[email protected] wrote:
> The hard thing to figure out is when to call it quits when I'm
> suffering up a climb with a group. Sometimes of course I have no say in
> the matter, but sometimes I think I could hang but I worry it will take
> too much energy and the resulting drafting at the top won't have been
> worth the extra effort on the climb. Obviously now I just make guesses
> along the way. It would be nice to figure some sort of guidelines.
Yeah, absolutely. The issue is that if you need to go into debt, how long
and how deep can you go and still recover? This is a question about
fitness, recovery, how fast the other guys are going, how long the climb
is, and the penalty if you guess wrong. Two days ago in the Giro on the
Colle del Finestre, Savoldelli had to climb at his own pace and let Simoni
go; at the top of the climb Simoni had wrestled two-and-a-half minutes and
virtual pink off Savoldelli's shoulders. Fortunately for Savoldelli (and
unfortunately for Simoni), he didn't panic and was able to claw back
enough time on the descent and final climb to Sestrieres to regain the
maglia rosa, while Simoni was paying the price for his earlier effort.
After 88 hours of riding the Giro was won by 28 seconds. The point is that
even pros screw up their pacing strategies and they've got a lot more
riding on the right answer than you do. But for 28 lousy seconds, this
morning people would be saying that the thing to do is to bury yourself on
the climb; instead, this morning people are saying how wise it is to pace
yourself.
> My 104 will probably end up around 96 or so. I won't be able
> to go lower than that based on my 193cm and general size. 8kg will make
> a big difference but my real progress will be in power.
I don't know. I think that losing 8 kg (if it doesn't affect your power
too much) could be a big boost for staying in contact on the climb, and
you'll still have 260ish watts to use on the flat. It would be hard for
you to increase your power by 8% (~8 kg/104 kg) in the short-term; in the
long-term, yes.
> An on-bike power meter would be interesting and would provide the
> ability to track improvements, but what would be a good use of one as
> part of a training regimen? (Looking for an excuse to buy one...
and
> Any suggestions on how to determine my "weak link" so I
> can concentrate on it?
http://www.midweekclub.ca/articles/
> Power over the long term is obviously limited by a number of things,
> but I guess it is mostly a combination of pure strength and aerobic
> conditioning.
It's mostly aerobic conditioning, unless you're a track sprinter. In
cycling, especially in long endurance cycling, pure strength has almost no
role.