner than the rider on the heavy bike. So the only difference I can see to riding a heavier bike is that on hills and during acceleration you spend a longer period of time at a high power output.
Couldn't you then get the same benefit (higher power output for longer periods) by climbing a bigger hill or accelerating to a higher speed on a lightweight bike? Am I missing something?
Mike
#2
more ape than man
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: nyc
Posts: 8,091
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 2 Times
in
1 Post
Originally Posted by FreddytheFish
Couldn't you then get the same benefit (higher power output for longer periods) by climbing a bigger hill or accelerating to a higher speed on a lightweight bike?
the only way it would make a difference is if you had a goal of finishing a course in a set length of time. then, you'd be getting a better workout with a heavier bike. but that's a pretty unrealistic training method.
Last edited by timmhaan; 12-19-05 at 01:49 PM.