Yes, it definitely matters how you do the session. At my first attempt at Hindeloopen I struggled a bit and my watts were up and down throughout the ride. I just did a second attempt were I was much more stable, but even though I averaged 10 watts more, I was more than half a minute behind.There's a few out there (and I include myself) who are getting by on technique, flats, down-hills, wormholes (although I've never found one of those) rather than all out power and power to weight ratio.
Lars, I looked through every ride to see if I once beat you on watts/kg but the closest I've got to you is 0.2 away (sometimes 1.0 away). I've never worm holed and I've even used 2 completely different units so my setup seems all above board. What I don't understand however is that I've been able to beat you 50% of the time. It has occurred to me however that my low watts/kg may be because I am now spinning fast on the downhills then free-wheeling for a few seconds and allowing my watts to drop to less than 100 on the display (zero in reality) so this will lower the average quite considerably where there are negative gradients.
Hindeloopen is as flat as they get, so the highest watt number should win. Also, I think it was Geoff that pointed out that staying as close to the average speed (= average watt on a flat course without wind) throughout the ride should be the most efficient.
This is clearly not the case with BKool, and the favouritism of "the uneven ride" probably enhances Olvins sessions. He is more than a minute in font, compared with my "even ride", and he did that averaging 100 watts less.
