VO2 Max, Aerobic Capacity, Lactate Threshold

If you are a 180 pound cyclist at 16% bodyfat, how does this compare to a 180 pound cyclist at 5% bodyfat in terms of VO2 Max, Aerobic Capacity and Lactate Threshold, if at all? Are any of these affected by body weight and/or bodyfat %? Watching today's Tour coverage(flat Stage 5), they had a heart rate reading on 209 pound Magnus Backstedt who was cruising along at 166 beats per minute.....while Cedric Vasseur, who weighs quite a bit less, was cruising along at something like 40 beats per minute less than Magnus. It made me wonder if the difference may have just been the effort at the time(although Phil and Paul stated Magnus had been at 166 most of the day), or the body weight difference between the two riders. But man, Magnus is not fat - he's just BIG.

Maybe some of the others will chime in... i'll be brief...

first off VO2 max, and LT aren't affected by size other than if e.g., the two riders want to be the same fitness then the bigger rider will have a proportionally larger VO2 max and LT.

secondly, mass only plays a part when you scale e.g., VO2 max data in a relative fashion. For e.g., VO2 max is measured in litres per min. Point one, says that if two athletes are the same fitness but one is considerably heavier than the other then that athletes VO2 max will be much larger. They are therefore scaled to mass and data are presented as mL/kg/min

Heart rate has nothing to do with these data (VO2 max and LT).

If the data interests you, check out www.tourtotals.com - i analyse for the Tour de France on a daily basis the HR, altitude and speed data of selected riders. Every day so far we've looked at Cedric's heart rate curves, and Patrice Halgand.

For a look at my daily articles on cyclingnews.com "View from the lab - Ric Stern's Tour de France sports science" click here http://www.cyclingnews.com/riders/20.../ric/index.php

On one of the days i'll most likely talk about VO2 max, LT, heart rates and power outputs in fair detail.

cheers
Ric

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