Seriously strong cycling buddies
- Thread starter johnnyb47
- Start date
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iandg
Legendary Member
- Location
- Dumfries and Galloway
But a big gear pushed by someone with big legs at 'x' rpm is not necessarily faster than someone with weedy legs spinning a lower gear at 'x*1.5' rpm - as is my experience being a weedy leg cyclist who has won open TTs on 86" fixed
iandg
Legendary Member
- Location
- Dumfries and Galloway
It's in the mind not the body.
Stompier
Senior Member
Well, to be fair, it is mostly in the body - just not all in the legs.
iandg
Legendary Member
- Location
- Dumfries and Galloway
If you believe you can do it - stop believing it all falls apart
DSK
Senior Member
There's a mental hill/climb called Copse Hill in Wimbledon. Usually cyclists cause a bit a tail back on this horrendous hill. Many would find it quicker to dismount and walk. Around March last year, I struggled to catch a cyclist in my car doing 30mph ish which is very odd 
. I had to speed up to catch him to see what was going on. He must have cycled all the way up it at around 20/25mph ish as I do not recall dropping below 28 mph. I was in such awe I stayed behind for the last 1/2 of the hill, baffled at how this guy chap was tearing up the hill, without any fellow car drivers getting impatient. I have never seen anything like it before or since! The rider was a ripped bodybuilder (not a heavy weight Ronnie Coleman but more like a middle weight), massive shredded legs on show, muscles bulging out of the lycra.
. I had to speed up to catch him to see what was going on. He must have cycled all the way up it at around 20/25mph ish as I do not recall dropping below 28 mph. I was in such awe I stayed behind for the last 1/2 of the hill, baffled at how this guy chap was tearing up the hill, without any fellow car drivers getting impatient. I have never seen anything like it before or since! The rider was a ripped bodybuilder (not a heavy weight Ronnie Coleman but more like a middle weight), massive shredded legs on show, muscles bulging out of the lycra.
iandg
Legendary Member
- Location
- Dumfries and Galloway
Makes you wonder if the guy in the pic I posted above (Rohan Dennis, world TT champ) could even stay with an awesome guy like that
Who knows I was a 6' 2" 65kg whippet who used to ride 2-up TTs with someone built like an ox - we were similar ability time wise and it worked well because we knew each other.
Shut Up Legs
Down Under Member
While I was on a French cycling trip in 2016 (Pyrénées & Alps), one of the guys in my group weighed about 100kg, but was one of the fastest climbers in the group.
SkipdiverJohn
Deplorable Brexiteer
- Location
- London
But a big gear pushed by someone with big legs at 'x' rpm is not necessarily faster than someone with weedy legs spinning a lower gear at 'x*1.5' rpm - as is my experience being a weedy leg cyclist who has won open TTs on 86" fixed
That's true, but if the bloke with big legs can up his cadence sufficiently as well as push a high gear, then he may well be pretty quick despite being built like a brick outhouse.
Someone with big legs will also have more blood volume and it's quite possible they will be more resistant to lactic acid build up because of this.
Rocky
..
The first part of the sentence may be true, although there are a lot of other factors to take into account in determining blood volume; however the second part is wrong....lactic acid build up is metabolic not a function of blood volume. It depends on so many other factors: fitness, genetic issues, lung capacity etc
Stompier
Senior Member
The laws of physics generally apply to everyone equally, regardless of level
Again, that's not how it works. This 'big legs' thing really is a red herring.
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Fab Foodie
hanging-on in quiet desperation ...
- Location
- Kirton, Devon.
Sprinters have big legs, there’s a clue....
