1) Riding with my group on the weekends I notice I am not able to ride up a certain hill with the leaders, Its about a 2-3minute climb and in order for me to stay with them at the pace they set, I have to hold 300watts, I can hold it for about 1minute then start drifting off the back to eventually settle in at about 250watts for the rest of the climb. Is it correct to say that if I don’t increase my watts to 300 for 2-3 minutes, then I will probably never stay with them on that climb?
I live in an area where there are no hills like that, mostly flat, My question is, if I were to train to be able to hold 300watts for 2-3minutes on the FLATS or on the trainer will that convert over and allow me to stay with those guys then on that hill? After all watts are watts, correct?
2) spinning a 53x17 @ 25mph at a high cadence (about 100rpm) seems to tax my heart and lungs and legs more then when I shift to a bigger gear 53x15 @ 25mph (about 80rpm) and pedal the gear over smoothly. My HR lowers and legs don’t feel as tired and I have more power. I have done low rpm training for 2 seasons so I have learned to pedal lightly and all the way around smoothly, my thought for riding this way was: pedaling fast requires energy for the muscles to fire quickly, over & over (your legs can get tired even spinning with light resistance) I seem to have learned how to pedal a lower cadence (while producing power) but it does not tax the heart & lungs because Im not at a high rpm and pedaling with that light/smooth stroke I am able to relax the leg muscles in order to get more blood flow to the muscles and recruit more muscle fibers since Im applying powerall the way around. Does anyone know why this is happening and is my thinking wrong?
Thanks for your input
I live in an area where there are no hills like that, mostly flat, My question is, if I were to train to be able to hold 300watts for 2-3minutes on the FLATS or on the trainer will that convert over and allow me to stay with those guys then on that hill? After all watts are watts, correct?
2) spinning a 53x17 @ 25mph at a high cadence (about 100rpm) seems to tax my heart and lungs and legs more then when I shift to a bigger gear 53x15 @ 25mph (about 80rpm) and pedal the gear over smoothly. My HR lowers and legs don’t feel as tired and I have more power. I have done low rpm training for 2 seasons so I have learned to pedal lightly and all the way around smoothly, my thought for riding this way was: pedaling fast requires energy for the muscles to fire quickly, over & over (your legs can get tired even spinning with light resistance) I seem to have learned how to pedal a lower cadence (while producing power) but it does not tax the heart & lungs because Im not at a high rpm and pedaling with that light/smooth stroke I am able to relax the leg muscles in order to get more blood flow to the muscles and recruit more muscle fibers since Im applying powerall the way around. Does anyone know why this is happening and is my thinking wrong?
Thanks for your input