So I made it up to the Diamond Hill Part of Rhode Island on sunday. Had a totally kick ass ride...
confirmed that my HR maxes out at a measly 187 or so... and started thinking more and more about the power, cause these hill... nice big hills... , add other riders, and them there's me... 50 tooth chainring, just one ring, and a 25 tooth large cog in the back (8 speed cassette)... and the rest in micro rings, one Road triple, one XTR 4 arm crank (cross bike), and one 38tooth or smaller inner ring... and me on my 50t...
Thinkin about power... and as i'm grinding up, these guys are working hard too but seemingly its 'easier' reminding myself that FORCE is different than POWER and it takes more force to turn over a big ring, but then if we are going the same speed, my cadence will by measure be slower than theirs and thusly... equal power...
But it also got me thinking... cause we came around the Reservoir into a bitching wind, and the Dutchman and the exMichigan flatlander (me) decided to have fun in the wind... okay well i decided to have fun in the wind and well... the Ney-der-lander Stuck to my wheel... freaking bitching fun.
And this is what i realized yesterday. I like working into the wind, I like going up hills... i REALLY like powering away... but i absolutely SUCK at going down hill esp in 1 lane twisty sandy roads. Call me chickenshit or just call me too tall-fat-stupid, whatever... BUT i acknowledge that i suck at it and thus i can focus on figuring out how to be the next Sean Yates...
cause i am NOT him... part of my problem yesterday was that i was stupidly somehow leading the gang down... i shoulda been on second or third or ideally last wheel...
oh well... next time, right ;)
Here's a nice map of the ride - that walkjog thing is cool... so is screen printing
apparently someone had their GPS running on the route - but with one small exception (had to ask where we went going south) i was able to recognize the corners or the roads and re-make the route... It was a damn good route...
Going back to that power vs force and all that... i guess it is the strength vs Power that one article somewhere or other was talking about, IE- Strength= making more power faster... =Jump
AND... I gotta say, that power/kg thing is kinda bullshit. Sort of. The doubts come in on the hill. It can't be a linear relationship between power and weight when comparing a flat road and a steep hill. maybe it still is the same...
but if say someone make equal Watts/kg and one is 93 pounds and one is 193 pounds (KL vs Me) okay - too freaking distractin around here to work on the rest of the train of thought - i feel like i JUST missed the GD train... that and i need food. Time for trip down to East Side Pockets for a nice Falafel sandwich/wrap thing...
Maybe i'll beable to re-board the train when i get back - gonna post now... to get this all out of my head- and either edit or followup post... (definitely going to run spell check later)
peace
G
4 comments:
G -
Hope you didn't bail on Tower Hill Road? The sand can be hairy. I usually go up, but the one time I rode down it I went way to fast into a corner and almost high-sided into the woods. Luckily there was nobody coming the other way.
On the power, I think it works like this. Let's say you weigh exactly twice what KL weighs. But her CP20 is say 200 watts, and yours is 300. So she is about 5watts/kg, and you can sustain about 4watts/kg over a 20 minutes duration. On a long steep climb, she is going to kill you, because overcoming gravity is where all the power is going. The speed is slow, so wind drag makes little difference.
Now go down on the flats into the wind. Weight makes no difference, because it is flat. It is all wind drag. Thing is, we can't easily measure this, but if your total drag is 1.5 times her's, then you will be equal in this situation. However, the numbers probably work out that your drag is less than that, say maybe only 1.3 times hers. Advantage G. In general, large people do better in this situation. I don't have numbers, but that is how it works.
-DF
Nah - no bailin... but there was a big wall of trees and rocks that i was eyeballin on the other side of the massive layer of sand...
it was somewhat early on the way down... a whoop into a blind right hand drop... and to me coming over the top of the woop with way too much speed seein a field of sand on the pavement with one ribbon of asphalt i kinda panic'd a bit...
but survived...
The drag bit... and the CP20... (maybe power meters and CP and LT tests ain't so bad a thing afterall)
And the wind drag - 6'6" vs what 4'11"?
http://www.machinehead-software.co.uk/bike/power/cyclist_drag_coefficient.html
that's a nice link for some sofware to check out and download... and at least demo...
So did your loop go clockwise? I love that road, either direction.
I have machinehead bookmarked. Haven't been there in a while. I'll check it out. Size obviously matters, but I'm pretty sure the way it works out generally favors large people. The drag on the bike itself (including wheels) probably doesn't change much either, even if one bike is bigger.
clockwise, yup...
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