A question on climbing

doctorSpoc

the OP is right.. if he's still around he posted in 2004...

on the 2% hill the larger rider will have an advantage and on the steeper climb the lighter rider will have an advantage... but not because of there weight.

on the 2% hill speed will be faster and aerodynamics will be more important roll (power to frontal area is relatively more significant than power to weight on the 2% climb)

larger riders have a better relative ratio of power to frontal area than smaller guys.. mass or volume goes up as the cube but frontal area is only going up as the square... think of the riders as cubes:
small rider: 2x2x2, density of 1, power : weigth of 4 --> small rider has a mass of 8, frontal area of 4, power = 32 --> power : frontal area = 8
larger rider: 4x4x4, density of 1, power : weigth of 4 --> larger rider has a mass of 64, frontal area of 16, power = 256 --> power : frontal area = 16

these number are obviously more extreme to demonstrate the effect... and doesn't take into consideration the length of the hills were anarobic capacity could play a huge role and nullify all of this on short hills (e.g. Boonen on 1-2 km cobbled climbs)... but on longer hills probably at least 5 kms+ the smaller rider will have a relative advantage the steeper the pitch of the climb because the steeper the climb the slower the speed and the more power to weight matters in relation to frontal area to weight...