A nice flat audax wanted

[GrasB]

Two riders can ride at the same speeds despite one being heavier than the other if they're both fit and have a similar power to weight ratio. Their bodies will have roughly the same composition (i.e. percentage of fat, muscle, etc). The heavier rider will therefore have a greater mass of muscle and be able to produce more power to haul their extra weight along and up.

However, too much extra weight and it'll start going on the body as mainly fat which doesn't contribute to power production and so power-to-weight ratio will drop and the heavier rider will be slower (especially uphill).

+1, hovering around the 170lb mark & sub-10% (typically about 8%) body fat, so while I'm heavy for a cyclist I've also got very little excess weight. Net result is I'll out climb most roadies you'll find on the streets. One correction to your above statement is that the heaver rider will need to have a lower body fat % to deliver the PWR of the lighter rider as the muscle power to muscle mass relationship isn't liner.

 

[billy1561]

Yep that's just about me then all fat. Although It's definately getting easier the fitter I become. Cheers for the info.

 

[GrasB]

billy, as you get fitter you'll start to find that you seem to be a powerful rider on the flat/into a headwind. The reason is that you had to develop more power to as the extra weight has meant you've been permanently been doing resistance training compared to riders who were never heavy to start with. Keep up the good work

 

[Greenbank]

Yep that's just about me then all fat. Although It's definately getting easier the fitter I become. Cheers for the info.

In the early days concentrate on fat burning rather than power/speed training.

Power/speed training will still result in weight loss but not as quickly as going a bit slower to maximise fat loss.

I'm 7kg or so above my preferred summer riding weight, and only a few months to lose it before the big rides begin...

 

[billy1561]

Compared to when I started out this time last year, I feel lots fresher and recover much quicker so It's all good

 

[Nuncio]

I'm taking that to mean that west country and Welsh Audaxes would be hard pressed to get down to that average - it's pretty lumpy round these parts!

You take it right!

The only way you could create a flat westcountry audax is to do 10 laps of the somerset levels!

... a route which could not be validated under Audax rules, I think. (I may be wrong, but I think there are guidelines to prevent this such a route).

 

[buggi]

Action Medical Research do a ride called the Suffolk Sunrise in ... yep you guessed it, Suffolk. it's 100km or 100m (depending on your mood, you can do either the short or long route) and it's FLAT as a pancake.

it's a good organised ride, signposted (unlike the audax's) with water stops. you do have to pay to enter, but it goes to charity. they like you to do a minimum sponsorship also, and i think it's about £25. but it is a good day out (i did it, but unfortunately didn't finish thanks to another rider that had me off) but it really is as flat as you're gonna get. I came off at 71 miles but i think in that 71 miles the worst hill was probably about 3 or 4% and 20 yards long. It's a great ride for a first 100, be it km or miles

Other than that, i think if you really want flat you need to look at Audax's in certain areas. Obviously Suffolk being one of them, but i think Norfolk is flat and Somerset. Never been to either so i'm sure someone will correct me if i'm wrong.

 

[Tynan]

The Four Fords is indeed in Suffolk

pay to enter and get sponsorship!

This noob thinks the route finding is half the fun

do tell the story of being offed by another